Alabaster and Love in the Time of A.I. share this milestone. Artwork shown: Love in the Time of A.I. (Complete Collection).
02 / FOLLOW THE THREAD
Twenty years from
the first drop.
A life in music, heard through the releases.
Arizona · 2006–2026
1993 / BEFORE THE FIRST DROP
Four tracks.
A whole life ahead.
In 1993, Bear’s lifelong adventure in making music began with a four-track Tascam cassette recorder, a boombox, a Casio keyboard, and a wired microphone with a quarter-inch plug. It was a small setup with room for a very big imagination.
He DJ’d throughout high school—even at his own prom. He performed in multiple Hip-Hop groups and several metal and punk bands. After high school, he took that music on the road, touring with bands and groups.
But his path kept leading toward a solo career. 1st Drop Music became the home for that next chapter: one creator making music through multiple distinct artists, each with a voice and a world of its own.
That wonderfully strange universe has grown across the decades. The adventure began in 1993; the first 1st Drop Music release arrived in 2006. This anniversary celebrates twenty years of those releases—and the lifetime of music that made them possible.
2006A first release.
A first release.
An open road.
Sound is Matter Vol.001 became the first 1st Drop Music release in 2006. Twenty years later, this is a celebration of everything that grew from that beginning: the records, the discoveries, the collaborations, and the people who listened.
Bear’s musical life began earlier. This anniversary marks twenty years since that first release—the beginning of the catalog we’re walking through together.
THE PLACE IN THE MUSIC
From Tempe and Phoenix
to Flagstaff and Tucson.
1st Drop Music was created in Tempe, Phoenix, and Flagstaff, Arizona. Those beginnings connect Valley city life with the high pines of Northern Arizona—DJing, making records, playing shows, and following the music across the state.
Today, 1st Drop Music has offices in Flagstaff and Tucson, with the main office in Tucson. There is no single Arizona sound across this catalog. Place comes through in the stories, atmosphere, memories, and rhythms of music made here over time.
THE EARLY RECORDS
A voice. A beat.
A wider conversation.
Cricket Songs brought Bear the Astronot’s first solo record. Think Revolution widened the conversation through an award-winning EP with production from around the globe. On Grand Canyon, a whole new sound began to emerge from Bear the Astronot.
Bear the Astronot and Turntable Kachina gave words, stories, samples, and rhythm their own places to grow. Looking back, the early catalog lets you hear musical possibilities opening.
Revisit the early milestones ↗THE SOUND OPENS UP
The dance floor grew.
The writing deepened.
With That’s The Spirit and Butterflies, Bear Cole’s dance music took shape. Alabaster and Love in the Time of A.I. brought his songwriting further into focus.
A rhythm could move a room. A melody could carry something personal. A song could find a way to do both, and the next record could take the idea somewhere else.
NEW SOUNDS, DISTINCT WORLDS
The music kept
finding new homes.
Michael Patrick Ceol brought a new touch of darkness and noise through All I Ever Need. Feral Business arrived with NEDOMESTICIT and a whole new sound. Country experiments found their forever home with Sagebrush & The Little Flowers and Flower Power (The Complete Collection).
WUUYUH, RACK WIDOW, Oso Melodic, and Indrid Coald opened further paths through electronic music, House, beatmaking, darkness, and distortion. Each artist gave a musical direction room to become itself.
THE THREAD THROUGH IT ALL
One creator.
Many musical worlds.
Bear Gallagher-Cole, known as Bear Cole, is the creator behind these connected artist identities. Songwriting, production, performance, and DJing have carried his curiosity across the catalog. Collaborations remain part of that history, with their individual contributors credited.
Each artist has a separate voice. Together, their records let listeners follow the relationships between sounds across twenty years.
2026 / STILL MAKING MUSIC
A return.
And another beginning.
On ARIZONA, Bear the Astronot and Turntable Kachina revisit classic Boom Bap Hip-Hop. Longtime creative threads meet again, with the state that shaped so much of this story at the center.
Thank you for listening, sharing, dancing, and following the music across its many worlds. Twenty years after Sound is Matter Vol.001, there is a history worth exploring—and more music ahead. Pegasus by Bear Cole is coming soon.
