Listener Comments

"[BlueBeat on iPhone] is fantastic! About time - thank you Blue Beat. Love it, Love it, Love it! "

- Mary M.

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- MaximeHg via Twitter

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- Jack H.

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- Scott

"Thanks, and you sure have an amazing site. I've spent time on Napster, Last.fm, Pandora, and others, and no one has the streaming selection that you have. "

- Scott H

"Is there a 12-Step program to help me create 'Crates' that are less than 6 hours????"

- Celestial1 (Old School BlueBeat Addict)

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- Darren C., UK

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- Lady Elaine, Monroe LA

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- Ralph, Lancashire, UK

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- John David Baldwin

"I love bluebeat! Thank you so much for the awesome range and mix of music you offer...."

- Mary Tripp, Berkley, MA

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- Dave, UK

"Just want to...thank BlueBeat.com for wonderful variety and accessibility at the click of a mouse. Besides being a musician and a music lover, I'm also a classroom music teacher and BlueBeat.com is an invaluable tool to expose the students to everything under the sun!"

- Brian C.

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- Damon, St.Vincent and the Grenadines

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- Ian Berry

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- Santa Cruz Sentinel

"The strength of your service is your fabulous hi-quality on-screen player with links to additional data about the bands and musicians - absolutely the best format for jazz/swing listeners"

- Canuckteach, Toronto, ON

"...very cool stations, great variety, great sound quality."

- tomdeblue, Chicago, IL

"What a great service you folks have put together. This is by far the most dynamic selection of music that I have found."

- peteolson3150, Cary, NC

"Hats off to your online radio station, this is the best online radio station I have ever heard. The music is crisp and clean, it's Free! and you have alot of different music to choose from, you can count on me as a supporter for your site. I still can't get over the quality of sound and music that is played, BlueBeat.com rocks!"

- Shydell, Atlanta, GA

News

Sure, the era of digital music means new life for classic albums that were originally released on vinyl. But new expanded editions of favorite albums provide a wealth of unheard gems that give us a peek into how the sausage is made. Unreleased songs, demo versions, and live recordings fill out these releases with obscurities sure to please fans. BlueBeat user subtledude has put together a playlist of the best cuts, Deluxe Editions. From Black Sabbath to Weezer, with Fleetwood Mac and Marvin Gaye in between, it's a dig into the dusty vaults of the record labels.

- Jeff Thornton

The standards are the songs that never grow old. Time after time new artists revisit these tunes and give new interpretations to classics. Two new playlists focus on some of the best-known songs by a couple of the greatest songwriters in popular music. Cole Porter has a new playlist that features versions of his tunes, and George Gershwin is heard in Gershwin Galore. Everyone from Tony Bennett
to The Four Tops sing Embraceable You, Summertime, and more.
Why, any one of these standards could fill its own playlist...oh wait, they already have: All Of Me, The Look of Love, and Over The Rainbow.

- Jeff Thornton

A new playlist on BlueBeat features traditional songs from folk singer Odetta and her album Sings Ballads And Blues. This album in particular is cited by Bob Dylan as an early inspiration, and features many songs that have been covered by other rock artists like Jorma Kaukonen and Creedence Clearwater Revival. Hear one of the records that sparked the folk revival of the 60s, in the playlist Odetta, from user thethirdman

- Jeff Thornton

The long-anticipated new album by Broken Bells is here! The duo is a collaboration between singer James Mercer of Indie Rock favorites The Shins and producer Danger Mouse (Gorillaz, Gnarls Barkley). One of the best albums of 2010 so far.
Gorillaz also have a new one, Plastic Beach. Damon Albarn (Blur, The Good, The Bad & The Queen) gathers together a new batch of guests including actor/rapper Mos Def and Soul music legend Bobby Womack for his trademark blend of Brit-Pop, Dance and Dub.
There's more Pop-Rock cross-pollination on an album from a few months back, The Spirit Of Apollo by N.A.S.A.. How many albums can boast appearances by both Tom Waits AND Ol' Dirty Bastard? Probably just this one.

- Jeff Thornton

There's an easy way to keep up with all the new albums released each week. BlueBeat Fresh is a quick shortcut to the new albums as we get them. There's a little of everything, from indie rockers The Magnetic Fields and Realism,
BlueBeat Fresh playlist
247 artists, 1332 songs
Transference by Spoon, and funky jam band Galactic (joined by an all-star line-up of rappers) with From The Corner To The Block. Also along for the ride, World superstar Khaled with Liberte, plus classic rocker David Bowie's A Reality Tour . We've whittled it down to the good stuff for your listening pleasure in BlueBeat Fresh.

