By Corina Pilay. Faint flashes of The Hip made the band sound more orchestrated and East Coast than most of the bands I have seen lately. A five piece band. Library gathered a decent crowd to the stage to enjoy their pop-folk tunes. It was also a swift transition since their full, indie-folk sound complimented Redgy Blackout quite a bit. No doubt, they are talented.

Wednesday December 14th Come one come all!! This will be a wonderful night of music presented in collaboration with The Biltmore Cabaret. The Reckoners will be performing as quartet with special guest Scott Smith on lapsteel, pedalsteel, and electric guitar and Jeremy Holmes on stand up bass, banjo, and mandoline. It is our final show of the season and we are very much looking forward to seeing everyone there!!

Cory Woodward will be performing with his new full band.

Peak Performance Top 20 artist for 2011 Redgy Blackout will also be performing!!

This is a unique opportunity to enjoy the best bands in the underground scene of Tokyo at the Biltmore Tuesday October 18.
Tokyo has the largest music scene of any city in the world and the music exemplifies its city’s bizarre, exotic and innovative qualities.
By Steven Tanaka.
Next Music From Tokyo featuring NATSUMEN / Akai Ko-en / Hyacca / chiina / the SSRIs.
Doors at 7:00pm, Free Japanese Food to the first 50 people.
Tickets $8.00 advance available online
Tuesday October 18th, 2011
@ Biltmore Cabaret
Japanese culture is ubiquitous in major cities across Canada with …

Guess who the people in the photos are and win tickets for Next Music From Tokyo concert taking place October 18 at The Biltmore with food included.

Shore 104.3FM Song Search (Night 1) @ the Biltmore, July 7, 2011
This past Thursday night was Shore 104.3FM’s first of two showcases for their 2011 Song Search, and I had the pleasure of being a part of it!  If you’re scratching your head asking yourself “What the deuce is the Shore 104 Song Search?”, well, the Shore’s Song Search is a songwriting contest that, basically, anyone in BC can enter for a chance to win recording time, cash, gear from Long & McQuade, radio airplay on Shore 104.3FM and much more. …

Their songs are exacting, often brief and always concise. You can choose to get down and cut-a-rug on the dance floor at a Sadies show.

The “He said, She said” tour will visit Vancouver on June 11

Review of Anvil and Sepultura shows. The band (Anvil) exploded onstage in a maelstrom of power chords and energy, with Lips leaping off stage to rock amongst the crowd for most of the first song, to the delight of the camera wielding fans.
This being the end of the North American Tour, Sepultura brought out members of Hate and the other bands for a metal Drum circle/jam session that reminded us of the tribal roots (bloody roots!!) of one of the most influential metal bands of our time.

Here are some recommendations for these upcoming months that we in vanmusic think you should check out before you die. Among the international artists Timbre is bringing to our city are Brendan Perry and Robin Guthrie from Dead Can Dance and Cocteau Twins respectively, from Japan Guitar Wolf and Cibo Matto, from Australia Arquitecture in Helsinki, from NY Thurston Moore from Sonic Youth among other popular bands. Anyways, we chose a couple of them for you, we left out Lykke Li and Adele because they are sold out and Killing Joke is canceled due to illness.

BAHAMAS TOURING U.S. IN SUPPORT OF CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED ALBUM, PINK STRAT
Afie Jurvanen isn’t from the Bahamas. He’s a Finnish-Canadian from Barrie–a working class town in rural Ontario. But his chosen epithet is fitting. Since 2009 he’s been making music under the name Bahamas–writing songs about sunsets, love affairs, and making out with girls with crooked smiles. Through simple arrangements, he charts an escape route from the snow belt to the coral reefs.
Bahamas will be embarking on a short U.S. Tour, including 10 dates primarily on the West Coast and …

By Ana Elena Garza
Last Friday April 29th genuine Menomena followers gathered at the Biltmore for an excellent and professional live performance. Halfway through the set, the soaked in sweat Justin Harris was thrilled with the palpable response to the band’s latest album Mines: “The question is…why aren’t you at the Fleet Foxes?” he asked.

Fed by the crowd’s energy, constant singing-a-long and dancing, the band delivered a flawless rock show. The multi-talented musicians rocked with smooth song transitions and their distinctive bass and sax gripping sound filled-up the Biltmore and the fans’ expectations. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Menomena selling-out at the Commodore Ballroom in their next visit…they are definitely on their way to filling arenas.

Menom­ena are an exper­i­men­tal rock band from Port­land, Ore­gon, made up of Brent Knopf on gui­tar, key­boards, and glock­en­spiel; Justin Har­ris on bass, gui­tar, bari­tone sax and alto sax; and Danny Seim on per­cus­sion. All mem­bers of the band share singing duties.

This party was a wild one. Its always nice when you get to see your friends showcase their talent in a gig. I knew the show was going to be mad when I saw Sex With Strangers sharing the bill with Joyce Collingwood and Run with the Heard. In addition Guilty about Girls was spinning pretty cool dancing tunes. All of the Vanmusic crew was there partying with a lot of familiar faces. The crowd was already fired up when Sex With Strangers took the stage, plus they had time to drink their booze.

The saga continues in the near future of the Pacific Northwest, THE NEW FRONTIER. Sex with Strangers explores love and war with their new production, now 7 years after the final explosion an inevitable clash between The Futurists and the New Pioneers is quickly approaching. No, It is not Asimov’s Sci-fi, it is a conceptual CD about a love story that takes place after our time. But it left me wondering where are the robots? Luring behind the walls of the losts cities? Or maybe, just maybe “The new pioneers” are not what they say they are or supposed to be. The answer might be inside the lyrics of the new SWS production.

Diamond Rings isn’t showing any signs of slowing down in 2011 after a year that saw him go from curiosity to pop-star in just a few months. In December he announced that he’d be supporting Robyn on her 2011 North America tour that started in January. Diamond Rings toured with Robyn for the first part of the tour and now he is on the road through April on a co-headline tour with Canadian pals PS I Love You.