Archive for March, 2011
If you have ever been to an old-fashioned rock show, you know the feeling. Static fills the air, as a guitar raunchily floats across cigarette smoke and the banter of drum fills; it is a defining scene. Tyler Bryant reminds me of those images and more. Here, in Nashville, it is no rare occurrence to see Tyler’s show posters plastered all over town; the guy knows how to promote and put on a great show. 
The most surprising thing about Tyler Bryant and his band is that they are all unabashedly young. A lot of what holds back musicians these days is the cursing idea that several things hinder the actual art of the artist to move forward. Yet, Tyler and his band are the exception to the rule. It is plain to see the excitement and dedication that these fellows emit; there is an aura of passion.
So, if you need a wake-up call from Winter’s last revenge of arctic air, try listening to “Where I Want You”. I can almost assure you that it will warm you up.
We have Tyler right where we want him…here on Brite!
Posted by Katy Kirby on March 31st, 2011 in Everything Else 0 Comments
I flew to India when I was first getting my hands around playing the piano. I had decided to go, at first, on a whim. I was just a boy turning 19, looking out, and realizing there was someone else out there.I landed on a quiet night in New Delhi in mid-June of 2005. The air was thick with urine and overflowing trash cans; a yellow moon hung above that whispered “midnight”.
I took a rickshaw with my friend to a hotel in Delhi. We woke up the next day and took a train out to the mountain ranges. We passed by slums, trash bag rooftops, and dark-skinned boys and girls digging amidst the rubble of week-old garbage.
They were digging for treasures, half-used; looking for supplement. I slowly stepped off the train. The sleeplessness in my eyes got blurred and burned out from a hot, hot sun.
Around us were more rickshaws and more taxi cabs. All along the roadway were sporadic traces of rotted mangoes, stray monkeys, and cow dung.
We stopped in a small town just underneath the aura of the Himalayan range and loaded up on a scooter. I held on to my friend on the back of the bike; skirting around guard rails that didn’t exist. Rampant pieces of old bus crashes were nestled in between the pine trees and crags; nag champra floated from the Hindu temples on the side-streets. We stopped to take a break from the ride and all around us were children playing cricket in the street.
The group of kids wore a mix of torn orange, purple, and gray sweaters; some had one shoe off, one shoe on. They ran around careless, carefree; not downtrodden or any sense of feeling unlucky. They were just simply unaware.
At that moment, for me, something happened.
Not everyone gets the chance to experience India the way I’ve been able to, now, the last three times that I have been. What I do know, is that it is no excuse to overlook what detrimental things are occurring there. Past the Oscar award-winning film, past the henna, past the glamor, there is a lot of hell going on. People are getting killed, mocked, taken advantage of, pushed into slave and sex trafficking…having their lives ruined, torn, ended; even more surprising, many just do not know that it is going on.
Dalit Freedom Network, an organization that many bands like My Cousin The Emperor, The CO, Eddie Cohn, and Caedmon’s Call proudly support. Dalit Freedom takes instances like those mentioned above and seeks out to take a stand of advocacy for those who do not have a voice. They are the Dalit people of India.
Simply being human beings on this earth, at some point we must stop working thinking just for ourselves and look outward.
I have, and it was because I felt the need to. I felt a pull.
…
This weekend in Nashville, Dalit Freedom will be joined by Brite Revolution artists The CO, Andrew Osenga & Concerning Lions for a benefit at 12th & Porter.
You can find ticket info here.
Posted by Katy Kirby on March 25th, 2011 in Artists, Everything Else 0 Comments
The funny thing about music is that it seems to go full circle these days.
Upon first loading up my iTunes with one of our new Brite additions, The Naked Hearts, my first impression of them was something that rang a bell in the vein of the indie rock band, The Strokes. It’s nothing new these days, in casual conversation, to describe the newest band you’ve discovered to someone and compare them to one they may already know of.
Why is that, though? Do we lack in vocabulary? Is no one that original enough anymore? Is everybody already doing it?
I do not think that’s the case at all. Music of all genres has always seemed to have a melting-pot effect on me. Each artist bleeds into another. We all breathe in the same air, but we all breathe it out differently. A lot of that was spoken clearly at this past year’s GRAMMY Awards. You had more than half the nation asking, “Who is Arcade Fire?” All around the blogosphere, people were in an odd outrage because for once, a band not yet discovered by the masses had won the crown of the GRAMMYs. They had single-handedly dominated album-toppers like Lady GaGa and Justin Bieber. Someone noticed something.
The Naked Hearts hit me that way.
Just last night, I got onto Amazon and downloaded the new album from The Strokes, “Angles“, loaded it up onto my phone, and sat outside in the post glimmer of the “super moon”. The album, mind you, is one that is excellently put together. It’s slick. It’s sexy. It’s lo-fi garage rock gold.
Then, it happened.
It might have been between tracks four and five, or somewhere else in the mix. It could have been the attitude. It could have been the swagger of Amy Cooper’s voice or Noah Wheeler’s bass lines travelling jaggedly, yet perfectly, with his drumming. No matter, it was encased in what the two were doing. It was a reminder to me that music is that of interpretation. That is where the creativity is; that is where one becomes “original”. You take what is there, floating around the atmosphere, and make it your own.
That’s why bands like The Naked Hearts and so many others on Brite are unique and the first to do what they are doing; they are continuing to create. That is what turns heads. That’s what supersedes any kind of chart or awards show. That’s what ultimately reaches a listener’s ear; it sticks.
Music will always continue to go full circle, but, more than likely, that circle is just going to grow larger and larger.
So, breathe in and breathe out.
Posted by Katy Kirby on March 23rd, 2011 in Artists, Everything Else, New Music 0 Comments
I am sitting in our offices at Edgehill and the sunlight is coming through the window in waves. Spring is definitely on it’s way. Nothing excites me more about this time of year than the idea that new things begin to grow and flourish. The sunsets begin happening later and later; a drink on the porch looks more and more enticing.
When I was younger, the more and more I think about it, the greatest of albums came out around this time…or at least that is when I discovered them. That was my first experience with Coldplay. There’s no better memory than listening to “Yellow” for the first time on the last day of your freshman year in high school. I still remember the floorboards of the old, creaky hallway. The way the sunlight danced with the dust in the air. The way it felt knowing the music pulsing through my ears was something only I heard, and was falling in love with.
Not much has changed since then. 
I still love the art and mystery of “discovery”, and this week has been no exception. Here at Brite, we have been so excited to dive into the worlds of bands like The Preachers, The Last Royals, and long-time running favorites of my own like Lovedrug and Richard Ashcroft. You may or may not know this, but Ashcroft was the lead singer of one of the biggest bands of the 90’s, The Verve. They released one of the biggest singles of the decade, “Bitter Sweet Symphony”, which I am sure many of you have fond memories of. Ashcroft has done nothing but amazingly evolved since then. Thus, I am having a hard time not listening to “Are You Ready?” over and over again.
The best thing about finding your next favorite band or anthem is that you are the one with the power. You are the one who knows what you love. So, instead of me even going further and further into why all of these bands we hand-picked for you this week are incredible finds, we will let you decide and take a step in.
After all, that’s what we are all about.
We love that you are on this journey with us.
It is a gorgeous, Brite day in Nashville.
Posted by Katy Kirby on March 17th, 2011 in Artists, Everything Else 0 Comments
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