Lost in the Shuffle

There are a ton of good bands that we never hear of here in the United States. If you're Canadian and love the sounds of Matthew Good and Sam Roberts, you have to learn that those two artists never happened here. I know. Sad.

We Yanks have missed the boat on so many of them them. What do I mean? How about:

• Oasis - They were only NME's band of the year recently. Only we haven't heard much of them here lately. Buried on the radio, Oasis has quietly retooled itself into just a fantastic rock band. Their last two albums are as solid as anything that came before 1997 and some of the songs you missed in between (go check out "Magic Pie" and "The Hindu Times") should have been gigantic here. Alas.

• Matthew Good - Mentioned above. In 1994-5, with a full band, he was making songs as good as anything that was hitting radio here. But with a political bend, American record companies stayed far away. Now, seven albums in, Good is still making fantastic rock. His 2007 album Hospital Music was an amazing piece of work. And I'm not sure it was even released in this country.

• The Corrs - A few songs have hit radio here. I've always bitched that, to most Americans, Irish bands begin and end with U2. The Corrs are outstanding. Nice, accessible pop stuff. Except here.

• Sam Roberts - Also mentioned above. All this guy has done is write and perform intelligent rock music during the same time frame we've been subjected to pile upon pile of crap. Every time Nickelback is on the radio, it could be Sam Roberts instead. And you'd feel better about the world.

Anyhow, in this Internet age, I encourage everyone to seek out other sounds. You can order music from any country in the world and have it delivered to your door or computer. And it's worth it.