Music blows our mind on the daily. I mean, check out the above photo from inside a real Portland recording studio!I am not a musician. But I, like many of you, have listened to music just about every day of my life. Seen countless shows. Been surrounded by so many people who understand the creative process better than I do.
It’s incredible what you can learn from hanging out with a few artists and music industry professionals—producers, studio owners, live sound guys, mixing and mastering engineers, record label bosses.
How many things in life do we just take for granted even if we have no idea how they technically or scientifically work. Like soap. Why does it clean us? Or, to quote a musical luminary, “Fucking magnets, how do they work?”
So you tell me how the world of live and recorded music works. How these imperceptible sound waves move the air near our ears and produce the vast spectrum of mellifluous music we consume via vinyl, streaming or radio. These sound waves can produce some of the most beautiful, inspiring, relaxing, uplifting, and even annoying noises. Put together in the proper way, this music can instantly transport you to a time and place, creating a physical sensation inside of your being.
And it’s all invisible. I mean, c’mon—mind blown!
Music is omnipresent these days, so it’s easy to assume it just happens. But the phenomenon of recorded music is something to behold in itself. The physical grooves on a vinyl record are literally the music’s sound wave. The needle follows those grooves, reading them and playing back the sound waves, which then move the air in our ears and we hear danceable synthpop, psychedelic guitars, or a passionate ballad that makes our hair stand on end.
CLICK HERE to join the Vortex Access Party—you'll get a copy of the mag delivered to your door each quarter plus access to exclusive giveaways and prizes!I’ve learned more about music, and our thriving music community, in the past four years than I could’ve imagined. I’ve felt so many emotions, but more than anything else, I’ve been supported by countless local musicians, industry professionals and loyal readers—thank you all!
This issue marks our fourth birthday and we once again have gathered unreleased music from eight local artists and cut it to wax—read and hear more here! We’ll celebrate all of this at Kelly’s Olympian on Thursday, April 26 where the stage will be shared by electropop from LEO ISLO, NoPo hip-hop from Mic Capes, and a singer-songwriter with a sharp edge in MAITA.
Four years in and a lot has changed—in the music industry, in the city, and in the scene. We’re still learning every day.
Chris Young Editor-In-Chief
