How do you make music that's both a "tip in the hat" to the rock 'n roll of the sixties, yet still fresh enough to stand out amongst today's clamouring indie throngs? The Velveteins know, it seems, at least according to Alberta Music Executive Director Chris Wynters. Take his word for it.

"XOXY" from the Edmonton psych-rockers' 2014 release Fresh Claws is the title track for this week's Capital City Records podcast.   

It was a heavy Alberta snowstorm that first led Steve Derpack to Edmonton indie-pop quartet, Nature Of. Without that storm, and a savvy Mercury Room sound-tech, Derpack might never have booked the band he’s been a fan of ever since. Hear the story in this week’s Capital City Records Podcast.

Steve Derpack is a co-founder of the Edmonton Music Awards, Executive Director with the Arts Touring Alliance of Alberta and the owner of JCL Productions.

Michael B. MacDonald, author, ethnomusicologist and assistant professor of music at MacEwan University, has known Tyler Butler for a long time. When asked to describe Tyler's music though, MacDonald still finds himself struggling to find proper words to justify the talent of the local folk musician. Tyler Butler's music gives you a feeling, MacDonald says, that reminds you what's "special about living in Edmonton."

"Anybody that's been away from Alberta and comes back, they know that emotional connection they have to western Canada, to the prairies. Tyler captures that and that's what's so special to me." 

The Col du Tourmalet is the highest paved mountain pass in the Pyrénées mountain range. It's challenged Tour de France riders for over 100 years and, not coincidentally, lends its name to a track from local rock outfit Electricity for Everybody's latest album, Local Technique. 

David Shepherd, Edmonton Centre MLA and avid cyclist, picked "Tourmalet", the album's title track, as his Song of the Week. The band's "catchy, big pop melodies" help fuel Shepherd's own cycling adventures, so why not join him in saying "farewell to summer" (okay, you might have already done that) and get motivated with "Tourmalet" by Electricity for Everybody.