The show was extremely lively, filled with build-ups and guitar solos throughout, as well as a few of the more quiet moments in the show. Eric Johnson had a great live voice, as well as the background vocals of Sam Wagster whom plays the slide and lead guitar, and Ron Lewis who backs up the band on keys. The harmonies throughout the show and guitar riffs brought up some hints of Band of Horses, so after the show I asked the group what they thought it. “We have been told in the past that we sound like Band of Horses, and are also friends with them.” So it is no coincidence that the group has similar sounds, also due to the fact that both bands influences come from older country rock singers such as Neil Young.

Another noticeable point of the show was the grooving that took place behind the scenes with drummer Graeme Gibson and bassist Chris Sherman. The drumming was impeccable, with great fills and a nice blend with the music, and the same goes to say with the bass. It was obvious that the band had been playing together for years, since 1999, because they had every song and transition down to the second.

Fruit Bats also seemed to be a curious name, so I asked Eric Johnson after the show how the name originated, “I made it up as a joke a long time ago to put it on a 4 track sample, and the name just stuck, so we have kept it ever since.” The band just recently released a studio album titled The Ruminant Band and if it is half as good as the songs from it which were played live, then I would highly recommend going out and grabbing a copy. This show was my first at the square room, and definitely will not be my last, and hopefully we will be seeing the The Fruit Bats around here again soon.

Mother Father tore into their set with an intensity that brought the crowd in from their cigarette breaks. Mother Father pulled out all the stops, playing for the less than 200 people crowd as if they were the headliner of a 70000 person festival. The time and effort paid to craft the songs could be felt throughout the set. Each song came across as its own, showing that Mother Father showed attention to not duplicating themselves over and over again. Singer Dave Gahan soloed into the final song backed by reverberating chords. At this point Mother Fathercould’ve taken the crowd in any direction, but ended the set with a bang, which was hard to believe considering the amazing set they’d just run through.

Coming to the stage quietly Zaza floated into their set, blending each song into the next in a way that was reminiscent of the first half of Deerhunter’s Cryptograms album. Zaza‘s flowing set seemed to hypnotize the crowd. Kurt’s minimal drum set provided a great trail for bassist Jenny to give the band the low end of their down tempo groove. The Ends nominal light show was toned down even more for Zaza‘s set. With only two lights Zaza chose not to put on a visual spectacle instead opting to let the music speak for itself.

Sounding as crisp as any band performing this night, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart went the opposite direction of Zaza, giving the fans as much of a spectacle as possible in the small capacity venue. As The Pains broke into ‘Come Saturday’, the fans still posted in the back detached themselves from the walls and bar to join the crowd at the main stage. Playing an escalating set of songs from their debut album The Pains kept the crowd in anticipation of what was to come, building the energy with each song. Between songs singer Kip Berman paid homage to ‘Mother Father’, saying he was siked to play with them in Nashville, generating a round of applause from the mostly Vanderbilt student crowd. Behind a Nord Lead synth, Keyboardist Peggy Wang brought the noise part of the noise-pop act, but failed to live up to the backing vocals found on the album. Taking a short break to change guitars, Peggy told jokes before closing the set with an amped up version of ‘Everything With You’. After getting a taste of Brooklyn’s noise pop from The Pains, Nashville locals were left with an appetite for more.

On the internet Quantity does not equal quality. With slightly over 16000 plays on myspace Cortez Cortez churns out pop garage rock in flavor that everyone can enjoy. On their new release, ’8 for infinity’, Cortez establishes themselves as a band that can make albums that are both instantly enjoyable and repeatably listenable.
’8 for infinity’ is a short album with more high than low points. The albums starts off with ‘Bad Lieutenant’ a track that standouts out as the groups most vocally captivating. The song alternates between a chorus of synths and tamborines and guitar driven verses with catchy vocals on both. ‘Newpapers’ is an equally head nodding song built around the same equation that continues through most of the album. The one track that sees them stepping outside their pop rock boundries, ‘Paper Train’, makes you wish they would have changed the name to ’7 to Infinity’. After skipping to ‘Highways’ the album picks back up and continues before getting into ‘Music’, my favorite track among a selection of which its hard to pick one.
’8 for Infinity’ is an effort that makes you think if linked with a good producer Cortez Cortez could make a great album. Aside from the quality the only other downfall on this album is the sequence. ’8 for Infinity’ never feels quite like an album, but more like a mixtape that my friend burned for me to get the gist of what a band was about.
With more highlights than low this album is worth all and more of the 0 dollars you’ll have to pay to get it from their myspace. Of all the free albums and music to listen to on the internet it’s easy to give one a listen a never get back to it, but ’8 for Infinity’ is one that you’ll find yourself listening to again and again.

Get 8 for Infinity free at Cortez Cortez’s Myspace.

