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.

The first track on the album “Hurt Feelings” immediately brings back the not-so-distant past of the musical duo with a pounding electronic beat, pointless talking, and a rap of hilarity. The first four songs of the album are along these lines, even sounding similar to the hit single “Business Time” off of the first album with the song “I Told You I Was Freaky”. But if the hip-hoppopotamus  route isn’t quite your style have no worries, track number five(“Demon Woman”) brings back in the relentless and catchy melodies of their rhythm guitar.

The rest of the album doesn’t really stray too far from the original track that the duo was headed down on its first album, but it is still a refreshing and always laughable experience most likely to be better enjoyed with groups of friends. Song after song, you can be sure to expect masterful arrangements to evoke laughter from the way they sing them, to the lyrics which they are comprised of.

A perfect example is the beautiful acoustic song which finishes off the album, called “Angels”. From the first seconds of the song, one could almost expect a love ballad, but the lyrics instantly turn into, “there are angels in the clouds doin’ it doin’ it doin’ it doin’ it” and continue throughout the rest of the song to finish off the album. All-in-all I Told You I Was Freaky holds true to what is the Flight of the Conchords and will surely be enjoyed by anyone looking for a quick laugh.

Click here to check out the first single from the album.

Rainwater Cassette Exchange acts more as a continuation of ‘Microcastle/Weird Era Cont.’ as oppossed to a prequel to a new album. Microcastle found Deerhunter engaging a more pop/folk friendly sound that is still audible on RCE to the point that any of these songs would feel at home on that album.

The most obvious reason for this release is the inclusion of ‘Disappearing Ink’. The track moves through a familiar chord progression but Deerhunter does it so well that its not worth comparing it to what I’ve heard it on before. Famous last words lays Deerhunters signature sounds over soprano ooos and ahhhs, never leaving a space unfulfilled. Closing the short set of songs is ‘Circulation’, the second candidate for best song in this collection of best songs.

Most of the talk about Deerhunter takes place on message boards and blogs and Deerhunter obviously knows this. An E.P. release isn’t going to make them millionaires but it will keep the blogosphere buzzing and keep the fans held over until the next proper Deerhunter release.

Here for your listening pleasure, a new mix from The Midnight Ace. Check his site for more news or check our Concert Calendar and see him live!

Here is the download for the Midnight Ace Mix.

‘I grew up playing in a band called Nickel Creek’, Sara Watkins stated drawing applause immediately. The California bluegrass singer seemed at home in Nashville playing tracks from her latest self titled album to the Vanderbilt crowd. Sara broke up the set with stories of recording sessions in Nashville and California which ultimately became her new album. Finishing off her set with ‘Long Hot Country Day’, the crowd joined in on the chorus, clearly infatuated with Sara Watkins.

Black Joe Lewis took the stage furiously ripping into his set before the DJ even had a chance to turn off the between set playlist, letting the crowd know they were in for an intense performance. Taking cues from the godfathers of soul, Joe lit up the stage in a way that paid tribute to his influences but maintained the fact that he is a new era of soul artist. Backed by a five piece band, Joe pulled out all the stops, even breaking out the harmonica for his song ‘Big Booty Woman’. Black Joe Lewis continued to build the energy all the way to the end of his set before closing with ‘Bitch I love You’, leaving the college crowd in shock and aww of a performance worthy of a future godfather of soul.














As the sun set behind the brick buildings of the beautiful Vanderbilt campus, Grand Ole Party took the stage ready to rock the Alumni Lawn. Outfitted with a headset microphone lead singer Kristen Gundred took a standing position behind the drums banging though songs from a new yet to be release LP. Grand Ole Party sounded cleaner than ever with Kristen’s hypnotic vocals translating well over the great Rites of Spring sound system. Pleasing the crowd for almost an hour, Grand Ole Party showed that they are destined to be more than an opening act.











