If you want to dig into the bounty of treasures San Diego music has to offer, but don't know quite where to start -- Dizzy Spells Productions has you covered.
Last month, the newly formed creative agency dropped a massive, free, 46-track compilation featuring a who's who of local music such as Weatherbox, Oh Spirit, Birdy Bardot, the Schizophonics, Hexa, Stage Kids, Future Crooks, and Spooky Cigarette, among others. [Download it here]
Unfamiliar with Dizzy Spells? Well, that's understandable. Musicians Jordan Krimston (who plays in Big Bad Buffalo and Traffic Bear) and Sarah Linton (bassist in Uber Monk) joined forces just a couple months back to kick the venture off (they've also enlisted their friend Kelsey Kohler to occasionally help out with graphic design). According to Linton, the partnership made all the sense in the world because, between the three of them, they're able to cover several different mediums and provide a plethora of services to the artistic community.
"I guess the inspiration for Dizzy Spells really came from the vibrancy and liveliness of different cultures," Linton explained over email. "We know that San Diego encompasses this same vibrancy too, but needs a little push. Jordan loves to book shows and promote, Kelsey loves to illustrate and create graphic solutions, and I love photography and video. It was a natural team! We all love San Diego, and the community; we just want our friends to thrive."
They started by plotting the release of their first compilation (the aforementioned "Dizzy Spells, Vol. 1") and booking showcases around town featuring some of those bands. At nearly three hours long, the collection spans several different styles across the dense San Diego music scene -- an undertaking that Krimston said was a necessary labor of love.
"San Diego is full of amazing musicians, artists, and creatives. Unfortunately, a lot of this flies under the public's radar. Why that is, we don't quite know. We hope that with this compilation, we can get local music circles to work together, rise up, and improve our music community. On the comp, we feature brand new artists such as Boxx Office and Whiteborzoi as well as veterans in the scene such as Black Market III ... We want to support everybody in the scene, regardless of popularity, genre, age, etc."
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Of course, the Dizzy Spells crew have got their own individual favorites on "Volume 1." Linton's a big fan of the "Holy Roller" contribution from Creepseed (a SoundDiego top pick, too) as well as "The San Diego National Anthem" by Shades McCool -- while Krimston's partial to Aw Man Oh Dear’s "Roll With the Punches," saying: "This band put out their first record last year and it definitely deserves some more attention. Intricate production, amazing guitar tones, thought-out songwriting and cleverly written, catchy vocal parts."
Despite the sheer enormity of their first release, Dizzy Spells is just getting started. The team is apparently already hard at work on "Vol. 2" -- asking for submissions on their Facebook page.
"We’re hoping to beat out 'Now That’s What I Call Music,'" Krimston joked, "so we'll have a lot more compilations in the future to come."
Dustin Lothspeich books The Merrow, plays in Diamond Lakes, and runs the music equipment-worshipping blog Gear and Loathing in San Diego. Follow his updates on Twitter or contact him directly.
