Online Music

I've found an interest in the online music available via the Internet. Actually, I'd call it more of an addiction. I see nothing wrong with that though.

Food used to be a compulsion for me, but under a doctor's suggestion I'm now on a diet. My sex life has been rather barren the last six months. I'm gonna have to quit smoking soon because it costs almost four bucks a pack! And alcohol isn't as interesting to me now as it was before I turned 21, when it was (gasp!) illegal for me to purchase or drink. Oooh!

I'm running out of vices. Computers seems to be the only addiction left that doesn't kill me. Oh they've tried to blame carpal tunnel syndrome on the keyboard and eye strain on the monitor, but so far it doesn't give you cancer or STD's or anything like that.

I'm sure eventually they'll find out why computers are bad for us. I mean this whole Y2K thing is an attempt to scare everyone away from computers. I think it's a conspiracy of the convservative fundamental religious zealots who want us to stop spending money on everything BUT God. "put no idols before me" He said to Moses. Shouldn't God have said, "Don't spend money on anything except me" or something like that? It's what the tele-evangelists want us to believe!

I'm idolizing music online. I'm really digging it. And if I ever start feeling guilty that I'm not paying enough attention to God or that I'm gonna burn in hell for listening to some of this stuff, I could always try Spiritual Metal where the Christians are real Christians and the guitars are just as noisy.

Admittedly though, metal of any sort isn't my speed. Whether it's Running with the Devil or Run From the Devil, I just don't like music that is akin to several long haired and sweaty freaks scratching long fingernails down a chalkboard that's rigged up to an amplifier. It's just not for me. I prefer music where you can actually hear the person singing; where the music is an accompaniment to the vocals and not an excuse to drown cats.

Sometimes online digital music is available in a streamable format or media. If it's streaming, it means you usually need a program like WinAmp or RealAudio installed on your computer in order to hear it. You also need a relatively fast connection to the Internet. I can remember when I was excited the day I got my first 28.8 modem, because back then that was speedy. I just put in an order at my local phone company for an ADSL connection, because streaming audio and video is pretty lame right now without at least an ADSL, T-1 line, cable modem, or some other more permanent connection that can download several megabytes of data per minute.

You can usually also download the music files and listen to them later without trying to listen to them while you're downloading. This doesn't take any less time. In fact it sometimes takes more time, but at least you get to keep a copy of the music and take with you, and listen over and over again until you get sick of the song.

Amazing isn't it? Top 40 Radio used to take a few weeks to kill a perfectly good song by playing it over and over on your car stereo until you went into road rage. Today, modern technology allows anyone with enough hard drive space to download their own forty tunes (or more or less) from the Internet and listen to them over and over so that they can get tired of this music months and years before it gets discovered by the radio stations. Isn't technology wonderful?

There have been many pages already in h2g2 about music online. I helped edit the one about MP3.com and get it approved. I also wrote one about an a capella group called The Corsairs which was later edited and approved. danielt@adelaide wrote a piece about this online WebJam idea that he has. I've heard of things similar to this, but he's right about the bandwidth. Lag would make online realtime jam sessions very frustrating.

I have an eclectic and varied taste when it comes to music. I have three areas where I prefer not to tread: Metal, Rap and Country. Most anything else is fair game. Occasionally I'll even come across a Rap, Metal or Country piece that strikes me the right way. I don't always refuse to listen to such Country\Metal\Rap, but I just know from past experience I don't tend to enjoy it.

Anything with a twang in it turns me off. A country song without a slide guitar (or a woman whose voice turns monosylabic words into b******s of the english tongue) might actually interest me. The second I hear a twang though, I'm changin' the channel. And I live in Texas, so I'm entitled to be picky.

Rap's harder for me to figure out. I mean there are days when it makes me gag and there are days when I wonder why I don't buy these albums. I don't buy these albums because I get an "I actually like Rap" day about once every three months. The rest of the time the albums would gather dust. I like RunDMC generally. In fact RunDMC is the mettle from which I measure all other rap music I hear. If it's as good as RunDMC, I'm impressed. Few rap artists (of the few I've heard) come close.

Will Smith works for me (though I wouldn't compare him favorably to RunDMC); probably because he's more 'pop' and shoot me but I tend to like what is often insultingly referred to as pop. Also he articulates well. I can actually understand what he's rapping, whereas most rap artists are trying to impress and not communicate. That turns me off.

So that's what I don't like. Usually. What do I like? Well, it's hard to say. Genres are really difficult for me to tolerate. I use them in the same way bigots use stereotypes. It's easy and convenient to explain what you like and don't like. However, I feel genres are as unfair to artists as bigoted stereotypes are unfair to minorities.

I'm kinda the Archie Bunker of online music.

Here's a sampling below. And I'm considering reorganizing these thoughts in the future into an actual guide entry about Online Music so if you want to share your thoughts, feel free to use the forums below, or click on 'discuss' to the left of the page.

Some online bands I like. Some of these links will take you outside h2g2.com.

I loved these so much I have their CD Albums:


• Aeone - Adult alternative ambient contemporary sound painting with a celtic influence from Los Angeles California.. I love this album so much I bought it twice. Very rich and detailed with a world music influence. If this music was forcefed down the headphones of all the heads of state in the U.N., we'd have world peace. It's that damn good.
• Apples and Oranges - A rock and pop blend of acoustics and electronic guitars and keyboards with a modernage grecian siren songstress from Florida.. On the surface, they're just another dime a dozen pop group. The more you listen the more you realize just how wrong you were. There are layers to their work. Pop with some soul, which is a rare treasure.
• The Corsairs - pirate inspired a cappela sea shanties from six landlubbing Texans.. If you like to eat, drink and be merry, invite these guys to your party. Just ask them to bathe first.
• Leora Salo - smooth jazz, acoustic guitar stylings and sound paintings for the mind from Houston TX, USA.. A personal friend so admittedly I'm biased, but her delicate and subdued presentation gives just a slice of the talent and mastery within. Celtic influence coupled with classical jazz training and globe-trotting life experiences add up to a volatile mix. She's just getting started.

Not enough to shell out the bucks yet, but pretty damn close.



• Emily Richards - sexy poprock vocals from Studio City, Los Angeles, California, USA.. She should give her PR person a raise, or whoever it was who told her maybe she should try using the 'Net to catapult herself to stardom, because she's number one and sold out. Granted, all the publicity in the world doesn't help if you don't have what it takes. Listen and see for yourself. I'm expecting this artist to be one of the first to go mainstream from cyberspace.
• TheBrowsers - alternative independent rock stuff from Dallas Texas... A personal favorite because they hail from my home town. A lot of guitar. A cynical male vocal with heart. The lyric "you can kiss my ass goodbye when I fade away" in the song Rearrange is catchy and memorable in a way that you may never hear on top forty radio. That alone is worth a download.
• Tim Tamashiro - adult contemporary jazz vocals from Alberta, Calgary, Canada... I can't believe that rich voice comes out of that young looking face!
• Fisher - sexy poprock sound from Los Angeles California, USA... Simultaneously "too pop" and "too rough around the edges" which for some reasons works for me. And the lead singer looks very do-able which is important to note when you're criticising music...
• The Echoing Green - electronic alternative pop from Albequerque, New Mexico, USA... I've only heard "Defend Your Joy" and didn't like it at first. Then it grew on me when I heard it by pure chance a second time. I'm going back for more.