Best Music Websites
Praising
iTunes is like endorsing chocolate and puppies: well, duh. Even so, any
discussion of music on the Web has to start here. With its supersize
catalog (more than 2 million tracks), fair pricing, and
any-idiot-can-figure-it-out interface, it's most people's first stop for
downloading the latest Kelly Clarkson single or Mariah Carey remix.
Since it launched in 2003, iTunes has trounced its competitors,
capturing close to 75 percent of the marketplace and selling more than a
billion tracks.
But while everyone knows iTunes is big, fewer people realize how
useful it can be for finding new tunes. Start with its top 100 downloads
— updated daily — and you'll see an instant, direct reflection of
American musical tastes: the newest Dixie Chicks single; surprise emo
phenoms Panic! At the Disco; that Daniel Powter song that's on American Idol
every week. Then move on to the ''essentials'' playlists, full of
offbeat cult favorites. (Thanks to the ''Folk 101 Essentials,'' John
Prine's epic ''Angel From Montgomery'' is our new after-work
beer-sipping soundtrack.) And one of iTunes' best features is actually
free: The site has grown into a portal for thousands of Web radio
stations and eccentric podcasts, offering everything from rowdy
dancehall reggae to classical music. Happy hunting.
GREAT FIND RJD2 & Ric Ocasek's ''Through the Walls''
This
underappreciated, expertly curated MP3 store is the music geek's
alternative to iTunes. It's packed with fantastic choices, and at $9.99 a
month for 40 downloads, it's a great deal. Emusic sells tunes only from
independent labels, which means you won't find most current pop hits
here. But spend some time sifting through its 1.2 million tracks —
including new stuff from Neko Case and Spoon and classics by Johnny Cash
and Otis Redding — and you won't care. Best of all, the site's sharp
editorial team steers you toward the good stuff with articles on the
best Parisian jazz or the latest Brazilian pop. And their ''Dozens''
lists are essential 12-album starting points in categories like
''boomer-friendly rock,'' or ''English folk,'' or ''old-school punk.''
GREAT FIND Art Brut's Bang Bang Rock & Roll
Perfect
for anyone who likes surprises, Pandora is a wizardly website that lets
you customize a radio station to fit your own tastes. After logging in,
users type in the name of a song or a band (the Beatles, for example);
then Pandora uses a complex mathematical algorithm to find tracks
matching the Liverpool lads' musical characteristics. In addition to Fab
Four songs, our station came up with some Kinks and Stones, lots of
obscure '60s nuggets, and unexpected contemporary acts like the Pernice
Brothers.
GREAT FIND The Move's ''Curly''
If
other MP3 stores leave you hungry, tuck into this musical buffet. Pop
gluttons will love Rhapsody's all-you-can-eat subscription service,
which lets you download as many songs as you like for $9.99 a month.
(Though the tracks will vanish from your hard drive when you stop
paying. And it won't work with an iPod.) Another draw is the playlists,
the most creative and well thought-out of any MP3 store. Their genre
mixes go way beyond the obvious into left-field genres like ''pub-rock
explosion'' and '''80s paisley underground.'' And somebody on staff
obviously has a sense of humor: ''Yacht rock'' features smooth-sailing
soft pop (Kenny Loggins, Michael McDonald) fit for a day of sipping Cape
Codders down at the marina.
GREAT FIND Firefall's ''Just Remember I Love You''
There's
a lot to dislike about MySpace. It's uglier than a Commodore 64, the
music tracks are slow to load, and it has been co-opted by record
labels, which pay for prime placement. Still, with more than 1.8 million
bands offering their own homepages, it's impossible to ignore — it
seems like every act you've ever heard of (and countless unsigned acts
you haven't) posts free songs here. Read about a band? Head to MySpace
and you're basically guaranteed to get something for your time: a
prerelease album preview, a new single, or even a raw demo. Weezer and
Nine Inch Nails debuted their latest albums here, and Fred Durst
recently posted a rant about former Limp Bizkit guitarist Wes Borland.
Maybe that's not a compelling advertisement, but hey, there are at least
999,999 non-Durst bands on there, too.
GREAT FIND Love Is All's ''Talk Talk Talk Talk''
The
utopian ideal of the '60s thrives on this free concert-swapping forum,
where the old Grateful Dead tape-trading community has set up shop. But
there's far more here than the latest Phil Lesh & Friends show. Ryan
Adams, Jack Johnson, and Death Cab for Cutie are just a few of the
nearly 2,000 bands with concerts on the nonprofit site.
GREAT FIND My Morning Jacket, 11/23/05, Louisville Palace
Like
a snarky best friend, this blog is the prime Web destination for rock
& roll gossip and breaking Britney news. Despite its trashy celeb
obsession and often goofy tone, the music is no joke. Stereogum picks
next-hot-bands with uncanny accuracy. (Current choice: the folk-pop of
Beirut.) Count on the site to point you toward the latest indie-rock
crushes (Sufjan Stevens), fun covers (the Postal Service do Phil
Collins), and prerelease singles from the likes of Kanye West.
