Notes on the CD:

“The Salem Soundwave” is a joint venture of The Culture Shock Community Project and Radio Free Salem.  It is designed to support, enliven, and celebrate the collected music, art, literature, and culture of Salem and the Mid-Willamette Valley.  STEREO SALEM is its first project.

It has been an exciting (sometimes arduous) experience bringing this collection to fruition, but we believed passionately in the project and were determined to see it come together.  With the combined forces of our two organizations’ founders, Karen Holman, Dayna Rogers and Ryan Rogers, it took two attempts, but we pulled it off.  May we just say, in our humble opinions, that it is completely awesome, and we have no doubt that you are going to love it too.

Aside from our desire to celebrate the music of the Mid-Valley specifically, Culture Shock and RFS have always been committed to local communities, and in this case, local music and culture.  In a day and age when everything is marketed, packaged, formulized, and mass-produced, local music scenes represent a passionate and organic connection to our community and to the art world.  Plus, unlike the arenas shows of the big, “major-label” artists, local shows are intimate and close, and therefore personal, dynamic and exciting, often delivering a more memorable and profound experience. 

We hope this CD will inspire you to seek out great local artists.  (And thanks to MySpace, finding out about great music -- local and otherwise -- has never been easier.)

A Cross-Genre Mix?

An integral part of Culture Shock’s mission is to inspire cross-cultural connections and interaction, and we have fused that mission into The Salem Soundwave, as well as STEREO SALEM.  We set out to make this collection as diverse and inclusive as we possibly could.  Interestingly enough, thanks to the area’s already diverse music, most of the work was done for us ahead of time.  Therefore, while we could have collected local rock, pop, and indie music for this collection in order to appeal to a niche market, we felt that regardless of style or taste, great music is great music.  A true music lover will open their ears with their minds, and explore everything this disc has to offer. This diversity is what made STEREO SALEM such an exciting project for us.  We hope that open ears and open minds will appreciate and enjoy the variety and high quality of the music we collected.

How The Music Was Selected:

It should be pointed out that we do not consider STEREO SALEM to be the only great music in the area, it is merely the tip of the iceberg.  However, because there was only room for 40 tracks on the double-CD set, we view these great artist merely as a representation of the Salem scene as a whole, to the extent that could be done.  We did not wish to create a competition, and to preserve the integrity of the selection process, we wanted to avoid any perception of personal bias or friendship connections between local musicians and members of our organizations. 

Rather than an open submissions process, we invited local artists, musicians, community members, local business owners, and others directly involved in their local communities to submit nominations of their favorite Mid-Valley artists.  The qualifications were simple: (1) At the time of the original nomination, at least half of the group had to reside in the Mid-Valley; (2) they had to be an active band at the time of selection; (3) the music they submitted had to be an original work (the only exception being the Willamette University Chamber Choir, which submitted an interpretation of a traditional piece).

That list, topping out at over 200 artists, was reviewed by “board” of independent listeners who lived outside the Salem area and had no relationship to the musicians or artists in any way.  The board’s top-rated artists were then approached and invited to participate.  Though some consideration was given to their genres to insure a diverse mix, in general, the bands that were selected are there on the pure strength of their music.

Due to the limited space and the high quality of the submissions, the selection process was brutal for us, because inevitably many great artists could not be included.  Therefore, we encourage every listener to support as much Mid-Valley music as you can.  Most bands on this CD list their favorite local bands on their websites and MySpaces (included in the band info), and we recommend you start there (as well as on Culture Shock’s own MySpace, where we will be featuring new artists and musicians regularly)

The Future Is Now:

The STEREO SALEM project of The Salem Soundwave is a purely non-profit venture. All proceeds of this CD support the community work of The Culture Shock Community Project.  All of the songs included on this CD were donated by the artists in support of our work.  The purchase price of this CD supports a great organization, promotes local talent and provides you with an armload of great new music, so everyone wins!

Lastly, STEREO SALEM is merely the first project of The Salem Soundwave, and with your support and encouragement, we hope to see future collections, projects and events.  Please visit our website www.thesalemsoundwave.org to keep updated on events.  Also, friend us at www.myspace.com/thesalemsoundwave to hear new music, news, band info, and to learn about cool projects and events.  On our MySpace you will also be linked to the pages of bands featured on this compilation.  For more information, or to join our list-serv, please contact us at cultureshockproject@gmail.com