Purpose

Each week I will provide info on an independent music act who I believe deserves a listen by music lovers all over the web. Bands I have either met/seen live or acts I have discovered as a result of my late night myspace habit will be featured. Occasionally a CD review may creep into the blog, as mainstream artists put out the latest of their libraries of riffs and melodies for the world to hear. So please lend your ears and take five minutes out of your week to listen to talent individuals who sleep, eat, and breathe what they do. You may even discover a new favorite underground band...

Live, Love, Sing.

-Matt

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Stephanie Bosch's "Stupid Charlie" Turning Heads All Over The Country

From first look, it is clear that Stephanie Bosch is highly dedicated to her craft of songwriting. At 21 she has already released 2 EP's and a full length album as well as performed at many high profile events such as Canadian Music Week in Toronto in 2010 and the Edmonton Folk Festival in 2009, which is where I was first introduced to her music. Her first full length album "Departures", landed at #24 on the CKUA Radio charts and climbed it's way up to #9 after just two weeks when it was first released in 2009.

"Stupid Charlie" is a clean departure from the style I am used to hearing from her, but it is refreshing as she brings a new attitude and diversity to this record. The song "Stupid Charlie" has subtle country influences with a very effective, catchy melody and alot of attitude. "Skin" provides a nice contrast to "Stupid Charlie". A self reflective tune which is reminiscent of classic Alanis Morissette. "Wasted" is an acoustic ballad which provides some nice downtime from the first two songs on the record and "Alone Eventually" provides a very simple yet elegant melody with a dark underlying tone to it.

The song that set this record apart from anything I have heard in a long time is Stephanie's stunning melodramatic rendition of Marilyn Manson's "Beautiful People". The slow finger picking that builds up the song, followed by chilling harmonies in the chorus combined with this original melody allows the true theme of this heavy classic to be more easily understood, as well as builds an underlying tension that is easy to fall in love with. This is definitely one of the best remakes I have heard to date.

I am thrilled to see the unbelievable growth of this artist but that being said one of my favorite Stephanie Bosch songs will always be "My Room" off of her album "Departures". The song has more of a sweet, innocent tone, similar to old Taylor Swift songs, except with much better lyrics. The Edmonton native recently packed up and moved to Toronto in search of furthering her career and I have no doubt that is exactly what she will do. With her non-stop commitment and dedication, Stephanie is arguably one of the most talented young musicians to come out of the Edmonton music scene to date. "Stupid Charlie" is available on ITunes for only $4.95 and you can hear some of her music on myspace at:

http://www.myspace.com/stephaniebosch

Make sure to keep your eyes out and ears open for any news.

That's all for now. I will be making a conscious effort to strictly keep up with these again after such a long hiatus since my last post. Keep checking back!

Live, Love, Sing

Matt

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Tinashé, Paul Cresey and Some Reviews


Once again my good friend Cameron has passed me to an unbelievable UK artist named Tinashé. Now I pass him off to you. I started out watching some acoustic videos he has posted on you tube. Unreal is all I have to say. Collaborating with an
acoustic guitar and a drummer (who plays a pretty creative cardboard kick drum) the two complement each other with extraordinary talent. Excellent melodies and groovy guitar and drums make "Saved" one of my new favorites, especially this acoustic version. You can watch it on you tube at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jji-swJQxrE

The drummer oddly reminds me of the style and skill held by my old drummer Rémi Lafleche. When watching the video, those who know Rémi will understand what I'm talking about haha. Another Tinashé video to check out
would be a song called "A-Liar" an adaptation of a Vampire Weekend song which can be found at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdOCbbjTeCM&NR=1

Originally from Zimbabwe this amazing artist came to the UK to eventually grow into becoming a doctor/lawyer but fell in love with a guitar instead and thank god for that. Originally writing and producing all his own music, Tinashé just released an EP titled "Mayday". This is a great combination of Indie/Pop with the soulful feel of reggae vocals. I have yet to find a way to purchase his EP in Canada as I believe it is not available here yet. But songs are streaming on his myspace at http://www.myspace.com/tinashemusic



