August 11, 2002

Exploring music: Allmusic.com

I’ve been looking for a good online music encyclopaedia for ages. An equivalent of IMDB.com, basically. Last weekend I finally found it in allmusic.com: I’ve been unable to stump it. I haven't found any band with a published album too obscure to be included. Not only is it it complete, and the capsule biogs are well-written, but it is cross-indexed to within an inch of its life. Every single record is crammed with metadata; a band might be classified as

• Genres Rock
• Styles American Underground, College Rock, Experimental Rock, Noise-Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock
• Tones Irreverent, Sleazy, Humorous, Outrageous, Freewheeling, Gleeful, Boisterous, Brash, Provocative, Rowdy, Aggressive, Silly, Druggy

These “soft” characteristics are used to power an “Artist Browser”, which is a semi-random way to discover new artists based on criteria like more Energizing, Exciting Denser, Thicker Harsher, more Aggressive Colder, Firmer Brighter, more Dynamic more Plain, Simple Darker, more Pessimistic more Sensual, Playful ...and so on.

On “hard” data it’s faultless, like

• Formed:
• Years Active:
• Group Members:
• Labels:
• Major Contributors to the Group:
• Similar Artists:
• Influences:
• Followers:
• Formal Connections:
• Performed Songs By:

and all band members, contributors and labels are likewise cross-linked.

The web at its best.

Via this site I also found MusicToday, which claims to be “The Source for Live Music” — a similarly complete database of artists, with current tour information, which is another thing I’ve been looking for. Unfortunately, it’s not complete enough to be very useful to me, at least not in the UK. It doesn’t know of any of the concerts I’m going to in the next month or two. Submissions seem to be voluntary; they should strike a deal with Time Out or NME.

So I’m still looking for a good gig guide for London. I’ve never been too impressed with Time Out’s (not nearly as good as offline), and it’d be nice to find one that showcases interesting new lower-profile acts. This personal effort, for example, is very good within a narrow range of bands. Any others?

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