If you ask me, Jake Caldwell represents an especially interesting group of American musicians.

Caldwell is part of a generation of musicians who are influenced by the alternative rock groups who dominated the music scene in the late ‘90s and early aughts. This means his music has heavy shades of groups such as 311 and Incubus.

I find this fact interesting mainly because these are the bands that I grew up listening to. One has to wonder what groups from this past decade will extend an influence over new music and Jake Caldwell is an indication of who they will be.

Caldwell makes no attempt to mask his affection for 311. In fact, if I wasn’t really paying attention, I would assume Caldwell’s song “Paranormal” off of his EP “Invincible” would be a 311 song I somehow had not heard. The pacing and power-chord riffs of “Paranormal” feel like a mellow 311 tune such as “I’ll Be Here a While” and Caldwell’s vocals sound almost spot-on similar to those of 311’s S.A. Martinez.

Whether Caldwell’s similarity to the Omaha-based alt-rap-ska rockers is inherently good or bad is up to the listener and for what it’s worth, Caldwell is actually a talented musician. The EP’s strongest song, “Cynical,” shows off Caldwell’s relaxing side with a lovely 50-second acoustic intro and eventually builds up into a head-bobbing hard rock song. Let us all hope Caldwell decides to take his first full-length album in the “Cynical” direction because an album such as that would have serious potential.

Caldwell does not have any Auburn dates scheduled, but as he recently moved to the area some should arise soon. To preview Caldwell’s music, surf on over to his Facebook fan page. The page is titled “Song’s by Jake Caldwell.” Music is also available on his MySpace page, myspace.com/songsbyjakecaldwell. His EP is also available at Hastings.