Andrew / January 11, 2006 12:46 AM

Music blogs in this case includes both review sites and mp3 blogs.

j / January 11, 2006 7:41 AM

Blogs...bleah.

How about a circle of your best friends, a few pints, a cd player and a ripe old fashioned discourse...

s / January 11, 2006 8:09 AM

WFMU's Beware of the Blog:

http://blog.wfmu.org/

Hands down. A blog for everybody from a radio station that plays everything. And one of the frequent posters is Fatty Jubbo, a Chicago artist and musician (from the band Lovely Little Girls) who runs:

Cake and Polka Parade! (another great one)
http://cakeandpolka.blogspot.com/

slb / January 11, 2006 8:20 AM

i'm with j... i feel lucky to get my most entertaining and informative music news/opinions from a bunch of drunken, snarky musicians.

now if somebody knows of a blog like that, do let me know. perhaps i'd read it.

sb / January 11, 2006 8:46 AM

tangerine magazine

C-Note / January 11, 2006 9:08 AM

Who wants to read about music?
The musicians are getting busy playing music.
The hip-pretending weasels are reading blogs.
Takes all kinds, I guess.

anne / January 11, 2006 9:13 AM

After Brian's tip, I'm loving 75 minutes and their podcast. Great music you're not yet listening to, and some serious Chicago love.

dan / January 11, 2006 9:21 AM

C-Note: does that make you a hip-pretending weasel? (seeing as that this IS essentially a blog that you're posting to.)

I dig brooklynvegan.com. They've got a lot of links to full shows as mp3s. Check out a Talking Heads show from 1981 this week.

hench / January 11, 2006 9:28 AM

http://somethingilearned.blogspot.com/

also second the wfmu recommendation, especially the mp3 section of it:

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/mp3s/index.html

m / January 11, 2006 9:31 AM

"Writing about music is like dancing about architecture."

Elvis Costello

Mike / January 11, 2006 9:32 AM

Thanks Anne. Glad you are enjoying 75 Minutes. Lyssa and I love doing it, and of course there's Chicago love. I spent 24 of my 27 years living there.

As far as music blogs, I'm partial to my own of course, Em P Me, but also enjoy the following:

The Daily Dose
Copy, Right?
Hedonist masses
Team Clermont Blog

All are nice in that they don't try to do anything more than feature music they like and explain why they like it. No over analysis, no hipster posturing, no annoying pretension. Just some nice people who really enjoy music.

Ronnie Montrose / January 11, 2006 9:42 AM

Music blogs, like music zines, really do tend toward the name dropping and the "I was there of course weren't you" and the "not as good as they were when I'd heard of them and you hadn't." Podcasts are probably different (I partake in other ways; see below).

If you want to hear music and not buzz, you belong on bittorrent sites, not blogs. There's nothing too hip or too unhip for you to find there if you look, and the good ones have message boards if you want tips and chatter to guide you.

Jason / January 11, 2006 9:48 AM

I scan brainwashed frequently, but primarily for release dates and tour information. Same for Lambgoat. New music does usually come from conversations or going to shows though.

julie / January 11, 2006 10:11 AM

mike, i think you just won me over with your self-promotion! (your personal 'em p me' blog is great!)

Andrew / January 11, 2006 10:16 AM

I've broadened the question a bit -- what's your favorite music site?

nerd / January 11, 2006 10:18 AM

best music ever.

Green Pea-ness

holden / January 11, 2006 10:36 AM

Out of 5, err, wait. nevermind.
Seriously, though, I dug that site while it was up.

MySpace is fun to just bounce around and see what you come across.

I like NPR's All Songs Considered podcast. (I realize it's not a site but you can read about it on their website)

j / January 11, 2006 10:44 AM

My favorite music site is sitting shotgun in my friends' cars while they debut their latest greatest mix...

And then of course my second favorite music site is any one of the various used record shops I frequent that allow me to listen to anything my grubby little paws can grab...

Spence / January 11, 2006 10:49 AM

My favorite music site:

http://www.metacritic.com/music/

This provides an average for albums reviewed on several music sites and links to those reviews.

