If you have access to Last.fm, Pandora or Spotify, you may find all your new music needs there. But these services don’t include everything, and more importantly, they’re geo-restricted. So without further ado, here are 6 great ways to discover cool music you’ve never heard before, no matter where you are in the world.

Earbits Radio

Earbits is a fantastic website in which you can discover new music, listen to it, learn about new artists, chat and comment about them, and much more. To start, all you have to do is pick a station. Stations are based on genres, but there are loads of them to choose from. Whether you’re interested in experimental rock, funk jazz or street hop, you’re going to find it in Earbits.

If you can’t even decide on a genre, you can choose a shuffle station, or go for editor’s picks or listener’s picks stations. After you choose a station, the music will immediately start playing, featuring a huge image of the artist and a short bio and buy links on the bottom.

You can log in using Facebook to rate songs and comment (unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a way to so this without Facebook). You can also download the Chrome app, and get the Earbits iOS or Android apps. This is an awesome way to listen to new music you’ve never heard of before.

Musicovery

Musicovery is another great service which helps you discover new music. It’s not as eye-catching as Earbits, but it does the job well. To start, you can either enter a name of an artist you like, or choose your mood.

Musicovery will create a radio station for you, much like Last.fm or Pandora, which should feature songs that suit your taste and/or mood. You can listen to all the music you want this way. If you create a free account, you can ban songs from appearing in your playlists and mark songs as favorites. A paid account will get you some extra features.

Musicovery also comes as an iPhone app, and there are other goodies such as the widget and lab you’re going to want to check out.

Shuffler.fm

Shuffler.fm is a music discovery engine that is entirely based on music blogs. You can listen to music by genre, by popular tracks, or by blog. Simply choose your “channel”, and off you go.

If you choose to listen by genre, each song in the playlist will come from a different blog. The page will change accordingly, and you will get to view the actual blog post relating to the song you’re listening to.

You can create an account with the site, or log in using Facebook, to follow specific blogs and more. Shuffler.fm also comes as an iPad app.

YouLicense Mood Finder

YouLicense is actually a site aimed at letting people license music, but it also provides a pretty good way to discover some new music. The website includes a tool which lets you browse for new music by mood; there aren’t a lot of moods to choose from, but all the really important ones are includes.

When you choose a mood, a new window will open with a set playlist for that mood. In that aspect, there’s a limit to the amount of music you can discover with YouLicense, but it does contain songs by artists you’ve probably never heard of, and you can use it as a stepping stone to discovering even more great music.

If you create an account on the site, you can rate songs and create playlists as well. The website is not meant to be a music discovery tool per se, but it’s definitely useful as one.

From The Basement

We now move on to a different kind of websites: These websites don’t provide a lot of music to listen to, but do provide information and names of new artists you may want to listen to. And after all, that’s half the problem with finding new music.

The first one of these is From The Basement – a sort of podcast/live performances website created by Radiohead’s producer Nigel Godrich. The site features live shows shot by the website, which aim to create a relaxed atmosphere for the artist and produce the best performances possible.

There is a limited number of artists to choose from, some of which you’ve probably never heard of, and each contains 1 or more live performances, a picture gallery, and useful links. The videos are very well made – not something you would find on MTV, that’s for sure – and the minimalistic site is a joy to browse for any music lover.

Gnoosic

Gnoosic is a music discovery service that doesn’t include any actual music. You give it up to three names of artists you like, and Gnoosic starts giving you suggestions for more artists you may enjoy.

For each suggestion, you can choose whether you like it, don’t like it, or don’t know it, and the suggestions continue. For each suggestion you can also access a discussion board, and even cooler, see it on a music map.

The band you were looking at will appear in the middle, with other, similar bands floating all around it. You can use this to find music that is similar to music you already know you like. After finding some names that look interesting, you can use other services to find the actual music.

Looking for more online music sources? Check out:

• 10 Music Search Engines To Discover Cool Music, Musicians & Great Bands
• Top 10 Free Ways To Discover New Music Online
• The 4 Best Websites To Check Out New Music Releases First

Do you know of more cool ways to discover new music? Share in the comments!

Image credit: Shutterstock

Please share your thoughts and post your feedback in the comments. Album submissions, suggestions, and genre requests via email [tina at makeuseof dot com] are most welcome!

Arundel – Olive Caves

Genre: ambient, electronic, soundscapes, trip hop

From their Facebook page: “Arundel is the name encompassing many of the musical creations of Brisbane (Australia) resident Lucas Arundell. He plays the role of songwriter, composer, arranger and producer, creating a broad range of songs, grooves, soundscapes, remixes and instrumental pieces.”
Arundel is supported by the independent record label Paper Street Records. You can view the video for the title track A Deep Freeze here.

Olive Caves is a name your price download from Bandcamp. Donations to support the artist and his team are most appreciated.

Magic City – Little Bits EP

Genre: alternative, indie, dreampop, lo-fi, rock

Magic City is a lo-fi indie band from Chicago, Illinois. Their record label writes about the album: “Magic City is this kind of band as their music is a dreamy commentary about life, love, and the human condition. Releasing their E.P. Little Bits back in November, Magic City launched itself onto the Chicago music scene as butterflies dreaming of being people. This is not to say that their music is petty in any way as their E.P. is fantastic. The thing about Little Bits is that its sound and lyrics are draped in an ephemeral curtain of dreamscapes and distortions.
But behind these dreamscapes and distortions Lauren Whitacre meows about how hard it is sometimes to be a person. Her vocals are in a similar way to PJ Harvey’s but her lyrical messages are far more draped in blue than Harvey’s could ever be.”

Little Bits EP is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

Spiral – The Traveler

Genre: progressive, rock, ambient, psychadelic rock, art rock

From the album page: “This is part 2 of a planned trilogy of records telling the story of Rip and his daughter Anomoly. To listen to part 1 “The Capital in Ruins” please follow this link: thespiral.bandcamp.com/album/the-capital-in-ruins And look forward to part 3, which is in the works.”
Spiral was previously featured on Sound Sunday with their albums Citizen, The Capital in Ruins, Machine, and Your Kindness Let a Monster In.

