www.midomi.com

As promised, this is my tenth (10th) and final post for this blog.

A song is stuck in your head but you can’t seem to remember its name; perhaps you only remember the melody of the chorus; perhaps you remember no lyrics at all, but just the melody of certain parts of the song. You’re dying to figure out the name of the song but all you have are pieces of out-of-tune hums of the song to work with. Well, guess what? You’re in luck because that’s all you’ll ever need if you want to identify a song once you visit www.midomi.com

Yep. That’s right! Just hum any part of the song into the microphone of your computer – even if your humming isn’t perfect and watch as the site miraculously identifies the song.

I tried it for myself – I hummed away the melody of the first verse of “Hotel California” by The Eagles and after ten seconds, the results showed up as “Hotel California” by the Eagles.I was amazed.

www.midomi.com is truly a cool music website.

This brings me to the end of my final post of this blog.

It’s been fun while it lasted good people.

Feel free to leave your comments.

www.stereomood.com

As human beings, we cannot escape the fact that we are emotional creatures. As such, we have moods. Our moods change a lot. Not too many people would argue with me if I were to say that we should listen to music according to our moods. Here’s a site that does exactly that: It gives you a choice of moods to choose from and plays music according to your choice. Moods include, but are not limited to “melancholy,” “romantic,” “studying,” “gangsta,” “Sunday morning,” “lost in Jamaica,” and “make love.” And it’s really as simple as that: you click on a mood and a huge playlist is automatically created based on that mood. Also, the playlist is available for your viewing and manipulation.

www.amiright.com

Here’s the thing about www.amiright.com – it is a site dedicated to music humor. What does that mean exactly? Well, the main purpose of the site is to provide “misheard song lyrics for pop songs of the past 50 years.” What do they mean by this? Ok. So here’s the deal: You know how sometimes you can’t figure out the lyrics of a particular part of a song? You know how sometimes you think the singer is saying one thing when in fact it is saying something entirely different? 

Well, this is a site that allows users to post the lyrics they misheard as well as the lyrics they actually heard. For example, someone heard Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” lyrics as “Beaded, Beaded. No one wants to eat a peanut” instead of “Beat it, Beat it. No one wants to be defeated” while someone else misheard the BeeGees lyrics “Staying alive” for “Stay in the light.”

Apart from misheard lyrics, the site offers hilarious lyrics for parodies of popular songs provided by its users, jokes, band name manipulations, and music trivia. I will leave you with the lyrics of the first verse from one user who wrote a parody for the famous Christmas song “Feliz Navidad.” He calls it “There’s fleas on my dog” and the first verse goes like this:

“There’s fleas on my dog

  There’s fleas on my dog

  There’s fleas on my dog

  Mon perro scratcho dem fleas with her paws”

www.youtube.com

Even though www.youtube.com is known as a video-sharing website, it must be pointed out that it is a great site on many different levels when it comes to the category of music. You can watch professional music videos as well as listen to music. 

However, the one thing I like most about youtube is this: You get to view cover songs done by amateurs. This is an invaluable experience for music lovers. Sometimes, you want to hear other people’s rendition of your favorite song. www.youtube.com is the platform that offers this experience. I have discovered some amateur artists on this site that blew my mind away when it comes to playing their musical instrument of choice and singing. 

Let me give you some examples: There is a musician from Brazil that plays classical guitar by the name of Naudo – if you like the sound of guitar or if you play guitar yourself and have an appreciation for raw musical talent, you will absolutely be amazed by the complexity of the skill that oozes out of this guy. Neither will you believe the distinct and defining tone that he gets out of his guitar. Here's him performing a rendition of The BeeGees "How Deep is Your Love":





Then there is Jake Shimabukuro who left an indelible impression on my mind with his rendition of the Beatles classic “while my guitar gently weeps,” which he plays with his ukulele. I was mesmerized by his jaw-dropping performance which was recorded in Central Park. Here's the performance:





I remember watching a home video of Justin Bieber at a time when he was undiscovered, playing guitar while performing a rendition of Justin Timberlake’s “Cry Me a River.” Or how about this guy's rendition of "Apologize" by One Republic:



And how can anyone possibly ignore this child's unique performance of "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz?




