Adri Music & Blog, Canadian Female Indie Electronica. - Other People's Music

Soulstice 2007

nospam@example.com (Adri) — Wed, 30 May 2007 11:46:27 -0700

This Saturday June 2nd at 8PM the choir I belong to is having a big concert at the Chan Centre in Vancouver. We are fun and funky group -- a multi-belief choir singing sacred music from the many faiths around the world. Our fearless director Brian Tate is a super talented guy, full of passion and entertaining gesticulation. We have a great set list, with lots of fabulous soloists and great arrangements you are unlikely to hear anywhere else. The evening promises to be an inspiring and groovy ride!

Tickets are available through ticketmaster, and also most likely at the door.

IdealSounds From my Speakers

nospam@example.com (Adri) — Wed, 16 May 2007 11:05:51 -0700

Lately I've taken to listening to the stations at IdealSound.ca - particularly their VinylSlot stream... in iTunes it's described as "A Slutty Blend of House, Electro, Breaks, Progressive and More." I'm a bit particular about how I like my house flavoured, and this stream meets my critearia for awesomeness. It's also got a huge amount of variety, it can be radically different from hour to hour, yet consistently good. What's not to like about that?

I think my cats like it too, as they keep congregating around the speakers when I listen to it.

Musically Satisfying Saturday

nospam@example.com (Adri) — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 14:37:57 -0700

Saturday was really musically satisfying. Sometimes you just have a day that is so musically satisfying that you might as well been having great sex all day. Maybe you are touched by the fire of inspiration, or perhaps you witnessed musical greatness. These days are hard to forget.

In the daytime I did a vocal workshop with the wonderful and magical Brian Tate, giver of help and guardian angel of person suffering from musical blockages. He has been teaching me and others how to improvise, how to free our voices and get out of our own darn way. In my musical history I was at one time so paralyzed with fear and anxiety that I could hardly utter a sound when singing. I've definitely made progress in this area, to the point that I'm almost loathe to talk about it in case I jinx myself... But then aren't we all just a work in progress?

In the evening I was lucky enough to join some dear old friends to see an Air concert. I have had a long standing love-affair with Air's music for years. Ever since their killer tongue in cheek ambient album Moon Safari I can't get enough of their music. Last time I saw them was at the Commodore and they pulverized the minds of the whole crowd and played about five encores. It was one of the very best shows I've ever seen hands down. Surprisingly, this show was in a smaller venue, at Richards on Richards. It was a great show, full of exciting new material and favourite classics... and completely different from the last one. I had a really great time.

To my great delight, the fabulous Kate Havnevik was opening for Air. I really love her music. Her show was great. She was funny and charming onstage and that only made me like her more. After her set, she was selling her own merch and I picked up her new CD. She was very friendly and we had a brief chat where she mentioned that us electronic music girls have to stick together... I couldn't agree more.

For it's true, making electronic music as a girl, you are unlikely to run into many others -- especially not in these parts. Sometimes it gets a little lonely, and you start to wonder if anybody ever 'gets' you... But deep down I know I'm not alone.

Musicovery

nospam@example.com (Adri) — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 19:13:45 -0800

Yay! Musicovery is back online... For a while it got so popular it went down. Now it's back! What a cool way to listen to tunes -- you pick the genre/mood and it gives you this funky graphic floral themed stream of music.

The only downside is a few of the genres are a little short on playlist content. Hopefully that will improve as the site ages...?

The Future of Music

nospam@example.com (Adri) — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 12:10:20 -0700

I'm reading about the future of the music industry and it's very exciting.

There's never been a better time to be an indie artist... Get an eyefull here.

I Love Good Music Lists!

nospam@example.com (Adri) — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 23:17:00 -0700

So I've been foraging about the net looking for good music lately. Yesterday, I came across a list which really delighted me: From Blown Speakers' list of local favourite bands (as compiled by doing an informal poll of some bloggers). It's a great list to peruse if you want to check out some local hotness but don't feel like sifting through an enormous mountain. I really like lists like this that have been edited by others, but not excessively filtered by the uber-mainstream. They form a good starting point for finding something that's both awesome and slightly less common. The only thing that could have made this list better for me is if it included an album I made -- except that I didn't release in 2005 so that's a moot point.

That list was actually inspired by another list, I Heart Music's 33 Hottest Bands in Canada list which is totally fantasitc. That list was actually inspired by Information Leafblower's Top 40 Bands in America Today - 2005 Edition which also has some great artists on it.

