Music is so formulaic these days. That's not a revelation. Minus a few exceptions, truly original music stays in the background. Mediocrity rises to the top helped by shows like American Idol.  My wife, who's a composer and I have talked about this.

Can you imagine acts like The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix on American Idol. Think of all the helpful tips they would of received to attract an audience? Or maybe they would of been just booted right off the tryout. There's a great story about The Beatles and Decca Records. Apparently in 1962 Decca passed on signing The Beatles because they didn't like their sound and felt that "guitar groups were on their way out."

That being said, I was watching one of the many Rebecca Black knock offs the other day. This particular one wasn't a version of the song, but rather a parody using the film 'Downfall'. If you haven't seen these spoofs, clever subtitles are put in scene's of the movie as Hitler realizes he has lost the war. So now, der fuhrer reacts to the news that Susan Boyle didn't win Britain's Got Talent, or the reaction to Windows 7, or that his pizza delivery will be late. You get the idea.

In this one, Hitler laments that music is so bland, so contrived today. How could someone like Rebecca Black have 65 million views on YouTube while more deserving more talented artists remain unknown.  Several examples are mentioned. I started searching the examples. You know, there are some excellent musicians / artists out there. These are people who should really get more notice.

Indirectly, I discovered Ian Axel. A pianist. His style and talent has been compared to Billy Joel and Elton John. My own opinion is some of  his compositions also have a Beatles arrangement style with a little Bruce Springsteen horn section. Good music, thoughtful lyrics.

His music has the ability to appeal to different age groups. Oh, and it doesn't sound like anything the comes out of American Idol. Thank you Ian. It's good to think that some young artists are not seduced by the lowest common denominator.

To hear clips from his latest album This is the New Year- Try here.  Just think, soon, when everyone starts talking about his music, you can say, "Ian Axel? Oh yes, I've been listening to him for a while now." Do you know of an artist who is taking a path less traveled and deserves a mention. Let's hear about them.

This is a video that was done on Ian by Better TV

Photo of Ian Axel by Davey Wilson. Thanks!