Mix Tape - Links

(If you want to know about the general concept behind Mix Tape, move your mouse here.)

I thought I'd try to mix it up a bit for this edition of MT. What I'm gonna do today is look at bands' websites. And so this doesn't turn into a list of links to sites you've never heard of, I thought I'd establish some arbitrary criteria. To wit:

• I will only use bands who are in my iTunes Library
• I will only link to bands who meet the first criterion who also have a website listed in the iTunes Music Store
• I will then exclude any website that plays music from their homepage without my consent *

After some research, I decided on one more rule. If you're letting the record label host your band on their site, you suck. Get off the internet. * Except for you, Ani DiFranco, since you are Righteous Babe Records. You don't make the MT list, but I'll give you a free linking anyway. I'm a nice guy like that.

That still left me with nineteen links, gotta cut it almost in half. Soooo... one more rule! Rules fix everything. If you start with a static image that clicks you through to the main index, you're also out. The extra click bothers me. * There ya go, lucky thirteen. And then we'll kick out Simple Plan for doing the same thing, only with extra links for pimping TRL. We will not stand for toadying to TRL on this website.

So after all that cutting * , we're at twelve. The list is ten, and the list is below, in no particular order. *

R.E.M.

Have you seen R.E.M. lately? This is what greeted me when I called up their iTMS page. Yikes. Anyway, pretty decent site there. Nice, easy navigation, and tons of info listed under easy to figure out menus. The sound and video samples are a good little bonus, too. Great site for a bunch of old fogies. Their PR staff should be proud.

No Doubt

Not as good as R.E.M., but not bad, not bad. I'm just not a real big fan of the look, I guess. Seems a little blah to me. But the site delivers the content just fine. It'd be nice if the FAQ were online, though. Surely someone has asked a question about No Doubt by now. Right?

Medesky, Martin, and Wood

After I got over my shock over the fact that MMW has a web site and is featured at the iTMS, I dug in. And I think it's a pretty hip site. A little bit minimal on style, with just the colors changing, but then again this is a band that some might call subtle. And the site's done well, and has all the content you'd want. So I gotta give it the thumbs up.

Foo Fighters

You can't argue with a site that features the 'Foo Player'. Click on the Foo Player to hear the new album. The site navigation is a little bit confusing, but not bad overall, and they're hip enough to link to a site that's not run by them, but does provide guitar tabs for their songs. I respect that.

Counting Crows

Well... the audio/video section doesn't work in Safari, but then again the pop-ups in MT don't work in IE, so who am I to quibble? Besides, they link to another site and implicitly support bootleg trading, so they make up points there. And the band writes in with updates, so that's cool.

Cake

An unfortunate 'meh' to the folks at Cake for this site. On the plus side, the navigation is nice and simple. I'm a fan of simplicity. Unfortunately, there just isn't much there to look at, and if I'm a person who's come to this site and don't know who Cake is, well without sound samples it's gonna be tough to convert a new listener, isn't it? I didn't know they put an album out in 2004. Huh, I'm slipping...

Ben Folds

Even if the rest of the site sucked I'd still link it up just for putting that picture on the main page. It's almost mesmerizing. The site itself is well-done, but it feels confining limited to that little box in the middle. But maybe that's the point - I'm not necessarily cool enough to know that it's cool.

Avril Lavigne

Yes, I own some Avril. Shut up. And the site at least has some style. I like the pop-down menus, the rest of the navigation is easy, and I like that she's got exclusive content on the site. Of course, I don't know for sure that it's exclusive, I'm just taking her word for it.

Audioslave

I don't like the color scheme, but the animation on the menus is pretty cool. Content's a little bit weak, too, but hey it's Audioslave - Chris Cornell didn't have the internet when he first started in the business. Or something. Actually it's a pretty lame site, but I'm just winging this thing at this point...

and finally...

New Found Glory *

I do like the fact that their videos section is just dorky home videos. And you do owe it to yourself to get your hands on a copy of the EP where they cover movie themes - it's so horribly bad that it's great. You haven't lived until you've heard a punk cover of Celine Dion. Seriously. I'm sure there will be no convincing some of you on that, but it's your loss.

There you have it - ten arbitrary links. If this has served to introduce anyone to new music that they end up liking, well then my job here is done. Actually my job here is done either way.

-02/06/06