Henning Von Vogelsang

There are a couple of independent music sites out there, and many of them feature noteworthy artists, who just didn't get signed yet, or don't want to sign up with a major label for some reason. It's a trend of democratizing music, and that is good, even though it makes it harder for the audience to find out what is out there. On the good side, you can listen into almost everything, and it's not preselected material, driven by marketing campaigns, exclusively promoting labels like Sony, BMG and Time Warner. One of the sites I came to heart lately is http://purevolume.com. These guys are the same who made http://virb.com happen, a runner up for the long expected replacement of Myspace. Neither one of those sites are identical or close to Myspace though. The much more advanced user experience alone speaks for itself. While I was working last night, I was casually surfing Purevolume, looking for new artists in the genres Alternative Rock, Punk and Electro-Punk. What I found is definitely worth listening to. http://www.purevolume.com/gobettygo Refreshing for a band from L.A. Freed from that typical soaking-sticky guitar sound most american bands suffer from. These songs are crisp and they rock. http://www.purevolume.com/butchwalker With the exception of the second track on this playlist, this is good stuff. It's like someone cloned Billy Idol's bleached hair, blended it with David Bowie (listen to "Hot Girls In Good Moods" from Butch Walker) and added a splash of Strokes to it. http://www.purevolume.com/9voltpenpal This guy is a sleeper. Prognosed breakthrough in the next couple of years. Seriously, he's on the verge of making it, with a sound as fresh as PJ Harvey's demos were before she got produced (different sound though). Entirely different than the examples above, but 9voltpenpal's music has a power of its own. Resources http://purevolume.com http://virb.com