SET LIGHT

Author: Eric Pettersson

Eric Pettersson is from Reading, PA and a graduate of La Salle University in Philadelphia with degrees in Communication and Religion. He wrote regularly for IVM 2005-2011. Now he has his own website, Explore Reading, "a progressive guide to the city of Reading, Pennsylvania. Follow him at www.explorereading.net

October 1, 2007

INTERVIEW : Far-Less

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Eric Pettersson, IVM: Let’s get started with your name and duties in the band. Brandon Welch, Far-Less: Brandon Welch is my name. I play guitar and I am the lead vocalist in the band. E: What are you guys up to right now? B: We are waiting for our record to come out in October. We have a tour with Secret and Whisper and Glass Ocean coming up and a tour with He Is Legend after that. Other than that we are just hanging out.… Continued →

September 26, 2007

REVIEW : Spoken - Spoken

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Artist: Spoken Album: Spoken Label: Tooth & Nail Records Release Date: September 25, 2007 Review by: Eric Pettersson Tracklist: 1. History Erased 2. Close Your Eyes 3. Not Soon Forgotten 4. Trading in This Troubled Heart 5. You’re the One 6. Brought to Life 7. Love Live the Dream 8. Start the Revolution 9. The Meaning of… 10. When Hope Is All You Have 11. The Answer Screamo is, for the most part, dead. The fad has moved on, and trendy kids have gone their separate ways to pollute other genres.… Continued →

September 24, 2007

REVIEW : Pilgrims - The Joy of Sales Resistance

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Artist: Pilgrims Album: The Joy of Sales Resistance Label: Quiver Society Release Date: August 1, 2007 Review by: Eric Pettersson Tracklist: 1. Theme Song 2. My Love 3. Martin (Violence Oh Violence, I Don’t See You, You’re Not in My Backyard) 4. It’s Easy to Fear What’s Far Off and Ignore Injustice across the Street 5. We Have Forgotten How to Practice Love When We Don’t Feel It After doing my typical background research for a review, I wished I had been around for (or paid more attention to) the early days of Solid State.… Continued →

September 19, 2007

REVIEW : Finchley - Walking with Angels EP

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Artist: Finchley Album: Walking with Angels EP Label: None Review by: Eric Pettersson Tracklist: 1. Walking with Angels 2. Prodigal 3. In the Wind 4. Struggle On Having led the rock band Supervision for a few years, Ian Finch recently decided it was time to go solo. Coming from Liverpool, this is a man in good musical company. His songs are relaxing, even at their climaxes. Acoustic and soft electric guitars are blended together for a radio-ready feel that maintains indie accessibility. Finchley’s voice smoothly brings it together, and the piano laces work well to complete the sound.… Continued →

September 13, 2007

REVIEW : The Rocket Summer - Do You Feel

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Artist: The Rocket Summer Album: Do You Feel Label: Island Records/ The Militia Group Release Date: July 17, 2007 Review by: Eric Pettersson Tracklist: 1. Break It Out 2. So Much Love 3. Do You Feel 4. Save 5. All I Have 6. High Life Scenery 7. A Song Is Not a Business Plan 8. Taken Aback 9. Colors 10. Run to You 11. Hold It Up 12. Waiting 13. So, In This Hour… These days it seems the early artists on The Militia Group are all growing up… sort of.… Continued →

September 11, 2007

REVIEW : Lórien - The Ghost in the Parlor

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Artist: Lórien Album: The Ghost in the Parlor Label: None (released independently) Release Date: Fall 2006 Review by: Eric Pettersson Tracklist: 1. Praise the Stage and Love Only the Saved 2. You Got Me Down 3. A Dove amongst the Crows 4. Empty Words 5. Singing Isn’t Music 6. Shallow End Lórien? Is that European?… hmm, a quick Google search and, oh no. No, it’s something from J.R.R. Tolkien. Of course. Maybe this was their name’s inspiration, maybe not. Either way, hopefully this record isn’t quite as drawn-out action adventure as those films were.… Continued →

