I And Ear Records:
I and Ear's approach to picking up artists is fairly untraditional, "we are [not] going for any particular sound" states co-founder Robbie Lee, I figure "if I like a record there are other people out there that like that record". Lee hopes I and Ear's releases are"analogous to the dimensions of [I and Ear's] collective musical tastes". Musical tastes that have led the label to release bands garnering on the more obscure, such as the avant-garde band People, to more accessible bands like Mazarin and Miguel Mendez (both of which will also be on DGN's program this period).

Mazarin, who Lee describes as I and Ear's most accessible band, is thus far the labels biggest success. According to Lee, I and Ear's “idea of success is to have records get out there and get heard by people in some capacity.” Mazarin is currently on tour with EMI Capitol band Sound People.

Lee attributes I and Ear’s success to the state of the music industry today. “I think we are in a particularly open-minded time for music right now” says Lee. While part of the success is due to I and Ear’s artists, the owners themselves are no strangers to the music industry. “Andy and I are musicians and musicians tend to know other musicians.” When Miguel Mendez threw a record release party for his debut solo album, “My Girlfriend Is Melting” at Kate’s Joint, a popular vegetarian restaurant in the Lower East Side, Lee said, “the place was packed.”

I and Ear Record exists, according to Lee, to give musicians an opportunity to get their music heard. “It’s about providing an opportunity that otherwise would not have been there” proclaims Lee. As an accomplished musician himself (look out for his solo album coming out next spring), Lee informs me that he (along with fellow musician Andy McLeod and music veteran Morgan Lebus) started the label to put an end to the “classic stories of ‘that band’ that never properly recorded but there is some live tape out there and you can kind of sort of tell what the band is about.”

Maintaining quality of the product is I and Ear records primary goal. The label is not interested in finding the one band that will make them. Instead, I and Ear believes in signing on a consistent number of bands who have the potential to consistently make quality albums. “The business model, where one has to sell over 1 million records to make any money”, according to Lee, “is not the model of the future”.

Look out for DGN’s featured artists: Mazarin, Miguel Mendez, and Mike Wexler at music stores near you. For owners of record players, all of I and Ear’s albums can be found on colored vinyl. To find more information on I and Ear visit them on their website www.ierecs.com or check them out on myspace.com. To leave you with the wise words of Lee “all the records that we have done and will do are exciting.”

www.ierecs.com