September's dose of music

by Michael Donley
We're really happy to have added some new live tracks for download to our store this past month. We've continued our partnership with these talented artists allowing us to bring some magical live moments to fans, friends and family.
Here's what's new!

Treelines performed back in March for their third apperance at the cafe. It was a great show and chance to see the band in a bit of a different light as they performed a stripped down acoustic set.

Zaac Pick joined us at the cafe for the second time and we were able to capture a couple unreleased tracks exclusively available in our store.


Kayla Luky from rural Manitoba performed a great solo set the cafe July 11th.

Abigail Lapell from Toronto performed at the cafe during her Western Canadian Tour in May.

Fisticuffs aka Jordan Kurtz brought his "Garage-folk" approach to the cafe back in April.

Adaline: Free sneak peek

By Michael Donley

I was first introduced to Adaline when by chance I caught her performance at Vancouver's The Media Club in 2008. Although time passed, I always remembered her interesting and refreshing approach to her craft, and the Streaming Cafe was able to have her come down and perform a solo show in March 2010. Later that year, this time with the full force of her band Adaline showcased at the cafe during Break Out West Music festival (watch it!)

Adaline is now getting set to unleash a her second album Modern Romantics this fall and it is sure to be a great listen. The new full length is produced by Hawksley Workman who has produced albums for some well know Canadian talent; Tegan and Sara, Serena Ryder, Jeremy Fisher and Hey Rosetta! to name a few.

Sneak-peek download - "Wasted Time"

“I wanted to take a very European approach to the record,” she says, adding that she and her busiest partner, Hawksley Workman – who played on and produced nine of its twelve tracks – were throwing names like Portishead, Bat for Lashes, La Roux, Beck, and Goldfrapp around when they entered Toronto’s Canterbury Studio for four weeks. “Groove artists,” she calls them. “I wanted it to sound world class. A lot of people seem to be doing these very chill, laid back, organic records, and I kinda wanted to be a little more aggressive in terms of the sounds and production.”

Modern Romantics will be available on November 1, 2011, but for a limited time you can get a free sneak-peek by downloading her pre-release Wasted Time on her Bandcamp page.

Ellen Degeneres Votes for Behind Sapphire

by Michael Donley

A few weeks ago Vancouver's Behind Sapphire performed at the cafe as they continued their journey on trying to become the next Peak Performance Project winner. Shortly after their performance the Band crafted a Youtube video Behind Sapphire Wants to Meet Ellen Degeneres, in hopes of connecting with the American talk show host icon.  That post lead them to perform for Ellen while she was in Vancouver mid August. Not only did she give the band her approval but also gave them a plug, prompting viewers to vote!

Nicely crafted and executed promo.

Kudos to Ryan at Castanet for posting this and showing off some BC talent.




Here's a clip of Behind Sapphire's performance at the cafe at the beginning of July.

Live Show Downloads - as natural as granola in the morning

by Malcolm Petch
You’ve been to the live show at Streaming Café, and you’re laughing and chatting with your friends as you leave for the night. You’re full of joyful satisfaction after a wonderful evening of live music and good food. If only there was a way to hold on to this feeling…

Now there is.

We here at Streaming Café are happy to unveil our online music store in conjunction with Bandcamp. As an extension of our mandate to discover, connect and promote independent artists, we’ve partnered with several of our guest musicians to offer downloadable selections from their live performances.

Here’s a bit of history: we started multi-tracking our shows at the end of last year in order to have the ability to remix audio for our YouTube videos. After a while we realized that a lot of the performances we had on tape were remarkably good and very much worth releasing to the general public in a format other than the YouTube videos we’ve been doing. We started a dialogue with some of the artists to see whether this was something they’d be agreeable to. And they’ve jumped at the opportunity, so we’ve got their music up and ready for you.

Basically, our thought has been to offer another resource to the artist, with no cost to them, that they in turn could offer to their fans. And they, the artists, receive a direct split of any proceeds (with no deductions for packaging or distribution or damage, etc etc). The world is full of places which will try to charge the artist something for an opportunity to market their own songs (which they already own, after all), and we figured this was something we could do to give indie artists a leg up.

For everyone else, it means we can enjoy the highlights of some of our favourite shows whenever we want, with all the energy of being live-in-the-moment. The live music is remixed and even mastered to make it as high quality as possible – but it’s still LIVE, with no auto-tuning and no edits or punch-ins; this is as natural as granola in the morning. And we all as fans can keep these live performances on our iPods or computers or whatever as long as we want to.

It’s kinda like nabbing a bootleg recording, except the quality is really good and the artist isn’t getting ripped off in the process.

Did you miss an artist you really wanted to see? Do you want to re-live the fabulous evening you had at Streaming Café? Check out our store – the artist you’re looking for may already have their music available there, and we’re adding new ones virtually every week. http://store.streamingcafe.net/

Video Overview of September Shows

by Michael Donley
The month of September brings us a great line-up of performances. We've put together an overview of videos and info so you can get to know the artists.

