Ben Sigston - some live shots

I wanted to post some shots from the Ben Sigston show on Feb. 12, 2011. A local friend of ours, Shane Collins, does some great photography for bands, weddings, models.... yes, he's an all around great photographer and great guy. He came to the show, snapped some shots, and graciously let us post these. It was good times had by all...

The Matthew Joel Band with Two Bicycles this Saturday!

The Matthew Joel Band is the creative endeavors of the songwriter/front man, Matthew, but it's also a representation of a set of ideals, a community of kids who are looking to embody something a little bit bigger than just being a band; it's also an excuse for a group of friends to get in a van and drive across part of this glorious country. The band is built of a group of friends from Chilliwack, BC ranging in the age of 18 to 24 years old and have blurred the lines of pop and folk. 

Matthew stated "Some people like to say, "It's all about the music." We disagree. We think it's all about the people and getting into their lives, having an impact, and hopefully bringing something positive into the picture--music just happens to be one of the best ways to get there. That being said, the art itself is not overlooked. We really do love the music, we just try not overestimate it, we try to note the other things in play".

Having released four EP's and now a full length album The Axe and the Evergreen they are touring from Saskatchewan and back this February into March.

The Matthew Joel Band performs at the cafe this Saturday with Two Bicycles playing a opening set.  The Two Bicycles is a project from Jamison Dick, who is also part of the Matthew Joel Band.

The show is this Saturday, Feb 19th at 7pm. Come down to the cafe and watch this show in person or watch live online @ http://www.streamingcafe.net

Check out their music!

Matthew Joel on Bandcamp

Two Bicycles

See yah at the show!
Michael

Roadmap music streams from Memphis!

Our friends at Roadmap music are going south to the International Folk Alliance Conference in Memphis, TN and streaming their showcases live online...tune in!

Roadmap songwriters are heading to Graceland! Join Roadmap songwriters Norm Strauss, Andrew Smith, Zach Smith,Graham Ord, Nico Boesten, and Kim McMechan as Roadmap Music presents two showcases at the International Folk Alliance Conference held at the Marriott Hotel in Memphis Tennessee. Roadmap will also be hosting special guests Vicki Genfan, Billy Crockett, Grace Pettis, Beth Wood, Cliff Eberhardt and Chris Mclean. And here’s an even cooler part… if you can’t make it to Memphis to be there for the show you can still be part of the audience as we will be streaming all shows live right here on the blog!

Friday night’s showcase will be starting at 11 pm CST ( 9 pm in British Columbia) and go until 3:00 AM  and will feature the full Roadmap Band in concert as well as our special guests. We will also be featuring Roadmap’s famous ‘William and Kate’ song sung by Kim McMechan and the RM band. Wed, Thurs, and Saturday night’s showcases will be in the same time slot but it will be a more intimate concert in the Roadmap Hotel Room Showcase. Don’t miss this soul filling event! You can watch it all live for free here….see you in the Southland.

Roadmap Guerrilla Room 1706
Wed, Thurs, & Saturday Night (Feb. 16, 17, 19)  CST

11:00 pm-Norm Strauss
11:30 pm-Andrew & Zach Smith
12:00 am-Nico
12:30 am-Graham Ord
1:00 am-Kim McMechan
1:30 am-TBA
2:00 am-Songwriters in the round-Andrew and Zach Smith, Chris Mclean, Vicki Genfan, Norm Strauss

Natchez Room
Friday Night (Feb. 18)  CST

11:00 pm-The Roadmap Band (Norm Strauss, Andrew Smith, Graham Ord, Kim McMechan)
12:00 am-Blue Rock Songwriters In the Round. Billy Crockett, Beth Wood, Cleff Eberhardt, Grace Pettis
1:00  am-The Roadmap Band
2:00  am- Songwriters in the Round – Vicki Genfan, Andrew & Zach Smith

Watch it live here…

Watch live streaming video from tribehouse at livestream.com

Tip of the week - Trade your tunes for tips

This is a bit of a new idea for us at the Cafe but we thought, "Hey, we stare at computer screens almost all day every day and constantly find sweet tools that could really help indie artists. Maybe we should pass on the sweetest of our finds". So here's the first...

NOISETRADE: Trading your tunes for an email or a tip.

Remember the caveman days when people traded stuff like a hammer for some bread? Well, that whole trading thing is picking up momentum these days among indie artists. With the rise of BitTorrent sites and MP3 stealing a lot of artists have decided not to fight this but go along with it by giving their music away in exchange for an email and/or a tip. Allow myself to introduce Noisetrade.com.

I found this site a couple of years ago but at the time it would cost an artist 300 bucks (or something) to join. Now it’s FREE (ding ding ding).

Some of you may have caught Andrew and Zachari Smith playing at the Streaming Cafe before. Well, they're just releasing a new album but are using Noisetrade to give away their title track "Travelling" which has got some killer tones, slide work, and all around great vibe BTW. (see below for a live example of it in action)

Um, did I mention that it’s free to use? Noisetrade works based on a revenue share system which is pretty unique - here's the process:

• Step 1: Artist uploads their life-changing album up to Noisetrade

• Step 2: Artist embeds the player (widget) on their site / Myspace / Facebook etc.

