DJ Celeste Lear

DJ Celeste Lear's song "Light Through The Branches" was featured on Fox's hit show "So You Think You can Dance". - Fox TV

Q.With such a storied lineage, I have to ask you: When did you first become interested in gear and electronics?
A.Well, despite growing up in a family famous for the invention of the 8-track player, unfortunately, I was not filled in by any of my relatives on the mysterious world of electronics. My grandfather, Bill Lear, passed away when I was very young, and my father wasn't as adept in electronics. One of the first times I remember wanting to learn more about the technical aspects of electronics was when I was 19 and was cruising through my campus recording facility for the first time. I looked at the guys in there tweaking the knobs on all of that amazing-looking gear, and I just knew I wanted to do that too.

Q.The way people consume their music these days is rapidly changing as downloading becomes more and more prevalent. What do you think of the digital delivery of music?
A.It's the future, it's here, and musicians and industry folks are scrambling to understand how it's working, how to get on board, and how to keep it lucrative. I have mixed feelings about file-sharing. So many people are unaware of how very important it is to financially support their favorite artists. I really frown upon downloading music for free. People should just go to iTunes and pay the 99 cents per track. I think all the downloading sites should maintain a rule of 99 cents per song. So much time, devotion, and money go into making an amazing album. When times are hard and the economy is in a slump, people try to pinch pennies wherever they can, and usually, entertainment is one of the first cuts. It's really sad, but I think it's true.

Q.Do you download music yourself?
A.Oh yes, I love iTunes and MySpace for finding great music. I try to buy CDs too, because I love to get the whole package, with the cover art and the track order. Artwork is such an essential part of an album, and I think we're losing that aspect a bit.

Q.You have an iPod, right? Who do you have on it?
A.I have a tiny little iPod nano, yes. I'm afraid I'm going to lose it, it's so small. On it, I've been listening to Martina Topley Bird, Pinback, Elbow, Depeche Mode, Woven, Ekova, Goldfrapp, Lili Haydn, VHS or Beta, Tori Amos... a lot of amazing stuff.

Q.Does the shift to downloading mean the CD is dead?
A.CDs may be going out of style because it's easier to buy music online than make a trip to the record store. And some people want the option to buy a song or two off the album instead of the whole thing. That's bringing the single back like we had in the '50s and '60s. - Sound & Vision Magazine

In our Sept. 2008 issue RECORDING printed a contribution on vocal production by indie artist Celeste Lear who sent us her latest bit of news - congratulations, Celeste!

Celeste writes

Dear music lovers,

Have you been asking yourself: “How can I help to raise money for Aids awareness programs AND get myself some fabulous new music at the same time?"

Well, here’s your answer folks!

It is with the greatest excitement that Celeste Lear’s indie label Boutique Electronique Records present you with the latest fruits of our labor of Love: The release of "DIGITAL BLISS Volume 2" – a stunning new compilation CD featuring 14 exceptionally talented, professional female music programmers, vocalists and producers from across the world. We have been working VERY hard to make this CD come to life and we joined forces with NextAid in efforts to raise money and awareness through CD/digital download sales and live concert revenues.

We are depending on you, our family and circle of friends for your love and support to make our dream of getting these women’s music out to the world AND making a difference through fundraising efforts to help end the suffering in Africa through the effective non profit organization NextAid.

Please support our mission by purchasing DIGITAL BLISS VOLUME 2 on CD Baby, iTunes, Rhapsody. If you like the music, please go to iTunes, CD Baby, etc... give us an album review, 5 star rating and forward this email to a friend or relative – it would mean SO much!! Thank you for all your support through the years...

Lots of LOVE to YOU!! – Celeste Lear

July 7, 2009

The Downtempo Compilation of the Year, Digital Bliss Volume 2, has been released by Boutique Electronique Records and Digital Bliss Productions. Please support these talented Women Producers, Vocalists and Instrumentalists and Enjoy This Fantastic Album.

Now Available for Purchase at Itunes, Amazon, CDBABY

Track Listing:

1. “Always Here” - Phauna

2. “In The Sun” - Costanza

3. “Processing...Luv” - Divasonic

4. “Superstar Car Crash” - Salme Dahlstrom

5. “Alice in Stevie Wonderland” - Micropixie

6. “Continental Drift” - Celeste Lear

7. “Perfect Weather” (Divasonic Morning Sun Remix) - Weather Pending

8. “Indigo Child” - Auradrone

9. “Catapillar” - Return To Mono

10. “Mystic Dunes” - Pixelfrog

11. “Mora With A Golden Gun” - Alice Rose

12. “Subterranean (Jimmy 2 Sticks Mix)” - Artemis

13. “Act II: The Silver Planet” - Madeline Puckette

14. “Driftwood” - Rena Jones


About Digital Bliss Volume 2:

Both “DIGITAL BLISS" compilation CDs are the brainchildren of San Francisco based electronic music producer and founder of Digital Bliss Productions, Lynda Arnold (Divasonic) and music producer/label owner Celeste Lear and are designed to celebrate and promote some of our favorite talented female artists who have proven themselves to be forerunners in the field through their hard work, tenacity, ingenuity and artistic visions. Digital Bliss successfully exposes this carefully handpicked team of independent female electronic musicians, producers and vocalists from all genres of electronic music and exposes them to a broader audience.

An exotic complexion of haunting melodies, creative loops, lush digital production and poetically charged vocal journeys through electronic landscapes, DIGITAL BLISS VOL. 2 is a strong and stirring compilation where the music simply speaks for itself. This diverse mix of talent from San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Cologne, Portland and Toronto provides a gorgeous expose on the current independent electronica movement. DIGITAL BLISS VOL. 2 features downtempo and mid-tempo ambient grooves, eclectic electro pop, subtle trip-hop and psychedelic moods.

