RPM Challenge Listening Party Saturday

In February, more than 1,500 musicians and bands from around the globe dedicated themselves to recording new albums in 29 days as part of the seventh annual RPM Challenge, which resulted in nearly 700 new CDs, including 120 from our area.

Now, we’ll celebrate by listening to them! Every local band has selected a track for the community to hear on this special night. The free citywide listening party takes place on Saturday, March 24, beginning at the 800-seat Music Hall at 6 p.m. where musicians arrive to receive their nametags and participate in a mixer.

Opening ceremonies start at 7 p.m., then the party spreads out to include The Music Hall Founder’s Lobby, The Press Room, The Red Door, and RiverRun Bookstore.

The Seacoast-based RPM Challenge has compelled more than 8,000 bands from all seven continents to join since 2006. The RPM Challenge itself is to record an album in 29 days, just because you can. That’s 10 songs or 35 minutes of original material, written and recorded during the month of February. To date, the challenge has resulted in the creation of an astonishing 50,000+ new songs. The music spans every genre imaginable—from electronic to experimental, from hip hop to heavy metal—and represents the work of all types of musicians: aspiring stars, working bands, hobbyists, students, and closet musicians.

RPM Challenge began in February 2006 as a creative challenge for local bands in Portsmouth, N.H., where it was conceived by the weekly news and culture publication The Wire in order to further the local music scene. In 2007, the Wire opened the RPM Challenge to the international music community. It has been covered in popular blogs like Slashdot, in music websites like Pitchfork.com and on the National Public Radio show “All Things Considered,” with RPM bands featured on NPR’s “All Songs Considered.”

The website is the hub of the project, a tool for the musicians to connect and support each other. With thousands of musicians all working alongside each other, groups that might never otherwise come across each other can meet, share ideas and collaborate at www.rpmchallenge.com, bringing fresh perspectives and new insight into their own music.

Aside from the impetus to create, participating independent musicians from all walks of life share a common goal: to set aside any obstacles to producing music for the month of February, and to find themselves each holding in their hands a new CD of their own original work that they would not have made otherwise. The RPM community has become a vital part of the RPM Challenge experience. Personal connections made during the event have endured long after February ends, giving musicians a group of like-minded people with whom to share their artistic life. The Listening Party encourages and celebrates those connections in our own community.

The full playlist of the Listening Party locations, bands and tracks is featured in the March 21 edition of The Wire, available at more than 400 locations across the Seacoast and online at www.wirenh.com.