The infinite space that is the internet is over run with stars doing their best to shine brightly. With each one begging for your attention, it’s easy to ignore the ones that truly deserve it. With ‘Foremost Sentinel’ How I Became the Bomb sets off a cosmic explosion that seperates them from the rest.

Foremost Sentinel continues along the path HIBB started with the November release of ‘Vol. 1: Who Dares Win.’ ‘Blood Will Tell’ opens the album with strumming guitars before being built up by piano and toms while Jon Burr’s pipes “I did my best to carry on/I did my best to do my best”. The E.P. keeps the bar high with ‘Mothership’, a synth infused track backed by Big Spo’s pounding drums. The pop engulfed album comes to a close with ‘Stella, Dear’. A story driven track composed of synths and drums moving up and down allowing for Jon’s vocals to take center stage.

‘Foremost Sentinel’ is a great addition to the growing series of E.P.s. Each track is strong leaving the E.P. with no filler material. Containing only three tracks, this selection leaves the listening audience wanting more. With two more entries left in the series How I Became the Bomb is a star to keep in your scope.

Download the Foremost Sentinel E.P. for free at
How I Became The Bomb’s Website

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Signing a recording contract is, for most artist, the pinnacle of their career up to that point. A contract can be a form of validation for artists. A break into the industry that they desperately want to be recognized by. They are finally a step above independent Myspace and Amie street promotion. The hard work and dedication to their craft has finally paid off, but for some artists this perceived boost to their career could be shackles that do more to hinder them than help them.

The recording contract is an agreement between the artist and supporting label to work toward completing a project. If either party chooses not to fulfill their side of the agreement, their could be deadlock. The artist releases no material, and the label has money invested into an uncooperative project.

A major record label is the equivalent of the death star. The size of a small planet with the same population at work, moving slowly through the universe that is the record industry. One band with promising talent could get lost amidst such a large stable of artists. The independent label on the other hand is similar to the millennium falcon. A small crew that is able to quickly get from one goal to the next. All the while keeping in contact with one another to keep the feeling personal.

One of the biggest jobs of the record label is to connect the diamond in the rough talent to the big name producers, and the means to record an album. With the combination of a computer and recording programs such as Pro Tools and Logic, the need for a million dollar recording studio is gone. If the producers could connect with the artists on a grass roots level the need for a record label would be nil. Next job for the label is to get the talent the exposure. Myspace, Amie Street, and college radio are great ways for unsigned talent to see how their sound weathers the criticism of the public. After the initial step, if taken to another level, Myspace and the internet could be the main source for getting the word out to the public.

With sales of music in a downward spiral it’s time for new, more streamlined ways of producing and releasing content. Artists depend on the consumer to support them while they go through their creative process. It’s the artist jobs to make the right business decisions so the they can reciprocate the support.

Have you listend to the radio recently? If your reading this blog i suspect not. Well let me tell you what your missing. Nothing.

I tuned into the local rock station for about two hours a couple of weeks ago (a thing that i haven’t done since i got a cd player over 10 years ago). I had never heard a song by a majority of the bands in rotation. Probably for good reason. Hinder, Hollywood Undead, Sixx A.M., and other new bands sounded like replicas of what Nickelback has been doing their entire career. Almost everything that i found myself nodding along to was released at least 5 years ago. If you take out the ‘classic’ songs the station had about an hour and a half of new material they were hawking for your listening pleasure. (Pain?)

It’s an A&R’s job to find new talent. It’s the record labels job to take the talent and give it the right atmosphere to make decent or incredible material that they then make the public aware of. Today all my music recommendations come from MP3 websites, blogs or my friends. (Who probably found out about their recommendations through the previous.) A large amount of the bands that i listen to are either indie labels or smaller satellites of larger record labels, neither of which have the advertising dollars to be brought to my attention though major media, leaving their talent to do all of the talking. With so many bands to choose from, if i don’t like one after my second time giving them a try i can move on. If I seem to find music that me and my friends love, from the unlimited amount of bands on the internet, why can’t the record labels?

Since the record labels leave it up to us to find the music that we enjoy, the artist have started leaving the record labels to bring the music directly to us. Last year Radiohead released their album ‘In Rainbows’ as pay what you want, through their own website. A move they chose even though their last two albums each went double platinum with the backing of a major label. Soon after bands such as N.I.N. and Girl Talk followed suit each releasing albums through their own websites.

Music is about the artist getting out their creative process and the fan connecting with the artist. The fans will support anything that brings them closer to the artist. The artist will give the fans what they want as long as there are fans to give it to. It’s only natural for both the artist and the fan to want to get rid of anything that impedes that connection. With the internet letting us all be our own A&R, the major label has to figure out where it fits in the jigsaw before it falls out of place, for good.