
" Good morning , starshine . The earth says hello" erm...Ok aaaay. ..... Welcome to the brand spanking new VPME site. We thought after almost four years of constant blogging and swimming through ear rotting effluence in search of musical pearls it was time to upgrade and give things a bit of a spit and a polish. We'll still aim to bring you the same mix of new music, interviews, free downloads and inane apoplectic ranting as we have always done, but with some new features and functionality . [...]
The day after last week's inspiring protest against overreaching anti-piracy laws , the US Department of Justice demonstrated that they don't need those laws, anyway. They just went ahead and unilaterally shut down Megaupload, the world's most popular cyberlocker. Rumor has it that similar sites like MediaFire and 4shared are under investigation and have been deleting files, while FileSonic preemptively disabled all sharing features. As a result, much of the history of recorded sound has been made inaccessible to the public. I'm talking, of course, about the music blogosphere. The best music blogs aren't pirates. [...]

Concrete Knives, France. 36 tracks from 36 countries. Every month, MAP (Music Alliance Pact) asks music bloggers to represent their home country and to pick a track that represents a nation. The results are posted on all of those blogs on the 15th of each month, downloadable in one file or playable one by one on each blog. Ireland is represented by Collie Collins with a track taken from his EP produced by Monto . [...]

Odd Future's the Internet paired up with The Hype Machine to release a mix of 20112s best songs. Under the Direction of Syd and Matt Martian they put together their favorite tracks of 2011 for The Hype Machines annual Music Blog Zeitgeist Mix. Check out the dope mix of songs and the tracklist below.. Tracklist: 1. The Stepkids - Shadows on Behalf 2. Katy B - Movement 3. Curren$y + Alchemeist - Smoke Break 4. Amy Winehouse - Half Time 5. Speak! - Framboise [...]
Two music sites that I follow religiously are L.A.-based Passion of the Weiss and UK music zine The...

Last month, I did a tribute to 31 great producers I've come across on SoundCloud in a series I dubbed SoundKlout . It was mostly just to pump out a shitload of good music, but I also wanted to engage more with the SoundCloud community and immerse myself in its user experience. While searching for the 31 SoundKlouters, and about a year's worth before that, I've noticed that most producers sample & remix other works or produce everything electronically. There just isn't enough legitimate collaborations with vocalists & instrumentalists. One reason is that there [...]
I've been meaning to write a piece that helps to educate music bloggers and tastemakers that they...
Nov 9, 2011, 5:33pm
SGTMT
Tweet The SGTMT A to Z of Music Blogs was launched almost a year ago and concluded 6 months later having methodically worked through some of the finest music blogs on the planet. It's with mixed feelings that we've had to revive the series once more. I'm thrilled to get to post another one as researching and writing the series was a lot of fun, however, it's sad that one of our original 26 blogs is now deceased. The original 'C' [...]

Cold War Kids, with Young Man / Mr. Small's / 11.05.2011 / 8:00 PM / $20 Words by Jim Sometimes you just need to jam it out, man. The house is yours. Maybe it's Friday (but it doesn't have to be). Turn the fucking speakers up and just do it. Pull out dance moves that your girlfriend or boyfriend has never ever seen, you know, the ones you'd only attempt in public if six beers deep. It's about freedom and letting the music wash over you. It's about [...]
"She calls herself the gangsta Nancy Sinatra. You know of Lizzy Grant aka Lana del Rey?" . Selbst Nancy Sinatra fragt bei Twitter nach , wer denn diese Lana del Rey sei. Ist das Provokation, Chuzpe oder mehr ein Spiel mit den Ikonen der 1960er Jahre? Retro mit Augenzwinkern? Oder sollte es am Ende nur Selbstüberschätzung sein? Ob das Kalkül aufgeht, werden wir am 16. Oktober erfahren, wenn ihr Debüt "Video Games/Blue Jeans" bei Strange Records erscheint. Ich horche schon einmal auf... [...]
If you're following these Music Fan's Mic podcasts, you're going to have to get used to the act of celebrating milestones. The past ten shows have been challenging and we haven't done brilliantly at keeping it to a weekly basis, but we've most certainly grown a better music taste through this process, which is a huge positive. The atmosphere of celebration is slightly underwhelmed by my sore throat - I try to tell jokes and the impact is lost through the rough croak that comes with each utterance. Within some advice on how to get through [...]
Sep 26, 2011, 3:55pm
SGTMT

Tweet Ok, provocative title, got your attention. Let's talk. Before I launch into this mostly pointless and irrelevant tirade let me make a couple of clarifying statements, disclaimers if you like. Firstly, I hope I'm wrong. I really do, I like music blogs. Secondly, I probably am wrong. Though I've been chewing this over for a while, this article will still be a mixture of ill thought opinions and half baked ideas. No great journalistic investigation has taken place and [...]
Sep 3, 2011, 5:09pm
SGTMT

Tweet We may have gone a little over the top with our birthday 'festivities' this week. Apologies. Most blogs / websites probably don't even notice when birthday time comes round and if they do I'd imagine it only warrants a tweet or other passing reference. We've marked our first birthday with our very own mixtape split into Side A and Side B . Also our 2 other contributors have looked back on a year of blogging and listed their top [...]

Frenetic, intense pop meets an equally furious appetite for fun in this first offering from new London outfit Black Casino & The Ghost . It's a sort of kick-ass rock anthem fuelled by Elisa's forceful vocals, reminiscent in a way of Lush and No Doubt. Black Casino and The Ghost - Falling Into Pieces by charmfactory Black Casino & The Ghost - Falling Into Pieces ( mp3 )
Jul 1, 2011, 5:44pm
SGTMT
Tweet With our A to Z of Music Blogs series having now reached it's predictable finale at 'Z' I thought I'd drag it out a little longer and write a brief summary and highlight some uninteresting stats. Of the 26 blogs we featured 16 were from the USA, 4 were UK based and the remaining 7 were from other European nations including - Finland, Belgium, Sweden, Holland, Slovakia and Switzerland. New York was unsurprisingly the most popular City of residence hosting 5 [...]
Jun 28, 2011, 5:56pm
SGTMT
Tweet We began this bloggerific tour nearly 8 months ago and since then have highlighted some of the best music blogs on the planet. We thought we'd seen it all, but our last stop on the journey has seen us discover a land that we didn't know existed. Like Chris Colombo in 1492 we peered over the helm and spied the future, a land of milk and honey, a place that maybe we could call home (too much hype?), [...]
Jun 22, 2011, 5:31pm
SGTMT
Tweet So here we go people 'Y'. I can feel the excitement trembling across the broadband cables. Phew. So with no further delay I give you the all conquering yvynyl to take the 'Y' spot in our trans solar system famous A to Z of Music Blogs. Origin - yvynyl (why vinyl) tumbles out of Philadelphia. It's been spinning vinyl since 2007. In blog years that's well into middle [...]
Todd The Surfer sounds like the name of a pretty fun guy, right?
Normally the sight of someone dressed as a werewolf, on the tube, insights feelings of anger and hatred...