recommend ONE band/artist and WHY....

BJORK.

I honestly think she's THE most innovative and inspiring musical artist out there. Nobody makes music like she does. It's a shame that so many people dismiss her as 'noise,' or refuse to get into her stuff at all because of that damned swan dress at the Oscars. It's difficult to place her in a genre, and I don't think anyone who genuinely loves her would care to, though you can categorize her albums by theme.

Debut: obviously her debut album. Not my personal favorite, though it's got some beautiful songs on it (The Anchor Song, Like Someone in Love). She came out with this one in the early 1990s, when the most successful bands were largely American and doing grunge. Excellent.

Post: second album, seemed to focus a little more on electronic, and a couple songs sound industrial. This is the one that "It's Oh So Quiet" comes from. If you don't like this one, rest assured, none of her other songs are in this vein (big-band). This one doesn't have a definitive theme, but you can see how much she's developed since Debut.

Homogenic: best album she's ever made, followed Post. Focuses heavily on strings and beats, and I honestly think it's the best album I've ever listened to in my life. Kind of runs the gamut of human emotion. She thinks it's her most confrontational album.

(She did an album called "Selmasongs" in between for Dancer in the Dark, which she starred in, but I won't mention that one here because it's basically a commissioned soundtrack.)

Vespertine: she uses 'miniscule' electronic sounds and music boxes. This one's supposed to be more 'domestic' or 'introverted,' and is really intimate and comes off as a long love poem. I like to listen to this one when it snows. This is where the swan dress originated...

Medulla: amazing concept, in my opinion. She based this one entirely off of human voices. Not just a choir, but a whole range of weird noises (she includes a throat singer who makes some really strange guttural/gasping sounds). Beats are done almost exclusively by beatboxers! The layers to this one are incredible, and it's overall a very, very ambitious album.

Volta: her most recent album. Lots of fans were disappointed with it - but the running instrumental theme with this one may have been brass. Probably her most 'accessible' or poppy album to date, and the most commercially successful. It seems kind of to lack focus, and she seemed to get lazy, lyrically... still, it's got a couple of phenomenal songs on it. Look into "Wanderlust."

She's got a ton of other albums from other bands she's been in (Sugarcubes, KUKL), and also has an album when she was around 12 as well as a jazz album - Gling Glo. I've never heard ANYBODY sing the way she does on Gling Glo, heard that level of passion and energy. I think this one demonstrates her voice especially well. No one sounds like Bjork, and she sings without pretension - histrionics or vibrato.

Bjork's great if you're into eclectic, non-formulaic music. She works with a hugely diverse range of other musicians - Wu-Tang Clan, for one! She says they were very nice. Anyway, give her a shot if you're into honest music and the type of person who wants to run their face in when somebody plays the Top 40 station (club songz, pop, R&B) for more than ten minutes.

Jeff Buckley

Rock, Alternative Rock.

although having released only one studio album(1993's Grace) before drowning in a tributary of the Mississippi river in 1997 at the age of 30, his popularity has yet to fade. His legacy lives on with one posthumous album, four live CD's, EP's, B-sides and several boot legs. The estranged son of Musician Tim Buckley who, like his son died very young, of an overdose at the age of 28. Jeff had a very large vocal range some say could have been as wide as 5 octaves, he started playing guitar at only the age of six.

Recommended songs: Mojo Pin, Hallelujah, Grace, Eternal Life, Last Goodbye, So Real, Everybody Here Wants You and Lover You Should Have Come Over.

Marit Larsen!

Besides being my friend, with her debut solo album (Under The Surface) which was released in 2006, she won two Spellemannprisen awards which are Norwegian Grammys.  One for Best Female Artist and another for Best Video.  Under The Surface was double-platinum by mid-2007.  The album produced three #1 singles on Norwegian radio. She also won Best Norwegian Act at the 2006 MTV Europe Music Awards.

She is currently in the studio and will be finished with her 2nd album before the summer is over.  She is a first-class live act with a devoted band beside her.  She does all of her own writing, plays guitar, piano, mandolin, etc and has a unique sound that is all her own.

The Rolling Stones....... need I say more!!!!

Coheed And Cambria.  They say their music is alternative, progressive, rock. I say their music is magical. They are some extremely talented musicians. The vocals are a higher pitched singing. Actual singing not growling. The lyrics tell a story. Each album is a piece of that story. the singer writes comics and these songs are a reflection of the story within that comic. The music is complex and well written. If you like metal and hardcore you'll probably also like Coheed. If you like Rush or other prog bands you'll like Coheed. If you like mathcore you'll like Coheed. If you don't like Coheed there is probably something worng with your neurons and that's a fact, or so I hear. 

"I'm just like you only shorter."