This page is about what I call music. Others might name it Alternative, Independant or even Noise...
I was born in 1964. I grew up with the same musical influences as most German kids of my generation,
that is the stuff one could hear on T.V. and on the radio: Cheesy German pop, the Beatles, the
Rolling Stones, and so on...
Later on, things started to change: My brother, who is four years older than me, introduced me to the dinosaurs of rock of his LP collection: Led Zeppelin, Genesis, Yes, Pink Floyd. Put on your earphones and let the journey begin...
When I really started to appreciate all those bands, my brother already had moved from rock to progressive rock, and then to jazz. Therefore he was trying to convince me that rock music was just a waste of time and money.
Well, I don't mind listening to John Coltrane from time to time, but I'm not interested in chord progressions, syncopated rythms and all that intellectual stuff. Complexity is one thing, and emotional impact another, and as far as I'm concerned, it is only the emotional impact that counts.
Around 1982, when I started to spend my pocket money on LPs, I found that most of the rock bands mentioned above were in a dead end... I listened a lot to the best radio stations I could find and subsequently discovered some Punk and New Wave bands (Patti Smith, The Fall, The Violent Femmes, Dream Syndicate, Japan...) as well as Reggae singers (mainly Bob Marley and Burning Spear) and immortal bands like Velvet Underground or Can.
Since I've got Internet access I have been searching for music links. When I had found a couple of them, I
decided to put them on a page instead of keeping them just for myself. These links concern Artists,
Bands and Labels that I personally appreciate. A big
thanks to all those devoted fans who create and maintain unofficial sites.
There are lots of sites dedicated to certain artists (for example Bjork or PJ Harvey). In those cases I only mention the official site or the one that appears to be most interesting.
I'm adding new links from time to time, so check this page out once in a while. And if you think that some URL's are badly missing, please drop me a line or just state them in my blog! And please report dead links. Thanks!
There is actually a trend of creating easy-to-find URL's for official sites of artists and bands. So you might try where wwwDOTname-of-your-favorite-bandDOTcom is getting you. Another trend: You can find more and more mp3 on official label sites.
At the bottom of this page are some links to sites that contain a huge amount of reviews. All of those sites except All-Music Guide include the possibility of writing reviews and earning some money for doing so.
Beck (official site)
Bjork (official site)
Burning Spear (official site)
Buzzcocks (official site)
Cake (official site)
Can (official site)
Nick Cave (official site)
Cocteau Twins (official site)
Dream Syndicate (official site)
The Fall (official site)
Foo Fighters (official site)
Garbage (official site)
Hail - Kissyfur - Susanne Lewis (official site)
PJ Harvey (official site)
Massive Attack (official site)
Bob Mould (official site)
my bloody valentine (official site)
Nico (unofficial site)
Portishead (official site)
Chuck Prophet (official site)
Ryuichi Sakamoto (official site)
Damo Suzuki (official site)
Sonic Youth (official site)
David Sylvian (official site)
Tuxedomoon (official site)
Velvet Underground (unofficial site)
The Violent Femmes (official site)
Crammed Disks (Tuxedomoon,...)
Cuneiform Records (Thinking Plague,...)
Flying Nun Records (The Chills,...)
Matador Records (Yo La Tengo, Liz Phair,...)
Mute Records (Nick Cave, Depeche Mode,... includes lots of other links)
One Little Indian (Bjork, Sugarcubes)
On U Sound (Creation Rebel, Tackhead, Prince Far I,...)
Radioactive Records
ReR (Hail,...)
Righteous Babe Records (Ani DiFranco,...)
Skint Records (Fatboy Slim,...)
Sub Pop
SST Records (Black Flag,...)
4AD (Dead Can Dance, Pixies,...)