SEPTEMBER 3rd – Jen Lane with special guest Smokekiller
Jen Lane from Saskatoon, SK performed at the cafe during the 2010 Break West Festival last October. This year Jen was nominated for a WCMA: Roots Solo Recording of the Year. Her 2010 release For The Night was produced and engineered by Vancouver`s Steven Drake, known for his work with The Hip, Michelle Wright and The Odds to name a few.

"Imagine Sarah Harmer going back in time and recording an album in the '70s"
Kevin Kane, the Grapes of Wrath

Jen is joined by Smokekiller aka John Antoniuk, who has performed across the country and showcased at such prestigious music evernts as SXSW and NXNE.


SEPTEMBER 10th – Paper Beat Scissors with special guests Zombifyus
Paper Beat Scissors is the project of relocated Brit Tim Crabtree, following his move to Halifax, Nova Scotia in 2008. The last two years have seen national Canadian and European tours, national radio play on CBC and BBC. Juno awarded and Polaris Prize Nominated musician Mike Feuerstack (Snailhouse, Bell Orchestre) just finished recording his debut full length album that will be released in 2011.
Check out this amazing stop motion video of his directed by Chris Tootell, animator for Coraline, Tim Burton's Corpse Bride and Aardman.

Flicker (dir: animator from Coraline using a canon rebel and a plank of wood) from Chris Tootell on Vimeo.

Saskatoon, SK electronic music duo Zombifyus joins PBS on September 10th. Members Bennett Dobni and Josh Feldman are prodigious students of the art of digital and analog synthesis, sample collaging, and audio production. Dobni and Feldman debuted Zombifyus during VF3, sharing the stage with Canada's beloved Chad Vanglaalen.

SEPTEMBER 17th – My Dearest Friends – PLAY FOR CHANGE DAY
My Dearest Friends hail from the west coast of BC and features some members from past bands that have appeared at Streaming Cafe; Prairie Dance Club & Zaac Pick. They describe their sound as falling between The Beach Boys and Reed Rothchild.
This show is also part of the PLAY FOR CHANGE DAY, a non-profit organization that is bringing music education programs to children around the world.

Here’s a steam of one of their tunes.


SEPTEMBER 24th – Steph Macpherson with special guest Omar & the Bear
Splice Stevie Nicks, Sarah Harmer and Jeff Tweedy into one musical entity, sprinkle in Feist's charm, and you have Victoria native, Steph Macpherson's deadly-infectious, harmony-saturated folk/pop style. Steph released her Folk/Pop EP “To You” in Nov. ’09 resulting in 2010 performances that included: Lilith Fair, Western Canadian Music Awards, Rifflandia Festival, Blue Sky Festival, 100.5FM the PEAK Performance Project Top 20, Canadian Music Week in Toronto and two Western Canada tours.


Omar And The Bear perform an opening set for Steph on the 24th. Calgary based Omar And The Bear is brain child of front man Oliver Thiessan and carry a classic folk sound with a modern twist.


OCTOBER 1st – Snailhouse
Very happy to have a solo performace from Snailhouse at the cafe on October 1st. Feuerstack is a singer/songwriter and guitarist who works on his own music and contributes greatly to the projects of others. He plays guitar in the band Wooden Stars, which won a Juno with Julie Doiron for their alternative album Julie Doiron and the Wooden Stars. Snailhouse, the full band version, has included Gara on drums and fellow Arcade Fire alumnus Sarah Neufeld on violin. Mike Feuerstack has toured extensively with both Catherine MacClellanand Olympic Symphonium Feuerstack is part of the band Bell Orchestre. Feuerstack/Snailhouse’s album Lies on the Prize was nominated for a 2009 Polaris prize.


As always if you can't make it out to the cafe in Kelowna to watch these shows in-person, watch them streamed live online at 7pm and send in your questions directly to the artists via our live chat.

Playing For Change Day - My Dearest Friends with Brent Tyler

by Malcolm Petch

In a town like Kelowna it is not uncommon to see buskers doing their thing in various locations, especially during the summer months. Voices raised above the downtown traffic, guitar chords spilling out into the streets, instrument cases open to catch coins and bills dropped by passing tourists. You could say these street artists are playing for change.

On September 17, “playing for change” takes on a different meaning when artists and individuals around the world kick into gear for the first annual Playing For Change Day. Playing For Change, in this sense, is “a creative day of action that uses the universal power of music to create positive social change” – and it’s the brainchild of the Playing For Change Foundation, an organization dedicated to connecting the world through music.

Do you remember that viral video from a while back in which various singers and musicians from around the world each played a few moments of the same song (‘Stand by Me’, I think) and then those moments were all put together into one woven-together masterpiece? That was one small slice of a larger documentary being made on music around the world, and that was the start of Playing For Change. The filmmakers involved in that project found themselves getting inexorably connected to the music and people of each community they spent time in, and they came to the conclusion that they wouldn’t be able to simply walk away from it all once their documentary was completed. The film crew found that even in the poorest of villages the people around them were filled with warmth and generosity, and seemed to have in common a prevailing connection through music.

