How do you define a community's music interests? Well, in the case of Gather, that is nearly impossible – for good reason. Most of the musical interest on the site is not by artist, genre, or decade, but is a carefully crafted medley of individual's interests. Kind of a written "playlist" of the music that Gather members enjoy, that brings back a memory, or sets a mood. The widest selection of music-related content is at the ever-growing All About The Music (aboutmusic.gather.com) group. And independent labels like Rounder are finding a new audience for their artists at rounder.gather.com.
Air play and production. Genres of music are one way in which people are sharing their love and knowledge of music on the Gather site. The American Composer's Forum enables individuals to find, play or create great music, and supports and collaborates with a number of students and artists to help produce their musical visions. On a related note, XPN in Philadelphia posts Artists and Albums of the Month at wxpnfm.gather.com. These picks, popular with Gather members, always end up forecasting the best up and coming artists of the independent and alternative styles.
Reviews across genres. You never know what type of music is going to get reviewed on Gather next. One day, you are reading about Music From Africa and the African Diaspora, written by Digital Dogs. The next you see a review of the very public radio-esque A Prairie Home Companion Soundtrack Review by London-based Yogen Kushi.
New and active on the indie music scene is Jared T. with his new, to-the-point Album Review - Clutch - Robot Hive/Exodus. For a totally different style, there is BeauSoleil's Newest Album on a New Record Label by Susan Budig which is more of a down home Louisiana style band.
Playlist ideas. Gather is a great source for updating your iPod too. Unusual for a radio station, KMFA in Austin has posted a few of their favorite songs for their May iPod picks, which have a local Austin flavor. Kevin Beacham adds a Hip-Hop flavor in the Redefinition Radio group with song mentions and historical reviews. And Elizabeth Davis's weekly column that she republishes from her blog "Eliza's Bluegrass and Country News" on Gather at writinglife.gather.com. She gives you the charts and news about happenings in the land of Country Music.
Music-related fun. Aside from talking about music, there is a whole other world on Gather, of music-related content. There are song lyrics by members like Cynthia B. with like a dove (Song Lyrics). Gather loyalist George Corneliussen talks about the good old days When Records Ruled: Turntables; a simpler time? Not necessarily but he reminds us what we yearn for. On that topic, Eric L. and Darcy Altaville both talk about the The Joy of Album Covers and Recycling LP Albums Into Art.
There is, of course, far more music on the site than I can reference here. But keep an eye on the "music" tag – www.gather.com/music -- for more great reviews and reasons to listen to great music. If we missed something you love, post a link to it below, to make sure everyone knows about it.
David Cooperstein is Editor in Chief of Gather. Check out my musical interests at david.gather.com, or my other columns at editors.gather.com.
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Comments: 11
Choosing music as a link we can all use, is a wise and practical choice. We may all disagree politically, but if a song gets us all tapping our toes at the same time, peace and understanding have a shot !
Example:
Papa-ooma-mow-mow, ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow, ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow, ooma-mow-mow
Well don't you know about the bird?
Well, everybody knows that the bird is the word!
A-well-a bird, bird, b-b-bird's the word
Tell me your toes not tappin'.
Eliza
As a musician I enjoy the musical discussions that take place when performing with others. Creating worthy music requires that one listen and contribute in just the right proportion. Come to think of it that is one of the reasons Gather is such a power full community.
David, thanks for highlighting all of these great resources. Like you, all of us at Gather look forward to bringing more music into our members/friends lives.
Very good of you to group the Gather resources together and seeing George's comment reminded me that I urged him to set to music a great poem he had written--it might have been called "Bones of The Dinosaur." I want to remind him of that and to ask you this: if he got that song written and recorded, is there or could there be a way to post it on Gather for others to hear? Or would we need to be directed to a site that specializes in music?
If you had a clip or a podcast, you could add a link to it. We are looking into ways to host podcasts and music files, but you and George will have to wait!
David
I'm flattered that you remembered "Bones". I'll have to get it off the back burner and do something with it. Thank you !
David,
When Gather does roll out audio, it will be a very musical event.
PS: I'm pretty good at waiting.
Take a look. I'm planning on putting more of my compositions on Youtube. It's pretty easy.
I love the articles about music, especially the ones that George and Eric have posted. But it's also nice to have multimedia capability and to hear the work of original artists. Would be nice some day to have musicians and lyricists collaborate here on Gather and publish!