thesixtyone

This thing -

www.thesixtyone.com

Basically a cross between a new music dump and an RPG. Earn points by being cooler than the other kids! Dig out tasty morsels and collect a new bronze sword! Maybe a crap description but I've been on here for a while and I've found a heap of bands I think are swell, plus the level advancement thing is strangely addictive. Gimmicky as it is it's been a bit of refreshment for me, I've found myself listening to a few genres I wouldn't normally if only to remind myself how bad they are.

You get points for various activities that you can then spend on "bumping" your favourite tracks so they become more visible for other users. The standard is pretty good, a lot better than a random myspace trawl but not quite as good as listening to Jazz FM so fragile hearts take heed. Either way it's better than sitting on your thumb like a broken wasp and deciding which way you'll vote on the Elton vs Billy poll.

If you are acynical enough to have a peak I've been quite taken with The Long Division, Owl City and The Ompan.

The new version of this site is mega - http://www.thesixtyone.com

So we have this guy to blame for Owl City?

grace weber - indie soul