“Wait For Love” by St. Lucia

This song couldn’t come at a more perfect time in my life. You know when music just speaks to you on some different level? When you just connect with a song, and within the first 20 seconds, you know that song will stick to you like a melted rice-krispy square for the next while.

For the past 2 years, I’ve considered St. Lucia to be one of my summer bands of choice. They have this graceful yet upbeat sounds, that usually puts me in a darn good mood. Even though it feels like winter out, this song is no exception to that feeling. Take a listen and see what you think.

Cool Covers: “Get Lucky”- George Barnett (Daft Punk)

This song is still just going and going…

I’ve heard A LOT of covers of this song and this is definitely up there with the favourites. George Barnett covers Daft Punk but removes a bit of the disco and replaces it with a little more edge. The ONLY thing I dislike is that weird “I’m in a club” horn. Other than that, I love his voice, the shakers, the guitar, the drums and even the little electronic break down. This cover is definitely worth a listen.

A+ for bedroom recordings too.

Mini Getaway: Mobile Reality Gaming

Back in 2010, Stockholm, Sweden was transformed into a living game board for seven days and nights as games were brought to life with the MINI Getaway Campaign. This large scale, capture-the-flag game, challenged players to hunt and catch a virtual car while staying 50 meters away from all other participants. The prize: a brand new MINI Countryman. The campaign was created by the advertising agency Jung von Matt and mobile agency Monterosa to introduce the new car. The video below describes the game in detail.

MINI hit the bulls-eye with this innovative campaign, engaging over 11,000 players, making countless impressions and reaching over 100,000 blogs worldwide. After seeing such large success the first time around, would it be a smart idea for MINI to reuse the game in another location, or should they quit while they were ahead?

In late 2011, the Getaway Game moved over to Japan, this time giving away one of their already popular cars, the MINI Cooper Coupe. The initial concept was exactly the same as the Stockholm version, with a few changes, including an expansion of the game playing area, the addition of two more days, and Android phone app functionality, allowing more people to get involved.

How well do you think this would do a second time around; Would it be just as popular in another city? And is this still “press worthy”? See the Japanese Game results and why or why not repeating an idea can benefit your brand [here].

Keloha Fest 2013

Last year I had the privilege of going to Montreal QB for Osheaga, and it was definitely an amazing and unforgettable experience. This year, I was able to check out Keloha Fest in Kelowna BC, thanks to Canadian Club #mixedandready. Although the festival itself was smaller scale, the trip itself was truly unforgetable and definitely what summer should be all about.

I don’t want to get into the nitty gritty details of the trip, but I did want to comment on some of my experiences while there. Especially for those planning on making the trip as well.

First off, if you’re coming from somewhere like Toronto (like me) for the fest, make sure you make the trip worth your while and spend at LEAST a week on the West coast. I would even suggest spending half the time at the 3-day festival and the other half in Vancouver. This was my first trip to BC, and I felt like there was so much I would have wanted to do, but just didn’t get the time to do it. Secondly, if you’re staying in Kelowna, get a hotel right in the downtown area close to the festival grounds. There’s SO much to do in the area, including bike riding, paddle boating, wake boarding, grabbing drinks, ice-cream, walking on the beach, henna, shopping and more. Check out my friend Ian and I on the paddle boat below. I loved this part because while paddle boating, we could hear the festival and bands in the background. Kinda awesome.

The weather in BC was unreal for the festival weekend. Hot, but not muggy and not humid. If there was a definition for perfect summer weather, that would be it! Closer to the festival grounds there’s a beautiful walkway that goes along the boarder of the water. It was pretty surreal to just sit and watch the boats and all the activity happening. I would be  pretty content just sitting on a bench the whole weekend just to take in the beauty of it all. But i wouldn’t do that- there were things to be done, including the fest itself! Day 2 in Kelowna was festival day, where we also met up with Chelle Morgan from Discovering Elegance. When we arrived we headed straight to the Sand Stage, which was literally a stage on the sand. The stage was right beside the water which was awesome because we could stand in the water and watch the bands as well.

Here is where we saw a favourite band of mine, Humans.

The biggest difference between Osheaga and Keloha was definitely the atmosphere. Keloha has this relaxed, chill vibe that makes it really feel like an escape destination. No stress, just good summer vibes. Everyone was just calm and going with the flow. Osheaga is amazing for their line-ups, but while there it’s still pretty stressful making it from one stage to the other, sifting through aggravated crowds of people and never being able to make it close enough to see your favourite artists. Small scale festivals are where it’s at! Here we saw a bit of Capital Cities, SHAD and more, but we were definitely most excited for the headliners of the evening, Matt & Kim. I’ve always heard that they are great live, but they were way better that I expected. They were personable, interactive with the crowd, funny, and best of all, they have amazing danceable music. Definitely worth the trip just to see them!

Overall it was an amazing experience and it makes me want to start a tradition of seeing at least one music festival every summer. Mixed and Ready was amazing for sending us there and they actually have a contest running to have a lucky winner and a friend to check out The Grove festival this summer along with other great prizes. If you’re 19 or over and in Canada, you should check it out and enter [here].

“Ratchet”- Bloc Party

 

This is just a quick need to share.

New Bloc Party video out as of yesterday. If you love the band or can appreciate some awesome post production work, this is a must watch. Although it does look like a major glitch attack, it’s done in a really creative way that makes you want to know what’s going to happen next.

Hate the name of the song. Love the song itself. And the video.

Mini-Playlist of The Day

This mini-playlist is wonderful for those early Spring work days. Those days where you want to be outside but you can’t, because you’re stuck at a desk- like today! This collection of songs has a great combination of pretty chill beats, nothing too fast, nothing too slow. Most mix that with cool melodies, that make you feel all good inside (and not so terrible about sitting at that desk).

Mini-Playlist:

1. “Phone Sex”- Blood Diamonds ft. Grimes
2. “Not The Same”- Tanlines
3. “Velour”- Darius
4. “She Never Came Back”- College ft. Electric Youth