Julie Doiron Across the World

Julie Doiron is one of Canada’s long-time indie darlings. The music is charming & tender but not shying away from her more electric roots. It successfully crosses back and forth between atmospheric and raw to quirky indie rock. She can make you contemplate the deeper issues and then make you smile on the next track. It’s these kinds of things that show Julie Doiron is a musician with a little bit of experience under her belt. Julie can be found on the scene in the early 90s as the bassist & vocalist of Eric’s Trip. Since then, Julie Doiron has released several solo albums including the most recent  ‘I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day’ in March of 2009. It doesn’t take a long time before you realize that Julie Doiron makes music because she loves making music.  It seems to be that kind of integrity behind the creation that draws people to her music and keeps them coming back for more.  Maybe that’s why the mayor of Bruno, SK, named June 7th ‘Julie Doiron Day‘ after her sold out concert in the town of only 600. There’s a connection between Julie and her fans that has been going strong for many years.   

I’m sure we can all relate to creating a mud monster friend with our own pulled teeth.

Julie joined us at The Streaming Cafe in January and is now gearing up to perform in the Cultural Olympiad in Vancouver during the 2010 Olympics. After that she will be taking on Japan & China through the first half of March.  I think it’s pretty clear that Julie is doing what it takes to get her music heard by the world.

Speaking of the Cultural Olympiad, I must point out what an impressive event that is in and of itself. With all the hype about speed skating, skiing, and, of course, hockey, it’s easy to overlook everything else going on in Vancouver over the coming weeks. Not only will the world’s finest athletes be flocking to Vancouver but so will many of the world’s finest artists. Feist, City and Colour, Steve Earle, Joel Plaskett, Stars, Florence K, The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, & The Kronos Quartet are just a few of the artists performing. It’s great to see such a large selection of Canadian artists providing entertainment for the events. Canada has a rich collective of music & arts, and I think the Olympics are going to serve as a canvas for Canadian culture - and I don’t mean just hockey.  

Aaron

A.A. Bondy and listening to new music

I’ve been listening to a few new artists in the last few weeks. I think we all go through times where we want to here stuff we already know and through other times where we want something new. Our new tech/ flash/ iphone team member Aaron got me into this artist A.A. Bondy. I’m really digging it so far. I’ve listened to his most recent album “When the Devil’s Loose” quite a bit and I just got his older, more critically acclaimed album “American Hearts.” He’s sort of a mix between Andrew Bird and Pedro the Lion / David Bazan. I saw a video of him on Hearya.com which was awesome and so I bought the album. Music is always an impulse buy. 

I’ve also been getting into the Dirty Projectors, a very popular band in my circle of friends, but something I’ve never really gotten into. There sound is much more outside the box, with crazy off time drumming and vocal melodies.  Amidst the madness is something beautiful though, something very intelligent. If you want something new I'd encourage you to check them out. 

thanks for reading, 

Zach

David Wilcox's Musical Medicine.

David Wilcox, a great folk singer from the States, is an amazing performer and poet. We had the pleasure of hosting David in the early days of the cafe. His intimate performance was captivating, spiritual and life giving, yet it had its more light hearted side. We have a podcast out this week featuring David which you can download on Itunes just search for "Streaming Cafe." Here is the funnier side of David, as he does the voice over for our Friends over at Sayvee.

But on the more serious note Davidwilcox.com has this amazing section which he calls Musical Medicine. It's really an cool thing. He's listed a bunch of his songs by mood, so you can listen to all David's song on love, heartbreak, addiction, etc. This is really worth checking out. Here is the link: http://davidwilcox.com/?page=cds&category=01--MUSICAL_MEDICINE&display=2006

From the musical medicine section entitled "inspiration for these economic hard times" here is David Wilcox from his performance at the Streaming Cafe. 

thanks for reading,

Zach

James Lamb

I found myself checking out the Vancouver indie music scene and stumbled upon ronatron.net a sweet blog with articles and show reviews on tons of Vancouver bands. On the homepage I noticed a "top ten artists" and as I scrolled down I was very pleased to see 3 Streaming Cafe artist's in the top 10: The Painted Birds, James Lamb and David Blair. very cool. 

As I began reading reviews and exploring the site I stopped at "Erica Mah and James Lamb at the Railway Club." Enticed by Ronatron's great writing, I noticed that the review captured many of the same thoughts I'd had when James Lamb and band played at the Streaming Cafe. From the "beautiful melodies and memorable lyrics" to James Lamb's ability to "inspire others to craft their own art, and his inviting personality on stage make it easier for others to believe they can follow in his footsteps." Check out http://www.ronatron.net/erica-mah-and-james-lamb-at-the-railway-club/ for the full show review. 

For those of you that missed the show, check out this video of James Lamb,

thanks for reading, 

Zach

A retweet of HeroHill's top Lp's of 2009.

Just stumbled across this site yesterday, herohill.com. I love it. They're really devoted to Canadian music. Here are the top five records they named for 2009. Since I did a blog on the artists with LP's that have played the cafe, I thought this would be interesting.

5

Band:: Joel Plaskett

Album:: Three

Review:: http://www.herohill.com/2009/03/contests-win-joel-plasketts-three-part.htm

4

Band:: Dan Mangan

Album:: Nice, Nice, Very Nice

Review:: http://www.herohill.com/2009/07/reviews-dan-mangan-nice-nice-very-nice.h

3

Band:: Ohbijou

Album:: Beacons

Review::http://www.herohill.com/2009/06/

reviews-ohbijou-beacons.htm

2 Band:: Daniel, Fred & Julie

Album:: self titled

Review:: http://www.herohill.com/2009/11/reviews-daniel-fred-julie.htm

1

Band:: Timber Timbre

Album:: self titled

Review:: http://www.herohill.com/2009/01/reviews-timber-timbre.htm

AS you might notice Daniel, Fred and Julie clocked in at #2, which is exciting because we have the Julie, Julie Doiron playing tomorrow live. I've been excited about it all week. 

Zach