rejuvenating my MP3 player's playlist with random stuff

Stereogum can be an interesting blog to take some musical names from, but it's a bit like those fat daily newspapers (Expresso, Süddeutsche...) where I only read 5% from and put the rest aside. How many bands/singers can I digest in so little time?

Do I need to be an intense and speedy music lover?
I guess I'd need to stop wasting that precious listening time in useless activities like: going out, taking a shower, go get some groceries, work for a living.... In some of these situations, a portable (and waterproof) MP3 player could be "a" solution.

I love the fact that some previewed songs are available to download as an MP3 file - the Try-Before-You-Buy concept.

This year I discovered another blog, Largehearted Boy. It is also indie-oriented (like 90% of all music blogs) but it's worth spending 5-10mins downloading some new songs from the two main songlists, it supplies enough material to keep anyone entertained on his way to/from work/school:

• The Daily Downloads
• Try It Before You Buy It
  

These listings have enough good material to help me build my contribution for the CD exchange club I am part of.

A new folder just spawned in my Music Collection, it's called "Suggestions" and will host all those little tracks that can keep my ears fresh with new stuff.

Just for kicks, I googled for "mp3 blog"... and bang, heaps more places to legally (direct links from the artist's sites are provided) get some songs from.

This one for example sounds very promising, coast-is-clear, as it also provides songs from german/swiss/austrian artists. Let's see... downloaded 23 songs to the designated folder on my NAS, browse XBMC's Ajax web interface, four clicks and here I go for some further music discovery. I'll just crank up the volume while I take a shower (no, I have not gotten myself a pair of wireless waterproof speakers...)

The Hype Machine makes it all even easier (or harder, judging by the amount of daily additions) "The Hype Machine follows music blog discussions" they say:)
Just open the link, find a post and click the little "PLAY" button to stream it directly. To download the samples, the original post needs to be opened.


n.-