Last night's walk was enhanced by Spælimenninir on the iPod. These guys are a folkish group from the Faroe Islands who produce music very suitable for walking, skipping and dancing. I first heard them on A Prairie Home Companion and sent for one of their CDs through a tiny importer.
http://www.cdroots.com/tutl-spel-flod.html
CD Roots is a very small importer, but the proprietor has good taste and only offers what he likes. Finding knowledgeable people like this makes exploring new music much more interesting. Many of these places offer samples and it is worthwhile building a concentrated list of interesting vendors..
Another technique is to visit the website of a live music venue that you respect and track down the artists who play there. A surprising number have samples available. I've had great success using the Folk Project Page
http://www.research.att.com/psa/folkproject/
The FP produces excellent music nearly every Friday evening near Morristown, NJ. Scroll to the bottom of the page for links to musicians (they have reasonably high standards) as well as links to other resources.
You can search music columns in newspapers associated with creative areas . Using a performing musician (and there are often reviews posted) as a filter for finding artist sites works well. The Providence Journal once had a great page devoted to this and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the page is now operational again
http://www.projo.com/music/
NPR stations tend to have lots of interesting music. One of my favorites, available only over the Internet in NJ, is The Thistle and Shamrock with Fiona Ritchie (who has one of the most interesting voices I've heard). I generally listen on KUER or WUNC mp3 streams.
http://www.npr.org/programs/thistle/index.html
Of course WFMU must be mentioned as one of the most interesting stations on the planet. It isn't for everyone, but eclectic doesn't begin to describe them. Apple demonstrated their cluefullness by including a 128kbps streaming link from 'FMU into iTunes.
http://www.wfmu.org/
We discovered one of the WFMU announcers working Sunday afternoons at a used record store in Princeton. This is an amazing way to enhance your collection with serendipity.
Life is too short to constrain yourself with bland vanilla music from the major record companies. The Internet, by providing samples, allows you to crank the serendipity knob outside of your normal comfort zone. The trick is finding the right guides.
On a related subject Dan Gillmor has a fine piece on the current copyright debate - noting that the consumer is not part of the debate and that the real pirates are the members of the entertainment cartel. Recommended reading! (thanks for the pointer Bart)
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/business/3842508.htm
Finally - Slate is running a diary of a young particle physicist. In an earlier life I was one and this does a good job at capturing the flavor of the sport.
http://slate.msn.com/?device=&displaymode=&workarea=&id=2068977&entry=2068982
12:03:25 AM 
|