I love it when something great inspires something else great, which in turn does the same. What more can a girl ask for?

Even More Collaboration

nospam@example.com (Adri) — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 20:17:00 -0700

To branch out some more, I did a songwriting co-writing workshop recently with two amazing teachers: Pat Pattison and Steve Seskin. They both come from a country music background which is really profoundly alien to my electronic music background. They are both really skilled songwriters and lyricists however, and I really respect the work they do. Country music is actually a genre that is really heavy on the lyrical quality so I think there is a lot I can learn from Country music songs. It's also one of the most popular genres of music in North America, far outselling electronic music (which I hear is selling very little here. Argh!!!)

Fear not, I'm not about to learn the pedal steel guitar or start wailing about my broken down pickup and how my girlfriend left me. But I did experience doing some practice co-writing with various different people of various musical backgrounds during the workshop, which was really cool. I really enjoyed sharing ideas and the synergy that happens when you write with someone else. The feeling of "I would never have made that on my own" is really compelling, and it makes me want to do it again.

Concerts this Weekend

nospam@example.com (Adri) — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 11:34:25 -0700

When I'm not working on my electronica material, I actually sing with a really groovy local choir. It's a choir that specializes in performing spiritual music from all around the world. Because there are so many flavours of spirituality on earth, we end up singing in a real variety of languages and styles. It's a really diverse group of awesome people and we can really rock the house. Our Director, Brian Tate, is extremely talented.

Personally, I really love spiritual music but I am not partial to practicing a religion. This is a way that I get to enjoy that, with a group of people who all have their own varied backgrounds and beliefs. How very Vancouver!

This Friday and Saturday, the 9th and the 10th of June, I invite you to join us for our Soulstice '06 concerts. The performances are at 8PM in Glad Tidings Church, 3456 Fraser in Vancouver B.C. For more information check out the Universal Gospel Choir website.

The Most Original Concept Album I've Heard to Date

nospam@example.com (Adri) — Fri, 02 Sep 2005 12:47:29 -0700

I am listening to a surprisingly listenable protest album titled "The Mechanics of Destruction" by electronic wizard Matthew Herbert/Radioboy. To my great delight he has sampled the objects representing the more sinister side of our modern Western culture. He's used these almost exclusively to make an album -- without the use of computer plugins. He built the first track entirely by sampling a McDonald's Big Mac meal. This album really makes a statement.

He is distributing it profit-free as mp3 downloads from www.themechanicsofdestruction.com.

To quote Matthew's essay accompanying the album "Since music is the organisation of noise, the selection and structuring of that noise becomes a metaphor for the organisation of a society."

If that is what this is, then it paints a dire picture of our society.

Audioscrobbling

nospam@example.com (Adri) — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 15:53:45 -0700

So one of my friends from Fidgital introduced me to a dynamite plugin for iTunes. It's called Audioscrobbler. It does something so cool I am sort of a loss for how to describe it...

Essentially, it tracks what excellent music you listen to and posts them to a really cute web page on their site.

It may sounds like another internet vanity power-user tool on the surface... But it can also help satisfy your insatiable apetite for genuinely good music recommendations. It will point out the users who are your 'musical neighbours' on the basis of statistical taste overlap. I love to peek and see what some stranger with good taste is digging lately. (Of course you can also spy on your friends' potentially questionable listening habits! ) lt can also generate a customized audio stream full of ear-candy you might like but don't already know.

It's also solid gold for the artists themselves. They can view which songs and albums people listened to most... Which is completely different than which singles are being jammed down our throats on the radio and which CDs are flying off the shelves fastest.. It's a totally different way of looking at music consumption.

Here is my very own user page, chock full of what I listened to today.

Music of the Urban Tribe

nospam@example.com (Adri) — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 22:43:12 -0700

I know a guy who doesn't like electronic music (probably more than one, sadly). He finds it cold. He really loves acoustic music and world music however. I tried to explain electronic music to him once... Basically, it's the music of the urban tribe. Communities gather together to enjoy it in the underground, and it's based around visceral rhythms with a general disregard for conventional 'rules'. Much of it is designed to induce an altered state in the listener. Hence the required repetitiveness in the aptly-named Trance music. In a way, these artists are really doing some urban version of the work that used to be done by Shamen in tribes. They are instigating dance and trance rituals.

To those who say electronic music is cold... Perhaps the instruments are machines, but they are still being played. A computer is just another instrument. The music is still someone responding to the urge to uniquely express themselves. In our modern urban society, it's no stretch that we might do so with electronics.