Hear, here

To sophomore, artist, and Bloomington native Jeremy Gotwals, this city is a musical oasis. It’s a place that offers a “myriad of opportunities to express” oneself openly and freely.

Gotwals says his music, defined as “progressive acoustic,” revolves around his life experiences, spirituality, and a self-proclaimed “quest” to inspire and motivate. Think he’s kidding? He performed a song called “Azadi” (Farsi word meaning “Freedom”) with Iranian music legend Soheil Zolfonoon at the Jacobs School of Music last August.

Bloomington’s music scene embraces an array of sounds, textures, colors, and “vibratory possibilities,” Gotwals says. Case in point: Gotwals often strums and sings on campus buses. Any music, anytime, anywhere. We’ve composed a list of music you too can find around Bloomington anytime, anywhere, so you can find your own oasis.

Bear’s Place
1316 E. Third St.

Phil Resler tends bar on a Friday morning. The mood is calm – a complete antithesis to the previous night. Thursday nights at Bear’s are irresistibly intense. The karaoke room is so packed (220 eager songsters) that customers are turned away at the door. One man offers to give $50 to enter. That’s $48 more than is required to sing.

The booze (30 gallons of the legendary “Hairy Bear” sold in one night) flows as freely as the words of Elton John, Sir Mix-A-Lot, and the Backstreet Boys. “Something as simple as a drink and music brings so much together,” Albert Bridgewaters, the charismatic bouncer, says.

Nostalgia is thick. Resler recalls a woman from California returning after 20 years. “There’s something about this place,” he says, remembering her. “People come back.”

Pourhouse CafE 
314 E. Kirkwood Ave.

The coffee’s good, but try a listen. “We book live music to see, not just as background,” pourer George Drake says. The house tries to stay as “local as possible,” with its furthest performer, Brooks Ritter, coming from Louisville, Ky.

Pourhouse addresses global needs by exposing local talent. All profits go toward current causes, like to victims of AIDS and leprosy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Two to three times a month, Pourhouse features live shows, mostly but not limited to acoustic acts. 

The daily music depends on the atmosphere inside and outside, Drake says. “Music depends on the day. It’s upbeat when it’s busy, like today.”

BuffaLouie’s
114 S. Indiana Ave.

“Saying ‘no’ is bad for business,” manager Ed Schwartzman says. When he joined forces with Eric Love, director of diversity education, to start Open Mic Night (every other Thursday) a year and a half ago, the duo applied the credo, “no limitations.” Anyone, any age, can take to the microphone.

The night has become a welcomed and anticipated (often “standing room only”) complement to the already smoking wings. The passion Schwartzman has for the evening adds to the ambiance. The stage, a 6-by-8-foot box, is named in honor of Schwartzman’s son and musician, Ben, who died in 2007.

One night it’s interactive rapper Chris Tabron, the next it’s a group of 15-year-old jazzers. Expect anything at Louie’s.

Soma Coffee House
322 E. Kirkwood Ave.

Vibrant yellows and greens punch up the limited confines of this hip coffee shop. However, the musical selection has no ceiling. “They really change it up,” Soma regular and graduate student Colin Jenkins says. “It’s got the whole package.”

Visitors hear anything and everything from the sounds of Swedish electronic artist Fever Ray to the techno-German band Kraftwerk, and from punk performer Black Flag to Screaming Females, who are influenced by “spooky things and sea creatures.”

Employees such as Lauren Jones play DJ during shifts. Just don’t expect the usual. “There are other coffee shops to go to to listen to Mozart,” Jones says.