The Traveler is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

Galway – Mria

Genre: indie, pop, chillwave, dreamgaze, dreampop

Galway are four young guys from Moscow, Russia. Mria contains some re-recordings of earlier material, embedded in a selection of new songs, which they recorded over the past couple of months. It is an album of indie pop melodies muffled in atmospheric sounds. Catchy guitar solos and energizing drums occasionally break through the soundscape, such as in my favorite song of the album Each Of Us Loves Space Tears.

Mria is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

Glass Kites – Selftitled

Genre: alternative, progressive, ambient, experimental, dreampop, rock

From their Facebook page: “Wowing audiences with emotive progressions, hypnotic grooves, lush walls of sound, joyful lyricism, and unique progressive composition Glass Kites caters to the music fan yearning to be impacted and enveloped.”
The record was recorded at Vancouver’s Warehouse Studio.

The selftitled album Glass Kites is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

Something Fiction – Botany

Genre: alternative, electronic, experimental, progressive, psychedelic

From their Last.fm page: “Something Fiction is an experimental music project formed by vocalist/instrumentalist/producer Matt Humble, guitarist Raul Rodriguez, and percussionist Nick Greder of San Antonio, Texas. The music combines electronic synth sounds with ethnic and acoustic instruments supported by a vibrato driven vocal performance.”

Botany is a free download from Bandcamp.

Mindthings – Resonance

Genre: ambient, electronic, chillout, chillwave, dreampop

Mindthings is the music project of Clément Peres, an event producer, illustrator, and music composer from Bordeaux, France. Resonance is his sixth album.

Resonance is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

Giraffage – Comfort

Genre: indie, ambient, electronic, dreampop, hip hop

From Giraffage’s Last.fm page: “Giraffage is the creation of 21-year old multi-instrumentalist/producer Charlie Yin of San Francisco, California. The general sound of Giraffage is described as a weaver of refreshingly crisp electro dream pop tunes that thread their way through loose-knit grooves and tightly-toothed rhythms. Gaining inspiration from things as diverse as dreams or the weather, Giraffage evokes a woozy yet familiar mood that is sure to stimulate your eardrums and leave you feeling a sense of nostalgia and melancholy.”

Comfort is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

Kleptonaut – The Golden Age Of Space Travel

Genre: ambient, electronic, downtempo

From the album page: “All music is built on the shoulders of the road traveled by giants and gnats. This music sometimes follows that road and tries to get some speed, and when it’s lucky, and you happen to be on board, it just might lift off and surprise you.
These 10 tracks were all made in the last year. Moogfest 2010 was a major recent inspiration. Michelle is a perpetual inspiration. This album was mostly for her as she has been my main audience of 1.
The album is free for the taking to any ears willing to lend themselves.
Any single person paying for the album, before or after downloading it, will encourage me greatly to make more music.”

The Golden Age Of Space Travel is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

Symphony of Science – Symphony of Science Bundle v1?.?3

Genre: electronic, remix, symphony

From the project’s homepage: “The Symphony of Science is a musical project of John D Boswell, designed to deliver scientific knowledge and philosophy in musical form. The project owes its existence in large measure to the classic PBS Series Cosmos, by Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan, and Steve Soter, as well as all the other featured figures and visuals. Continuation of the videos relies on generous support from fans and followers.”

Symphony of Science Bundle v1?.?3 is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

New to Sound Sunday? Past editions of Sound Sunday are available here.

Feel free to get in touch with me [tina at makeuseof dot com] to share free material, suggestions, and feedback or simply add your comments below.

Please share your thoughts and post your feedback in the comments. Album submissions, suggestions, and genre requests via email [tina at makeuseof dot com] are most welcome!

It’s All Happening – Home Sweet Home

Genre: pop, punk, rock

Four great dudes from the Midwest playing pop punk. It’s All Happening is presently touring somewhere in the US. Details can be caught on their Twitter.

Home Sweet Home is a free download from Bandcamp.

Biblical – Selftitled

Genre: heavy, rock, proto-metal

From their homepage: “Formed in the spring of 2010, BIBLICAL is the sound of mountains splitting and oceans parting. Uniting members of The Illuminati, The Bicycles and The Old Soul, BIBLICAL is a ferocious beast of a band that deftly reconciles Motorohead swagger with Bad Seeds dread. Their debut self-titled EP offers a thoroughly satisfying listen that will enthrall and delight any fan of guitar-based rock music with a filthy tone that moves between tense, fast paced burners and sludgey organ-drenched breakdowns.”

Biblical is a free download from Bandcamp.

Tyler Lyle – Notes From The Parade

Genre: folk, rock

From his homepage: “In a very honest and challenging presentation, Lyle fights his ghosts in the open- on stage- revealing his doubts and shortcomings, disarming the listener and preparing them a place in the caravan into the dark. “It’s a hallowed scene, but we don’t know what it means” says Lyle in “Pinewood Chests.” In another song he sings “go deep down brother, feel it all/ cause there’s peace at the bottom, if there’s peace at all.” This is what separates Lyle from his peers- he wants to take us on a journey- he says “I’m not happy unless there has been some sort of transformation between point A and point B. By the end of the song, I want the listener to be in a different place altogether than where she first entered.””

Notes From The Parade is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

Brian Bergeron – Hourglass EP

Genre: acoustic, rock, folk, indie, pop

From his homepage: “Brian Bergeron is a folk-rock acoustic singer-songwriter currently residing in the Bay Area. His music is a blend of folk-rock and alt-country drawing on influences from many critical darlings and established commercial performers including: Tom Petty, Ryan Adams, Josh Ritter, Van Morrison, and The Rolling Stones. Brian performed over 125 shows in 2011 and released his newest EP, Hourglass, this past December.”