An amazing Edmonton local artist now has to be recognized. I had the pleasure of meeting and mixing Paul Cresey at a show he played at the restaurant I work at for our New Years Eve Party. Paul is a great songwriter, and it showed when he became a finalist at the Calgary Folk Fest songwriting contest just recently. He has been apart of the U-22 program directed by Rhea March from CKUA radio. This program takes young local talent and helps them break out onto the music scene. Before meeting Paul I first saw him perform at the Edmonton Folk Fest and was immediately blown away by his talent. He has two records out which are both available for purchase on his myspace at http://www.myspace.com/paulcresey as well as streaming songs.

This folk singer/songwriter definitely deserves a close listen.

http://www.myspace.com/u22music

Other U-22 Artists to check out:

Joe Nolan - http://www.myspace.com/joenolanband

I have to say Joe is in my opinion one of the most talented young musicians on the Edmonton music scene today. His albums are amazing and well worth a listen.

Stephanie Bosch - http://www.myspace.com/stephaniecbosch
Daniel Moir - http://www.myspace.com/danielmoir
Samantha Schultz - http://www.myspace.com/samanthaschultzmusic

All of the above are Edmonton local singer/songwriters.




REVIEW FOR MGMT Congratulations:

MGMT's newest release was a very anticipated sophomore album to their first album Ocular Spectacular. The band seemed to have take a more mellow approach to this record but in a blissful, amazing way. Incorporating amazing acoustic guitar into some songs such as the 12 minute long Siberian Breaks which has amazing instrumentation around the 8 minute mark. Still staying to true to the electro element, new sounds are emerging from the band that are soothing to the soul. The album just released on I Tunes on the 9th of April, definitely an album that will not disappoint.

http://www.myspace.com/mgmt

KEANE:
As this next review isn't exactly a new release from this band, if you have not heard of Keane you are missing out. Their latest album "Perfect Symmetry" is what I would call the perfect blend between rock and electronic. Acoustic drums, piano, guitars, and just the right amount of synth to blow you away with their musical genuineness. My
two favorites off this album are "Again and Again" as well as "You haven't told me anything" and "Pretend that you're alone". Check out streaming songs at

http://www.myspace.com/keane

That's all for now, My next post will most likely come after my trip to Washington outlining the obvious amazing talent I will witness at Sasquatch Music Festival

Live, Love, Sing

-Matt

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Broken Bells


With recent clutter of an already crazy schedule, my posts have definitely not been weekly, most likely from now on these posts will be Bi or sometimes tri weekly. Mostly because there has not been an outstanding artist that I feel needs to be brought to your attention but this week I have found a perfect artist.

I sit here listening to a somewhat familiar sounding tracks of a new band that has formed from one of the greatest indie bands. Keeping the classic sound of The Shins, Broken Bells debut self titled album blows away new 2010 releases I have heard to date. I really cannot stress enough the musical genius that flows through this compilation of songs.I was turned on to James Mercer's new band by a recently acquired friend from way out west in Sechelt BC when he sent me the link to "The High Road" video. All he had to say was James Mercer's new band and I found myself immediately going to the video and listening over and over taking in all the groovy electro riffs and stellar use of so many instruments that are used throughout. All got better as they released their album about 5 days ago and decided to listen to it over and over for a night. Impending out of that lengthy listening session I came to a few influential conclusions. With keeping a very tight sound to The Shins, this record mixes in a wicked electronic element. To me, Broken Bells blends sounds of Postal Service, Cut Copy, Keane and Wilco into 10 inspiring songs. On my list of favorite songs off this record is "The High Road", "Vaporize", and the most intriguing song, "The Ghost Inside".