• Step 3: The superfan is able to listen to the tracks, types in their email address and zip/postal code, and an email is sent with instructions on how to download the album.
  

• Step 4: The superfan is encouraged (not forced) to share about this album/artist on Facebook or Twitter.

• Step 5: The superfan is then prompted (not forced) to leave the artist a tip (min. of $1 but max of $100). This is all done through Paypal and then Noisetrade keeps 20% of this tip.

Golden. And the real magic is that ANYONE can embed this into their own site / blog / Myspace etc. like we just did so it's really helping artists get the word out about their muzak.

If you have any of your own sweet finds, we’d love to hear about 'em. (Leave your tips in the comments)

Keep yer stick on the ice,
Nico & the Streaming Cafe tribe

Vote Streaming Cafe for CBC Radio 3's "Best Canadian Music Website"!

The Streaming Cafes website has been long listed for CBC Radio 3's Searchlight seeking out the Best Canadian Music Website.   Voting is really easy, just search and click! Search "streaming"(cntrl+F on PC or cmd+F on Mac) @ http://radio3.cbc.ca/#/polls/?pollId=94   You  can vote once every 24hours

Thanks for your continued support!
Michael

Treelines!

March sees a return of Treelines to the Streaming Café (no, not just because it’s close to spring and the snow will be melting on the mountains; this is the band we’re talking about). Everyone loved them the first time they appeared back in August of 2009, and the response was just as good when they played a second time in January of 2010.

Right after their 2010 appearance, one of the band’s songs was featured as CBC Radio3’s “Song of the day”, and the CBC host said the song (Canadian Airlines) was “…a little nugget of Kelowna gold… it says more about Canada in a mere three minutes than a three-hour throne speech ever could.”

This time around the band is sporting a new drummer, and for this show their format will be more of a stripped-down acoustic set compared to their previous appearances. Treelines bassist Steve Lockhart likes the acoustic format. “It’s something that we enjoy doing,” he says, “showing a different side of our band.” Highlights of the band’s earlier appearances are viewable in Streaming Café’s ‘previous shows’ section of the website.

Lockhart’s brother, Matt, penned most of the music on the band’s first album. Their new EP “Young Man”, released this past summer, showcases Treelines’ current collaborative approach to songwriting, and reviews suggest the new approach is working well. CBC’s North by Northwest says: “This album is summer listening at its finest. It opens with a song that just sounds right on Friday afternoons after escaping from work, class, or whatever your business be….This album is brief but fantastic.”

Here, in the middle of winter, thoughts of summertime are well received. Treelines will be appearing in a mid-week slot, rather than on our normal Saturday show day, and tickets are available at the Café for $10 each. As with all our ticketed events, there are only 40 tickets available, so if you don’t want to miss Treelines make sure you get your tickets well ahead of time.

February Line-up

February is set to be another great month of music. The 5th has local award-winning talent Kim McMechan performing her heart felt music. Ben Sigston joins us on Feb. 12th (Valentines weekend) having just placed in the Top 20 for the Peak Performance Project 2010. Regina, Saskatchewan ‘s The Matthew Joel Band share the stage Saturday the 19th with Vancouver’s Two Bicycles. This will be a cool night of indie folk music with a ambient feel. Victoria’s Mike Edel performs fresh off the release of his new album The Last Of Our Mountains and opening for Mike is local singer/songwriter Mark Irving.
Hope you can tune in to these great shows online or in person at the cafe! Every Saturday at 7pm PST.


Saturday, February 5th    
Kim McMechan - http://www.myspace.com/kimmcmechan
Saturday, February 12th
Ben Sigston - http://www.bensigston.com/
Saturday, February 19th
Matthew Joel Band - http://www.myspace.com/matthewjoelmusic
Two Bicycles - http://www.myspace.com/twobicycles
Saturday, February 26th
Mike Edel - http://www.mikeedel.com/
Mark Irving - http://markirvingmusic.com/

Ben Sigston, from the bike to the mic

There’s a theory that states good athletes would also make good musicians: apparently the precision of timing required is remarkably similar for each pursuit. So how come the jocks were so often not the music gods in high school?

Be that as it may, Ben Sigston actually proves that theory. The one-time cyclist on the Canadian National team is fully on-track to make a mark for himself in the world of music. After shutting down his bike-riding aspirations (and turning away from a full athletic scholarship to a mid-western US university) Sigston applied himself to playing guitar and writing songs. After seven years of effort, Ben came out on top in the 2010 Roxy Summer Sessions, handily winning $5,000 in the process, so it would seem that his choice to turn from athletics to music has been a good one for him. And as a contender in the 2010 Peak Performance Project, Sigston made an appearance here at Streaming Café during Breakout West, the festival surrounding the Western Canadian Music Awards; that’s where we first met him.

Ben Sigston considers music as a great way to explore thoughts and feelings. “For me,” says Sigston, “music is so powerful. It’s a way to see into a situation or experience that can be related to individually. It’s the artist’s job to internalize an event and then to recreate it… to express it.”

Ben will continue that exploration in front of a live audience at Streaming Café on Saturday February 12, 2011. After a set that stood out to us even in the middle of a night that contained several other artists, we are looking forward to a whole evening’s worth of Ben Sigston. Join us in-person at 596 Leon Ave in Kelowna, or online at streamingcafe.net