From an unlit stage a familiar voice sent out for a response from ‘VANDERBILT!’. A roar of whoots erupted as the distorted bass of ‘Anti-Matter’ boomed from the speakers. Commanding people to ‘Jump around like your ADHD’, Pharrell, Shay and up and coming rapper Wale pumped the crowd criss-crossing the stage as Chad played the background. Turning up the energy with cuts from their album ‘Seeing Sounds’, Pharrell paused between sets to ask the security guards if the restriction on crowd surfing could be lifted just for their set. When unable to get a decisive response Pharell let everyone know that if he were a concert goer he would surf ‘Away from security’. Midway through the single ‘Everybody Nose’ the beat broke down before coming back as a remix of The White Stripes ‘Seven Nation Army’ with Pharell continuing to rap ‘All the girls standing in line for the bathroom’ without missing a beat. Treating the capacity Vanderbilt crowd as if it were a house party N.E.R.D. showed that the group is more than a side project for the multi-platinum production group.

















With a 90% of rain scheduled for Saturday evening the crowd was guaranteed to get wet, but as the rain began to sprinkle the crowd packed closer to the stage for the festivals main attraction. The screen that served as a back drop for the second day’s concert finally came to life displaying a blue image before switching to a view from a portable camera displaying a close up of Wayne. The excitement was palatable with most of the crowd aware of the fabled stage antics of Oklahoma’s favorite rock band.


Before the first song was over a clear ballon began to rise from the stage. Living up to his reputation as the ultimate showman, Wayne climbed inside and began to traverse the crowd, who struggled to support the bubble in the way required for him to stand up right. Undeterred Wayne crawled on all fours before making his way back to the stage to continue the concert. By the time The Lips activated their four full size confetti cannons many people in the crowd seemed to forget about the liquid rain, instead focusing on the rainbow colored paper downpour.


Half way though the set Wayne announced that it was Stardeath’s last night on tour. Having written a song together in the past, Wayne Coyne invited the whole Stardeath band onstage to perform with The Lips. ‘This may be the only time you’ll see two groups play together’ Wayne announced before strumming the chords to a Madonna song. After a slight pause for technical difficulty Wayne assured the crowd that if they had to stop for the rain ‘We’ll take this party somewhere else’, generating a round of applause from the crowd.


Dawning a double necked guitar, of which one side was a guitar hero controller, Wayne kicked off the greatest hits portion of The Lips set with an acoustic version of Fight Test. For the many fans of Yoshimi this was the concert that they had waited two days to see. With the screen alternating images of car crashes and rainbows the familiar hand claps of ‘W.A.N.D.’ began to crank from the speakers giving the crowd time to join in. Using a bullhorn with a flare attached Wayne to conducted the crowd into a frenzy. Pausing between songs Wayne reluctantly coaxed a girl dressed in a teletubby outfit to the center of the stage. ‘We have a special event we do at some shows’ he said before inviting a fellow teletubby to the stage. Getting down on one knee the two teletubbies proceeded to get engaged in front of the packed Alumni Lawn. With the hour reaching midnight Wayne announced that they would play one more song. ’1 2 3 4′ came over the loud speaker as the crowd lost it’s collective mind. With a majority of people singing in unison The Lips extended an acapella version of ‘Do You Realize’ out for 5 minutes before bringing in the rest of the band at which point they activated the confetti cannons for a second time. ‘Do you realize? I know you do’ he told the crowd before exiting the stage.


In it’s 27th year the Rites of Spring Festival out did it’s self, exceeding all expectations. Selling out for the first time, it seems as if the Vanderbilt hosted event has solidified itself as a festival to be seen not only by Nashville natives but from out of state travelers as well. Setting the bar high this year with multiple seasoned acts and acclaimed newcomers, this is a festival that is well worth the money, costing only $60 for both days. Dated early in the summer festival season, this concert serves as the perfect kick off for a summer festival tour. If you are within driving distance of Nashville, you can’t afford to miss next years festival which is guaranteed not to disappoint.



































