Solution to Musical Doldrums

I now have an opportunity to listen to music at work (and blog, apparently) so I put out the call to my music-loving friends for suggestions as to what's out there on these here internet tubes. There are actually a few options that I really like.

1. Soma FM (www.somafm.com) - They have different channels with various types of music but my favorite is called "indie pop rocks!" There's a fantastic variety of bands I've never heard before interspersed with stuff I already love. It makes me hopeful for music again.

2. Epitonic Radio (www.epitonic.com) - Still a little sparse since the re-org of the site but they also have an excellent variety of musical styles. My favorite genre is "Math Rock."

3. Indie 103.1 (www.indie1031.fm) - An actual radio station out of L.A. that features Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols for a few hours in the afternoon (Jonesy's Jukebox) and a great mix of alternative stuff from the past 30 years. They play Black Sabbath or the Arctic Monkeys or the Pixies or Interpol on any given day. The music is so well selected that I don't mind the commercials.

4. All Songs Considered (www.npr.org/programs/asc/) - There are corners of NPR where I've found some refuge. (Mostly on the weekends.) My friend John E. has been trying to push me in the direction of ASC for a while now. I finally checked out the site and the list of bands they've covered is like a mirror of my own music collection. There are discussions with the musicians, live concerts and sample songs for quite a range of bands. Great stuff.

5. Yahoo Music (music.yahoo.com) - If you have a Yahoo account of some sort, you can log in and this service will allow you to rate different songs and tailor the music it serves to you based on your ratings and preferences. The program director is an algorithm and the goal here is most likely to sell music, so the selection seems a little shallow. It's a solid backup plan if I want to hear Queens of the Stone Age or Portishead.

Enjoy!