And there are tons of other cover songs by regular people who might just surprise you. In this way, the musical experience that www.youtube.com offers truly exists on a pedestal of its own.

www.music.aol.com

www.music.aol.com is simply awesome. It offers free mp3 downloads as well as free streaming. It also offers free viewing of music videos, free pictures or artists as well as lyrics. This site offers a new service known as “real time music news,” which offers music news pretty much on an hourly basis. Having its own radio enables this site to offer its viewers a one-of-a-kind musical experience. 

The key feature on this site, in my opinion, is the “sessions” category. In this special music video category, viewers get access to special performances done for www.music.aol.com in which popular artists perform mostly acoustic or what the site calls “stripped-down” version of popular songs. It allows viewers to enjoy their favorite music in an entirely different and refreshing way. Visit the site for yourself and you’ll see what I’m talking about.  

www.allmusic.com

Ill tell you why I like this site – the way the content is organized. One cannot help but have a feeling of comfort when navigating a site that is very well organized. It is sort of the experience you get when you visit yahoo’s website, if you know what I mean. That being said, let me tell you more about this site.

Basically, www.allmusic.com talks about everything music. With categories such as “artists spotlight,” “new releases,” and “classical reviews” this website covers a whole lot of musical ground. The website even has its own blog aptly titled “The AllMusic Blog” which publishes posts every day except weekends. They also have a “news” category into which relevant news posts about music are entered, and sections such as “country,” “blues,” reggae,” “rap” and many more.

There are many sites that offer similar content. However, this site stands out because it offers, in a well organized manner, a tremendous amount of information on everything music.

              

www.onehitwondercentral.com

What do the following four songs all have in common (besides the fact that all the artists have really weird names)?

1)“Who let the dogs out” by Baha Men

2)“Butterfly” by Crazy Town 

3)“Because I got high” by Afroman?

4)“Purest of pain” by Son by Four

They are all one-hit wonders that were released within the last decade. How do I know this you ask? 

Simple: www.onehitwondercentral.com

This is a website that lists and categorizes one-hit wonders by the decade. As such, you are able to view all the one hit wonders in the 1950’s or the 1980’s and so on. It also provides a list of the top 100 most popular one hit wonders.

In addition to all this, the website also furnishes information about the artists of these songs and a search button to help you find that one-hit song you are looking for.

The problem with one hit wonders is that you tend to forget them so quickly. Why? Well because they are one-hit wonders. That’s why.

This website is great because it reminds you of the songs that you used to love but have now forgotten.

Let me know what you think..Leave a comment.

www.slacker.com

Here’s an alternative to Pandora. It is an internet radio website that pretty much does the same thing as Pandora -  www.slacker.com 

When you visit the site, just type in a song in the search box and listen as it begins to play songs that are similar to the song of your choice. 

How is it different from www.pandora.com?

There is one major difference – Slacker does not make it obligatory that you create an account and sign in before you can start listening to music. Pandora, on the other hand, does require you to sign in before you can actually listen to the music.

In my opinion, that alone is the major difference - unless of course you want to count the fact that the two sites don’t play exactly the same songs when you make a selection. 

But that’s the whole point in visiting this site instead of Pandora, isn't it? Chances are that it will offer a different choice of songs. 

I tried it out for myself. First I went to Pandora and typed in the song “Soldier” by Eminem. Pandora played the following songs in the following order:

1) “When the music stops” by Eminem

2) “Back down” by 50 Cent

3) “Nasty mind” by D12

4) “Still don’t give a F@#%” by Eminem

5) “Remember the name” by Fort Minor

Then I went to slacker and typed in the same song. Slacker played the following songs:

1) “Soldier” by Eminem

2) “Pass the Courvoisier” by Busta Rhymes

3) “My President” by Young Jeezy

4) “Lolli lolli pop dat body” by Three Six Mafia

5) “Already home“ by Jay Z

I am not claiming that one list is better than the other. But based on your individual tastes in music, perhaps you might prefer one list over the other. Freedom to choose is always good.

