Put Salem in your Stereo

    I've been neglecting this look at the exciting double disc release of Stereo Salem for far too long. Part of the problem, to be honest, is it's a rather daunting task. We are talking about two CDs stuffed to the digital gills with a broad cross section of what the local scene has to offer.

    And really, that's the most impressive part of the endeavor. Salem Soundwave is the new non-profit behind the CD release. They have deep ties with Culture Shock, Radio Free Salem and the Salem arts community writ large. It's gratifying to see how they've reached out to every part of the community to create the compilations. It's not just about getting rock, pop and hip hop on the same album, but making sure that every age group and culture is represented.

    The Funhouse Strippers and The Falcon both have tracks in the compilation. Good ones, of course, but there's plenty here new to me. The level of production is also uniformly high. An appropriate amount of attention has been made to making sure each track fits in with the rest. There isn't a single song that stounds out for reasons of recording quality.

    It would be tempting to give you my track by track impression of the whole set, but I'm not sure I could do a fair job of it. I don't think I could give you a very accurate genre breakdown of each act, even if I wanted to. I've never been good with all the various sub-labels that get thrown down. My knowledge certainly isn't vast enough to do justice to everything contained here. Even broad categories like rock, pop and hip-hop are problematic. For me it's a philosophic problem. For to attach a label is to place a limitation without benefit.

    That being the case, I won't try very hard to tell you what's here and what isn't except to say this: as you listen to the CDs you will contantly be struck by a song requiring you to investigate the artist. And it will happen so many times you'll keep forgetting the names and having to check again. So do yourself a favor and check out the website at salemsoundwave.org, ask for a copy at one of our fine local record shops, keep a post-it of what struck you most on your monitor and make a real effort to go see these bands live.