The Duo is about to play at the SXSW showcase in Austin Texas, but do not have any other shows booked after this weekend. Hopefully this band will pack their winter jackets and head to Canada soon for a tour.

Myspace is http://www.myspace.com/brokenbells

Preview their album on ITunes, you will not be disappointed and your $9.99 will be worth hours of mind blowing listening.
Live, Love, Sing

Thursday, February 18, 2010

The Zolas



This is way too long overdue. Life these past couple weeks has been full of recording, working to make a buck and of course watching the Olympics. Its funny how when the winter Olympics are on, your TV is constantly turned on, set to one of the many broadcasting companies who cover the games and becomes your life for 2 weeks. Since these spectacular games are being held in Vancouver this year, there is no better band to be featured this week than Vancouver's own, The Zolas. One of the many great bands to be making an incredible mark on the Vancouver music scene. These guys originally formed under the name Lotus Child and recently changed their name to The Zolas. The band is made up of Zachary Gray and TomDobrzanski but they bring in additional musicians to help them out along the way. Adian Knight who is set to tour with We Are The City in March played on alot of the bass tracks of their new album Tic Toc Tic which can be purchased on Itunes. Joining them on their latest tour was Henry Alcock of Bend Sinister and Henry and the Nightcrawlers. This dude was a blast to hang out with. Very laid back and a busy musician playing in three big Vancouver bands.

They recorded their album with Howard Redekopp who has worked with lots of Vancouver Indie bands who are starting to blume. One of the more successful artists he has worked with is The New Pornographers. Lending a hand to Redekopp was Dobrzanski who is quite the recordist himself. He recorded the amazing We are the City album, In a quiet world, and has recorded projects for Said the Whale (Vancouver based who is getting lots of play on Sonic these days) Hey Ocean! and Edmonton's own, Daniel Moir. These guys are just great well rounded musicians.

Now to the record. Tic Toc Tic mixes infectious indie-pop songs with hairpin turns, schizoid piano throw downs, and a sort of cabaret strut. They describe themselves a blend between Justin Timberlake and The Beatles, or Coldplay and The Clash. The album is seriously Rad. My favorite tune right now comes from The Zolas. A track called "The Great Collapse". But other tracks to definitely give a listen would be "You're Too Cool", "Marionettes", and "Marlaina Kamikaze". Make sure to watch the music video for The Great Collapse on
their my space as well as the acoustic performance as they walk through the street of Vancouver. Both can be found under the video section. Tic Toc Tic is on Itunes for the regular 9.99. It is for sure worth a listen.

http://www.myspace.com/thezolas

Be sure to check it out and please leave comments on the facebook page to let me know what you think! I can promise you I will not fall behind in posts again. Until next week.

Live, Love, Sing

-Matt

Friday, January 29, 2010

The Peak Performance Project

Alright so where to start...first I want to apologize for missing last week's post. But to make up for it I'm going to throw a lot of amazing talent your way.

The PEAK Performance project is a seven-year, 5.29 million dollar a year contest open to all musicians in British Columbia Canada. I mentioned The PEAK Performance Project in my first post as my friends from Kelowna (We are the City) were involved with it in its first year and was selected part of the top 3. I want to take the time to tell you that these three prog rockers from K town got chosen as the first year winner and took home $150,000 last week at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver. Amazing and so well deserved! But I'm not writing this week to tell you to go listen to We are the City. (I've already done that) I want to tell you about some of the unreal artists that were involved in this project as well this year and has done some amazing work during their musical endeavors.

First I'm going to focus on the other 2 bands that were apart of the top 3. The Left and Bend Sinister.

The Left has been around for about 7 years as far as I know and are about to put out a new album in the near future. They only have the single from that album on their myspace but the song has me anxious for the album. This makes it hard for me at this time to really get deep into what I think of them, but that will come soon enough.

