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