Seattle Band Map
EMP is now displaying the Seattle Band Map within their Nirvana: Taking Punk to the Masses exhibition that opened last week. The Seattle Band Map is a project that showcases the Pacific Northwest’s vibrant music scene by visually documenting the thousands of bands who have performed and recorded throughout the decades. The Seattle Band Map is a creative collaboration between KEXP’s Rachel Ratner, local musician Keith Whiteman and web developer Golf Sinteppadon. They took the project online after running out of physical space on the paper map and the resulting website, which is still growing thanks to ongoing input by Seattle musicians and fans, has turned into a collaborative piece of informational art. By tapping into the knowledge of the crowd, the project has become a sort of oral history of rock ‘n’ roll for Seattle that is quickly spreading beyond Seattle’s city limits. For more information on the Seattle Band Map or the Nirvana: Taking Punk to the Masses please visit the links above.
WIRED TIPPED OFF TO SEATTLE BAND MAP
Wired
If you are an avid reader of this blog you already know that the Seattle Band Map is a project that showcases the Pacific Northwest’s vibrant music scene by visually documenting the thousands of bands who have performed and recorded throughout the decades. The Seattle Band Map is a creative collaboration between KEXP’s Rachel Ratner, local musician Keith Whiteman and web developer Golf Sinteppadon. They took the project online after running out of physical space on the paper map and the resulting website, which is still growing thanks to ongoing input by Seattle musicians and fans, has turned into a collaborative piece of informational art. By tapping into the knowledge of the crowd, the project has become a sort of oral history of rock ‘n’ roll for Seattle that is quickly spreading beyond Seattle’s city limits. The Seattle Band Map went live two weeks ago with only a few groups listed; today it includes more than 2,000. The information architecture that shows the relationships among bands is evolving: Ratner and crew want to make the linkages more descriptive, such as a green line for “played a show together,” a red line for “shared a band member,” a yellow line for “collaborated on an album,” etc. Check out the Wired article with the hyper-hyperlink above and maybe even make an addition to the Seattle Band Map.
SEATTLE BAND MAP PROJECT
Seattle Band Map
Ever wanted to see the intricate cross-connections of Seattle bands in a tangible aesthetic? Now you can! The Seattle Band Map is a project that showcases the Pacific Northwest’s vibrant music scene by visually documenting the thousands of bands who have performed and recorded throughout the decades. Moreover, the Map is a community installation (a la Wikipedia), so feel free to submit any connections or information for bands of which you are aware of, including your own. Bands must have played at least one public show or released a recording of some fashion (vinyl, CD or tape) to be included on the map and connections can also be made between musical acts who share band members. The Seattle Band Map is a creative collaboration between KEXP’s Rachel Ratner, local musician Keith Whiteman and web developer Golf Sinteppadon. Mosey on over to the map with the help of the URL link technology above thanks to our web developers here at OF+M.
SEATTLE BAND MEMBERS MIX AND MINGLE TO FORM NEW GROUPS AND SIDE PROJECTS
Seattle Times
It’s quarter past nine on a recent Friday night. A crowd of 20-somethings mills outside Cairo, a shoebox art gallery and performance space along the Summit/Mercer enclave of Capitol Hill. Inside another 50 or so people admire the weekend’s installation, a giant, 8-by-8-foot wall hanging known semi-ironically as “The Incest Map.” The work of KEXP communications manager Rachel Ratner and poster artist Keith Whiteman, the map started in September on a legal pad, Ratner’s six-degrees game between her bands and her friends’. It’s a graphic representation of various bands in and around Seattle and the members they share. This night more than 350 groups are logged, circled and linked. For the full story, check out the above link.
WE ARE ALL CONNECTED: RACHEL RATNER’S 8 FOOT TALL CARTOGRAPHIC STUDY OF MUSICAL INCEST
KEXP
KEXP’s Rachel Ratner has meticulously created what she calls a “cartographic study of musical incest” that maps out the interconnectedness of the Seattle Music Scene, connecting everyone from Fleet Foxes to Botch to Nirvana and The Intelligence to the Fastbacks. She says, “[It] started out as a personal (and let me add, super nerdy) project of mine. I was trying to map out how the bands I’m in (Disclaimer: I’m in a few bands around town, including Partman Parthorse and Butts), and my friends bands, were interconnected.” She has also put together a KEXP podcast. She hopes that “in listening to this podcast, and looking at the map, you’ll get a sense not only of Seattle’s vibrant music scene, but how even when folks don’t realize it, we’re a lot closer to each other than we may think.” Click the above link to see more images, read more about the project and listen to the podcast. The map will be on view this Friday, November 20 at Cairo Art gallery as part of their Expo 87 music festival. Check out a piece of the map below, and follow the above link for the full thing.
