Hundreds of fans and curious walk-ins alike packed into The Motor Room downtown Friday night. For a venue known for its Deep End and Neon Liger parties, The Motor Room hosted a bit of a different party.
Local musicians Bells and Robes showcased their new EP “One Should See Sound” with a spectacular listening party, organized in a joint effort between recently partnered UF’s Swamp Records and Gainesville-based music streaming service Grooveshark.
“We wanted to pack out (The Motor Room),” said Swamp Records president Breana Auberry. “We also wanted students to realize we have talent here. We want them to realize they don’t have to go out of town to see good music.”
Swamp Records gave Bells and Robes a performance slot at a showcase last spring.
From there, the two formed a unique partnership, with Bells and Robes creating music for release and Swamp Records helping the producers with promotion and graphic design for its brand.
“Swamp (Records) helped gives us two incredible graphic designers who create art that exactly matches our music,” said Bells and Robes member Dean Spaniol.
He met fellow Bells and Robes member Luke Sipka at UF — the two collected records and were inspired to create their own.
“On the day of the 2012 summer solstice, we wrote a contract under penalty of death to finish an EP by the winter solstice of the same year,” Sipka said.
They stayed true to their contract: The two put out an EP in the following months and have now released their latest “livetronica” (electronic music with live instruments) EP.
The two have a do-it-yourself set-up to produce their music, and they cite Led Zeppelin, Flying Lotus, Pink Floyd and the Gorillaz as their biggest influences.
Grooveshark exclusively hosted “One Should See Sound” on its platform and promoted the release on the front page of the website for a week.
“It gets people aware of the partnership between Swamp Records and Grooveshark,” said Grooveshark artist coordinator Jason Rubel.
“It also gets new audiences to hear Bells and Robes’ music,” he said.
Swamp and Grooveshark have another listening party for local band The Savants of Soul scheduled for Nov. 14.
[A version of this story ran on page 8 on 9/18/2014 under the headline "Local duo drops new album via local business partnership event"]