Hourglass EP is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

Adios Nine – Sleepers And Dreamers EP

Genre: pop, avant garde

From the album page: “The songs in Sleepers And Dreamers are singing about sleeping in dreams, dreaming about sleeping, and the stories that revolves around it. From the moment you wake up, the way you mourn, the blessings of mournings, to the desire to travel with someone you love. It’s about the dreams that moves us and the sleep that helps us, it’s about the things we do to stay alive. We can’t live forever, but we believe the balance of both sleeping and dreaming can lead each and everyone of us to a better life.”

Sleepers And Dreamers EP is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

A Quiet End – Past Fragments

Genre: alternative, indie, instrumental, art, rock, post rock, ambient, minimalism

From the album page: “The Past Fragments EP is a collection of semi-improvised minimal piano works. Tiny pieces that were conceived around loose melodic ideas or vague notions of ‘character’ and then captured immediately as they were written with little attention paid to production or perfection, in some cases fully extemporized as they were laid down. Recorded over the course of a few days, they imbibed the essence of the moments they emerged from, and are presented here – lo-fi and sparkling – with all of their inherent fragility, ephemera and imperfections intact.”

Past Fragments is a free download from Bandcamp.

Natalie Imani – Passion Mark

Genre: pop, rhythm and blues, hip hop

From her homepage: “Natalie Imani says, “Music is the mark of my passion.” And when Natalie Imani hits the stage, all hearts listen!! (…) When she performs, her passion exudes from the stage. It’s no wonder her debut EP is entitled “Passion Mark”. Her musical style can be described as eclectic R&B as it covers a wide array of artistic expression and emotion. (…) Natalie’s conquest has landed her a myriad of gigs, tours, national contests and television air time. She has had the opportunity to work with some of the most prominent recording artists in the industry such as John Legend (Columbia), Shaggy, Ne-yo (Universal Def Jam), Jennifer Hudson (J records), Jazmine Sullivan (J records), Keri Hilson (Universal), and Nicki Minaj (Universal). (…) Although her life of experience says a great deal about her talent, Natalie Imani knows that this is just the beginning for her. Check out her debut EP entitled, “Passion Mark” for a taste of the sweetest voice. With her beautiful sophisticated style and her strong but sweet voice (…)”

Passion Mark is a free download from Bandcamp.

PUT THE RIFLE DOWN – New Dance

Genre: indie, pop, big beat, dance, electro, new wave

From their Bandcamp page: “Put The Rifle Down is an electronic dance band from Toronto, Canada. Since 2004, they have released three albums, played festivals like Pop Montreal, NXNE, SXSW, and CMW, alongside Crystal Castles, Kidstreet, POWERS, New Young Pony Club, and The Teenagers.”

New Dance is a free download from Bandcamp.

Various Artists – MIND EXTRACTION

Genre: break, beats, electronica, instrumental, hip hop

Mind Extraction is a mix tape of the Japanese DJs Henji Katafuta and Shinshock.

MIND EXTRACTION is a free download from Bandcamp.

Invisibles – The Law Of Mutual Exchange

Genre: alterantive, ambient, dance, pop

From their Facebook page: “Invisibles is an international collective conceived by JP Reid of Sucioperro and Marmaduke Duke. It is based on the idea that everyone is an artist and that there is magic to be found in the everyday. JP Reid has had previous commercial success as co-performer, co-writer and producer with Marmaduke Duke on the album Duke Pandemonium and the single Rubber Lover (14th Floor Records), both of which achieved a top 20 position in the UK singles and album charts. Sucioperro are currently signed to leading independent label Xtra Mile.”

The Law Of Mutual Exchange is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

New to Sound Sunday? Past editions of Sound Sunday are available here.

Feel free to get in touch with me [tina at makeuseof dot com] to share free material, suggestions, and feedback or simply add your comments below.

That competition is fierce, with Deezer, We7, Rdio (North America), and the legal-but-not-licensed Grooveshark all present in this sector. Spotify is trying to prove itself the ubiquitous service that everyone needs compared to the also-rans people merely want. One of the ways it hopes to achieve this is with apps built around its platform. Which includes the fantastic, new and improved, Spotify Radio.

Spotify Apps

Spotify recently added apps to its heady mix of streaming music on multiple devices for an affordable price. I’m a big fan of this evolution of the service, and have already recommended five of the most addictive currently available. At the time of writing there are just 15 apps ready to install, but more are promised over the coming months.

One of those that didn’t get a mention in my previous write-up was Spotify Radio, partly because it was already present on the service, and partly because it’s so good I felt it deserved exploring in greater depth.

The new The Echo Nest-powered Spotify radio is a vast improvement on the old Spotify Radio. So much so that I feel the current Internet radio choice of the masses, Pandora, may be finished.

Spotify Radio

Spotify Radio is, by default, already added to the sidebar along with Top Lists. Both of which were in-built Spotify features before the addition of apps was even considered. But while Top Lists remains the same (barring an extra option to list top tracks and top albums by location) Spotify Radio has evolved.

It used to be a rather lame option which would play music according to the genres and decades (like the awful 80s) you’d selected. It barely worked, and didn’t have a high hit-rate for playing music you’d actually want to hear based on your previous selections.

Now, however, things are different. Open up the Spotify Radio app and you’re faced with a very simple-yet-elegant user interface. It has the current radio station you’re listening to at the top, recent radio stations underneath, and for those without the inspiration to choose their own, popular artists and popular genre radio stations listed at the bottom.

Clicking on any of these will instantly start a new radio station playing. There is also the option to ‘Create New Station‘, with a dropdown search bar giving you instant search results for both artists and individual tracks based on a Google-style autocomplete feature.

By Artist, Track, Or Genre

By Artist

This is a radio station based on the artist, in this case Metronomy. As Metronomy are an alternative indie band with a very unique sound this will throw up an eclectic mix of artists and songs. And some unknown hidden gems, no doubt.

