Various Artists: Dorm Sessions 6

Various Artists
Dorm Sessions 6
Heavy Rotation
2009-02-09

Dorm Sessions 6 isn’t about predicting or aggregating the music college kids are listening to in their dorm rooms, but rather highlight the music students are creating at one particular school of higher learning. Boston’s Berklee College of Music boasts an impressive assortment of alumni; Quincy Jones, Aimee Mann, John Mayer, Bruce Hornsby, Rivers Cuomo and Melissa Etheridge are but a few of the names on the list. The latest offerings in the Dorm Sessions series features a lineup of young musicians hoping one day to be mentioned in the same breath.

While not all of the nine acts featured here are ready to be prime time players, all exhibit a definite degree of talent and potential. The most consistent and exciting acts on the project include the sparse folk of Nathan Reich (“Kites” and “The Path Out East”), the carefree, funky indie rock of White Shoe Brown Shoe (“Mama Tierra”, “Off to the Races”) and the wicked good (this is a Boston school, after all) chamber pop/garage rock mashup offered by Model Cars (“Don’t Go Run Away”, “Falling from the Sky”). Other highlights include the old-school, hook-heavy hip-hop of Re-Up (“Re-Up”) and the strains of authentic Americana heard on Nini & Ben’s “Down the Road”. Dorm Sessions 6 gives the savvy listener a chance to get in on the ground floor before these young musicians’ stock begins to rise.

RATING 7 / 10