by Tiana Feng

Happy New Year from Ride the Tempo!

Looks like the world didn’t end and we made it to 2013. Yay!  Happy New Year. Thank you all for sticking with us for almost three years.  Anyways, I wanted to announce a couple of exciting new changes and things coming up in 2013.

Album Reviews
Last year, we tried to do video album reviews, but those not only took too much time to write/film/edit, looking back on them, they were kind of horrible. Therefore, we are bringing written album reviews which will provide an insightful look into this year’s new music. We’ll also be introducing a 5 star rating system.

News
In the past, all our posts focused around spreading an mp3 or track and we never really posted tour dates. This year we want to change that. We’ll keep you updated on the tours of your favourite Canadian artists when possible since there is no greater experience than live performances.

Youtube Videos
You won’t see any of those weird album reviews, but we will have more live concert videos, interviews and I have an idea for an original series I want to try with bands.

Contributors
There has always been contributors to Ride the Tempo, but this year you will see a bit more. Each one will have their own tastes on music, albums, concerts etc. We also hope to expand Canada wide so if you have a passion for Canadian music and happen to live in the west or mid-Canada, we’re always looking for more people.

Layout
This year the layout of the blog may change. Not sure what exactly is going to happen yet or when, but if you suddenly feel like you’ve been transported elsewhere, don’t worry, we have just changed the look.

There probably will be more cool things to come, but that’s what we’re sure of as of now. Depending on how my life flows, I may throw the first Ride the Tempo show in Toronto. Plus, we will have pump much more concert reviews, tracks etc from more Canadian talent.  Stay tuned this week for our Best of 2012 lists.

by Tiana Feng

Here’s some remixes to pump up your Sunday. Like for example, I will be gearing up to head to a water gun fight/capture the flag thing for Buying Shots For Bands’ anniversary.

by Tiana Feng

Hey you musicians out there! Want to win some recording time? Canadian Club is sponsoring this contest for free recording time and gear. This is what you can win:

First Prize: 3 demo songs recorded, mixed and mastered in Toronto. $3000 for transit to Toronto (or gear if you already live in Toronto). It’s actually $3000 in Visa gift card money so you can buy whatever the hell you like.

Voter Prize:The winner of the voter prize will receive two Ticketmaster gift cards valued at $300

Judging for the first prize will be based on votes as well as a judging panel score. You must be legal drinking age to enter. Submission deadline is August, 27, 2012.

Here are the songs you can choose from to cover:
“Superman’s Dead” by Our Lady Peace
“Striptease” by Hawksley Workman
“Fat Lip” by Sum 41
“Steal My Sunshine” by Len; and
“Pullin’ Punches” by The Arkells

You can watch them all here on the Canadian Club contest page. You must like the page to see all the details. Good luck, and let me know if you submit something.. I’d love to check it out!

by Tiana Feng

Summer always welcomes the shoegaze genre and Montreal’s No Joy is no stranger to the sound. This song comes off an upcoming EP called Negaverse to be released June 19.

Ps. Will be blogging on my iPad and phone for a little while, please let me know if anything isn’t working correctly.

by Nash Bussieres

I think we can all agree that that picture is awesome. Scab Smoker and this song are pretty awesome too. Vocally, it’s equal parts Iron Age and The Sweet with a Phil Collins-esque level of reverb. I never thought that’s a sentence I’d ever write. I’m still not 100% sure what it means.

An extremely long and subdued (relative to the rest of the song, at least) middle section breaks up a pseudo-thrash intro and outro and works even though it shouldn’t. Definitely one of the more interesting songs I’ve heard in the last few months.
Scab Smoker- Butcher of Daemons
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by Tiana Feng
Yesterday was the Toronto Music Industry Association’s first workshop and it focused on artist management. It was hosted by a good looking dude, Scott Honsberger of EMI Publishing Canada and the main dude behind organizing the TMIA.

I learned a lot from the workshop. It was more helpful than school in a way because these are people that are currently managing artists. Here are some quotes I took away from the night and maybe this will be helpful to all you artists out there! Continue Reading

by Tiana Feng

Are you an artist who has this problem? Head over to Teepoo’s Scribbles to read some tips on how to keep your limbs painless!