By Track

This is a radio station based on an individual track, in this case Creep by Radiohead. As Radiohead are a British band, other bands from the U.K. will flourish, mostly with songs that are the antipathy of pop. Just as Creep is.

By Genre

This is a radio station based on a genre, in this case Alternative. Radio stations based on a genre are the most likely to throw up unexpected tracks. Musical genres are vast, and so the list of songs Spotify Radio can choose to play you is vast as well.

Music Discovery

As usual with Spotify, the Radio app is just the beginning of your musical journey. At some point you’ll hear a track you love but don’t know anything about. Which is when you need to delve back into Spotify and work some magic. Open Spotify Radio and you’ll be able to discover not only the artist responsible for that track but a lot more besides.

If you move your cursor across the playlist, you can highlight the currently-playing or one of the previously-played tracks. Click on it and you’ll be taken to that track in context within the album it comes from.

In this case by clicking on Norgaard by The Vaccines, I have discovered What Did You Expect From The Vaccines? You can then add the individual song or the full album to a playlist, star it for future reference, or even share it via a social network or two.

You can also explore more albums by the artist, or by clicking on the artist’s name, find out more about them and even see ‘Related Artists‘. One random song played in Spotify Radio has just opened up a whole new realm of music discovery. Not something that’s possible with the one-way, non-interactive dinosaur that is broadcast radio.

Conclusions

Spotify Radio can be used in many different ways:-

As a radio station creator, as the name suggests: Make a selection, press ‘Play‘, and you’ll have music blasting until you press ‘Stop‘.

As a tool for discovering new music: You love a particular band but have listened to them to death, then Spotify Radio will help you find artists of a similar style or mood.

As a means of discovering what’s popular: Keeping tabs on the ‘Popular‘ stations as shown in the screenshot above.

Have you used the new, improved Spotify Radio yet? If so, what do you think of it? Are there any features you’d like to see added, or anything Spotify could be doing better on this score or any others? Barring the permanent removal of all adverts, of course.

Before you dive into this edition, download the free song I Don’t Know What To Do from Pete Yorn and Scarlett Johansson.

Please share your thoughts and post your feedback in the comments. Album submissions, suggestions, and genre requests via email [tina at makeuseof dot com] are most welcome!

The Slakadeliqs – The Other Side of Tomorrow

Genre: alternative, experimental, pop, new wave, funk, soul

From the album page: “The Other Side of Tomorrow by Slakah the Beatchild’s alter ego The Slakadeliqs is the result of four years writing, experimenting and exploring different groups of musical influences than most would expect. If you like it… Share the Good Vibrations. ”

The Other Side of Tomorrow is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

The Weeknd – Echoes Of Silence

Genre: rhythm and blues, soul

The two man band project from Toronto, Canada signed a deal with Drake’s label Young Money earlier last year. Echoes Of Silence is their third album since the debut release House Of Balloons, which was featured in a previous edition of Sound Sunday.

Echoes Of Silence is a free download from SoundCloud.

Rain Over Battle – These Rocks In Our Bodies

Genre: indie, punk, emo, post-rock

From their Bandcamp page: “We are just four kids who grew up together and love playing rock and roll. No gimmicks or explanations. We want to play your basements, your garages, your hometowns, your granny’s attic, whatever.” Don’t let the intro song to the album stir you away, this band rocks punk!

These Rocks In Our Bodies is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

Lit on the Flash – Revolution Time

Genre: alternative, blues, folk, psychedelic, rock and roll

Lit On The Flash is the York, Maine based rock and roll band of Jake Roche, Kerry Ryan, and Matter Reignkin. Revolution Time is their 2011 debut album.

Revolution Time is a free download from Bandcamp.

Stone Throats – Darkest Days

Genre: hardcore, metal, doom, thrash

According to their Facebook page, they are loud, abrasive and discontent. What else would you expect from a metal band? The five guys from Indianapolis, Indiana deliver nothing less.

Darkest Days is a free download from Bandcamp.

Sacub & Co. – Opus 1

Genre: electronic, jazz, psychedelic

Opus 1 is a collaboration album that came together between April and August 2011. For artist links, please see commentary on the Jamendo album page.

Opus 1 is a free download from Jamendo.

Revolution Void – Thread Soul

Genre: instrumental, electronic, breakbeat, jazz

Revolution Void is the solo project of Seattle, Washington based producer and jazz pianist Jonah Dempcy. His 2006 album Thread Soul features guest performances by Lucas Pickford and Cochemea Gastelum.

Thread Soul is a free download from Jamendo.

Radioactive Sandwich – A World of Delights

Genre: electronic, dub, downtempo, chillout

From their SoundCloud page: “Radioactive Sandwich is proud to announce the release of their 5th album ‘A World of Delights’. The album is 10 tracks of driving electronic music that is sure to be enjoyed both in the club as well as in the comfort of your own home. Radioactive Sandwich has created a striking combination of organic sounds, world influences, and electronic trickery to create a modern soundscape of music. Their strong musical backgrounds, wide range of musical influences, and genre-busting composition style helped shape “A World of Delights” into a truly unique album.”

A World of Delights is a free download from SoundCloud.

Sublamp – In Our Hiding Voice

Genre: ambient, experimental, minimal

From the album page: “In Our Hiding Voice is centered around the kind of listening you might engage in whilst hiding from something or someone, perhaps hiding in empty buildings, underground tunnels or dark rooms in abandoned houses… The initial intention was to create an album based around warm and fuzzy guitar tones but it was after Connor had watched Tarkovsky’s ‘Stalker’, that he began to explore darker and scratchier territory. Connor kept returning to his imagined visuals of children playing hide and seek in a decayed world like that of ‘Stalker’ and it is through this inspiration that the murky textured drones on offer throughout this album were constructed.”