September 2, 2007

REVIEW : I Am Not I Am - Dear God, We Must Return Fire

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Artist: I Am Not I Am Album: Dear God, We Must Return Fire Label: Tenfold Records Release Date: April 3, 2007 Review by: Eric Pettersson Tracklist: 1. How the North Finally Won the Civil War 2. The Real Reason the South Lost the Civil War 3. The District 4. We Want Our Ashes Spread in Jersey 5. Vocabularies When Moses talked to God through the burning bush and asked whom he should tell the Israelites had sent him, God replied, “I AM.” With that in mind, “I Am Not I Am” is a poetic form of humility: “I Am Not Yahweh.”… Continued →

August 27, 2007

REVIEW : Amen. The Animal - Pray Now Destroyer

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Aritst: Amen. The Animal Album: Pray Now Destroyer Label: Tenfold Records Release Date: November 21, 2006 Review by: Eric Pettersson Tracklist: 1. Carlisle 2. The Sunrise 3. Open Sky 4. Southern Night Visions of War 5. Forget That Boy 6. The Name of the Game Is… As the CD opens with a launching scream of “Where did you go,” two thoughts come to mind. One, this band obviously likes He Is Legend (See: “The Seduction”). Two, they know how to wrap the heavy around the melodic.… Continued →

August 22, 2007

INTERVIEW : Spoken

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Spoken interview August 18, 2007 By Eric Pettersson Eric Pettersson, IVM: Can you start with your name and what you do in the band? Matt Baird, Spoken: My name is Matt from the band Spoken, Matt Baird, I sing. E: Your band’s been around for ten years? M: Eleven years. February was eleven years. Started in 1996. E: What keeps you going? M: the desire to play music and to feel like I’m being obedient to God. We love music. We love it, and until I have that overwhelming feeling in my heart and soul that I’m done, I can’t stop.… Continued →

August 21, 2007

INTERVIEW : The Apathy Eulogy

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The Apathy Eulogy interview August 17, 2007 By Eric Pettersson Eric Pettersson, IVM: Name and what you do in the band. Rob Kelly, TAE: Rob Kelly, I play guitar, sing, and write the music. E: So I heard you got into Alternative Press. Did they dig it? R: Yeah, from what we heard. We didn’t get an official interview. We actually got mentioned as an unsigned band. They choose I believe it’s 8 bands a month that are notable unsigned bands, and they found us on Smartpunk which is our online vendor, and just asked us if we wanted to be featured.… Continued →

August 20, 2007

REVIEW : Purple Door 2007: Festival Review

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Purple Door 2007 August 17-18 Ski Roundtop, Lewisberry, PA Festival Review By Eric Pettersson The Purple Door festival this past weekend was, like every other year, unlike any other year. Beginning with Friday night, highlights included the second of the Mono Vs. Stereo New Band Showcase, The Apathy Eulogy. TAE is a five-piece acoustic band with a synth out of Baltimore, Maryland. Their fun sing-alongs (as well as keyboardist Mitch Ryan’s dance moves) have only improved from the last time I saw them. Immediately following, I ran over to the Main Stage to catch The Showdown beginning their set with “Temptation Come My Way.”… Continued →

August 10, 2007

REVIEW : Death Is Not Welcome Here - Freedom for the Broken

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Artist: Death Is Not Welcome Here Album: Freedom for the Broken Label: None Release Date: May 20, 2007 Review by: Eric Pettersson Tracklist: 1. Until the Last 2. Freedom for the Broken 3. Heaven Is Almost Here 4. Facing Today 5. Our Time Is Now “I am living proof that we are all in need,” croons out vocalist Stevo, with a lingering hint of a British accent. Teamed up with the rest of Death Is Not Welcome Here, soaring dual harmonized vocals lead this quartet into better written and more cohesive material, and less generic lyrics, but certainly keeping the same great message.… Continued →