Big Purp Sippa / January 11, 2006 11:06 AM

cocaine blunts

Erica / January 11, 2006 11:36 AM

http://chicagomuzik.blogspot.com/
www.tinymixtapes.com/
http://radiofreechicago.blogspot.com/
http://tiny.abstractdynamics.org/
www.pitchforkmedia.com/
http://chicago.ohmyrockness.com/index.cfm
www.soundopinions.net

Dunl / January 11, 2006 11:41 AM

I definitely second (or third) the WFMU recommendation.

Also: Mystery & Misery (mp3 blog), Dusted (reviews), (Ptolemaic) Terrascope Online (reviews, forum), Roctober (articles about every crazy thing).

wackpuma / January 11, 2006 12:06 PM

local to chicago:

http://www.donkeypunchradio.com/

C-Note / January 11, 2006 12:18 PM

m- Elvis Costello didn't say that shit first. No one knows who did, but it was first attributed to Thelonious Monk. Nothing against Elvis, but he does an awful lot of talking about music... He didn't find it that hard to call Ray Charles a nigger; maybe he doesn't find it that difficult to dance about architecture.

CXC / January 11, 2006 12:19 PM

Pimps of Gore

Not obsessively updated, basically ZERO cooler-than-thou attitude, and many solid music recommendations. This blog won my heart forever with the posting of Space Needle's "Before I Lose My Style," one of those songs I used to play on my college radio show in the mid-90's but had forgotten about entirely. Awesome.

Cinnamon / January 11, 2006 12:20 PM

Pandora.com

It's that musically knowledgeable older sibling I always wanted who could say "Well, if you like X you'll probably like X, too."

Matt.T. / January 11, 2006 1:46 PM

aquariusrecords.org

great lil' record store in san fran that does the majority of its bizness on-line. they have extensive write-ups on some far-out psychedelic/noise shit that you don't really read about anywhere else. and it's clear that they know what the hell they're talking about...

Brenda / January 11, 2006 2:27 PM

I'm looking forward to checking out Zoeradio.com (via Boing Boing). She's a 15-year-old podcaster who has interesting taste in music.

Julia / January 11, 2006 2:31 PM

I have found Epitonic.com to be really good at the "if you like this, you might also like this" thing as well. I've discovered a few bands thru their "similar artists" recommendations that are now some of my favorites.

B / January 11, 2006 2:59 PM

my favorite thing to do is to enlist one of my goofy hipster friends who actually reads that stuff to send me mp3s. if i likes it, i checks it out. reading someone elses opinion on music is the last thing on earth i feel like doing. every track or record review ive ever read seems exactly alike to me.

Nicole / January 11, 2006 3:04 PM

Woo! Tinymixtapes.com!

ASV / January 11, 2006 3:17 PM

Wow. I must be old or something, because I've never looked at a music blog/site in my life.

Greg / January 11, 2006 3:28 PM

I like Lost Bands of the New Wave Era, though the updates are sporadic.

the previously-mentioned Something I Learned Today as well.

Steve / January 11, 2006 4:06 PM

Why, it's neumu, of course.

we're always out of date
but we rarely irritate.

Steve / January 11, 2006 4:10 PM

erm, yeah, that's neumu, folks!

steve sleeve / January 11, 2006 4:16 PM

so many shrimp, houston so real and to echo "big purp sippa," cocaine blunts and hip hop tapes.

and of COURSE em p me and 75 minutes.

amyc / January 11, 2006 4:46 PM

Last Plane to Jakarta (the Mountain Goats blog) and Glorious Noise

Fun fact: WFMU's blog features the occasional bad-music updates of GB's own Jim Allenspach.

Chris / January 11, 2006 4:49 PM

Blastitude. Hard to beat for coverage of the true under-underground (plus a Head East review or two).

donna / January 11, 2006 10:38 PM

we're all listening to david byrne radio at least a couple hours a month, aren't we?
yes, we are.
good us.

Justin / January 12, 2006 8:30 AM

I'm partial to my own (Live Music Blog) considering the time I put into it, but I've got a decent list that I enjoy reading...