In Our Hiding Voice is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

DavesOn – BROKEN CURSES for the STREETS VOL. I

Genre: pop, gospel, r&b, soul, hip hop

From the album page: “This mixtape by DavesOn gives you the hype beats of the industry with even hyper lyrics and uplifting melodies
Purposefully pushing the Gospel R&B/Hip Hop envelope,
DavesOn is set on breaking the curses that are being fed to the youth of today, Not sparing any vulnerabilities or compromising the message of Jesus Christ, you can sense the passion and heart of his intent.”

BROKEN CURSES for the STREETS VOL. I is a free download from Bandcamp.

New to Sound Sunday? Past editions of Sound Sunday are available here.

Feel free to get in touch with me [tina at makeuseof dot com] to share free material, suggestions, and feedback or simply add your comments below.

Android has a lot of apps available when it comes to music playback and management, but I’m only going to take a look at those that meet the following criteria:

• Local Music Management – there are some great apps for streaming music onto your Android, like Audiogalaxy and Google Music. The apps in this list are for managing your music locally – that is, playing music files that are on the Android itself. No streaming.
• Free, As In Beer – all of the apps in this list can be had for free. Some of them may have paid versions, but as long as the free version is unlimited and functional, it’s valid.
• Available In The Android Market – some apps are only available as website downloads, while other apps are only available on third-party app markets, like the Amazon App Store. I’m only choosing apps that can be downloaded from the official Android Market.
• Available For Android 2.2 Froyo+ – All of these apps can be run on Froyo or higher.

Songbird

Initially released in 2006, Songbird started as a music-player-and-web-browser 2-in-1 desktop program, built off of the Mozilla framework. The project is entirely free and open source.

Songbird has a very clean interface, relying on a deep shade of purple for its iconic color palette. The simple and minimalistic design makes it easy to navigate through your library. It can group your music by songs, artists, albums, and even genre – a feature that some music players are somehow still missing.

Songbird has a “now playing” drawer, which allows you to pull up or pull down the “now playing” screen. This is a nice touch that I haven’t seen in many music apps, and it improves the music browsing experience.

Winamp

Initially released in 1997, Winamp has been around for a long time. While Winamp can be used on the Android for free, some of the more advanced features are locked until you purchase the Winamp Pro Bundle, which will cost you $2.99.

Still, even with the unpaid limitations, Winamp is one of the go-to music players for the Android. In many ways, Winamp is like Songbird: it has a clean (although boring) interface, it can group your music by genre, and it has a “now playing” drawer. Winamp can also tune into Internet radio stations through Shoutcast, though that will require a Wi-Fi connection or a large data plan.

One downside to Winamp is that it appears to drain my battery faster than other music players. Plus, there’s the whole proprietary vs. open source software debate, which may push some Android users away from this app.

MixZing

MixZing Media Player has recently grown to be one of the best known music players for the Android. It does everything you would expect from a music player, and it has a few extra features on top.

One of its best known features is that it can retrieve information regarding the currently playing song at the tap of a single button. The app will gather data including the artist’s biography, the song’s lyrics, and a list of YouTube videos for that song. Other great features include a graphical equalizer, sleep timer, and a boatload of settings to customize.

Unfortunately, the MixZing interface could use a little work. It isn’t hard on the eyes, but it’s certainly not pretty. Also, the app displays banner-type ads every once in a while. Upgrading will get rid of the ads, but it’ll cost you $4.99. For some, this may be a dealbreaker.

doubleTwist

doubleTwist Player was featured as the #1 App in Newsweek’s Top Android Apps for 2011, so there’s a lot going for this music player. Upon opening doubleTwist, the user is presented with a sleek and beautiful yet not-so-overly-designed interface. The aesthetics are extremely polished and all of the basic features are there.

The drawback is that the advanced features must be bought. AirSync allows you to sync automatically with your Mac or PC, while AirTwist and AirPlay allow you to stream to an Xbox, PS3, or AppleTV. These bonus features will cost you an extra $4.99 at least.

doubleTwist is great, but without AirSync, AirTwist, and AirPlay, it feels like nothing more than the skeleton of a potentially great music player. A very sleek and beautiful skeleton.

Cubed

Cubed, or ³, is definitely one of the more interesting and unique music players out there for Android. The app is not exactly rich in features, but it makes up for it by being really pretty and full of eye candy. One thing that Cubed has going for it is its careful use of screen estate. It is very minimalistic and doesn’t burden the user with lots of different pages, screens, tabs, etc. The graphics and screen movements are very smooth and polished, even impressive to a degree.

However, for traditionalists, Cubed may not be your cup of tea. As a traditionalist myself, the novelty of the eye candy wore off quickly and I found it somewhat annoying trying to navigate my music. Plus, the flashy graphics added unnecessary delays that detracted from my experience. In the end, Cubed is a refreshingly new music player that many enjoy. It’s just not for me.

Do you use a free Android music player that wasn’t on this list? Share your experience with us in the comments!

Image Credit: Shutterstock

LyricPlay

LyricPlay is a fancy way of displaying lyrics for known songs. The app will scan your library upon first launch, and attempt to match them to lyrics on their server. For those it does find, you’ll be able to activate a landscape mode for karaoke, whereby lyrics will be displayed using various fancy 3D graphics, timed to sync with the music. Here are some screenshots of it in action – bonus points if you can name the songs in the comments (no Googling!)

It’s important to know that this function will NOT work with your ID3 lyric data – the lyrics you have copy-pasted in from various sources will not show. Instead, it uses proprietary lyric and timing information from their own servers, so even if your MP3 has the lyrics attached, the LyricPlay feature will not work with that. There is however a regular “lyric sheet” option that just displays a static page of ID3-embedded lyrics – just not fancy flying graphics and what have you.

For the most part, LyricPlay works well – though I was thoroughly disappointed to find that from my ultimate karaoke album – Bat Of Out Hell II, Meat Loaf – only one song was found to have matching lyrics. If you just want to sing, there’s an option to only show songs with lyric data found – or you can just use the app to play everything regardless of whether it has lyrics or not.

