Megaupload, SOPA and PIPA Picking up the Pieces

The recent news of file-sharing site Megaupload being forced to shut down its operations is stirring up quite a frenzy in the music blogging arena. Many blogs have closed down due to the fact that their entire music collection has been uploaded on Megaupload, and it would be an incredible undertaking to re-upload these files onto a different file-sharing site. Thankfully, most of my files were uploaded onto Mediafire, so I won't have nearly as much work to do in getting my blog back up to speed. With that being said, if any of you find any links that are no longer working, please let me know as soon as possible so I can get them uploaded to a new file-sharing site.

On the brighter side of things, thanks to the countless blogs and websites who went dark the other day in protest to the PIPA and SOPA laws, Congress has decided that they are not going to pass either of these laws based on their blatant censorship and attack on our basic human rights. This is a considerable victory for the internet and it couldn't have been possible without the support of artists, musicians, blog administrators, politicians and the like who rallied together to make a difference.

This post is dedicated to some of my fellow blogger friends who are still out there fighting the good fight against all odds while taking stock of the situation and reassessing the direction of their blogs. Today, I am here to give a brief overview of several blogs that feature a wide variety of interesting, new, rare and out of print music that runs the gamut from free jazz to psychedelic folk and from afro-beat to hip-hop.

Holy Warbles

Holy Warbles is one of the many blogs that was hit hard by the Megaupload shakedown, but this fantastic site features a plethora of music including psychedelic, free jazz, folk, rock and international. With a focus on newer compilations from Finders Keepers, Analog Africa, Sublime Frequencies and Now Again Records, this is one of the spots on the internet that I regularly check out!

Know Your Conjurer

This site is a regular stop for me when I am looking for the best in experimental, drone, psychedelic and rare classics from the archives. He also has an amazing radio show with music from all genres that is available for download or for live streaming. This is an excellent place to check out if you are looking for music that colors outside the lines.

Digging for Diamonds in Mountains of Mediocrity

This site mainly features a diverse assortment of rare and out of print records and tapes featuring everything from Christian rock to electro-funk; punk to modal jazz. I found an album on here that is easily the holy grail of psychedelic afro-beat-  Mystère-Jazz-de-Tombouctou. While I don't like everything that he posts on the blog,  there is plenty of music for the adventurous listener to sink their ears into here.

Oro

For those of you who have been collecting the latest releases from the amazing Analog Africa label, you will have plenty to tickle your eardrum when you visit this incredibly prolific site featuring artists like El Rego et Ses Commandoes, Orchestre Poly Rythmo and Los Volcans. One of those places that just keeps getting better as the days go by!

With that, I am going to sign out for now.

As time permits, I will be replacing old Megaupload links with Mediafire links over the next couple days.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

All Hallows Eve 2007

General Comments

MF DOOM: Spell his name with ALL CAPS