Released in partnership between Boutique Electronique Records and Digital Bliss Productions, this compilation features the emotion stirring words and worlds of trip hop and downtempo high priestesses: Costanza, Divasonic, Celeste Lear, and Micropixie. The electro/pop visions of Madeline Puckette and Phauna. The stunning, otherworldly psychedelic and ambient work of Artemis, cellist Rena Jones and Pixelfrog. And the dancy, edgy and saucy programming of Salme Dahlstom, Auradrone and Weather Pending. Fulfilling the prophecy that the beats shall inherit the earth...

Portion of Sales of this Compilation go to NextAid.org - Recording Magazine

Celeste Lear is a Los Angeles based artist fusing her programming, guitar playing and vocal skills into some sexy downbeat electronica music.

- Music Reviewer , AboutEntertainment.com
- AboutEntertainment.com

“I first heard Celeste Lear on Toucan Cove’s 2005 compilation “Femme Fatale”, which was a collection of female electronica artists. On her gripping and tantalizing album “The Echo Inside” she complements her laid-back downtempo electronica with dynamic vocals that ring with harmonic clarity. The beats are exploratory and don’t rely on the time tested normally dull breaks that so many artists turn towards. Funkiness is hidden behind several soundscape layers that finds Celeste whispering of tales that are fantastical yet somehow not too far from reality. Beautiful and engaging from the get-go.

- Smother Magazine

Quote about Compilation CD “FEMMES FATALE” - on DJ Mixed.com:

The eternal question remains, why aren't there more women in dance music? In an underground movement that embraces all colors, mixes and backgrounds, it really should be a 50-50 gender proposition, shouldn't it? Well, it isn't…yet. At the very least, this CD features a few of the lovely females who work (pardon the expression) their tits off to make music in male-dominated DJ culture. For that, we applaud them. Sure, the first three tracks from Mea, Layla and Andrea Burns are cringe-worthy trance, but then Collette comes along with the soulful "Feelin' Hypnotized" to make things more credible. DJ Keri brings in a bit of electro pop (and, ugh, more trance), then DJ Angelique (who has currently relocated to Ibiza) provides her truly gorgeous and timeless track, "I Couldn't Believe." Jes, and Colleen Kelly are equally as compelling. Then the best is saved for last, with lo-fi contribution from Celeste Lear, Eve Falcon and Jan Johnston (of Paul van Dyk fame). Here's to the chicks in the mix! (Kim Taylor)
- DJMixed.com

"Lear is an artist/producer with an edgy, intricate vision.”

- Music Connection Magazine
- Music Connection Magazine

“Celeste is a wicked guitarist, creative music programmer and great songwriter, the tracks she gave us were sexy and modern, full of emotion and catchy electronic sounds .”

- Dave Wilson, 99Rock KCLA
- KCLA Radio Los Angeles

It only seems fitting that the granddaughter of the man who invented the 8-track cassette stereo would have music in her genes. Celeste Lear -- granddaughter of the late William Lear, a well-known northern Nevada name for designing the Lear Jet airplane -- has released her first full length album, The Echo Inside. Lear, 27, recorded most of the 15 songs in Reno."I sang in the choir when I was a freshman at McQueen High School and then when I was 15, I asked my parents for a guitar," Lear said from her parents' home in Verdi. "It wasn't a regular acoustic guitar I wanted, either. I asked for a red electric guitar." Lear has spent the last four years working on writing and recording her debut CD. Next month, she goes on a West Coast tour with a four- piece band she hand-picked by soliciting band mates on the online classified Web site, Craig's List. Music she says, is her passion, even if the road to success is a long one. "This is what I really want. I want to be a performer. I am really passionate about it."

Her music is a combination of alternative rock, jazz and electronica, and she said she is inspired by Bjork, Beck and Sarah McLachlan. She's been called "soulful, sexy, stylish with emotionally charged lyrics" by reviewers. "I just hope the momentum picks up," she said. "It takes a lot to get just a song on the radio."

Lear lives full time in Los Angeles and has been hands-on in producing her first CD. Last year she got a business license and started her own independent record label called Boutique Electronique Records, which produced her CD.
"Many smaller artists are empowering themselves by making their own decisions and controlling their financial futures in the music industry," she said. Next month Lear will perform in Reno but spends most of her time eating, dreaming and living music in Los Angeles. "It's a fast-paced, hectic, busy city. I have a love-hate relationship with LA," she said.

She spent her early 20s studying music theory at Cabrillo Community College in Santa Cruz and then went on to get a degree in sound engineering and music business from San Francisco State University. An introduction by her father, David Lear, to Reno music producer David Hauser, led her to start recording her songs in 2003. "Everyone tells me they have a talented daughter who can sing," said Hauser. "In this case, he was right." Hauser, who has also produced up-and-coming artists Supreme Beings of Leisure and Chris Squire, said Lear is a natural talent. "She's one of the ones who is so dedicated and involved in her music from the mixing to the writing," Hauser said.

Lear's drive to perform runs in the family. Her younger sister, Erin, is pursuing an acting career in Los Angeles.
"I think what it was that Bill Lear was known for was taking chances," Hauser said. "Celeste is doing the same thing. He put all of his fortune into building the Lear Jet when everyone said it would fail and that's what a musical performer has to do." Lear said her family has been supportive of her career financially and emotionally. "When my band and I perform in Reno, my dad is letting the whole band crash at his house," she said.

- Reno Gazette Journal