10 Music Blogs to Keep Your iPod Stacked with Fresh Beats

07/25/08  Print This Post Print This Post    18 Comments   Popular   Written by Matt Huntington
  • Stumble It

Photo by Thomas Purves

With free mixtapes, remixes, and underground music all over the web, the global music scene is more vibrant than ever. Keep your iPod fresh with these downloads.

Just like video killed the radio, MP3 might have killed the LP. Granted that doesn’t hold true for a lot of purists out there, but you have to wonder when iTunes recently exceeded over 5 billion downloads sold.

Either way you cut it, the web has done a lot of good for music too. Freeing artists from their labels, popularizing others that might otherwise have gone unnoticed and providing yet another resource for music heads to find their next favorite tracks.

Photo by fernando

Here are a few resources you might like. Use these tools wisely.

1. Peel program:

With Peel, add your favorite music blogs to the interface and each day the program will go through and literally “peel” (get it?) all the mp3s from your blogs onto one easy-to-use menu.

You can browse the music, listen to the tracks, and download the ones you like straight into your Itunes library. You can’t Peel every blog.

And you will find yourself sifting through a ton of tracks if you add several blogs, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, is it?

2. The Fader:

The Fader has expanded its magazine publication to a super, all-inclusive site where these arbiters of good taste have a little something for everyone. Videos, free music, and mixtape downloads, good articles on your favorite artists or the ones you just discovered you like: you can find all of these on the Fader. Check it every day!

3. Fully Fitted:

Contributors xxxchange, Pase Rock, Mr. Devlin and Darko are dope, full time artists who blog this site in their spare time when they aren’t killing it all around the world.

One of my favorite tracks is xxxchange and Darko’s remix of Kenna’s “Out of Control”. Dig on through older posts to download other great music. Learn more here.

Photo by ming2046

4. Mad Decent:

Mad Decent is Diplo’s label and this site is a home base of sorts. Go here to download some of his latest remixes, as well as other soulful, international burners that serve as inspiration for some Mad Decent tracks and muse for us normal folk.

5. The Hype Machine:

This site aggregates pretty much every MP3 that is posted on the web. Sign up for an account, pick the artists and/or blogs you want to keep an eye on watch the tracks stream in. Find out what you like, then go buy it!

6. Stereogum:

A oldie but goodie, Sterogum has been around for a minute. Broad tastes from Cut Copy to Flying Lotus keep me tuning in to snag a track here and there.

7. Gorilla Vs. Bear:

From new Sigur Ros to a J Dilla cut I had never heard….throw this one your Peel.

8. RCRDLBL:

This site releases exclusive tracks from emerging and established artists in a clean way. By clean I mean you can find some great stuff for free and not feel dirty about downloading it. It’s a good site model.

9. Mojo:

Mojo is an Itunes sharing program where you can dig through other users’ libraries and download anything you want straight into your library.

10. Other blogs that I have on my Peel:

Fluxblog, Certified Banger, Disco Workout, Big Stereo, Foe Weel and on and on and on. Start with one, and you will find others that you like.

There you go. Off and peeling new music. Now, while you’re out there discovering new tunes, what blogs do you recommend?


  • Stumble It

About the Author

Matt Huntington

Matt Huntington is a man amongst boys. Not literally of course. That would be weird. Matt is positively reckless choosing to work to travel not vice versa and not afraid to try anything once (in excess). Find him in this world, give him a high-five-thumbs-up and I guarantee you will be greeted with love, a kick in the pants good time and fantastic dance moves

18 Comments... join the discussion!

Leave a Comment

Jump To Category:





Popular Stories on Matador

Diving Deeply Into the Joy Of Deliberate Living

Do you choose your life or does your life choose you? T... 

Top 10 International Ski Mountains to Hit in 2010

There's a lot of snow, and a lot of snow sports, in the... 

10 Words and Phrases We Never Want to See in Travel Writing Again

These words and phrases have been used too much in trav... 

109 Ways to Use Your Frequent Flyer Miles for Good: The Americas Edition

Part one of Matador's comprehensive guide to donating y... 

Five Life Lessons I Learned From Yoga

Little did I know when I sat down to my first yoga clas... 

Unplugged: Breaking Your Television Addiction

Chances are there's some life wasting going on behind y... 

Travel Escapism: Does Society Push People to 'Check Out'?

Every day, we are inundated with more news and technolo... 

10 Steps Hotels Can Take to Go Greener

Sheet and towel change just aren't enough. ... 

Destination Expert: South Africa

The time is right to introduce you to our expert on Sou... 

The Minority Perspective

I returned to America with a strong belief in the impor... 



Focus



Editor Blogs