Allmusic.com - Release Dates, Reviews, Track Listings and Discographies. Billboard Online - Trade magazine of the music industry featuring several internationally recognized record charts. Fact Magazine - UK based independent music review site with lots of great interviews and features. NPR Music - A staff favorite, with a plethora of well-written reviews, interviews, podcasts, and more. Tunefind - An index of music and songs appearing in popular TV shows and movies. Not comprehensive, but certainly accurate.
Discover New Music
Every Noise at Once - A one-page map of playable audio samples for more than 1500 music genres, from dance pop to bossa nova to black metal to Turkish new wave to swamp blues to deep opera. Prepare to kill an hour or more with this exhaustive and comprehensive interactive site. Gnoosic- A search engine for music, featuring a mapping system to locate music that is closely (or remotely) related to the artists you love. Music Ninja - A unique music review website, that has dozens of playlists covering all genres and moods. Noon Pacific - A playlist of music from hundreds of music blogs, hand-picked and delivered to your e-mail inbox every week.
Music in Film
Music makes a pretty compelling subject for a film, and our streaming movie database Kanopy has hundreds of music-related features for you to enjoy. Whether it’s a cradle-to-grave story biopic about a famous musician, or an enlightening documentary about a specific music scene, or simply a film with a killer soundtrack, Kanopy has you covered. You can access Kanopy through a variety of devices and platforms, and you get 10 play credits per month. Click here to peruse the music films available and stream (and listen to) a great movie today!
Listen to Music Online
Pandora - Free, personalized music that plays music according to what you love. Bandcamp - Discover amazing new music and directly support the artists who make it. Spotify - Free music, for tablets, smart phones, or computers. Slacker Radio - Hundreds of stations, adapted to your personal taste.
Freegal Pick of the Month
Are you using Freegal? How can you call yourself a music fan and not be using this excellent service that gives you five songs per week – absolutely free that you can keep forever. There are thousands of songs from popular artists and tons of new & upcoming bands and musicians to enjoy. You can also get a brief preview of each song before you use one of your weekly downloads – just log in with your library card and PIN numbers, then click the song's icon. Whatever your taste, Freegal is perfect for any music fan.
This month's pick:
Le Bonheur by Storm Large Singer, actress and cabaret performer Storm Large presents a collection inspired by jazz standards in this 2014 album. With a musical career that’s been described as “lounge-core mash-up,” she offers some surprises as well. The album opens with Cole Porter’s classic “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” a version that starts with mellow strings and piano and builds to greater dynamics and drama mid-song. Large reaches into more recent history next by giving the punk/reggae band Bad Brains’ “Sacred Love” a sassy and bluesy treatment, and “A Woman’s Heart” is an original song that captures all the drama and slow, sultry mood of her more classic covers. “I Think It’s Going to Rain Today” offers a mild rendition of a much-covered song, and the newer composition “Forbidden Fruit” melds orchestral and jazz-band accompaniment with darkly flirtatious lyrics. One of the more unexpected covers on the album, Black Sabbath’s “N.I.B.,” is jazz- and Latin-influenced, upbeat and danceable. More typical approaches to “The Lady is a Tramp” and “Unchained Melody” follow, familiar but engaging, with the latter scored to a simple acoustic guitar. “Ne Me Quitte Pas” is an English rendition of a popular French song from the 1950s, drifting into the original language in places. Large returns to Cole Porter with “It’s All Right with Me,” accenting the classic tune with some modern sounds, and a duet -- with the internet’s sad clown, Puddles Pity Party -- of the Tom Waits “Saving All My Love for You” is darker and moodier than you might expect. (Don’t confuse it with the Whitney Houston song!) Lou Reed’s “Satellite of Love” is equal parts orchestral and pop, and the album closes with another original, “Stand Up for Me,” an inspirational message (“Be the light / Be the answer / Be the music in the dark”) accompanied by heartfelt strings. If you’re looking for a modern take on classic sounds, Storm Large might have your ticket. - Michelle (Sunset)
Storm Large comes to Chandler Center for the Arts on Feb. 18, 2022. From their website: “The sublime (slightly subversive) Storm Large returns to Chandler for a truly unforgettable night. Weaving together songs born of French cabaret, jazz standards and a handful of originals, she creates her own singular interpretations. The result is beautiful and familiar, yet a bit twisted - much like the lady herself. (This show is recommended for mature audiences.)”
Looking for more music reviews? Check out our Past Picks.
Le Bonheur