Check out our coverage of the 1st day of Rites of Spring

Cathy over at Suburban Roads posted a great interview with Blue Sky Reality.

Check out a video of T.I.’s performance at Blender.

For concert footage go over to you tell cocerts and check out Chrystal‘s video from the concert.

All Photos courtesy of Buzzafied.com. Taken by Alex Person

8:30 – After walking two blocks from the Downtown Inn to Hookah Joe’s and securing our tickets from will call we headed into the venue. Nashwa’s staff was still setting up the main stage as the line of people from outside piled into Hookah Joe’s to wait. The lounge was sprinkled with people smoking on couches and checking out the wares of the local glass workers, while others created their own mixes of songs on various Moog synths set up in a corner behind the bar. After grabbing a Red Bull and perusing the scene for a few minutes, an excited concert goer informed us that the staff had opened the doors to Nashwa’s.
Making our way through the hallway connecting Hookah Joe’s to Nashwa’s we entered the venue to find the guy-gal duo of Free Peoples Frequency was already warming the crowd with their version of spaced out psychedelic techno. The staff continued to set up as Free Peoples cranked out ‘Crab Dancer’, ‘The Big Pill’ and various other songs to the crowd of less than 50. For the people that showed early Free Peoples set seemed to serve as background noise while taking in the venue and getting ready for the rest of the nights festivities. As Free Peoples set came to a close, ticket holders continued to file in, in groups of three to five in anticipation of Kap 10 and Pnuma Trio‘s sets.

10:30 Kap 10 took over where Free Peoples left off, building the energy as the crowd converged toward the main stage in anticipation of Pnuma Trio’s headlining set. Controlling the crowd with ease, Kap ensured that his set was more than a sound check for Pnuma Trio. Kap kept the crowd moving for an hour, blending psychedelic techno with well known versus from various rappers. Instead of anxious anticipation of the main attraction, Kap garnered attention until the end of his set, allowing Pnuma to enter to a crowd ready to continue the party as opposed to start it.

11:30 The at capacity crowd was well oiled and ready for the nights main attraction as 3 figures made their way onstage from stage left. Pnuma Trio wasted no time feeding the crowd what they craved, running through their first album with the intensity that could hardly be contained to the 500 capacity venue. As Pnuma entered the second half of the hour and a half set it seemed as if each person was either enjoying their own version of the concert, Either completely oblivious to the people around them or gripped in an emotional orgy with the their fellow festival goers. Rolling through songs for more than an hour and half Pnuma‘s exit was greeted with applause that lead to the inevitable encore, extending their play time closer to the 2 hour range.

1:00 4 hours into the show DJ Ginza took the stage to try his hand at the thinning crowd. At the beginning of his set the crowd dispersed to about half capacity, but quickly filled in again after Ginza proved to be more than able to hold the weight of having to follow Pnuma. Switching between a Star Trek’s console worth of keyboards and a apple laptop, Ginza kept the crowd in motion with remixes of old school as well as new school rap interspersed with Ginza‘s own instrumentals. Ginza‘s hour long set finished strong leaving the crowd satisfied with their decision stick around and keep the party going.

2:00 Sci Fi took the stage to bless the crowd with the jazz infused psychedelic sounds. The North Carolina trio stirred the crowd with renditions of ‘Sleazy Rider’, ‘Tiny Molecule Detector’ and ‘Mid Tide’ as artist Roxanna Shohadaee painted at stage right.

3:00 The closing act for the first night’s festivites was Nashville native group Two Fresh. Twin brothers Sherwyn and Kendrick manned the electronic wheels of steel as Colby supported the duo, giving the drums a workout. The crowd maintained the energy up until the end of the performances with few leaving before the end of the set. When the lights came up people exited the venue making their way to rest up for another intense day of performances.

Photos by: Alex Person