Listen To This...

HEAVY These guys are the kings of cool music. Every month they have a different streaming mix called sumosonic. It rocks! I've discovered all sort of new tunes. If you like funky, dub, club, punkish, rappish, alt alternative, a real genre blending mix of the unexpected, you'll love this. Over the past few months I've entered the worlds of Princess Superstar Do it like a robot, dude. RJD2 Good times, pt 1. Gotta have pt 1. And Fanny Pack "Hey Mami...can I get that number?" I swear, I'm 31 years old and I want to go clubbin'. This stuff is infectious.

I've been less impressed with November's mix, but there's still some worthwhile stuff. The site also has games and music/humor stuff. But they got rid of the best web show I’ve seen. "Heavy Petting" went into the universe of real fringe sex/music genres the likes of DJ -- Peaches -- Outrageous Evangelical Comedian Songwriter. Her music has been described as "A satirical take on Christian values". Think you're not easily offended? Take the test. Try Tammy Faye Starlight. "Heavy Petting" has suddenly disappeared from Heavy.com. Where it has gone and if it's available anywhere is anyone's guess as Heavy seems to have the world's worst customer service. In fact, as far as I can tell, aside from giving your credit card number to obtain a membership (I use the free access, so far...) there is absolutely no way to contact them at all. Bad move.

Also -- being that the Phila area has NO GOOD RADIO...

[I'm sorry, it's true. WXPN 88.5 once had potential, and has over the years turned me on to handfuls of new artists, their increasing dependence on membership has lead to pandering to a certain, very conservative audience. It's light classic rock meets light singer-songwriter, although they are always morphing, I'd say currently it's a 70/30 mix. I'm sorry old Van Morrison, old CSN, old, old, old... Too much great stuff is out there. I don't expect them to embrace trip-hop all of a sudden, but they've crawled into a shell compared to what they were even six or seven years ago.]

...the wonderful world of the web brings us to the west coast and KEXP Seattle. Check them out. Really. Find out what they're playing right now They have a live online play list, audio stream, and weeks of archived material. My personal favorite is John in the Morning. Like Death Cab For Cutie? The Audio Bullys? If you listened this morning you'd have caught The Verve, Nina Simone, PJ Harvey, Tones on Tail, Strokes, Tripping Daisy, Beck, Pavement, Violent Femmes, New Order, Afghan Whigs, Radiohead, Black Box Recorder, and more...
It's like the best of college radio, done professionally. These guys have their shit together. I danced around my apartment when I found this station. Maybe it's just me...