The new album is a 40-track double disc featuring as many Mid-Willamette bands and their music, all hand-picked and served up for a May 15 release at three Salem music joints.

The disc features a plethora of musical genres from metal to rock and indie folk to blues. As Ryan Rogers -- one of the main forces behind the compilation -- suggests, the disc offers an appetizer of almost everything happening in the Salem music world.

The idea came to life when Rogers, founder of the community activism group Culture Shock Community Project, decided it was time Salem started receiving recognition for its contribution to the music scene.

"I have come to love and adore our diverse local music; however, I have noted that it is often undervalued or even dismissed for more famed scenes like Portland and Seattle," Rogers said.  

"This is new ground being cut by myself and Culture Shock," he added. "This is a professionally produced, mastered, designed and packaged two-CD collection featuring local artists from the Mid-Willamette Valley. Nothing like this has been produced here in Salem before."

The compilation has been in the works about two years. A product of Culture Shock, the disc is being co-produced by Radio Free Salem's Karen Holman, a joint venture called The Salem Soundwave.

Different from the first attempt, this go-round includes only bands that were nominated by music lovers, business owners and others directly involved in Salem's music scene. All songs had to be original and had to pass a listen test, and all bands must be active and are required to have at least half their members living in the Willamette Valley.

The 40 selected tracks were winnowed down from more than 200 nominations.

Rogers calls the album a celebration of Salem music and it is being highly received by the artists collaborating on the project.
Kristen Grainger, lead singer of True North (a band featured on Stereo Salem) said the idea is great.

"The philosophy behind it seems to be pretty high-minded: produce and sell a compilation of local music that gives area residents, visitors and outsiders a sense of the breadth, depth and variety of high-quality music from the Mid-Willamette Valley," Grainger said. "Rather than a `Salem's Top 40' it's more like a few tantalizing bites from Salem's vast musical buffet."  

In making the album, Rogers said he tried to represent all genres that Salem encourages including the Latino beat.

"One of the attributes of our collection is that we have a thriving Latino music community and we have two tracks to represent that sound," Rogers said. "We put all [the musical styles] together because we hope with open ears people will come to the collection and appreciate the music as great music."

Musician Noah Hall has two songs on the disc, a solo from his Whiskey Priest project and one with his band, Easterly.

"The project highlights the best music Salem has to offer and puts it all in one place," said Hall.

"It's great for all the artists featured to have the opportunity to have their music heard, but it's even better for Salem, as a whole, to be able to make this musical statement. The music here is exciting and now people everywhere will get to see what we have to offer."

The disc will be available May 15 at Ranch Records, The IKE Box and the Willamette University Bookstore.

The CD will be more widely released on June 15 in independent music stores throughout Salem, Portland, Eugene, Olympia, Seattle and Bend for $9.

Copies also will be available on the Web at www.thesalemsoundwave.org for $10, which includes a $1 shipping charge. For more information, e-mail cultureshockproject@gmail.com or visit www.myspace.com/thesalemsoundwave.