August 8, 2007

REVIEW : Fixed til Tuesday (I Am Terrified) - Aww Son EP

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Artist: Fixed til Tuesday (now known as I Am Terrified) Album: Aww Son Label: None (Independently Released) Release Date: 2006 Review by: Eric Pettersson Tracklist: 1. Hul Kogan’s Seven Second Apocalypse 2. O’ How Constant 3. May Kills the Calendar 4. Red Basket Club 5. And Souls Sing These are the moments that I love writing for Indie Vision Music. Sometimes a CD will be sent my way, and I can scarcely think of a thing to say about, let alone a reason to listen to more than the first three tracks before taking it out of my player and throwing it into the woods, hoping to forget its memory forever (yes, there have been albums that have made me want to do this).… Continued →

August 2, 2007

REVIEW : Fairweather Fan - The Ghost of Honesty

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Artist: Fairweather Fan Album: The Ghost of Honesty Label: Wounded Records Release Date: April 2007 Review by: Eric Pettersson Tracklist: 1. Better Way to Make Mistakes 2. I Can Carry You 3. Dress Rehearsal 4. Of Life 5. What I Wouldn’t Give 6. Second Chance Summer 7. Watch Out for Strangers 8. Meaning of Haste 9. Unpleasant Forecast 10. The Ghost of Honesty In all honesty, the first few listens of this disc were not impressive. Another young band with semi-decent melodies and a desire to be catchy.… Continued →

July 23, 2007

REVIEW : Dizmas - Tension

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Artist: Dizmas Album: Tension Label: Credential Recordings Release Date: May 22, 2007 Review by: Eric Pettersson Tracklist: 1. Jealousy Hurts 2. Shake It Off 3. Play It Safe 4. If You Love Someone 5. See Daylight 6. Dance 7. This Is a Warning 8. The Voice Is Ghostly 9. Nothing at All 10. October 11. Until You Rescued Me 12. Sun Starting off with the same intensity, passion, and melodic ingenuity as their debut, On a Search in America, Dizmas tried a new approach for their second punch.… Continued →

July 8, 2007

REVIEW : Jeff Deyo - Unveil

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Artist: Jeff Deyo Album: Unveil Label: Indelible Creative Group Release Date: May 22, 2007 Review by: Eric Pettersson Tracklist: 1. Glory Rain Down 2. So in Awe 3. I’ll Forever Love Your Name 4. Unveil 5. Glory 6. Falling Down Like Rain 7. More in Love 8. Love of God 9. Nothing on Earth 10. You Are God 11. Fall on Me The other day I had a conversation in the car while listening to this album, when my friend commented that it must be hard to review a “worship CD,” because there’s this whole other category of things to look for.… Continued →

June 27, 2007

REVIEW : Everyday Sunday - Wake Up! Wake Up!

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Artist: Everyday Sunday Album: Wake Up! Wake Up! Label: Inpop Records Release Date: May 22, 2007 Review by: Eric Pettersson Tracklist: 1.  Let’s Go Back 2. Wake Up! Wake Up! 3. Take Me Out 4. Find Me Tonight 5. Apathy for Apologies 6. I’ll Get over It (Miss Elaineous) 7. What We’re Here For 8. Now You’re Gone 9. Tell Me You’ll Be There 10. From Me to You Joining the Flicker Records roster in 2002, Everyday Sunday released the instant hit, Stand Up.  Videos for “Lose It Again” and “Wait” could be seen frequently on Christian rock video programs such as TVU, and the buzz was flying.… Continued →

June 24, 2007

REVIEW : Building 429 - Iris to Iris

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Artist: Building 429 Album: Iris to Iris Label: Word Records Release Date: May 1, 2007 Review by: Eric Pettersson Tracklist: 1. Power of Your Name 2. Majesty 3. Singing over Me 4. You Carried Me 5. Amazed 6. Incredible 7. Waiting to Shine 8. Taken 9. New Season 10. Constant 11. Grace That Is Greater Iris: it’s the colored part of the eye surrounding the pupil. So to say “Iris to iris” is like getting even closer than just “eye to eye.” And that’s what Building 429 has focused their third and latest release on: seeing eye to eye with God in a closer way.… Continued →

