On the same day Jimmy Choo launched his collection at H&M in Vancouver, DJ Tiesto (Former #1 DJ in the world, but still probably the world’s best known electronic DJ) played a free show at HMV Robson to promote his Kaleidoscope album before his actual concert last Saturday. Wristbands were supposed to be handed out at 11am that morning, however, my friend and I got there at 8am (Starbucks in hand). Luckily, the HMV man came by at 8:30am (in half-hour intervals) to hand out wristbands to cold Tiesto fans, so we didn’t have to wait the full three hours … or clog up the sidewalk. (However, if it means anything, I was fully prepared to wait the three hours if necessary…).

We came back in the evening, and his free set started at about 5pm. I was pleasantly surprised at how civil everyone was – a neat curving lineup around the corner onto Burrard street, and nicely looped back in the other direction (to not block the door at Off The Wall).  After the 45 minute concert, Tiesto had an autograph signing session.

Hope you enjoy my video clip from the event (Tiësto and Sneaky Sound System – I Will Be Here): 

Welcome to NESTEA’s “Chill on the Hill” event, happening on Saturday July 25th.  Think: live music, on-the-house virgin caipirinhas, lessons with Olympic athletes, beach volleyball, meet-and-greets with popular bands, half-pipe shows, live music, sun, snow, all at our very own beautiful Whistler, B.C.  The event is open to public of all ages, and because of the enormous complexity in delivering a snow and beach party, it will only be hitting the West Coast for one jam-packed fiesta. I had the opportunity to speak one-on-one with the brains behind the operation, NESTEA’s Wallace Leung. See our interview below to get a taste of what to expect before you arrive!

MMV: What was NESTEA’s goal with Chill on the Hill?

WL: “Canadians love being active, and they love the outdoors. We wanted to provide a refreshing possibility- thinking, wouldn’t it be cool to have snow, and do a bit of skiing, and have a beach concert, with bands playing… We thought, how would this look?”

MMV: What was your experience with Mont Treblant, the Quebec edition of NESTEA Chill on the Hill, which happened June 20?

WL: “It was cool to see people ready to go [in their snow gear], so early in the morning… In total, we had about 5,000 people out”!

MMV: What was participants’ favourite aspect of the experience in Quebec?

WL: It was quite varied! A lot of people, who came with their skis or snowboard, loved that experience of doing a bit of rails and jumps in the summer, and then others loved the opportunity to play beach volleyball, others would say the opportunity to hang out with Sam Roberts backstage… there were families there as well, who just enjoyed hanging out on the beach!”

MMV: How did you choose Whistler as your West-Coast venue?

WL: “Whistler is an absolute jewel! It is one of Western Canadas national treasures… Also, Whistler and Intrawest has been a longstanding partner with the Coca-Cola company, so it was really a great fit and a great venue.

MMV: What sets Whistler’s event apart from the Mont Treblant version?

WL: “For Whistler, the event is actually at the peak! We will truck the sand [for the beach courts] to the top, that’s a feat in itself! Also, we will have two bands playing, and it will happen all day this time… In Treblant, the event happened only at the base.”

MMV: What’s going on to achieve the snow theme? What kind of snow activities are offered, and how is there still snow on the mountain??!

WL: “The Whistler Operations team is managing that for us completely! They will get the snow from the glacier, bring it down, lay it out for us, and throughout the day they will manage the snow for us! Snow activities will include a boarding park, with rails and jumps, and there will also be a tricks competition, which two Olympians will help judge. They will also be running workshops!” (Ski and snowboard rentals will be available at the event).

For latest event updates, check out Chill on the Hill’s Facebook Page.

With a wide range of acts and an abundance of free shows available at various locations around Greater Vancouver for attendance, this year’s Vancouver International Jazz Festival failed to disappoint, living up to its reputation for being a perennially stellar event.

Recap of some highlights, all of them were free to attend:

• Hiromi Uehara’s Workshop, Tom Lee Granville: The eclectic avant-garde jazz musician’s concert was a cool $30, but her workshop was entertaining in its own right and free. She still played music and plinked on the piano, albeit without the rest of her band and likely with less of the usual stage presence that would be expected at a show. It was well worth it just to get a chance to have a chat with Hiromi, who for the record is perfectly fluent in English.

• Robin Nolan Trio, Gastown: Gastown was closed entirely during the first weekend of the festival to traffic, which makes for a fair-like setting in the middle of one of the grittier yet chic spots of downtown, complete with food vendors, non-homeless street performers and games with free prizes. Two stages were planted in the area, though I found the Water and Carrall intersection in front of Chill Winston, usually replete with traffic to be the much more ergonomic setup. Robin Nolan was a highlight for me with his gypsy style jazz guitar playing, including in his setlist a timely rendition of Michael Jackson.

• Mimi Snider, Capilano Suspension Bridge: The Vancouver-based vocal jazz musician was a welcome respite amongst the many “fusion”-type jazz acts that I was a patron to throughout most of the event. As always, the Cap bridge is free during the weekend of the festival, which is great if it’s your first time there in a while or if you bring some friends along as the bridge is about $20 to cross. Each way. It’s also a good idea to pre-eat and BYOB as the choices there are very pricey, but it’s definitely a captivating experience to listen to smooth jazz amidst the backdrop of trees and flowing rivers.

