CONTEST: Win an autographed copy of Ellie Goulding’s ‘Lights’

Want to win an autographed copy of Ellie Goulding’s debut album Lights?

Before we give you the details, if you haven’t yet, check out our interview with Ellie from last Spring, and the playlist she contributed.

There are two ways to enter.

1) Follow us on Twitter @asapmusicblog and RT this message:

RT @asapmusicblog: Ellie Goulding CD Giveaway – http://tinyurl.com/elliecontest – RT to win! #ellieasap

2) Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/asapmusicblog – find the Ellie Goulding contest status and “Like” it, and you’ll be entered to win!

Easy as 1, 2, 3. Good luck!

Thank you to elliegouldingfan.com for spreading the news about the contest. For fan generated content, and the most up-to-date happenings on Ellie, check them out! 🙂

Rules & Regulations: Contest will begin on January 3, 2012 and will end on January 12, 2012 – 11:59 PM (PST). There is one (1) autographed copy of Lights available as the grand prize. The winner will be chosen at random from either Twitter or Facebook, and contacted within 24 hours after contest closes. One entry per account.

INTERVIEW: Ellie Goulding

We had the opportunity to chat with the lovely Ellie Goulding days before her tour stop here in Vancouver, and chatted about touring, songwriting, and the follow-up to her debut album Lights. Check out her playlist contribution here and enjoy the interview!

asapmusicblog.ca: Just wanted to say, great performance on Jimmy Kimmel last night!

Ellie Goulding: Oh, thanks so much!

a: So Jimmy Kimmel was your first live TV performance on a US network, and you’re currently on your first North American tour. How has the experience been for you so far?

EG: It’s been great – it’s been kind of a rollercoaster of everything. There’s been moments where it’s been really tiring, and there’s been moments where it’s been absolutely insanely brilliant. I feel like it’s been a standard tour where you have a few dramas, like I had to cancel a show and I was kind of devastated – I got ill and run down, and I was very very busy. It’s been crazy. I’m happy to still be alive. (laughs)

CONTEST: Lights Acoustic

We here at asapmusicblog.ca are firm believers in sharing good music, and also strong supporters in buying our music. So we decided to share our extra copy of Light’s amazing acoustic album with one lucky winner. And we decided to throw in some Lights EP stickers for good measure!

Want to win? Here’s how.

Find us @asapmusicblog, and simply @ reply us and answer this:

Which of Lights songs would you have loved to see on the acoustic EP?

We’ll choose one random winner at random. Good luck! 🙂

Rules & Regulations: Contest will begin on August 6, 2010 and will end on August 11, 2010 – 11:59 PM (PST). Winner will be contacted within 24 hours after contest closes. There is one (1) copy of Lights Acoustic to win, and only one (1) entry per Twitter account is allowed.

CD REVIEW: Lights – Acoustic

Though Lights is best known for her usage of electronic and synth beats in her music, there is a lovely surprise within the simple packaging of her ‘Acoustic’ EP. Aptly named, it features a handful of tracks from her debut album as well as a previously unreleased song, ‘Romance Is…” and a cover of Rancid’s ‘Fall Back Down’.

After just one day of release, the ‘Acoustic’ EP has already found its way to #1 on the iTunes Canada chart, as well as cracking the top ten on the American iTunes. Impressive, but not surprising. This EP was the result of the extensive demand from fans, especially within the online Lights community.

Lights is often found performing acoustic versions of her own songs, and occasionally covers of songs that she adores via her Youtube account. The acoustic version of ‘February Air’ has been a staple on the set lists of her past few tours.

The EP is exactly what it presents itself to be: simple. The bareness of each of the tracks brings out the best of Lights, and the only downside is that there should be more songs.

Tracklisting:
1. River
2. February Air
3. Fall Back Down
4. Saviour
5. Romance Is…

P.S. For those of you who want a hard copy of the ‘Acoustic’ EP. Check back next week, we may have a giveway… 😉

LIGHTS & OWL CITY @ THE CENTRE

Fans were lined up down the block from The Centre early Friday afternoon in hopes of getting front row and center on the general admission floor to see Lights and Owl City. Due to popular demand, concert organizers had previously moved the venue from the original location at the Vogue Theatre to The Center in order to accommodate the fans. It was the first all-ages headlining show for both Lights and Owl City in Vancouver.

Warming up the crowd was Paper Route, a band from Nashville, Tennessee, who most recently toured with Paramore. The crowd was receptive to the band, but it was clear that there were a lot of Lights fans in the building waiting for her to hit the stage. Lights started off her set with the title track off of her debut album, ‘The Listening’. You can tell that the energy levels are especially high when Lights returns home to Vancouver, as she alluded to at several points in the night. With her band members Adam and Maurie, Lights charmed the crowd with her keytar (when it didn’t fail on her) in hand.

Before slowing things down with ‘Pretend’, Lights told the crowd the story of her keyboard, which was the first one she used and discovered and developed her love of electronic beats, and the ways she found she could use them in her music. Because the keyboard stays in Vancouver with her family, she rarely has the opportunity to play it. There was an endearing and tender moment on stage as Lights finished the song, and then proceeded to hug the keyboard.