These guys placed 2nd at the PPP and won $75,000 as their prize money. Check them out at

http://www.myspace.com/thelefttheband

Alright now for the second finalist. Bend Sinister. A definite blend of The Arkells and I wanna say almost a little Aerosmith. With these rocks sounds they are for sure a 100% Indie band. Indie as in the style. Dan is a powerful vocalist and brings great attitude to Bend Sinister's tunes. Songs to check out from their newest release titled "Stories of Brothers, Tales of Lovers" would be "The Same Things" and "Jimmy Brown". Another great one by them is "Time Breaks Down".

These boys have an indie label backing them and are signed to one of the biggest agency companies in Canada, "The Agency Group". Unfortunately big agencies hold back when really going all out on getting the indie's gigs. Its a shame when the agency group focus more time and money on overproduced shit like "Stereos" rather than focus on the real talent of this country such as Bend Sinister. These guys placed 3rd in the PPP and won $50,000

I spent the night sifting through the other finalists of the PPP but two in particular blew me out of the water. First Bodhi Jones reminded me of a blissful blend of Ray LaMontagne and Ben Harper. His songs are full of amazing melodies and folk guitar. Its amazing what one can do with two instruments, a guitar and a voice. You can download his album for free right off his myspace at http://www.myspace.com/bodhijones and believe me it is a great one. But the one that really turned me into a fan isn't one you can find on his album. Part of the PEAK boot camp was to write a song titled "In a Minute" and record it live off the floor. Bodhi Jones' song was absolutely amazing...probably my favorite of all. The PEAK released these live recordings and you can download all of them off their website at http://www.peakperformanceproject.com/?p=1127

The other artist that caught my ear was Adrian Glynn from Vancouver. He has the sound of a young Iron and Wine. He also reminded me of Elliot Smith when I first listened to his songs. The production on his songs are brilliant and this humanitarian sure knows how to write a killer song. Key tracks to check out would be "Mother's Song" and "Marianne". Check out his myspace at http://www.myspace.com/adrianglynn and keep your eyes open for a CD on I tunes.

Other finalists of the PEAK performance project include: Adaline, Alexandria Maillot, Ben Sigston, Danny Echo, Familia, Free Flow, Garrett Kato, Kuba Oms, Run the Red Light, Sweetheart, Tea, The Painted Birds, TV Heart Attack, and Wassabi Collective.

Check them all out as they are some of BC's best.

That's all for this post,

Live, Love, Sing.

-Matt

Sunday, January 17, 2010

The Temper Trap



This week I'm going to venture to the land down under and talk about a melodramatic popular song rock band from Melbourne Australia. Although The Temper Trap isn't exactly independent, they will most likely be foreign to most of us in the northern hemisphere. At one of my own bands recent rehearsals, our singer mentioned the band with promise to send me a link to some live videos of T.T.T. The first video was good but to be honest didn't really think much of them. I almost quit right there and didn't bother to go on the second link, but I figured I would give it a chance and I'm sure glad I did. As soon as the verse started I was instantly hooked, and without second thought, immediately bought their album on I tunes.

The particular song that caught me so abruptly was "Fader". A link to the music video for this song is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L18tjO2GYnU

I seriously recommend taking a listen and maybe it will catch you
the same way it caught me.

The band starts with lead singer Dougy. Originally from Indonesia, with a huge musical family, he moved around a lot and finally settled in Australia where he met the band that is now a huge success in Australia and in Europe. They are currently in the middle of a huge European tour in support of their debut album "Conditions"

The album sells for $7.99 on I tunes but more importantly, mp3's are streaming on myspace at http://www.myspace.com/thetempertrap

As for an update on last week's post. The Fields of Green Cd release for Blanktown was unbelievable. The band sounds and plays live as good as the CD and that's hard
to come by this day in age of the music industry. Hands down I can say with confidence that it is probably the best independent record I've heard to date. I will be sure to keep you updated on their plans to venture to Edmonton for a show sometime in May.

That's all for this week.

Live, Love, Sing.

