Version 1.1: April 20th, 2008 (revision 1)

You would expect me to frequent all the celebrated and known music websites.

I don’t.

This is what I read and where many of my friends, acquaintances or regular reads hang out.

1. Music Websites

1. Don’t Explain: Nate Dorward comes at jazz from every direction … with a fascinating CV in his back pocket. He also loves poetry. Not a bad mix at all. I’m learning as I read along.
2. Heavy Metal Addiction: Steve Angulo, a regular around here, has got passion, to boot. He’s a heavy metal fan “with an addiction to buying CDs, DVDs, and other paraphernalia”. Ain’t that the truth. He talks about stuff I never heard of, and I thought of myself as a regular way back when. I also had the jacket patches to prove it.
3. Keep Swinging: Hans Koert, hailing from the Netherlands, is an expert not only on jazz, but also on Oscar Aleman. The guy knows his stuff and it’s a pleasure to read. For me, his posts are very educating on areas I know nothing about. It’s bilingual, by the way, English and Dutch.
4. Rifftides: Doug Ramsey’s “Rifftides” is probably my favorite music read. Thought provoking and often crashing right through the self-imposed boundaries of “jazz”, Doug Ramsey is all over the place. He also writes excellent books. His life in journalism shows, in a positive way.

2. Social Commentary and/or Personal Websites

1. Matt Brett: He’s busy as hell, but there’s always time for a good computer game, an excellent site design, punk rock - you know, the usual.
2. Cider Press Hill: I used to know her under a different name, but I’ve been around (seemingly) forever. I always check what Kate’s up to; she’s become a neighbor of sorts, an environmentally super-conscious one at that. Kudos!
3. No Dependencies / No Logo: Nils Geylen can pack a punch, both in writing style and humor. Check him out.
4. Openswitch: Ben is a professional youth minister, an ex-cheerleader, an avid motorcycle rider and a perfectionist. He’s passionate about his relationship with Christ, his family, and broadening his horizons. He’s also redesigned his site more often than I have mine.
5. Whistle & Fish: G. K. Nelson says of himself that politically he’s “somewhere to the left of Lenin (or Lennon, take your pick)”. Might be, but whenever he was online with a site I could reach, I went there to enjoy his excellent writing style. Invigorating. Some of the very best writing on the Net today.

3. All Things Design

1. Book Covers: It’s run by someone/a group calling himself/themselves “we”. Before I seriously started collected music, I collected books. This website is spectacular and offers up exactly what the title says. Always an informed and tasteful selection. I’ve literally spent hours on there, just looking …
2. David Airey: David Arey’s design blog delivers constant inspiration, well-written content and lost of visual incentives. A regular read and usually the first stop for me when I start exploring that avenue.
3. Web Design: I consider the following web designers and programmers to be the ones whose work we need to follow if we want to see what’s really new, hip or just awe-inspiring: Jesse Bennett-Chamberlain (31Three), whose work is the epitome of style and from, Sidebar Creative, the Web’s first true pop supergroup of astonishingly talented and able designers/programmers Dan Rubin (Superfluous Banter), Steve Smith (Ordered List), Jonathan Snook (Snook.ca) and Bryan Veloso (Avalonstar, Revyver), Jared Christensen (Jaredigital), whose latest redesign just kicks ass, Mike Rundle (9rules), who is just phenomenal when it comes to first throwing in everything but the kitchen sink into a design and then structuring it the only way possible, and, finally, another bigwig, Shaun Inman (Mint), whose designs are always thought-provoking and neat (wish he would do more). There are more, and I might add them at some point, but the above I turn to whenever I’m stumped for ideas (especially those, that have absolutely nothing to do with web design!). You could say I get off on their stuff.

4. Online Radio Stations

1. David Brent Johnson (WFIU: Afterglow and Nightlights: It was David’s informed programming on Indiana University’s radio program that made Afterglow and Nightlights (also check the Nightlights blog) my must-follow radio programs. Despite the more than one terabyte of digital files which I ripped from my collection to my drives, I forgo all that material most of the time and just tune in to Dave. He’s that good. I’ve heard every archived show, several times, and without David’s programs, something would be missing in my life. Currently, 90% of my online listening time is spent on tuning in to what Dave put together. Phenomenal.
2. Jazz paa P2: The only other radio station I listen to regularly is the jazz program on Denmark’s Radio Station 2. I lived there for many years and I enjoy tuning into a varied, well-researched and top-notch quality station. It’s got it all and lots of purchases I made these past years were based on their selections.

Stop by again in a week or two … there’s still lots to be added here.

Got anything to recommend that I should add to the list?
Want to have your say?
Go ahead …