Although Vancouver could not get enough of Lights, it was time for Owl City to hit the stage. And the building only got louder at that point.

The fans were feeding off of the high energy levels of Owl City, and lead singer Adam Young did the same. Just before singing his hit song, ‘Fireflies’, he stated his adoration for Vancouver, and that there was “something about Vancouver that reminds [him] about my little hometown in Minnesota” and that he wouldn’t mind moving here.

Part of Owl City is singer-songwriter Breanne Duren, who plays guitar and acts as backing vocals. Not only are the production levels high, but it is hard not be smitten with a backing band that has such talent… and a xylophone.

There’s no doubt that all the fans in the building, regardless of who they were there for, went home with at least a little smile on their faces.

LIGHT’S Setlist:

The Listening
Lions!
February Air
Face Up
Second Go
Ice
Pretend
Quiet
Saviour
In The Air Tonight (Phil Collins cover)
River
The Last Thing On Your Mind
Drive My Soul (Encore)

OWL CITY’s Setlist:

Umbrella beach(?)
The Bird & The Worm
On The Wing
Hot Air Balloon
Dear Vienna
Fuzzy Blue Lights
Cave In
This Is The Future
Dental Care
The Saltwater Room
Technicolor Phase
Fireflies
Meteor Shower
Vanilla Twilight
Tip Of The Iceberg
Hello Seattle (Encore)

** If you find any discrepancies in the setlists, please let us know. :)

SOTD: Ellie Goulding – Under The Sheets

Taking inspiration from the influx of international athletes, who are slowly taking over the city of Vancouver as the days draw closer to the Olympics, we thought we’d feature some international artists we’ve been obsessing over lately.

Ellie Goulding will be releasing her debut album (titled Lights) on March 1, 2010, and has already been catching listeners’ attention with the release of her first single, “Under The Sheets” late last year. The first official single off her debut album is “Starry Eyed”, which has already projected to make an impact on the UK charts.

There has been an ongoing electro-pop movement over the past year or so, with artists such as La Roux, Little Boots, Owl City, and Lights, among others– who have been making a great addition to this movement.

Goulding proves that she can hold her own among her peers in the same category, as she supported Little Boots on tour last year, and collaborated with Erik Hassle in covering Robyn’s “Be Mine”.

SOTD: Lights – February Air

Happy February everyone. 🙂 It seems appropriate to post this song as our SOTD. And if you can’t tell, we may have a thing for Lights…

SOTD: Lights – Ice

There are two official videos for Light’s song, ‘Ice’. The story behind the song having two videos is simple: Lights had a goal of making a video for all the songs from her self-titled EP, and decided to take that on herself. That resulted in the first version of the ‘Ice’ video, which Lights spent about $5.00 creating the props for herself.

The second video, which you can easily find on her official Youtube page, is a nice addition to her music video collection, and features a Lights-lookalike as the “evil” Lights. Both are good videos, but the first video (which you can check out below), better showcases one of the many artistic talents of Lights

Which one do you like better? 🙂

SOTD: Owl City – Vanilla Twilight

Owl City and Lights are getting ready to embark on their sold-out North American tour (with a chunk of UK dates in between) this week. For those of you who have tickets, we are jealous, and you are in for a great show.

There’s a certain quality of Owl City’s music that is simplistic, but at the same time magical. In listening to the lyrics of our SOTD ‘Vanilla Twilight’, you can feel the emotion in each of the words and somehow paint a picture with those words…

#musicmonday Artist Feature – TEN SECOND EPIC

Name: Ten Second Epic

Hometown: Edmonton, AB

Label: Black Box Recordings

Download this: ‘Everyday’

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It’s hard to resist the charm of a band that enjoys the $2.99 breakfast special at Bon’s, a gem of Vancouverites located in East Vancouver. Edmonton’s very own Ten Second Epic surely does have great taste for cheap eats. Of course, that comes from the hard work that the five-piece band has been through in the past seven years of being active in the Canadian music scene.

Ten Second Epic independently released their first album ‘One More For The Road’ back in 2004, then touring the Canadian dates of the Warped Tour that same year, to much fanfare. Their second album, ‘Count Yourself In’, was recorded in Gibsons, BC with producer Garth Richardson has been the band’s most successful album thus far.

Fast forward to 2009, the band released their third full-length studio album ‘Hometown’ back in January, and their latest single ‘Everyday’ (featuring fellow Canadian Lights) is currently in full rotation all over Muchmusic and radio stations alike. In support of their latest release, the boys of Ten Second Epic have been hard at work on the road, having toured most of this year with the likes of Thory of a Deadman, Silverstein, and The Februarys.

Though some are quick to point out that ‘Hometown’ is a slight departure from the rockier ways of their predecessors, the formulaic sound that makes Ten Second Epic unique is still there. The vocals of lead singer Andrew Usenik blends flawlessly with the heavy bass and punchy lyrics, especially in the first single ‘Welcome To Wherever You Are’ as well as in other standout tracks like ‘Cost La Vista’ and ‘Yours To Lose’.

There’s no doubt that Canadians will be seeing more of Ten Second Epic around, as they have all the makings of a hometown (or make that country) favourite.