Carey Fountain

It's dusk on a Friday in Fairfield and I'm standing outside of Stephen Smith Fine Art on Gary Avenue. The street is completely quiet, except for a few cars driving up the road. Some of the surrounding businesses are closed for the evening, except for the Citgo gas station across the street. Other businesses are closed permanently.

In 30 minutes, the art gallery will be full of guests and young creatives ready for "Vibes and Virtues," an interactive art exhibit featuring paintings, installations, and live music from more than fifteen artists and musicians in the Birmingham area.

Inside, curator Carey Fountain is busy setting up audio equipment on a stage in the middle of the gallery. When he looks up and sees me, he walks to the front of the gallery, smiling widely.

I introduce myself. Still smiling, Fountain pauses, visibly racking his brain. - AL.com

It can’t be helped—Birmingham is changing. Of course, new developments—for instance, the recently completed Rotary Trail in the Parkside District—dot the city, highlighting renewed corporate and local investment; but these things aren’t lone signifiers of Birmingham’s evolution. Organized and hosted by diverse groups of city-dwellers, community events are too reflecting change and illustrating a new kind of energy and vitality that seems to permeate the city and its people. Lit House is one of those events.

An emerging staple for the city’s underground scene, Lit House is held every other month at the Syndicate Lounge. The purpose of the series is to foster a social environment wherein local musicians and artists can come together under one roof to show off their skills and share information. Here, jam sessions and art exhibits (occurring simultaneously) challenge the belief that Birmingham has nothing to offer when it comes to creativity and innovation.

On May 11, I attended the third session of Lit House and I got to speak with Carey Fountain, founder of DoReMe Media Group—the organization that created and coordinates Lit House events. He shared with me stories about his past: how he began to seriously make music while attending Woodbridge High School in northern Virginia, how he went to college at the University of Alabama with a concentration in media business and began building strong connections with artists and musicians and how a diverse wealth of artistry (e.g. The Neptunes, N.E.R.D, Gary Clark Jr.) has and continues to inspire him to hone and develop his own voice.

“DoReMe Media Group is an online platform and a community outreach initiative dedicated to building a community of artists, intellectuals and musicians,” Fountain said.

This particular focus on community building is, for me, the most striking thing about Lit House. During the event, I couldn’t help but observe the presence of a multitude of collaborators (Moses Presnell, Space One Eleven, & ArtByTay) all of whom are working together in unique ways to build a strong network throughout the state with a shared goal of putting Birmingham’s creative scene on the map. UAB even has a role in this movement with the hosts of BlazeRadio podcast, The Kickback, regularly emceeing Lit House sessions, and students, like Sage Williams, getting opportunities to perform regularly. In this way, Lit House functions by not only providing a space and an atmosphere for locals to come together, it also brings people to the city center and exposes folks to parts of Birmingham’s character.

Of course, you don’t have to be an artist or performer in order to participate. Any person simply looking to have a good time and soak up some nice vibes will enjoy what Lit House has to offer.

For more updates and more information about Lit House events, follow DoReMe’s facebook page or email drmthemovement@gmail.com. - UAB Student Media

On the evening of October 15th, DoReMe Movement presented an evening where several of the most creative souls in the city gathered to take part in a unique experience. For the night, ‘Lit House’ served as a mecca for local and not so local creatives, innovators and tastemakers. Upon entering, guests were greeted with a variety of works by local visual artists. J. Fresko of Hunstville, Alabama displayed several of his unique and vibrant prints while across the room, a few local vendors displayed many hand-painted items.

In the performance area, guests were vibing out and turning up to the sounds of DJ Go John Doe of Tuscaloosa, Alabama as he mixed high-energy sounds. The space was minimally but appropriately decorated to reflect the experience. The people were enamored with the artwork, dancing nonstop and most importantly mixing and mingling with new faces. Because of this experience, everyone had the opportunity to meet individuals like themselves who they never had the chance to encounter before. Later in the night, the live performances began. The artist lineup included DJ Don Jr., Jay Dot Rain, Wynt Earley, THE PRBLMS, Kudoz, and Carey Fountain – founder of DoReMe Movement and lead curator of Lit House. Each of these artists, although somewhat local for the most part, brought a unique vibe that provided something for every various soul in the building.