GREAT FIND Kevin Federline's ''Popozao''
The
beat junkies at this Web store are intensely dedicated cool-hunters,
combing the globe for the latest obscure mash-up mixtape from Belgium,
the rarest dub-reggae compilation from Jamaica, and underground hip-hop
MCs from Brooklyn whom everyone will be raving about six months from
now. Stock up on mix CDs drawn from their cache of hard-to-find music
before your next party and prepare to move the furniture.
GREAT FIND DJ Spinbad's '80s MegaMix Vol. 2
Imagine booting up the computer every morning and finding a free new
MP3 on your hard drive from the Shins, post-punk legends Gang of Four,
or indie-pop singer Jenny Lewis. That's the appeal of these podcasts
offered by Santa Monica's KCRW and Seattle's KEXP, two quality public
stations that have updated NPR's boomer slant for the blog generation.
GREAT FIND Band of Horses' ''The Funeral''
Site
founder Matthew Perpetua has been posting MP3s nearly every day since
2002, which makes him a veteran on the scene. His experience has honed
his audioblogging skills. Biased toward anything catchy and upbeat,
Fluxblog is like an aural dose of Saint-John's-wort. Visitors can expect
shiny dance-pop (Scissor Sisters), hard-to-find remixes (Hot Chip's
remake of Gorillaz's ''Kids With Guns''), and plenty of Kylie
Minogue-style disco princesses (Robyn), all long before they hit
brick-and-mortar stores.
GREAT FIND Robyn's ''Crash and Burn Girl''
The
best government program since the New Deal, this site opens up the
Smithsonian's massive archive of ethnological recordings. It's an
astounding resource for world-music fans, who can instantly sample,
download, or buy CDs of jaunty Caribbean calypso, epic Indian ragas, or
croaking Uzbeki bards (yes, that's a good thing). And folk-music
obsessives will drool over the unrivaled collection of exclusive
Americana. A sampling of Alan Lomax's famous field recordings can be
found here, along with Moses Asch's Folkways collections of legends like
Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, Pete Seeger, and Son House.
GREAT FIND Elizabeth Cotten's ''Freight Train''
The
radio network for the Volvo set actually has a lot more music to offer
than Norah Jones and Garrison Keillor. Just listen to gentle-voiced host
Bob Boilen, who each week briefly introduces a noteworthy new release,
then plays an entire track or two. And unlike many podcasts, the focus
here is on playing music, not talking about it. Expect lots of songs
from dad-rock favorites like Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen, but
Boilen also spotlights newer groups such as the Concretes and the
Raconteurs. In other words, it'll make your station wagon the coolest
ride in the car-pool lane.
GREAT FIND Mountain Con's ''The Escape Artist''
Run
by a vinyl obsessive in California named Oliver Wang, Soul-Sides posts
free MP3s of ultra-rare funk and soul, often from his personal
collection of dusty 7-inches. (We're talking really rare stuff. Heard of
the Romano Mussolini Trio? Didn't think so.) A professor in his
nonvirtual life, Wang also likes to educate his readers, offering
history lessons on obscurities sampled in modern hip-hop hits.
GREAT FIND Linda Lyndell's original version of ''What a Man''
For
the uninitiated, this message board can be an uninviting place. Threads
are often filled with obscure Web slang, vicious flaming, and
know-it-all 'tude. But it's also an amazing place to learn about music,
both new and old. Fierce debate takes up the bulk of the bandwidth,
often leading to some of the most intelligent music talk around (many
posters are music critics). Last year's long-running thread on Sri
Lanka-born rapper M.I.A., to pick one example, was worthy of a
grad-school seminar.
GREAT FIND Annie's Anniemal
Unless
you live in a city with a thriving street-vendor scene, this is your
best choice for staying up-to-date with the who's who (and who hates
who) of the hip-hop universe. That's because Mix Unit offers a massive
selection of ''official'' mixtapes — artist-sanctioned CDs that fall in a
legal gray area — where hungry rhyme spitters and established rappers
try out their latest material and vent their anger. Did you hear that
Cam'ron mixtape where he dissed Jay-Z for wearing open-toed mandals?
That's harsh.
GREAT FIND The Clipse's We Got It 4 Cheap Vol. 2
A
webzine people love to dis. Its dense reviews often are overwritten,
underedited thickets of pretentious prose. The attitude? Frequently
flip, mean, and smarmy. Grudgingly, however, we admit that the
Chicago-based site has become a tastemaking institution that's
impossible to ignore. When it anoints an obscure band with a glowing
review — as it did with a then-unknown Arcade Fire — we pay attention.
