10 websites for great music

It goes without saying that the advent of the internet age has made seeking out music much easier and yet at the same time much more difficult. While accessing the latest hip hop from Sri lanka or heavy metal from Kenya has never been simpler the sheer amount of music available makes it even more difficult to dissern what is actually worth listening to. One can spend countless hours online not only listening to music but talking about it, meaning that essentially anyone can be a self-made critic. This means yet more time is required to determine whose views you actually trust. Having spent several hours, days and weeks in such dialogue I feel fairly well qualified to signpost you to some sites where I think you will find music of the required quality. Its inevitably biased towards my own taste so if you can recommend other good sites please leave a link at the end of article for others to benefit from your knowledge! In no particular order my ten favourite sites are...

1. www.caughtbytheriver.net - So much more than a music blog, this site was set up by Jeff Barrett (who founded Heavenly Records), music journalist and author Robin Turner and friend Andrew Walsh. It dwells on the simple things in life - water, birdsong and friendship and uses this framework to weave in a love of films, books, music and art. While its articles are excellent the real highlight is signing up to their newsletter which ensures you are sent occassional musical compilations based around particular nature-based themes. To give a recent example a compilation of songs about birds which featured Aretha Franklin, Fleet Foxes, Mark Lanegan and Horace Andy. For those who appreciate being both excentrically British and the finer things in life.

2. www.factmagazine.co.uk - do you want to know what is really hip right now? Fact magazine probably have it covered. Focusing particularly on the electronic end of the spectrum (although they do cover guitar acts as well up to a point) they gave early coverage to Lily Allen, Flying Lotus, MIA, Florence and the Machine and Sinden (who also writes for them)to name but a few. They do a quarterly round up of the 20 best albums of the previous three months and upload a DJ mix every week. If London (or any other city for that matter) clubland is your thing, this site is for you.

3. Verygoodplus.co.uk - a chat forum - although a word of warning, don't post on this site unless you REALLY know your music. The guys who inhabit this space are serious collectors so this isn't the sort of place to check out when Jay Z's latest is coming out. If however you want to know what the best Czech Psych records are or which of those easy listening albums in charity shops are actually worth picking up then you'll while away hours here. A lot of the guys on the site know each other and meet up at various nights across the UK and beyond in London, Bristol, Copenhagen etc

4. Fleamarketfunk.com - New York based (and slightly bizzarely, Liverpool FC fan) DJ Prestige provides what is essentially a guide to funky sounds picked up in the city. He has a particular focus on 45's and provides some fantastic mixes for download from himself and mates. If you like funk look no further - a highly professional and enjoyable blog.

5. Djhistory.com - Set up by Bill Brewster (author of Last Night a DJ saved my Life) this is a homage to all things disco with a slight veer into bealeric house. As with Verygoodplus the forums are buzzing (although this attracts a younger dancefloor-led audience) but it also carries excellent interviews and a free monthly mix. This site provides an excellent monthly podcast as does....

6. Freshproduce.podbean.com - this is a UK/US collaboration and focuses heavily on hip hop although it covers the whole beat spectrum from funk to dubstep. A good place to hear the latest releases and tunes from recent re-issues. Yours truly featured on their last broadcast.

7. www.bolachas.org - This one is tricky because its really hard to describe their music policy. It tends to cover odd indie, lo-fi, folk and electronica. Its always been a good place to go to actually hear or download new releases for free. For the sort of person who likes to hear stuff no-one else has heard!

8. www.feelmybicep.com - Again, disco heavy but both old stuff and modern. There is also a fair smattering of early house and hip hop. They tend to post a few videos which is nice. Good for those who want a new dancefloor monster (although its probably going ot set you back £30 when you try and buy it on vinyl!)

9. www.bumrocks.com - A bit of a curveball this one. It doesn't update very regularly but has fantastic mixes. If you are the sort of person who would enjoy a mix featuring Gal Costa, Fleetwood Mac and Public Image Limited then check.

10. www.pitchfork.com - Finally for the slightly less committed musical obsessive. Pitchfork is essentially an online Mojo or Uncut magazine. If you want to know what is the current darling album of the thirty-somethings (It's Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffitti by the way) then this is your place. For people who like Grizzly Bear, Fleet Foxes, Animal Collective and Caribou (which, lets be honest, is most of us).

So there you have it - happy surfing! Leave feedback on your thoughts below or post your own favourites. Over and out...

Interview: Fresh Produce Collective

For all the talk of podcasts over the last few years there are few that bring a range of quality music from across the beat spectrum which are actually worth listening to. A notable exception is Fresh Produce. Broadcasting since 2008 Fresh Produce play everything from funk to Dubstep although there can be little doubt their hearts reside with variations on the theme of hip hop. I caught up with main men Daddy Like and AG...further down you can access their latest broadcast with features yours truly!