Donewaiting.com
Blog.largheartedboy.com (duh!)
MuzzleOfBees.com
OneLouder.com

Those are the ones that I check everyday.

Sarah / January 12, 2006 9:44 AM

www.glono.com
www.pitchforkmedia.com

wrecks / January 12, 2006 11:18 AM

The site of my favorite label -

Loud Devices

Deniz Tek / January 12, 2006 11:35 AM

http://www.i94bar.com/intro.html

jlg / January 12, 2006 11:36 AM

my favorite is Said The Gramophone
always lovely and stunning

Mac / January 12, 2006 12:44 PM

WLUW

or

Zelienople

vr / January 12, 2006 1:19 PM

http://www.buddyhead.com/mp3blog/

Perch / January 12, 2006 2:13 PM

For great soul music, check out Number One Songs In Heaven.

I also enjoy Soul Sides.

As for writing about music, I enjoy reading about it so as to find new bands or freshen my interpretation of the music. I don't think there's anything wrong with writing about music for the sake of sharing opinions and insights. As such, I find myself shamelessly reading Pitchfork from time to time. This is the source of much guilt however as I find a lot of the writing on there to be incredibly self indulgent wankery rather than informative criticism. Plus they do a terrible job covering African American music.

Thurston / January 12, 2006 2:20 PM

I like Chicago reader writer Peter Margasak's mp3 blog, though the frequency with which he updates it leaves a little to be desired.

rachael / January 12, 2006 2:25 PM

of course, for .mp3 blogs, I've got to say the of mirror eye, but I may be biased since I live with the author.

I also like no 1 in Belgium and 20 jazz funk greats (which is not what is sounds like, more punk / indie / noise music).

Also, I'm a longtime subscriber to e-music, which lets me stay legal and frugal and in front of the computer. $10 / mo for 40 .mp3 downloads - and they have a pretty good selection of indie stuff, like the Decemberists, Sufjan Stevens, Animal Collective, etc.

rachael / January 12, 2006 2:28 PM

Doh, bad link - here's a working one:
20jazzfunkgreats.blogspot.com

katie / January 12, 2006 2:30 PM

I'm kind of surprised no one has mentioned largehearted boy yet. it has daily downloads, bittorents, and tons of links to music articles / websites / interesting tidbits in general. it's kind of like my "one stop shop" for daily music / music news.

Alex / January 12, 2006 3:23 PM

Being a quote geek, I'd like to point out that while "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture" is most often credited to Elvis Costello, it was actually Frank Zappa who said it first. And that was my Cliff Claven moment of the day, folks!

P.S. Pitchfork is O.K. by me.

d4ve / January 12, 2006 3:57 PM

"Writing about music is like dancing about architecture."
appropriate if architecture is frozen music.

amy / January 12, 2006 4:30 PM

the two i check out everyday are pitchfork and BBC6. pitchfork is so pretentious that it makes me laugh - however i did go to the NYE wolf parade show and got to witness a guy in a 'clap your hands say yeah' t-shirt spanking himself.

and i was afraid that i wasn't going to be hip enough to be at that show...

i no longer fear pitchfork readers.

Moon / January 12, 2006 8:31 PM

Cinnamon is wise beyond her years. Pandora.com is excellent.

lucy / January 12, 2006 10:31 PM

MCNicole's www.theperfectfaceforradio.com
She has show lists for Chicago, hilarious comments and fab podcast's of her show on WLUW! Nicole is the future of Chicago Indie Rock DJ's. go girl

Bettita / January 13, 2006 8:53 AM

For free great indie music streams, and a stunning lack of pretension, check out
3wk. The dulcimer tones of Film School are brightening my dreary Friday morning...

ivy / January 13, 2006 10:42 AM

"...like dancing about architecture" is a mystery quote, and Elvis Costello even claims that Martin Mull is the source. I always thought it was Steve Martin. Who knows!

j / January 13, 2006 11:17 AM

Regarding that infamous "writing about music..." quote you're all wrong. And for that matter nobody's right!

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