June 5, 2007

REVIEW : Derek Webb - The Ringing Bell

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Artist: Derek Webb Album: The Ringing Bell Label: INO Records Release Date: May 1, 2007 Review by: Eric Pettersson Tracklist: 1. The End 2. The Very End 3. A Love That’s Stronger Than Our Fear 4. I Wanna Marry You All Over Again 5. I Don’t Want to Fight 6. Name 7. Can’t Be without You 8. I for an I 9. A Savior on Capitol Hill 10. This Too Shall Be Made Right You may remember Derek Webb from his work in Caedmon’s Call or from 2005’s Mockingbird, which he made available for free download last year.… Continued →

REVIEW : Between the Trees - The Story and the Song

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Artist: Between the Trees Album: The Story and the Song Label: Bonded Records Release Date: April 24, 2007 Review by: Eric Pettersson Tracklist: 1. The Forward 2. White Lines & Red Lights 3. The Way She Feels 4. Words 5. The Greatest of These (A Little Love) 6. Darlin’ 7. A Time for Yohe 8. She Is… 9. Fairweather 10. The Fort 11. You Cry a Tear to Start a River Ranging from 18 to 21 years old, the five young men who comprise Between the Trees have established something well beyond their years, and this is just the beginning.… Continued →

May 29, 2007

INTERVIEW : He Is Legend

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(picture courtesy of Reuben Wilson) To start things off, who are you and what do you do in He Is Legend? -I’m Schuylar and I sing. Could you give us a brief update on what you’ve been up to lately? -We’ve pretty much just been preparing for our headlining tour. A month or two ago, you started pushing the movie, The Reaping, to fans. How did this come about? -They expressed interest in having us help promote the film. I think it’s known in the industry as “Selling Out” but we figured, why not?… Continued →

May 24, 2007

REVIEW : The Wedding - Polarity

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Artist: The Wedding Album: Polarity Label: Brave New World Records Release Date: April 17, 2007 Review by: Eric Pettersson Tracklist: 1. The Call 2. Say Your Prayers 3. I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead 4. Staring at the Light 5. This One’s for You 6. I-540 7. It’s Time to Rock (OK?) 8. Rebound 9. Schizophrenia 10. The Last Stand (Wake the Regiment 2) 11. Misery Loves Company 12. Southside 13. Revelation 14. Fireworks About two years ago I went to a small church show to see Kids in the Way play, and one of the opening acts happened to be a band called The Wedding.… Continued →

May 17, 2007

INTERVIEW : This Beautiful Republic

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To begin, you can state your name and your duties in the band. My name is Ben Olin and I am the Vocalist for This Beautiful Republic So how’s touring going? Touring has definitely been an adventure. It’s not as glorious as most people believe it to be, it’s a lot of really hard work, but the rewards outweigh the amount of work put in. Sanctus Real are friends of ours and Needtobreathe are just really great guys so it was a great first tour for us to be on.… Continued →

May 15, 2007

REVIEW : Darkroom - A Curious Excavation

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Artist: Darkroom Album: A Curious Excavation Label: None (released independently) Release Date: March 31, 2007 Tracklist: 1. Windsor Knots 2. Afraid 3. A Curious Excavation 4. Consequences 5. The Best Part 6. Quicksilver 7. Stagecraft 8. Six eight four four 9. Blanketed Fortress 10. Veranda 11. The Old Gun Hailing from Winona Lakes, Indiana; Darkroom comes boasting a five-man line up, each with his own unique set of influences. Yet they come together to create something quite familiar, but not in a bad way. This musical endeavor floats along melodically emotive indie rock, gliding the waters with strings, bells, and horns.… Continued →

