Does the San Diego music scene have a sound?

A Transfer sound MAYBE... That's the way you find local music here in San Diego, you just go out and find it, it's EVERYWHERE.

I've dated a few San Diego music-abees (musicians I suppose) and the scene is quite an experience to behold. You can't get away from it, San Diego is proud of their local music and it's everywhere. I got a chance to see behind the scenes and, FYI, Almost Famous was a little too on the money. This one guy I dated was pretty tied in, and sometimes it seems more like a little club of people, once you're in, you're in and you know EVERYBODY (this guy had once been in a band that was courted by a major label only to have the band implode right before they went into the studio to record, would probably make a really good movie if Cameron Crow wrote it). The key to San Diego's music scene seems to be diversity and not "one sound." Say Seattle and people scream "grunge", say LA and people yell "STD's!" kidding, they probably yell "Rock and Roll!" But despite it's reputation, San Diego doesn't have a sufer sound or an acoustic sound or even a hipster music sound, San Diego has something for everybody.

San Diego Magazine wonders if this prevents the scene from taking off.

“There’s a ton of people in bands, a ton of people coming to see bands, a lot of places to play,” Casbah owner Tim Mays says of the local scene. “I think it’s very healthy.” Many insiders echo Mays’ optimism, but exactly how that health should be measured is open to debate. Is it calculated in sheer numbers—of bands, venues, record sales, awards? Is it an aesthetic question, as when a city develops an unmistakable signature sound, like grunge or garage rock or hyphy (Bay Area hip-hop)? In an era when digital distribution has led some to declare record labels obsolete, does anyone still define success in terms of major-label signings? Or is vitality determined by a more ineffable quality, a certain je ne sais quoi they call “buzz”?

They also give a shout out to Cat Dirt Sez (Scott Pactor) who has his own label and his own blog!

The support offered by these smaller labels can range from strategic (distribution in record stores) to financial (paying for CD production expenses, studio time and other hard costs) to symbolic. Attorney Scott Pactor, the head of Golden Hill–based Cat Dirt Records, concedes that, apart from some legal perspective, he offers his tiny, two-band roster “pretty much nothing, except a flair for getting them in the local media.” Pactor does so via his blog, catdirtsez, which is among a handful of sites that have fast become required reading among local journalists and scenesters. Monitoring the music coverage of outlets including the Reader, CityBeat and The Union-Tribune, Pactor’s sarcasm-heavy blog is a mix of media criticism and rah-rah enthusiasm for bands he likes, including (not surprisingly) those on his label.