The Playing For Change Foundation formed out of that experience, and now pursues its mission to ensure that anyone with the desire to receive a music education would have the opportunity to do so. There are at least seven different PFC music schools in operation now, from Ghana to Rwanda to Nepal, and there’s no indication that expansion is going to change anytime soon.

On September 17 artists around the world are touting the benefits of this Foundation’s mission to the world. Playing For Change Day will see stages and venues around the world raising funds and awareness for this non-profit organization, and Kelowna will be right up there among them. The theme for this year’s push is “Power To The People”, taking its inspiration from the activism of John Lennon and Yoko Ono in support of the arts and arts education. Theatre Within, Yoko Ono’s ongoing arts education organization, are also benefiting from funds raised on PFC Day.

Canadian indie band My Dear Friends are appearing with Brent Tyler at Streaming Café on September 17. They’ve decided to make their gig that night part of PFC Day, and they invite long-time fans and fresh ears alike to enjoy their music in person (596 Leon Ave in Kelowna) or online (streamingcafe.net) and to join in wholeheartedly to this world-wide day of awareness and action.

For more information on Playing For Change you can visit http://playingforchange.org/ and http://playingforchange.org/news/detail/announcing_the_1st_annual_playing_for_change_day_on_september_17th and for more on My Dear Friends & Brent Tyler, you can find them at http://brentyler.com// and http://www.myspace.com/mydearestfriends

See you on the 17^th!

Snailhouse; Feuerstack’s songwriting gifts

by Malcolm Petch

Snailhouse is booked to play Streaming Café on October 1. What the heck is a snailhouse? “Snailhouse,” according to his bio, “is an ongoing collection of songs by Montreal-based Mike Feuerstack”.

Feuerstack is a singer/songwriter and guitarist who works on his own music and contributes greatly to the projects of others. And he’s got one of the best-written blogs around – it’s easy to tell this guy loves words.

If you’ve never heard of Snailhouse or Fuerstack before, perhaps an overview of some of his connections will help you place him in the circle of Canadian musicians. He’s been producing a new Paper Beat Scissors album (PBS is Tim Crabtree, at SC on Sept 10), which is being mixed by Jeremy Gara of Arcade Fire. He plays guitar in the band Wooden Stars, which won a Juno with Julie Doiron for their alternative album Julie Doiron and the Wooden Stars. Snailhouse, the full band version, has included Gara on drums and fellow Arcade Fire alumnus Sarah Neufeld on violin. Mike Feuerstack has toured extensively with both Catherine MacClellan and Olympic Symphonium (at SC back on May 8, 2010) and, in fact, has OS members Kyle Cunjack and Nick Cobham as part of the big-band version of Snailhouse. Feuerstack is part of the band Bell Orchestre. Feuerstack/Snailhouse’s album Lies on the Prize was nominated for a 2009 Polaris prize. And Snailhouse is now in the entourage of record label White Whale.

The list could go on, but hopefully the picture is getting clearer. This guy knows his stuff, and respected people around him know that he knows his stuff, and call on him regularly to contribute his stuff to their stuff.

Actually, Snailhouse itself could be called a contribution project. Mike writes the songs, and pulls in his friends to help him when he records his music and tours. And his songs are variously classed as “a bit ‘pop’” and “lo-fi” and various other monikers, but the best way to get the sense of what Snailhouse is all about is to listen to the music directly. Several of his albums are on bandcamp (for example, http://snailhouse.bandcamp.com/album/lies-on-the-prize), available both for purchase and for listening.

One thing that seems to strike everyone on deeper listen is the word-craft that has gone into this music. “…his honest, poetic lyricism and dark, brooding vocals completely captivates you as a listener,” says Jessica Russell of TV Guide. “…another collection of Mike Feuerstack’s intricately constructed, beautifully-written songs. Feuerstack’s lyrics are as witty as ever…” says Kate Harper from CHARTattack. And from Alexandra Davis of Here: “Listening to Sentimental Gentleman will make you wonder why the force behind Snailhouse, Mike Feuerstack, isn’t better known. The music and vocals are lovely, but it’s the insightful and clever lyrics that take the album from good to great, as Feuerstack weaves captivating stories about love, dreams and success.”

Exclaim magazine described Feuerstack’s Wooden Stars as ‘engimatic music nerds’ back in 1999, noting, though, the band’s Juno win with Julie Doiron and Feuerstack’s edging toward simplicity since that time.

With the rave reviews coming in as a result of his new album, Sentimental Gentlemen, Mike Feuerstack’s Snailhouse project seems to be around for the long haul. His show at Streaming Café on October 1 promises to be an evening of great music in a listening-room setting. It’s not every week that we get to hob-knob with an alternative-acoustic-pop artist who’s been playing alternative rock shows with well-known acts for more than a decade. We are definitely looking forward to the show!