While it was fun for a while, I have to ask myself how many people regularly sing to their phone? Now don’t get me wrong – I have been known to sing to my iMac on numerous occasions – but that has far better sound to drown out my own singing.

Social Features

Should you feel the need, you can tweet or post a status update of what you’re listening to. I think I speak for everyone when I say that this is possibly the most useful feature a music app could ever have (/sarcasm).

YouTube & Tour Dates

From the player view you can jump straight to a YouTube video search of that song, and play them in-app without the usual task switching, which is nice. Finally, there’s the tour dates button which will search for tours of that particular artist or suggest some other similar ones close to you. I feel it’s important at this point to let you know that Meat Loaf is apparently no longer touring, and that makes me very sad.

Buggy?

The first time I used the app it had serious performance issues and eventually just froze – that’s on an iPhone 4, though a restart seemed to fix that. It also doesn’t appear to play nicely with iTunes Match – while clicking on one of the songs and waiting 5 seconds for playback to start as it streamed from the cloud, the app froze – but upon relaunch, the song had vanished. I’m hoping they can fix that.

Playlists

One unique feature is the ability to make good and bad playlists. The good playlist is basically the same as the on the go feature that iPods have (used to have?), while the bad playlist will prevent tracks from playing in shuffle mode. To add tracks to either, just hold your finger on them for a second or two from the player, then choose which to send them to.

To be honest, I don’t really see the use of a playlist for bad songs. Presumably if they’re that bad, you wouldn’t have them on your phone in the first place.

Is It Worth It?

It’s free, and when a song has LyricPlay it is kind of cool. Bugs and performance aside though, I just don’t think the additional “features” are compelling enough to justify me switching from the familiar iPod app. It’s not bad, per se, but it would be nice if the flying lyrics thing worked with existing lyrics, and frankly I can’t forgive them for only having one Meat Loaf song in their library.

What do you think? Love it? Or do you think it’s useless? Let us know in the comments – or perhaps you know of a better alternative?

Please share your thoughts and post your feedback in the comments. Album submissions, suggestions, and genre requests via email [tina at makeuseof dot com] are most welcome!

Various Artists – Brassland Sampler for 2011

Genre: alternative, indie, rock, classical, postclassical, sampler

From Brassland’s homepage: “Brassland is an artist-operated label started in 2001 by writer Alec Hanley Bemis (LA Weekly, the New York Times, LA Times, the New Yorker, etc.) and twin brothers/musicians Aaron Dessner (The National) and Bryce Dessner (Clogs; The National). We encourage collaboration and creation among an evolving assortment of creative folks. Music is our current focus. We like music that transcends genre. At the same time we try not to make transcending genre a cliche by applying labels to what we do: funk-metal, progressive punk, Afro-Cuban jazz, underground hip-hop, intelligent dance music, whateva! We like musicians who play well and possess the elusive tonic of personality. Most of all we just like music.”

Brassland Sampler for 2011 is a free download from Bandcamp.

Pearse McGloughlin – Busy Whisper

Genre: alternative, pop, irish, folk

From his homepage: “The musicians that impress me operate at borders . . . cross them when they need to, stop short of them if they need to. It’s sometimes a difficult terrain to navigate. To date, Walkperson has served as the nom de guerre for my songs and the musicians who have played with me. I first played with a group called ‘Socialite’ in my hometown of Sligo. That was immense fun and I have very fond memories of it. Subsequently, I spent time in France and Montreal, learned French, got hooked on songwriting and recorded a short EP in cold Québec city. My next group was ‘Thy Swan Army’ in Galway. I took a lot from this band, recorded songs and played some really good gigs. People liked us. The group splintered eventually and members went to work on separate projects (Ghostwood Project, John Terrors). I next lived in London, played with more musicians and gigged the indie scene as Walkperson. Most of the songs I wrote during this period I’ve let go but there are several I’ve held on to, of which I’m still proud. Since coming back to Ireland I’ve recorded and released ‘Desired Effect EP’ with Andrew Deacon, Ales Bagart and James Yearn.”

Busy Whisper is a free download from Bandcamp.

Palmer and Grub Street Writer – On the Road to Crazy

Genre: alternative, folk, rock

Andy Palmer is the lead singer of Grub Street Writer, his band with Dan Kern. Dave Solzberg, and Carl Sorenson. From their Facebook page: “Grub Street Writer visits all sides of the human spirit, but maintains a positivism that keeps it from jumping off the cliff. It’s gritty and percussive, in turns rolling, thumping, bluesing, jamming. They lived. Perhaps a little too long — definitely a little too much.”

On the Road to Crazy is a free download from Bandcamp.

Jake Roche – Last Beams of the Old Setting Moon

Genre: acoustic, blues, folk, harmonica, psychedelic

When not recording solo albums, Jake Roche is singer and guitarist for the rock and roll band Lit On The Flash. From the album page: “Recorded as part of the RPM Challenge. The Challenge was to write and record an album in the month of February. Recorded with one microphone, in a living room overlooking Great Bay in Durham, NH.” The album was released on March 1st, 2011.

Last Beams of the Old Setting Moon is a free download from Bandcamp.

The Sparrowells – Acoustic Songs

Genre: experimental, acoustic, indie

The Sparrowells is a music project of Tristan Bohling. One his Facebook page he writes that he is a musician, artist, composer, writer, and a person. The vocals for the acoustic EP were provided by Morgan Topper.

Acoustic Songs is a free download from Bandcamp.

Fish Tank – Henry

Genre: alternative, indie, pop, rock

The three piece band from Kent, UK has a very brief bio: “Met at university, decided being in a band would be a lucrative and stable career choice…”

Henry is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

Giraffage – Comfort

Genre: electronic, ambient, chill, dreampop

Giraffage is the music project of Charlie Yin from San Francisco.

