Friday night rolls around and you find yourself without any plans, what's a music loving, college student to do? Why check out the local music scene. You're likely to be in Bloomington all four years of your education, so you might as well get familiar with the music of B-Town.
There's a great opportunity for those so inclined to check out amazing local music next Friday and Saturday: XRA Fest. It's a showcase of artists signed to the Crossroads of America Record label. This is third XRA fest and the second to use the two night format. The first XRA fest was an informal gathering, a BBQ that featured XRA artists playing acoustic sets. Tickets for one night are $5 and are available at the door. Tickets for both nights are $8 and are available at Landlocked Music and TD's CDs & LPs.
Friday, September 24th 8pm
Russian Recording (1021 South Walnut Street Bloomington, IN 47401)
$5
Either/Or - Folk-rock, some songs have some slightly amusing titles, such as "Everybody And Their Mom."
Frank Schweikhardt - Reminiscent of the later work of The Replacements and Paul Westerberg's solo career.
Metavari - Instrumental music with a clean guitar sound and the interesting sonic textures.
Alexander the Great - Punk rock with some songs featuring emo influenced surging choruses.
Saturday, September 25th 9pm 18+
The Bishop (123 South Walnut Street Bloomington, IN 47404)
$5
$8 for both nights, two night tickets can be purchased at Landlocked Music or TD's CDs & LPs
Along with the artists on Crossroads of America Records, XRA Fest is also showcasing three artists from the Laminar Excursion Monthly.
Vollmar - Folk with fairly simple arrangements.
Homecomings - Baroque/sunshine pop in the vein of the late 60s Beach Boys, The Left Banke, Alexander "Skip" Spence, Sagittarius and Love.
Osteoferocious - Crunchy guitar pop. The songs are very catchy.
Brother Stephen - Acoustic folk influenced by Stephen Kirkpatrick's experience growing up as song of a preacher. If you like Bonnie "Prince" Billy and Sufjan Stevens, check this out.
Rodeo Ruby Love - Very catchy pop, the band sounds like they are having a great time playing together. Non-traditional rock instruments in a few songs add some aural variety.
husband&wife - Clean, melodic sounding indie pop.
-Andrew Crowley