- Jeff Thornton

In the late 90s, DJs and producers in search of the next hot drum sample discovered the world of rare funk 45s. Records that had been forgotten in dusty basements around the U.S. were rediscovered by intrepid DJ/collectors. Soon a new generation of musicians began recording music inspired by the rare funk grooves.
Deep Funk Revival playlist
17 artists, 431 songs
Ten years later, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings are at the forefront of the movement, with their devotion to old-school analog recording; Australia's The Bamboos rule that continent; and Quantic and El Michels Affair are taking the style in new directions. The new DJ playlist Deep Funk Revival has the complete collections from these artists and others.
Rare Soul & Funk Comps playlist
172 artists, 262 songs
Want to hear the original 45 rpm records? Check out Rare Soul & Funk Comps selected by greenbongo- he's dusted 'em off so you won't get yourself dirty!

- Jeff Thornton

The French group Nouvelle Vague takes their favorite songs of the New Wave era and performs them as cool, loungey Bossa Nova tracks. Boasting a line-up of like-minded artists (Anja Garbarek, Camille) as guest vocalists, the recipe makes for some unique flavor. They have also released some excellent compilations, selecting some of the artists and tunes that inform their sound, like Soundtrack greats Michel Legrand, Lalo Schifrin, and Ennio Morricone.
Nouvelle Vague playlist
20 artists, 333 songs
Now you can check out the group (and their friends) in the new self-explanatory DJ playlist Nouvelle Vague from Waxsmith. Ooh-la-la!

- Jeff Thornton

In the words of Wallpaper's Ricky Reed, "The Doodoo Face is about funk music, man. When something's hella funky, it just makes you do a Doodoo Face, man, like somethin' stank."

Ricky Reed is the alter-ego of SF Bay Area-based musician Eric Frederic. Along with his drummer Arjun Singh, Wallpaper has assembled one of the most compelling satires of modern popular music in countless years. His nuanced approach to incorporating 80's funk with modern urban electronic styles is quite impressive, leaving the listener gloriously incapable of staying off the dance floor. All of the great legends of dance music from the 70s-80s are represented and reinvented; P-Funk, Zapp & Roger, Michael Jackson, Bay Area Funk, Bay Area Rap.

I've found it crucial to view this record as an exceptionally deliberate parody of the widely inorganic and inauthentic pop music that's popular today. But instead of rejecting the style, both in terms of the writing and over-the-top production, Wallpaper has embraced it in a deeply ironic fashion. The excessive use of Auto-Tune, the lush and funky synthesizers, the self-aware egocentric lyrics and the heavy, danceable beats all add up to a single question. Is Ricky Reed insane, brilliant, or just plain silly? Check out Wallpaper on BlueBeat.com, or check out their official blog for more.

Tracks to pay attention to:
T Rex
I Got Soul, I'm So Wasted
DDD
DooDoo Face

- Eric Parson

Having trouble wading through the flood of new releases & additions? Not sure where to start? We've got your solution right here, in the DJ playlist BlueBeat Fresh. Listen in for a cream-of-the-crop selection of albums as they are added to the BlueBeat.com Catalog. You'll hear a grab bag of genres, from the songwriter (and American Idol) Brooke White, Indie Rock with Bitte Orca from The Dirty Projectors, and electro-hipster Amanda Blank's I Love You. Neo-Soul pioneer Maxwell is back
BlueBeat Fresh playlist
247 artists, 1332 songs
with the popular BLACKsummers'night, and French Electronica artist Krazy Baldhead has his first full-length release out, The B Suite. These titles and plenty more of the latest and greatest are in BlueBeat Fresh

- Jeff Thornton

Beatles fans around the world celebrated 9/09/09 as the groups classic albums were re-released in newly-remastered editions. This might not seem like big news, but the Beatles catalog had previously only been available in an inferior 1987 version. While in recent years even the most obscure groups have gotten reissued, these classic albums begged for an upgrade. The most exciting part is the CD release of the original mono mixes, as a limited-edition boxed set. These mixes were done with much care and input from the band, while the more familiar stereo mixes were often rushed to market. Listen to the new remasters here on BlueBeat in the new DJ playlist The Beatles: Old Masters Remastered. It's all there (including the rare Mono Box Set), plus the most current releases by the Fab Four like Let It Roll: Songs By George Harrison.

- Jeff Thornton