Comfort is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

Jonti – Sine & Moon

Genre: electronic, remix, pop

From the album page: “Last summer, while prepping his debut album Twirligig, Jonti put together the “Sine & Moon Mix” for the Stones Throw Podcast, a collection of earlier songs he’d recorded on 4-track. In the months since the mixtape, he’s been hit up with requests for the individual tracks, and so Sine & Moon (The Album) came about.”

“People liked the songs on the Sine And Moon podcast, so I wanted to get them out for free. So I turned it into an album with extra’s, new mixes and original Jeff Jank Artwork. I really love these songs and I hope you enjoy!” – Jonti

Sine & Moon is a free download from the Stones Throw Records Homepage.

Agent Whiskers – Stage 2: The Path Untaken

Genre: ambient, electronic, experimental, classical, pop

From the album page: “Agent Whiskers levels up! Stage 2: The Path Untaken is Agent Whiskers’ sophomore album, a sprawling electronic experience featuring 7 tracks that take you on a journey from the album’s mysterious and eerie beginning to its vengeful end. Stage 2 is an adventure that unravels with every track, offering a cohesive structure while setting an atmosphere and tone that lasts throughout the album.”

Stage 2: The Path Untaken is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

Notebook Noise – Debonair Gear: Wit Instrumental

Genre: alternative, electronic, instrumental, hip hop

From their Facebook page: “The Notebook Noise core members: Johnasaurus Rex aka John Gray; and Thaddeus James aka Jeff Mroz got down to it on the Debonair Wit EP. Production was hands-on and as fast as lightening with John seeming to be in some other world to bring the songs to life. The basic idea would be thought of for about a minute, and then within a half hour the songs would be living, breathing, soul-seeking monsters; complete with bass-lines and synth breaks. It seemed that there was left over energy from ‘Snares’ still hovering in that smoky basement studio.”

Debonair Gear: Wit Instrumental is a free download from Bandcamp.

Tia London – Love Junkie

Genre: hip hop, soul

Tia London is a hip hop artist from Chicago via Los Angeles. Her debut album Love Junkie was produced by The Legendary Traxster.

Love Junkie is a free download from Traxster Inc.

New to Sound Sunday? Past editions of Sound Sunday are available here.

Feel free to get in touch with me [tina at makeuseof dot com] to share free material, suggestions, and feedback or simply add your comments below.

Please share your thoughts and post your feedback in the comments. Album submissions, suggestions, and genre requests via email [tina at makeuseof dot com] are most welcome!

Jessie Frye – Fireworks Child

Genre: indie, pop, rock

From her Facebook profile: “Jessie Frye is 22 years old and based in Denton, TX. She started taking classical piano lessons at age 12, and always felt that music was not something you do, but something you are. She formed her band in early 2009 after receiving an invite to play an official showcase at the SXSW music festival in Austin, TX. “When I got the invitation, it was based off the CD (The Delve) itself, because I didn’t have a band and I didn’t have any press. I was like, holy shit, I better get a band together, you know?” Since then, Jessie and her band have showcased in 2010 as well as 2011.”

Fireworks Child is a free download from Bandcamp.

USONIA – Selftitled

Genre: alternative, indie, pop, rock

USONIA is a three man indie-pendent rock band from Minneapolis, Minnesota. The 2010 Selftitled album USONIA is their debut. Rob van Alstyne from City Pages writes: “Their self-titled debut album is a sublime slice of headphone-friendly pop, confidently encompassing everything from jagged-nerve new wave to white-boy soul-rock with enough sass to make Hall & Oates burn with envy.”

USONIA is a free download from Bandcamp.

Lava Lava Love – A Bunch Of Love Songs And Zombies

Genre: pop

From their Tumblr Bio: “Lava Lava Love were formed in the summer of 2010, a bit accidentally, when Vittorio Pozzato (vocals, keyboards and guitar player in Fake P, House of All and Canadians) and Massimo Fiorio (bass player in Canadians) decided to visit producer Matteo Cantaluppi’s recording studio. He joins them, and the result of this collaboration is the creation of their first three songs: Keep on Falling, The Light is a Lie and In the Aeroplane over the Sea (Neutral Milk Hotel’s cover).”

A Bunch Of Love Songs And Zombies is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

Fort Lean – Selftitled

Genre: alternative, rock

From their Facebook profile: “At Fort Lean, which is a place you can go, the weather is perfect all the time. Hot but not too sticky, and you can sleep in the park comfortably without getting hassled by the cops. Fort Lean is about getting too drunk at your own picnic. Fort Lean is about leaving the city. Fort Lean is a place where you can still see the skyline but you can’t hear any cars and you can put all your stolen wine in the stream to keep it cool and when the fire dies out you can see some stars and not too many airplanes.”

Fort Lean is a free download from Bandcamp.

Verbal Rocket – Convenience Store Mirrors

Genre: indie, garage, rock, punk, post-punk, post-rock, lo-fi, mixtape, compilation

Verbal Rocket is a UK based online indie fanzine. They regularly release mixtapes to promote bands from around the globe. From their Bandcamp page: “This is a DIY, Non-profit organisation which exists as a tool to promote and support what we consider quality independent music.”

Convenience Store Mirrors is a free download from Bandcamp.

Romantic Nobita Records – Japanese Pop Punk?/?Easycore Compilation 2011

Genre: pop, punk, easycore, hardcore, popcore, compilation

Romantic Nobita Records is a Japanese record label founded in March 2010.

Japanese Pop Punk?/?Easycore Compilation 2011 is a free download from Mediafire (see link below Bandcamp playlist).

Ste McCabe – Bubblegum Laser

Genre: punk, electro, indipop, queercore

From Ste’s Homepage: “I have put together a Bandcamp page with all of my releases on it. Probably the most important things to plug are my brand new free download EP “Bubblegum Laser Gun” which features fun remixes by Cassette Donkey and Tingle in The Netherlands!”

