Echo Curio Exhibit - Bottling Smoke – The CD-r and its Hidden Music Industry

The advent of the recordable compact disc and the ubiquity of the Internet as a meeting room and marketplace
have facilitated an infinitely sustainable ring of fans, musicians and record labels. This vast assortment of
creators, critics and consumers is fluid and both inclusive in its need for new artistic energy and exclusive in the
relative short lifespan and limited nature of the release.

This exhibition will look at the international community in a small but holistic manner, showing one label's
approach to this industry, a business that has grown more out of love, appreciation and respect, rather than
being driven by profit margins and earning indices. This label is itself a split personality, collectively known as
Digitalis Industries, but encompassing Digitalis Records (releasing full-length compact disc releases, more
within the scope of the current and dominant music industry), Foxglove Recordings (releasing the stars of our
show, the limited edition CD-R releases, all with hand-assembled and mostly hand-made covers), and Digitalis
Publications (which handles the printed word in a much similar fashion as Foxglove). Add to this the popular
music review and interview site Foxy Digitalis, and you have a powerful force for creating and sustaining a
community of music lovers and artists.

From its birth four years ago, the combined labels have released almost 200 albums, spawned and nurtured
countless international bands and similar labels, and pioneered an industry that rewards the notion of economy
of scale. Counteracting the current ruling paradigm of mass-production and detached artist worship, Digitalis
Industries' creators, Brad Rose and his wife Eden, have personalized and made manageable a system that
could revolutionize the music industry, and should serve as a model for the individual artist who seeks to spread
his work to the world.

The exhibition, housed within the equally DIY Echo Curio, in Echo Park, California, will show the cover designs
from all Digitalis Industry releases, along with some original artwork that inspired them. It will also include
behind the scene photos of the Roses and friends at work on this labor of love, as well as video and audio
interviews with them and other key figures in this cycle of creation, from the artists involved to the labels that were
inspired to the voice of the fan who is thankful for a unique and personal way to experience new music.

The Festival
Happy Birthday, Digitalis

In late May of 2007, coinciding with the opening of the Bottling Smoke exhibition on CD-r culture, the Echo Curio
gallery will host a three day music festival, celebrating the other side of the Digitalis experience, the music.
Bringing artists from as far as Finland and Australia, this festival will mix in local musicians from Los Angeles
and nearby San Francisco and Portland, Oregon, all to celebrate the anniversary of the creation of strong musical
community.

The shows, with the possible exception of a set of performances at a local music venue, will be free to the public,
and the costs will be offset by donation (both online and in-person) and the sales of related merchandise (a
compilation CD will be curated by Brad Rose and released collaboratively by Digitalis and Phantom Limb
Recordings). The curators of the exhibition and owners of the gallery feel it is important that these performances
be as open and inclusive as possible, to illustrate the notion that all are welcome to partake in the art, but also
establish the exclusivity in that only those who act will be a part of these once-in-a-lifetime occurrences.