Loops Rule at Heavy Rotation Party

Julia Easterlin and her looping station, along with eight other student groups, celebrate the latest from student-run Heavy Rotation Records.
March 25, 2010

Berklee student talent in all of its glorious form was on display at last month's Dorm Sessions 7 CD release party. There were rockers, hip-hoppers, folkies, popsters. Composers, performers, producers. Electronica, Americana, r&b, Brazilian. And there was a packed Berklee Performance Center of nearly 1,200 concertgoers—many of them fellow Berklee students enthusiastically urging on their classmates.

One of the biggest crowd responses of the night came for guitarist and vocalist Julia Easterlin, who performed solo while using a looping station to create and build backing tracks as she performed live. On "Go Straightaway," Easterlin left her guitar on its stand and used loops to create the sound of a percussion section and backup chorus.

But all nine artists on stage—and on the student-run Heavy Rotation Records disc—compelled the audience to stand and cheer: Black Kettle (indie pop/folk); Ann Driscoll (pop/rock); Jordan Tarrant (country-rock); Liz Longley (singer/songwriter-folk); Tin Soldier (rock); Lip Tease (r&b/electro-pop); Tais Alvarenga (Brazilian pop/folk); KR and the Future (hip-hop); and Easterlin.

Heavy Rotation Records gave away free copies of Dorm Sessions 7 to everyone in the audience. Now there's a good deal during a recession or any other time.

Browse through the photo gallery to get some glimpses of the show.