Bubblegum Laser Gum is a free download from Bandcamp.

Jordan Brown – Jordan Writes Short Stories

Genre: instrumental, bass

From Jordan’s homepage: “Jordan is a London – based bass player and producer. His love for Music and eclectic approach to the instrument together with his relaxed and positive attitude makes him the choice of many artists both in the studio and on the road. And he looks good on stage too.”

Jordan Writes Short Stories is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

Kondor – Beyond The Clouds

Genre: indie, jazz, instrumental, hip hop

This wonderful jazzy instrumental hip hop album is the work of Konrad Gogosz from Jas?o, Poland.

Beyond The Clouds is a free download from Bandcamp.

Self Taught – 5 Year Journey

Genre: atmosphere, hip hop, rap

From Chamberlain Drive Records’ press kit: “Our label is proud to present Self Taught‘s sophomore album Five Year Journey.
In the last five years, Michael Jackson died, Mini-me made a sex tape, the pregnant man gave birth, a time traveler appeared in a Charlie Chaplin film and Self Taught made an album that will undoubtedly overshadow all of these things.
Heavily influenced by golden-era hip hop but relevant to today’s sound, Five YearJourney is being dubbed as a new-age throwback. The album includes 15 songs with features from Inkspill, K-Rec, Mike Decline, and Allan Rodger and is seamlessly woven together with transitional cuts from K-Rec, a producer/turntablist, who re-mixed “It’s Tricky” by Run-Dmc, which soon became the title track for the Electronic Arts video game SSX Tricky. The album is dedicated to the group’s longtime friend, Colin Van Dyk, who passed away unexpectedly in 2010.”
Self Taught were recently featured on Sound Sunday with their debut Arrival.

5 Year Journey is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

New to Sound Sunday? Past editions of Sound Sunday are available here.

Feel free to get in touch with me [tina at makeuseof dot com] to share free material, suggestions, and feedback or simply add your comments below.

Cloud streaming services like Spotify and Rdio are becoming more and more popular, but there’s still a place for desktop applications and local music collections. If you still play music stored on your computer, you owe it to yourself to check out Foobar2000.

Quick Layout Setup

After you install Foobar2000 and start it up, you’ll see the Quick Appearance Setup window. Foobar2000 uses your system colors, a simple tabbed playlist pane and a traditional playlist layout by default. Here’s what it looks like:

Now here’s what it looks like after selecting Visualization + Cover Art + Tabs, Blue, and Group by Albums in the Quick Appearance Setup window:

We’re already getting an idea of how much we can customize Foobar2000. See how Foobar2000 now groups each album’s tracks in the playlist pane instead of repeating the same album name on every line? That’s the Group by Albums setting in action.

Feel free to play with the options here; you can reopen the Quick Appearance Setup window at any time by clicking the View menu, pointing to Layout and selecting Quick Setup.

Media Library

Like other media players, Foobar2000 can watch folders for new music and automatically update its media library. Foobar2000 automatically watches your user account’s music folder by default. If you store your music elsewhere, click the Library menu, select configure and use the Add button to add more music folders.

Foobar2000 comes with two media library viewers — click the Library menu and select Album List to browse the albums in your library or select Search to search for specific music files.

Any of these viewers can be added to your Foobar2000 layout, so you don’t always have to open them from the Library menu.

Advanced Layout Customization

Foobar2000’s layouts aren’t limited to the layouts provided in the Quick Appearance Setup window. You can use its layout-editing mode to assemble your own layout; just click the View menu, point to Layout and select Enable Layout Editing Mode to get started.

Right-click an interface element in layout-editing mode and you’ll see a menu. Select Replace to replace the interface element with another one or select Cut to delete the interface element entirely.

Perform a cut on every interface element, including the vertical and horizontal splitters, if you want to start from scratch.

Just click an empty area and you’ll be prompted to add a new interface element. Add a splitter if you want to divide areas into sections and add multiple interface elements.

Here we’ve added playlist tabs at the top, a vertical splitter down the middle and a horizontal splitter on the left, which gives us two empty spaces on the left and one on the right. We’ve filled them in with an album list at the top left corner, an album art viewer at the bottom left corner and a playlist view on the right.

Click the Enable Layout Editing Mode option in the Layout menu again after you’re done to disable the layout editing mode.

ReplayGain

Different music albums and songs have different perceived volumes. If your music player is playing music from different albums, you might have to adjust the volume up and down as louder and quieter songs come on. ReplayGain does this for you — Foobar2000 can automatically scan your songs, determine their volume and change the volume in the background so everything plays at one appropriate volume.

You can choose between two ReplayGain modes from the Playback pane in Foobar2000’s preferences window. Album mode considers entire albums when setting the volume, preserving volume differences between songs on the same album. Track mode just considers a single track, so every song that plays will be about the same volume. Foobar2000 uses album mode by default, ensuring that volume differences between songs on a single album are preserved.

ReplayGain is enabled by default, but it depends on ReplayGain tags embedded in your music files. Many of your songs may not have these tags, but Foobar2000 can scan your files and add them. Assuming your music files are tagged correctly, the easiest way to add the tags is to select all your music in a playlist, right-click the selected files, point to ReplayGain and select “Scan Selection as Albums (by Tags).”

Foobar2000’s excellent support for ReplayGain is one of the reasons audiophiles love it (another one is gapless playback; Foobar2000 automatically plays back music files with no pause in between them if the files support it).

Components

Components, available from Foobar2000′s components download page, are Foobar2000’s plug-ins. Components can extend Foobar2000 with support for new audio formats, add additional media library viewers or replace Foobar2000’s entire user interface.

Install components from the Components pane in Foobar2000’s preferences window after downloading them. Just click the Install button and browse for your downloaded components.

Components are also available on other websites. For example, you can download a component that adds support for Windows 7′s new taskbar features here.

Do you have any favorite components or other tips and tricks for Foobar2000? Let us know in the comments.