Sounds Are Active is an independent record label

Independent record label

An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...

 based in Long Beach, CA. It was founded in 1999

1999 in music

-Events:*January 7**After eight years of marriage, Rod Stewart and supermodel wife Rachel Hunter announce their separation.**Paul McCartney attends the first of his stepdaughter Heather's first housewares collection in Georgia....

 by Chris Schlarb. The label has focused on releasing music in the genres of free jazz

Free jazz

Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s...

, avanthop, ambient

Ambient music

Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...

 and other experimental music

Experimental music

Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...

.

A strong visual aesthetic has helped to define the label image. Sounds Are Active has worked with such visual artists as Tim McMullen, Jonathan Dueck, Paul Goode, Jason Munn

Jason Munn

Jason Munn is an American Graphic and Poster Artist. He is best known for creating posters for many Indie-Rock bands. His posters can be found online and at many music festivals around the United States, in modern art museums, and as well as the covers of CD albums...

, Grady McFerrin, Laura Park, Jeff Madrid, Aaron Tanner and Joel Speasmaker.

In 2005 Sounds Are Active introduced an option to subscribe to all of their releases (digital and physical) for a year. In November 2006 they released their first film, the rockumentary

Rockumentary

The term rockumentary is a neologism denoting a documentary about rock music or its musicians. The term was used by Bill Drake in the 1969 History of Rock & Roll radio broadcast, and by Rob Reiner in the 1984 mockumentary film This Is Spinal Tap....

 40 Bands/80 Minutes!

40 Bands 80 Minutes!

40 Bands 80 Minutes! is a 2006 American rockumentary directed by Sean Carnage about the Los Angeles underground music scene in 2006.In the style of Urgh! A Music War, 40 Bands 80 Minutes! is a series of punk and experimental musical performances and performance art pieces, with minimal narration...

.

Bands

• Bizzart
• C.J. Boyd
• Create (!)
  Create (!)
  Create is a free jazz or "free form" band formed in Long Beach, California in 1999.-Music:Create draw upon no wave, free jazz, progressive rock, freecore, hip hop R&B and the traditional music of America and Africa...
  
  
• Deneir
• Electric iLL
• I Heart Lung
• Tim McMullen
• Melk The G6-49
• Patagonian
• Siamese Sisters
• Soul-Junk
  Soul-Junk
  Soul-Junk is an experimental genre-hopping Christian rock / hip hop group from San Diego, California.-Background:The roots of Soul-Junk began in 1993 when Glen Galloway began experimenting while touring in Europe with his rock band Trumans Water...
  
  
• therefore
• The Weird Weeds