Last thing before I go, like Pandora, Slacker sometimes interrupts the songs with commercials. If this bothers you, there is an option to upgrade to commercial-free listening.

By the way, did you like one list over the other? If so, Why? Please leave a comment.

Until next time...

www.pandora.com

In my last post, I promised you that I will be posting more about other websites that will put you ahead in the world of music.

Pandora fits this description perfectly.                  

This website's mission is "to play only music that you'll love."

How can anyone interested in music not want to visit such a site?

This is how the site works:

First you sign up for a free account. Once this is done and you are signed in, you can begin to search for songs, artists, or genres of music. When you make your selection, the website somehow intelligently begins to play music that are in some way closely related to your choice.

For example, I like the 1959 song called "Sleep Walk" which is an instrumental composed and recorded by an Italian-American rock and roll duo from Brooklyn called "Santo and Johnny." When I type in the song's title in Pandora, the website plays this song and follows it with other instrumentals that very much reminded me of "Sleep Walk." In fact, the songs were so similar that the mood the first song created was sustained way after that first song had ended. And I'm not kidding nor am I exaggerating.

It really is quite an accomplishment when you think about it. I wondered how they were able to do this and so I checked their website.

It turns out that they explain on their website exactly how they are able to do it.

Apparently, since the year 2000, they have been working on a project called the "Music Genome Project." They boast that this project is "the most thorough analysis of popular music ever undertaken."

So when a song is chosen, the site is able to play that song as well as other songs with similar musical traits based on the extensive analysis that they have done with the music.

This trait alone will compel any serious music-lover to visit this premiere music website.

Try it out for yourself by clicking here and tell me what you think - leave a comment.

Hope you enjoy

www.hotnewhiphop.com

In this blog, I will write exactly ten (10) posts, with this one being my first. Each entry will tell you about one cool music website. So here goes:

Do not be left behind people. In today's world, you cannot afford to be. Besides - why be left behind when you can be on top of things? And how do you stay on top of things? By having knowledge of the hottest topic of every conversation today - that's how.

There is no denying it. Hip-hop music, whether you like it or not,  has penetrated all of society's corners. There is no such thing as a typical hip-hop fan any more. Hip-Hop fans are many and varied. Fact of the matter is, if you are still reading this post, you are probably interested in hip-hop music yourself. So let me get straight to the point.

The latest hip-hop tracks are literally a click away - available for free downloading, or streaming - whichever floats your boat.

Ladies and gentlemen - I give to you http://www.hotnewhiphop.com/

Take it from me - this is indeed a site like no other. Once hip-hop tracks become available for public listening, they are usually, within minutes, up on the site available for streaming or downloading.

Plus, get this - they manage to get their hands on new and hot tracks almost on a daily basis.

Moreover, the songs are usually marked "hot" and "very hot" in order to guide you in choosing what songs to click on. In my opinion, they get it right 99% of the time. And believe me when I say that.

The songs are time-stamped so that you know the most recent ones from the not so recent ones.

It wouldn’t be fair to tell you about this site without telling you the following : In the past, visiting the site always infected my computer. In other words, music wasn't the only new thing I got from the site.

However, you need not worry - the site has been updated and never again have I ran into such problems.

Additionally, there is now a section that carries the most recent and most interesting hip-hop news. A video section, with all the latest hip-hop videos has also now been added.

And if you were wondering whether or not these downloads are legal, the website makes it very clear that artists themselves upload the music to the site with the knowledge that their songs will be available for free downloading. So, it is legal.

I will end this post by leaving you with this - whether you want to know more about the latest hip-hop music or you just want to stay up-to-date with the most recent hottest hip-hop tracks out there, www.hotnewhiphop.com is the site you will need to visit.

By visiting this amazing site, you will have listened to songs that are unfamiliar to the average hop-hop lover.

What are you waiting for? Visit the website by clicking here now!

You may want to keep checking my blog if you liked http://www.hotnewhiphop.com/ because in the coming weeks, I will be telling you more about other music sites that will surely put you ahead as a music-lover in today's world.

Until next time good people...