Beyond napster and dictionary,com

In the last few years I've found myself becoming more interested in electronic music. While I initially disdained it as a bunch of throbbing backbeat techno, there's really a wide variety of electonic music from funky acid jazz to slow hypnotic trip-hop and trance. But everyone has differnet tastes. Its the exploration which is the important thing.

Forget napster, and swapping files online. While iTunes is good for what you hear on the radio, the freshest sound is available free online. These websites are places where bands can upload thier music to be streamed or downloaded. It's also a place where they can attract a fan base and post announcements of concerts. What I like to do is go to the charts to see what's most popular and what's moving up the ranks. One can browse by all types and subtypes of music. Predicably, most of the music is pretty cutting edge, lots of industrial, electronic, rock, rap, and reggae. Still, you never know what you're going to hear.

www.mylocalbands.com

www.soundlift.com

www.indie911.com

www.purevolume.com

The site I've used the most is soundlift.com, although there's a band called Tallyhall which has a "wonky rock" sound and website at www.tallyhall.com . They're actually a band of college students with colored ties and a gorilla costume. I like thier "Banana man" song the best.

The other interesting thing I've found online is wikipedia.org. While I wouldn't cite it as a source for a doctorate thesis, it's got almost everything one can thing of in exhuastive detail limited only by the energies of the people who read it or have interest in it. It's the only encyclopedia I've found which can keep up with new slang and trends.

What do these two have in common? wiki.