Last but not least, were the various acts at David Lam Park.  This is the venue with the largest audience and open field in the middle of upscale Yaletown, bordering the coastline. It also generally featured music that was the furthest thing from Jazz throughout the entire festival.

Christy Doran’s New Bag is more of a progressive rock/jazz virtuoso outfit, with a level of aggression in their sound that does not really befit the festival genre. 

Wil Campa y su Gran Union sounded like something you would hear in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico which was interesting at first, until they continued playing what was more or less the same thing for the entire duration.

Delhi 2 Dublin closed off the festival on Saturday and is a relatively big name amongst its peers on stage, playing a rather odd mix of Indian, electronica and dub. Again, not jazz, and hence true jazz connoisseurs would be disappointed, but if you arrive with an open appreciation for music it was a nice and hot summer day to pitch a lawn chair with a beer. The real highlight here was walking through the blue bouncy castle, which continuously ejected mist to make the near Nevada-desert temperatures bearable.

Looking forward to next year’s festival after the Olympics infrastructure is fully in place.

A week from now, on Sunday May 10th, trance is attempting to make its way back into Vancouver with a bang. For Vancouver’s resident trance fans, limited options for a night of electronic music on the town are the norm and long has the city’s scene now been dominated by hip hop & top 40. On May 10th, at the sleek and stylish Shine Nightclub in Gastown, DJs Eric Allen (and my personal friend!), Marty Palin and Danny Taylor (resident DJ in Taipei’s Ministry of Sound) are bringing back the trance sound. As the second of two trial trance nights, May 10th hopes to bring out enough trance fans to make the night a regular staple in Vancouver’s nightlife scene.

On May 10th, come down, dance, relax and enjoy a fresh new sound in one of the hottest clubs in the city!  With plenty of seating, an expansive main room and a smooth and relaxing second room, Shine is an ideal venue for this event and with your support hopes to hold many “Experience” Trance nights in the future.  As the event is on a Sunday night, parking downtown is easy and available. Cover is FREE before 11pm.  I’ll be there!

Click HERE for the Facebook Event.

For $88 (stupid Ticketmaster charges!!), I had at great time at the Armin Van Buuren concert last night at The Commodore – my second time seeing him live in Vancouver.  1000 people united for the same cause, dancing their Wednesday night away until 2 in the morning.  Wouldn’t expect anything less from the voted #1 Trance DJ of 2008 (by DJMag)!  Doors opened at 9:00pm for DJ Kevin Shui, a local Vancouverite who has previously opened for DJ Tiesto (the former #1 Trance DJ).  He was followed shortly after by DJ Jerome Isma-ae, who was playing his set when my friends and I arrived at around 10:30pm.

Armin Van Buuren opened with “Dust in the Wind” by Arnej [click here for my video] and encored with his own “Communication“.  Other familiar tracks he played included “Lost” by Sunlounger featuring Zara [click here for my video], the Adam K & Soha Remix of “Need to Feel Loved” by Reflekt, and “In and Out of Love” (Richard Durand Remix).  Overall, it was a great show although “general opinion” remarked that Armin Van Buuren should have played more vocal tracks which characterizes the trance genre, instead of  the harder progressive house towards the end.

A lot of MMV readers have previously asked me why I don’t incorporate more music articles onto this website.  But I can only write about what I know about – and I wouldn’t be able to write a “value-added” article about anything other than electronic dance music.  To be honest, I’m waiting for the Vancouver music scene to change towards electronic dance music.  In the past year, we’ve had several big name DJs (and up and coming DJs) play in our city including Tiesto, ATB, Above & Beyond, Deadmau5, Fedde Le Grand (”Put Your Hands Up For Detroit”) … and Kaskade is playing a sold out show tomorrow.  I can’t decide if this scene is getting more mainstream or if I am just more submersed into the culture – a bit of both, I think.  For example,  Deadmau5 was nominated for a Juno Award and his track with Kaskade “Move for Me” was played for a couple of weeks on the radio. Nontheless, the trance/house/electronic scene is still a relatively small community but maybe the exclusivity of this “underground” scene is what makes it all the more fun.

The newest technology in the 3rd generation iPod Shuffle is its “VoiceOver” function which tells you the artist name and song title, or the name of your playlist…in 14 different languages.  When your battery is running low, VoiceOver will announce that as well.  The controls of the new iPod shuffle are located on the earbud cord so it’s super convenient to quickly switch tracks and control the volume.  Lastly on the actual iPod Shuffle, the switch has three positions. Flip it to the left, and your music shuffles in a random order.  Flip it to the middle, and your songs play in order. And a quick flip to the right, turns the whole thing off.

At $99, it seems like the prices of the iPod just keeps getting lower as it becomes a staple accessory!

