Mates of State – my only offer

Been a while since I’ve posted a good tune (no need to mention a lack of posting anything in the first place because life is hectic), so here we go.

Mates of State put a new album out this year and even made it up to B.C. for the Pemberton Music Festival. Sadly, we were unable to go, not to mention get any press passes for the event, but the one show we did catch last year still has me as a big fan.

I love it when two people can create music like this, and it sounds pretty much just like this when you see them live. It’s also a great little soundtrack for bus rides to and from work in this hot summer weather we’ve been having in Vancouver recently.

Photographs from Surrey Canada Day celebrations

Rebecca was contacted by the fine folks at the city of Surrey to be a media co-sponsor for their Canada Day events in Cloverdale. July 1st saw nearly 40,000 people crowd onto the Cloverdale Millennium Amphitheater grounds to play games, see stilt walkers, get their faces painted, and see a jam packed line-up of musical acts on the main stage, including the likes of Rymes With Orange, The Payola$, and Loverboy.

Surrey Canada Day 2008

Events like this tend to find me with media access for the both of us, and of course that means I have to take my camera along with. You can read all of Rebecca’s coverage of the event [Surrey Canada Day 2008: The Schedule, Morning Recap, The Music], but the following are some of my favorite shots that I took.

Surrey Canada Day 2008

Surrey Canada Day 2008

Surrey Canada Day 2008

Will is a really amazing musician. See him live if you can because you must.

Surrey Canada Day 2008

Surrey Canada Day 2008

Surrey Canada Day 2008

Surrey Canada Day 2008

Surrey Canada Day 2008

That’s Mr. Bob Rock[wiki], ladies and gentlemen, in the flesh.

Surrey Canada Day 2008

You can see all 104 photos on Flickr. Shooting outdoor events can be a lot of fun, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s loud in the photo pit, not to mention the sweltering heat on that day. Sometimes I feel intimidated by being surrounded with folks that have larger and much more expensive photo equipment, but the pictures that come out from my endeavors tend to speak for themselves. It’s not what you got that matters. It’s how you use it, and I’m doing my damnedest to learn my camera and get better with every shot.

The folks at the Surrey Canada Day event were amazing in terms of getting us the media access and letting us know the low down on what was going on, where everything was located, and were just generally awesome people. By far, the best treatment I have ever experienced in terms of media access for new media folks.

Doves – black and white town / there goes the fear

To continue with my efforts in sharing what I’m into, I’m digging Doves a lot these days. I can’t exactly tell you why, but these next couple of tunes are worth the effort of tracking down on your Thursday and throwing into a mix for the commute to or from work on Friday. That’s just what someone like me would do if I were you, and you should do that because you’re you. And you like this music. No, trust me, you do.

You can always try to hit the iTunes Music Store and grab “The Last Broadcast”[itunes] or “Some Cities”[itunes].

Electric Six – dance commander

It’s been a while since we’ve had a good rock song from YouTube. Walking across the bridge on the way home from work the other day, this popped up on random, and everything seemed better.

Check out more Electric Six if you dig it. We had the extreme pleasure of seeing these guys when we interviewed Aberdeen City for RadioZoom #116

Rainer Maria – catastrophe

I’ve had this song popping up on my iPod a lot lately when tromping to and from work on the bus, and Rebecca has recently taken a liking to these guys, even though Rainer Maria[wiki] broke up in 2006.

There is something to be said about this being a song about heartbreak, but there is a subtle undertone of a political viewpoint, unintentional or not. I like it when artists are able to do that. It sudden becomes uber-interpretation-able.

Not bad for three kids from the Midwest. Check out the rest of their catalog if you aren’t in the know. I know Beck is.

The Black Keys are coming to Vancouver

I have to say, I’m pretty excited. Even better, Rebecca scored us tickets to the show on April 6 at The Commodore Ballroom. Quite frankly, The Black Keys were the only thing keeping me sane at work today.

Check out the video below for “Just Got To Be”. If you like it, get more of their music. If you really like it, come see the show. I have been well assured that their live performances are quite splendid.

Editors – an end has a start

If you’re like me, shopping around Christmas time means one thing. Monotonous Christmas music. That same song that you hear from one store to the next. If it’s not the same exact song by the same person, it’s another version by whatever artist decided to put out their own version of a Christmas album.

And then, it gets stuck in your head. You can’t get it out. The only thing I find myself able to do is to go Weird Al on the tune and make up my own lyrics when “Walking in a Winter Wonderland” refuses to leave the spaces between my synapses.

This tune by Editors did the trick the other day, so I hope it might help you as well. They are coming to Vancouver soon with Hot Hot Heat on the double bill at the Commodore Ballroom on February 5, 2007.

“Gone Faded” from Soft is out now

RadioZoom has played music from Soft a few times, and I keep thinking about how I should toss them into regular rotation on my personal playlists every time I hear them. What can I say? I get lazy with adding new music some times.

“Gone Faded” dropped on October 23rd, and I was able to get some of the new music via their mailing list. I’ll be cranking that into an RZ episode soon (I promise), but check out this promo vid they posted on YouTube. If you want another preview of some Soft goodness, go to this link because that’s the track that will be finding its way onto RadioZoom soon, Rebecca approved.