GREAT FIND Clap Your Hands Say
Yeah's self-titled debut
We're
dying for a Talking Heads reunion, but we'd be bummed if it took Byrne
away from this fascinating monthly show. Each program is based on a
theme: ''Latin Rock'' or ''Rednecks, Racists, and Reactionaries: Country
Classics'' or the unexpected ''All Missy Elliott.'' He also pens
related essays that are as insightful as you'd expect from the pop
smarty.
GREAT FIND Ray Baretto's ''Indestructible''
An
Amazon-type megastore for hipsters, Insound makes it simple to explore
the newest indie boomlet or Brit-rock trend. Most folks come for
underground and import-only CDs that iTunes or the local Best Buy
doesn't stock, but we're also partial to the excellent in-house music
stream, which is a great summary of what's on college radio stations
nationwide. Recent selections included Nick Drake soundalike José
González, raunchy Baltimore rappers Spank Rock, and lo-fi bizarro
folkies Wooden Wand. If you hear anything you like, buy it with an easy
mouse click.
GREAT FIND Alexi Murdoch's ''Breathe''
This
audioblog is the cheapest and easiest way to experience the hedonistic
thrill of a sweaty late-night dance club without paying a cover, risking
a hangover, or even leaving your sofa. Every month, expect a
substantial new set from such DJs as Montreal's Ghislain Poirier and
Rhode Island's Certified Bananas. No single genre dominates — Southern
hip-hop, Jamaican dancehall, and old-school funk have all been tackled —
though a mash-up aesthetic dominates. Never heard the Beach Boys, Young
Jeezy, and Black Sabbath in a single hip-grinding mix? Time to log on.
GREAT FIND DJs Caps & Jones
A
blog run by eight different people, which explains its broad,
unclassifiable taste. Minimalist techno, ragged indie rock, spiky
post-punk, and earthy hip-hop all make regular appearances on the
slickly designed site, which posts a couple of MP3s a day. May's
highlights include a song from Texas-born chanteuse Jolie Holland's new
album, a prerelease Sufjan Stevens track, and a stunning psych-folk
meditation by singer Findlay Brown, who just became our favorite new
artist. That is, until we visit again.
GREAT FIND Hysterics' ''Potato Famine''
A
casualty of FM radio consolidation, Cincinnati's WOXY went off the air
in 2004, but it soon reemerged on the Web. The delivery system might
have changed, but the message hasn't. WOXY remains dedicated to
alternative acts like the Walkmen and Bloc Party. Also check out their
''vintage'' stream, where Generation-Xers can reminisce to a soundtrack
of the Smiths, R.E.M., and other not-so-modern ''modern rock'' acts.
GREAT FIND Cold War Kids' ''Hospital Beds''
On
his weekly online radio show, Springsteen and Tony Soprano sideman
Steven Van Zandt is the nation's premier priest of garage rock,
spreading the gospel of no-frills, fist-pumping rock & roll.
Punctuating the music with his hepcat patter, Little Steven spins
old-school fuzz-rock (the Yardbirds, the Kinks), their 21st-century
descendants (the White Stripes, Arctic Monkeys), and anyone who thinks
less is more, gritty is good, and louder is better.
GREAT FIND The Woggles' ''Soul Sizzling''
Don't
let the Atlantic Ocean get between you and the world's most respected
radio network. The Beeb's website offers extensive free radio streams
and podcasts, making it a must-bookmark for all Anglophiles. Shows
dedicated to only-in-England genres such as grime, U.K. garage, and
Northern soul are plentiful, along with live in-studio sessions from hit
bands like Snow Patrol. Dance-music sets from DJs Gilles Peterson,
Judge Jules, and Pete Tong bring London's famed nightlife to your PC,
and Steve Lamacq's influential weekly show is the place to hear the next
Franz Ferdinand well before they're on Saturday Night Live.
GREAT FIND The Long Blondes' ''Lust in the Movies''
Ever
felt bad about illegally downloading a leaked album weeks before its
official release? Now you don't have to. This pair of sites lets you
hear streams of, say, the latest from Pearl Jam or Bruce Springsteen
without any of the guilt. MTV's focuses on TRL types like Nick Lachey, while AOL's offerings are a little more wide-reaching.
GREAT FIND Paul Simon's Surprise
After
you've burned out on Miles and Coltrane, expand your jazz-listening
habits at this Chicago-based site. Full of bebop oddities, avant-jazz
imports, and little-known swing composers, Dusty Groove boasts a
connoisseur-friendly selection that's impeccable and far-flung. Whether
you want to explore Hungarian violin fusion (Csaba Deseo) or Brazilian
funk (Deodato), it's there. Beyond jazz, Dusty Groove carries plenty of
curios for the open-minded, including unusual soul reissues, kitschy
soundtracks, and lots of Afro-Latin grooves. One complaint: Why aren't
there any audio samples? If there were, we'd buy even more.
GREAT FIND Mulatu Astatke's Ethio Jazz
