Internet radio is booming, providing a way for listeners to enjoy just about any genre of music that strikes their fancy or matches their personal tastes. Internet radio would seem to be especially well suited for the high-tech beats associated with today's club and rave scenes.
Indeed, club (or dance) audio streams can be found in abundance on the Web. One of the best sites for sampling and enjoying this "trance-out" music in all its manifestations is Ombilikal.org, home of Ombilikal Radio. Ombilikal Radio broadcasts a steady stream of drum 'n' bass, jungle, electro (or electronica), breakbeat, hip hop, dub, ragga, roots, nujazz and downtempo music.
I'm familiar with some of these genres and subgenres, but others leave me scratching my head. As I definitely need to bring myself up to speed on what's trendy in the clubs these days, I can't think of a better way to do that than listening to Ombilikal.
The Ombilikal Web site has an appropriate industrial look to it. It also offers more than just streaming radio. There are forum areas, news and review sections, an events calendar and more--all of it oriented to club-type music.
One drawback to the Ombilikal Web site--at least for us English speakers--is the fact that its native language is French. Its creators have thoughtfully provided instant-translation buttons so non-French speakers can re-render its pages in English, Spanish, German or Italian. The results, though, are pretty rough. For example, here is the "English" version of an announcement of an upcoming event:
Indeed, has the invitation of the Festival Osheaga, Montreal Eclectique Groove takes possession of a scene external in full heart of the Park Jean Drapeau. Beginning of the afternoon until the tombee of the night, within a framework favourable with the relaxation - between lakes and success of greenery - this go from now on impossible to circumvent invites each one has a weekend rich in musical discoveries.
Oh, well, the main draw of Ombilikal is the audio stream, and for that you don't really need a translation--especially when you can sit or lie back and just let yourself trance out to the insistent electronic beat.
Stefan Smith is a radio and music junkie who writes on these and other subjects for the Solid Gold Info Writers Consortium. Recently, he has written an extensive review of new software that anyone can use to capture music audio streams from Internet radio broadcasts and break them up into individual mp3 song files--a legal way to download virtually free music. Read the review at: http://www.solid-gold.info/radio2mp3.html
80's dance music
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