This event was made possible by DoReMe Movement, Illest Kids, THE PRBLMS and 1sharpG. - 1SharpG

Brandon Varner - Managing Editor
managing@insideuab.com

This week, we got ourselves a couple of records. That’s right buddy. Strap on those rec specs and put on those jean shorts, because it’s hammertime.

Local hip-hop collective DoReMe Music Group released the compilation album “We Say How We Feel & Make It Sound Good Vol. 1” on Oct. 15, 2015. There are a host of different styles throughout the compilation, and though the album is rich with variation it still has a cohesive identity. The producers are the people that really make this record. My favorite beat on the album is probably “Slip & Slide,” which, in addition to its lush pads and hard-hitting drums, samples classic Trick Daddy and Trina verses, artists on the song’s namesake record label.

Some producers are a little farther along than others, but everyone is beyond competent. Carey Fountain has probably the simplest style of the bunch, but his beats show a lot of promise. They sort of remind me of an early Three Six Mafia brought into the modern era. A sort of atonal lo-fi style that at times opens up in a jazzy way. Yannic’s work is more of a disjointed boom bap influenced type deal. “Monday,” produced by Trend, has a great old-school soul sample.

The big takeaway from this project to me was that Birmingham does have some talented young people in its burgeoning rap scene, and I look forward to seeing how things grow for them. The crew is building momentum especially with events that they’ve thrown around the city like Art House; a show that combined visual art, music and more.

Probably my biggest complaints is the lack of artist listings on the record. You hear so many different voices, but there are no names to pin them on so it can be a little frustrating to not be able to check out more music of someone’s verse that you like.

If you like Schoolboy Q, Chance the Rapper, or many other artists in that new hip hop sound, you should give it a listen - UAB Student Media

Written by: Katarina Thompson
When people think of rap music, it is pretty typical for mainstream artists such as Lil’ Wayne or Big Sean pop into mind. However, within the rap/hip-hop music genre there is a sub-genre titled “underground hip-hop”. The University of Alabama has its very own underground artist producing music in the studio of Gorgas library, and he goes by the name of Carey Fountain. Camille Corbett, host of Femme Fatale, will have the chance to sit down and interview Fountain on Sunday, June 23, from 4-5 p.m.
Underground hip-hop is an umbrella term for hip-hop music outside the general commercial canon. It is typically associated with independent artists, signed to independent labels or no label at all. Many times people consider these Independent rap artists to be sort of musical hipsters From Mac Miller and Wiz Khalifa to Kreayshawn, “hipster” mix tape artists are beginning to receive national recognition, and top mainstream music charts.
“Unique” was the term used when Marcus Polk, 20, student and fan of Fountain‘s music was asked to describe his music style. From the beats of his songs to the off the wall verses he raps, Fountain is the epitome of originality in this underground music scene.
“Music is everything to me, it’s my life and pretty much all I live for. It has gotten me through the toughest times and the best of times. Songs are like memories in the form of audio and I just think its so cool how much music can do to the human mind. “ said Fountain.
Fountain, a junior at the University of Alabama, pursuing a degree in media business, formed the group DoReMe (which is short for Discovering Ourselves, RevolutionizingEarth, Musically Enlighting) his freshman year of college. Through releasing five mix tapes, self-produced music videos on YouTube, performing at venues and creating an apparel line (Live, Grind, Love) DoReMe has created a fan base across the North and South coast.
“They are like a young black hippy movement, I couldn’t imagine a better group of kids to work with,” said Odds, an underground artist from South Florida.
Having a musical talent is a gift. Everyone is not born with the ability to create the instrumental beats you hear on the radio when a song plays, or the lyrics you hear in your favorite song. However, Fountain does not consider the fact that he can create a verse in a quick period of time or come up with a beat for a new song a gift.
“I wouldn’t consider it a gift I would just say I like to express myself. For me it is just all about emotion. Usually, I start off making a beat by just trying to feel the music in my soul and just play around with the sound until I come up with something I like. Then I listen to it for a while and just brainstorm and just try to always write something that I know is real to me and if people like it then cool and if not that’s cool too. I try to make music that people hear and automatically know it’s me. I hate comparisons and trying to “fit in”.”
Be sure to tune in Sunday at 4pm to hear Fountain’s latest music and to learn more about the young MC himself. - 90.7 The Capstone