How did you guys meet?

AG: The original FP line-up consisted of Dr. Swerve On, Daddy Like and me. Swerve and DL knew each other. We met at a party, started talking music and they invited me to join them for an interview at the local radio station the next day. I got drunk, overslept and missed the interview – but they let me join them anyway. And we’ve been playing new tunes for and with each other ever since.

What sounds did you first get into that led to your current interest in hip hop, funk and dance?

Daddy Like: In the US, where I grew up, hip-hop is one of the musical forms that surrounds you; in particular, any time you dance – whether in a club, at a school dance, or a wedding, it’s mainly to hip-hop. Unfortunately there’s few other genres of dance music that break through the hip-hop miasma... every once in a while I would hear snippets of it, and wanted to know more -- but in the US they call dance music “electronica” and that superfluous “a” more than anything means that it’s something pretentious and snobby. So when I moved to the UK more than a dozen years ago, it was a revelation to find that dance music was as ubiquitous here as hip-hop was in the states. And ironically, they appreciate older forms of American music such as funk and rare groove much more in England than they ever did in the States. But perhaps we repay you the favour by respecting the British classic rock people over here sleep on!

AG: Growing up in Manchester, you can’t avoid its musical heritage: it’s a loud, proud and self-consciously brazen city. Liverpool had the Beatles? F--k that: we had the Buzzcocks, Factory Records, New Order, the Mondays… plus Oasis, of course, if you cared about lad-rock. But it was Manchester’s drum and bass scene that was my first real exposure to the world of beats; and from that to the jungle, hip hop and electro nights around the city. Always slightly full of itself, Manchester tends towards the insular: but sitting on the top deck of the 85, on the way to Electric Chair, it felt like all the music you ever wanted was here, somewhere, in the city.

How did you come to start Fresh Produce?

AG: Our radio debut was on the short lived Oxygen FM in the sleepy city of Oxford – Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10pm till 1am. Highlights included the weekly “FREE R KELLY” t-shirt giveaways, Daddy Like’s stand against the unjust incarceration of one of his musical heroes… Dr. Swerve-On returned to the States in 2004 to continue his career as an itinerant scholar of hope; when I moved down to London in 2007, DL and I resurrected the show as a podcast. And a new era was born…

What’s your music policy?

Daddy: In four words: anything with a beat

Where do your listeners come from? How many people tune in?

Daddy: It’s a surprisingly diverse bunch! For a while we were getting tons of listeners from China, but I always suspected that was some sort of spam crawler software rather than real people. Our podcast platform makes it easy to see where people listen from but difficult to see how many unique listeners there are. I’d guesstimate that there’s about 140 unique listeners per show.

Any plans to extend the brand into other media?

Daddy: Only live sets – wedding, bar mitzvahs and funerals.

Are you going to be doing a Guru tribute?

Daddy: I feel like we have to play some songs in honour of the man, even though our next show isn’t until about a month after his tragic demise. I think we’re going to play exclusively tracks we haven’t heard on any other tribute, which will be difficult because there’s so many great ones out there.

AG: ‘Lemonade was a popular drink and it still is/ I get more props and stunts than Bruce Willis’. Love it.

Which songs are doing it for you right now?

Daddy: In no particular order:
Strong Arm Steady feat. Phonte – Best of Time
Ty feat. Sway and Roses Gabor – Heart is Breakingz
Kylie Audlist – In A Week, In A Day (Ashely Beedle’s Streetsoul Edit)
Chemise – She Can’t Love You
Erykah Badu – 20 Feet Tall (Yoruba Soul Remix)

AG: RSD – Naked Mario Kart
Method Man & Redman – City Lights ft/ Bun B
Hackney Colliery Band – Money
Theophilus London – No Answers ft/ Jesse Boykins
Amanaz – Sunday Morning

What next for Fresh Produce?

Daddy: Hopefully we spread like a virus around the world... not a disappointing one like swine flu, but the real deal! Audio polio...

Any final shout outs?

AG: Manchester-based Sidestep Music (www.sidestepmusic.com) always bring the heat. And keep an eye out for FP Stateside from Swerve, appearing later this year.

Daddy: Also a shout out to all the labels that sustain us: BBE, Strut, Kindred Spirits, Soul Jazz, Tru Thoughts, Wah Wah 45s, Stones Throw and Ubiquity. And London pirate radio – is there anything cooler in this world than 15 year-olds risking ASBOs to bring us new music for free? Who needs “Big Society” when you’ve got that kind of public-mindedness amongst the young?

Thanks guys...

To subscribe to Fresh Produce or simply to have a listen, go to www.freshproduce.podbean.com.

If you’ve downloaded the podcast to your iPod, hit the centre button four times while playing to see the tracklisting

To get new FP mixes automatically downloaded to your iPod when they’re posted, just click on the “Add to iTunes” icon on their homepage