1. Life in Technicolor
2. Cemeteries of London
3. Lost!
4. 42
5. Lovers in Japan/Reign of Love
6. Yes
7. Viva La Vida
8. Violet Hill
9.  Strawberry Swing
10. Death and All His Friends

• Flo Rida Featuring T-Pain – Low
• Leona Lewis – Bleeding Love
• Alicia Keys – No One
• Lil Wayne Featuring Static Major – Lollipop
• Timbaland Featuring OneRepublic – Apologize
• Jordin Sparks Duet With Chris Brown – No Air
• Sara Bareilles – Love Song
• Usher Featuring Young Jeezy – Love in This Club
• Chris Brown – With You
• Chris Brown – Forever
• Ray J & Yung Berg – Sexy Can I
• Rihanna – Take a Bow
• Coldplay – Viva La Vida
• Katy Perry – I Kissed a Girl
• T.I. – Whatever You Like
• Rihanna – Disturbia
• Rihanna – Don’t Stop the Music
• Natasha Bedingfield – Pocketful of Sunshine
• Chris Brown Featuring T-Pain – Kiss Kiss
• Ne-Yo – Closer
• Colbie Caillat – Bubbly
• Mariah Carey – Touch My Body
• Madonna Featuring Justin Timberlake – 4 Minutes
• Pink – So What
• Finger Eleven – Paralyzer

Playlist.com happened to have a “Holiday Playlist” with fourteen awesome tracks on its main page, so I took those songs, compiled it into my own playlist, and embedded the music player into this blog entry:

1. Winter Song – Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson
2. All I want for Christmas is You – Mariah Carey
3. This Christmas – Chris Brown
4. Home for the Holidays – Perry Como
5. White Christmas – Katy Perry
6. My Only Wish (This Year) – Britney Spears
7. Blue Christmas – Elvis Presley
8. It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year – Andy Williams
9. I’ll Be Home for Christmas – Jordin Sparks
10. Mistletow – Colbie Calliat
11. Feliz Navidad – Jose Feliciano
12. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas – Christina Aguilera
13. Winter Wonderland – Johnny Mathis
14. Oh Holy Night – Kelly Clarkson

So yeah … enjoy it. This playlist will pretty much be the cherry on top of the icing to get you into the holiday spirit!

As you know, DJ Armin Van Buuren, the #1 trance DJ in the world, releases an annual CD collaborartion titled “A State of Trance”.

How does this relate to Vancouver? Armin Van Buuren came to Plush earlier this month to play two shows with the Friday show was completely sold out! The photo in this entry was taken by me at his Thursday October 9, 2008 show! Any excuse to post my amazing pictures up on Modern Mix Vancouver!

Since his concert, I have obtained his 2008 CD and have been listening to it non-stop and I finally feel like I have heard enough of his selection to be able to pick my favorites and I have included his track list below italicized the “general consensus” of the “most popular” tracks from ASOT 2008. I use those terms casually as everyone has their own taste in music, but the ones I have italicized are perhaps the more well known tracks.

Check out the Armin Van Buuren Myspace Page to listen to some of the featured tracks from ASOT 2008!

For those of you who are already listening, here is a track list for your convenience.

CD1: ON THE BEACH
1. Armin van Buuren feat. Jaren – Unforgivable (First State Remix)
2. DJ Tatana – Spring Breeze (Martin Roth SummerStyle Remix)
3. Mike Foyle – Bittersweet Nightshade
4. M6 – Amazon Dawn
5. Andy Moor – Fake Awake (The Blizzard Remix)
6. Blake Jarrell – Punta Del Este
7. Benya feat. Penny Nixon – Serendipity
8. Ohmna – Satori Waterfalls
9. Signalrunners feat. Julie Thompson – These Shoulders (Club Mix)
10. Myon & Shane 54 feat. Carrie Skipper – Vampire (Club Mix)
11. Julian Vincent – Certainty (Mark Otten Dub)
12. Tenishia feat. Tiff Lacey – Burning From The Inside (Tenishia’s Burning Dub)
13. Mr. Sam feat. ClAud9 – Cygnes
14. Lange – Out of the Sky (Kyau & Albert Remix

CD2: IN THE CLUB
1. Arnej feat. Josie – Strangers We’ve Become (Intro Tech Dub)
2. Sunlounger feat. Zara – Lost (Club Mix)
3. Offer Nissim – For your Love (Sied van Riel Remix)
4. Ilya Soloviev & Paul Miller – Lover Summer (Orjan Nilsen Remix)
5. Markus Schulz – The New World
6. Robert Nickson & Daniel Kandi – Rewire
7. Giuseppe Ottaviani – No More Alone
8. The Thrillseekers feat. Fisher – The Last Time (Simon Bostock Remix)
9. Stoneface & Terminal – Blueprint (Club Mix)
10. DJ Shah feat. Adrina Thorpe – Back To You (Aly & Fila Remix)
11. Andy Blueman – Time To Rest (Live Guitar by Eller van Buuren)
12. Thomas Bronzwaer – Certitude
13. 8 Wonders – The Return
14. Jochen Miller – Lost Connection
15. Armin van Buuren feat. Sharon Den Adel – In And Out of Love (Richard Durand Remix)