May 11, 2007

REVIEW : This Beautiful Republic - Even Heroes Need a Parachute

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Artist: This Beautiful Republic Album: Even Heroes Need a Parachute Label: Forefront Records Release Date: April 3, 2007 Review by: Eric Pettersson Tracklist: 1. Casting Off 2. Going Under 3. Jesus to the World 4. Right Now 5. Black Box 6. The Surface 7. Let’s Be Honest 8. New Year 9. Something to Deny 10. Fears and Failures 11. Cloud Cover Christian music would not be what it is today without the work of Forefront Records. Their early and long-lasting bands DC Talk and Audio Adrenaline took 90s rock (among other things) and added a very definite Christian perspective, singing songs about being a “Jesus Freak” or being excited about the “Big House” our Father is preparing for us.… Continued →

May 8, 2007

INTERVIEW : Lost Ocean

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Eric IVM: Give your name and what you do in the band. Jeff: Jeff Gray, lead vocal/guitar Eric IVM: For those who haven’t heard you yet, how would you explain your style? Jeff: Piano-Centric Alternative Rock Eric IVM: Where did the name Lost Ocean originate? Jeff: Two previous song titles of our got married. Once together, we loved the natural implications, imagery, and simplicity of the name. Eric IVM: What’s Lost Ocean’s story? How did the band begin? Jeff: I produced a demo for the other three members’ prior band.… Continued →

May 3, 2007

REVIEW : From Beginning to End - In the Beginning...

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Artist: From Beginning to End Album: In the Beginning… Label: Wounded Records Release Date: Review by: Eric Pettersson Tracklist: 1. Guaranteed 2. Rain Down 3. Poured Out 4. Tears Revisited 5. In the Beginning 6. The Elevation 7. Touch 8. Better Than Before 9. Here We Are 10. Free 11. The Elevation (radio edit) Starting in Illinois, and touring all over the nation, including stops at Cornerstone, From Beginning to End is a hard-working band with a mission. They will not pass up an opportunity to share their faith, be it in their bio or in their lyrics, and they attempt to fuse alternative rock and screamo into one listenable sound.… Continued →

April 26, 2007

REVIEW : Kate Hurley - Sleeping When You Woke Me

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Artist: Kate Hurley Album: Sleeping When You Woke Me Label: Worship Circle Records Release Date: January 15, 2007 Review by: Eric Pettersson Tracklist: 1. Tree Branch 2. When He Dreams 3. Come Quickly 4. Only Your Love 5. Hey Little Girl 6. Tell Me 7. You Are Not Alone 8. Come to Me 9. Maybe 10. Passionate Beautiful 11. Always Have You 12. My Angel 13. Jacob’s Ladder 14. Stronger than Death 15. When You Carry Seeing that this CD was labeled as “Worship,” I was almost afraid to open it.… Continued →

April 23, 2007

REVIEW : Deas Vail - All the Houses Look the Same

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Artist: Deas Vail Album: All the Houses Look the Same Label: Brave New World Records Release Date: March 6, 2007 Review by: Eric Pettersson Tracklist: 1. Standing… 2. Light as Air 3. Surface 4. Rewind 5. Shoreline 6. A Lover’s Charm 7. Follow Sound 8. Anything You Say 9. Shadows and City Lights 10. For Miles to Come 11. Life in These Little Boats 12. This Place Is Painted Red 13. …Still Everyone’s seen the piles of generic indie bands. Everyone’s gone to a show, visited a MySpace, or bought an album from the next “indie” styled rock act.… Continued →

April 20, 2007

REVIEW : the Blue Letter/ The Gospel Is a Grenade - Splitsville

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Artist: The Blue Letter/ The Gospel Is a Grenade Album: Splitsville Label: Guevara Entertainment Release Date: 2005 Review by: Eric Pettersson Tracklist: The Blue Letter 1. There Is Only a Beginning 2. The Day the Sky Turned Black 3. Automaton Droids v2.0 4. A Killing Smile 5. Mechanical Legs, Mechanical Legs 6. Two Minute Hate The Gospel Is a Grenade 7. Statement of Ethics 8. Fabrics on a Dress 9. Three Hours Lecture & Discussion per Week 10. Introduction to International Relations 11. The Following Benefits Are Also Provided For [bonus track] Guevara Entertainment is a small indie label out of California trying to make a name for itself, with a current roster of 8 bands and a discography of 12 albums.… Continued →