Don’t you wish there was a spot where you could learn more about new and rising artists within the New Jersey music scene? Perhaps a media outlet that gives you entertaining, engaging and informative content on your new favorite artists? Luckily for you, three friends craved that so much they decided to make it themselves.
Neighborhood Noises is a collective digital media company founded by Ramapo seniors — and great friends — Gisselle Carino-Bazan and Daniela Herrera along with their outside-of-’Po friend Cristopher Gutierrez. The creative and musically inclined New Jerseyian trio launched their company back in February 2021. In only a year, Neighborhood Noises has grown from just a simple thought to a company with an eager following and several artist spotlights.
“As aspiring music industry professionals, we felt like the New Jersey music scene wasn’t being highlighted as much as it should be,” said Carino-Bazan, who manages the collective’s graphic design, photography and social media. Neighborhood Noises made it their mission to highlight the voices and sounds of the artists keeping the arts and tunes so lively in Jersey, hopefully bringing in more traction to the artist, as well as their own creative work.
Herrera, Neighborhood Noises artist outreach and social media manager, is an active member of the local New Jersey music scene. She has been consistently and eagerly going to local concerts since 2016, but she felt like she didn’t know much at all about these artists, and she wanted to learn more about them as musicians and people.
“There was nothing like Neighborhood Noises that existed,” Herrera said. “So there weren’t a lot of opportunities for these artists to talk about themselves and what kind of things they like, and basically nothing for us to get to know who they are aside from when they’re on stage.”
“There has been a disconnect between the audience and the performers. They’re local, but at the same time, you don’t know much about them when they aren’t on stage.”
Neighborhood Noises has a willingness to make their subjects feel seen, comfortable and appreciated. When they set up work with an artist or band, a lot of preparation and accommodation goes into it. They will typically travel to their featured artist so they can interview them, tape a performance and sometimes an additional feature.
Neighborhood Noises’ main content outlet is their YouTube channel. However, their Instagram is heavily utilized and a great way to rack in more viewers and followers. The Instagram account currently has nearly 500 followers, which may seem small to some, but for a fresh company, this is a huge accomplishment.
“It’s wild to think of 500 people,” said Carino-Bazan. “If you were to fill up Friends Hall with 500 people, it’s all of those people who are engaged with our content. And all of those people made the conscious decision to hit the follow button and be part of this journey and believe in us.”
Despite Neighborhood Noises proudly crediting themselves as a digital media company, they are actively making sure their followers know that there are real people behind the content and logo, not just some corporate brand. Each member brings something special and distinctively new to their work, and it ultimately humanizes Neighborhood Noises as a whole.
Moving into their second year, the minds behind Neighborhood Noises hope to continue growing and create better, stronger content and work with as many new artists as they can.
“We really want to expand and to highlight all kinds of creatives in New Jersey and not just limit ourselves to bands and artists,” said Hererra. “We still want to do that, but we really want to highlight other creatives, like people who run venues, poets, photographers: anything that is related to the New Jersey music scene, because this type of talent often goes unrecognized.”
They currently have a high demand for collaborations, which is absolutely thrilling, but tending to all of the DMs and scheduling interviews is tricky when all three members are still managing a demanding college career. Carino-Bazan and Herrera are music performance and music industry and production majors respectively, and managing Neighborhood Noises, school work and their commitment to the Ramapo Music Club, in addition to other obligations, becomes difficult at times. However, Neighborhood Noises stays optimistic and is continuing to book artists and create content that they are proud to share with their peers and beyond.
To learn more about Neighborhood Noises and stay up-to-date with new and rising New Jersey artists, follow @neighborhoodnoises on Instagram and subscribe to Neighborhood Noises on YouTube.
emelvin@ramapo.edu
