Miscellaneous - Obscure Sound

  by Fiona Hutchings

published: 6 / 10 / 2010

intro

Our Website of the Month is Obscure Sound, the website of music writer Mike Mineo which aims to provide music fans with the latest and greatest in often little heard music

Okay, this month we are going to play word association. I say black, you say white. I say bark, you say bite. You say shark I say, hey man Jaws was never my scene and I don't like Star Wars. I say blog you say...... what? Egotistical? Boring? Self-obsessed whining to the world or informative, individual and unafraid to be opinionated? My personal blog sadly falls into the former, I suspect. Obscure Sound http://obscuresound.com is a music blog written by Mike Mineo who, having written for other sites in the past, decided to start his own. Luckily for you he falls into the later category. Mineo's aim is to "provide music fans with the latest and greatest music. There is no schedule, but (he can) guarantee that updates will be very frequent." But, don't for one minute think this is just one man's frequent ramblings on whatever takes his fancy all confined to one page under lyrical titles which vary in their cleverness (Okay, that definitely is my blog). The site is structured to make it much easier for the casual visitor to find their way around. There are features on bands both signed and unsigned. The only criteria seems to be that Mineo finds them interesting and hopes you will too. There are reviews and links as well to MP3 downloads (of the legal variety). The rest is made up from the rag bag of other content "interviews, compilations, editorials, contests, and random tidbits." Not every band here is what I would count as obscure, Acadia Fire, the Divine Comedy and Gorillaz are all featured but this is nice because that little bit of familiarity encourages you to explore more. There is a forum for users to discuss the latest music meaning that interaction is not solely confined to the 'comment' option which can be a very unsatisfying way of conducting a discussion (but quite good for passive aggression about the person above you). In an age when anyone can express themselves however they choose not just via blogs but also social media as a whole, we have reached saturation point and often the more obscure voices are in real danger of getting drowned out by a tide of mass produced slurry. Variety is the spice of life, so check this site out and dip your toe in - the water's lovely.