-Matt

Friday, January 8, 2010

Fields of Green/We Are The City


This week I've left my hometown of Edmonton, also known in winter as 'The Freezer' to find myself in the interior BC city of Kelowna. As of now it is 12:29 AM pacific time, and I sit in strange but such familiar surroundings while writing. The basement of an old friend where I have not been for almost three years. After being up at my cabin in Vernon for the last three days, her and her family generously agreed to let me crash for a few nights as I ventured down the valley for what will be an amazing music weekend.

The CD release of local Kelowna band Fields of Green on Saturday night at Kelowna Community Theater. 'Blanktown' will be their debut release with plans to support the album with a tour around western Canada starting in February. Now this old friend I spoke of in the first paragraph has been dating the drummer for some time now which is how I got to know him. We have spoke quite a few times, building a friendship as we share the same passion for music, and for the first time today I finally got to meet him in person.

I came across the band many months ago before I even knew there was a connection. From the first time I heard old demos that were streaming on myspace, I was a fan. Having a personal connection to Johnny now has allowed me to hear some of the CD and I tell you, PICK UP YOUR COPY! It is fantastic. Backed by Tree Fort Music, a small indie label here in Kelowna, these guys put their hearts into this record and it shows. A great variety as they include a country song on this record. I'm not a huge country guy, but I loved it. This record seriously has a mix of hooks, jams and blissful riffs and melodies. I haven't had the opportunity to meet the rest of the band yet, but I have also come across singer Kyle Tubbs' solo material quite some time ago as well. I very much look forward to spending time with these amazing musicians over the weekend as they unleash Blanktown on to the global music scene.

MP3's from Blanktown can be found on their myspace page at http://myspace.com/fieldsofgreenmusic

The disc should be on Itunes shortly as well if there is any interest in grabbing a copy for your library. You will not regret it.

www.fieldsofgreen.ca

Now for the second part of my double post for this week. Staying on topic with amazing Kelowna bands, this one blew me away when I discovered their myspace two summers ago. We Are the City is a progressive indie rock act making their mark in a huge way on the music scene. These guys recently put out their debut release titled 'In a Quiet World' and has done a lot of touring to support it. I was lucky enough to witness these guys live last time they rolled through Edmonton in the fall when they played an afternoon gig at the Empress Alehouse on Whyte. I finally got to chat with the guys in person after a year of on and off messaging on myspace. All the guys are great friends with all the members of Fields of Green so I was pumped to have the chance to hang out again this weekend. But the road calls for this trio and they will be in Port Alberni the night of the release.

To the album...In a Quiet world is an amazing collection of tunes and I don't think I can say I would skip a single song as I listen to it from front to back. One song in particular titled 'Feel Is A Word' sends me to a different place mentally as I blast my studio monitors back home as Andy's amazing floor tom riff comes blaring after the first verse. Definitely a riff to send you elsewhere among many that are featured on this incredible disc.

The Trio has been working hard and it is finally starting to pay off. In the recent past months, they band was involved in The Peak Performance Project put on by a BC radio station called..you guessed it..The Peak. The top three bands from a finalist pool of 20, after of a couple months of public voting is guaranteed $50,000. That's the third place prize money. Only to rise from there. Placements still haven't been made but man, that's a lot of money to help move along your music career. This contest has also allowed these guys to play amazing venues like their upcoming show at the Peak Performance Project Finale at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver. I'd like to take the time right now to congratulate them on this huge success.

We are the City comes through Edmonton next on February 5th to play at Brixx Bar and Grill under the Starlite room. I would strongly advise to check them out if you have a chance as it is an amazing musical experience. MP3's are streaming on their myspace at http://www.myspace.com/thecitiesmusic and the album is available on ITunes for $9.99

www.wearethecity.ca

That's all for this double post on the opening week of Actively Independent. Stay tuned for next week's artist.

Live, Love, Sing.

-Matt