8tracks [8tracks.com]
As a hardcore music enthusiast I absolutely love 8tracks. Its tagline, 'handcrafted internet radio' sums it up pretty well. It's a service similar to Pandora, but where all the mixes are created by users of the site. This ‘handcrafted’ element is what really makes the site shine and differentiates it from others. It’s an incredibly open site and has a very diverse and active community that makes for a really interesting discovery experience. As someone who is pretty plugged-in to the music scene I’m always amazed at what I find through other people’s mixes and love sharing my own.
FFFFound [ffffound.com]
FFFFound is a pretty cool site for discovering amazing imagery. There are a lot of similar sites that compete, but (and I really don’t know exactly why) FFFFound is the first one I’ve ever really followed. It is an incredibly simple and bare site, but the quality of the submissions are top-notch. And, though there’s essentially no user interaction, you get an interesting sense of community from just browsing around as ‘posters’ are few and tend to be fairly active. Only complaint (though this probably goes directly to the quality of submissions) is the fact that the site has been in a closed beta for years now. The only way you can get an invite is by knowing someone who’s on the site, and they each have just one invite (since we’re on the subject, and in a complete act of self-promotion, if anyone reading this is registered and has an invite they’d care to share I’d really appreciate it!).
life + times [lifeandtimes.com]
One of the best looking sites around. It’s a music/general lifestyle blog originally founded by Jay-Z. Though it’s not the most active one out there, the quality of posts is great (and with many exclusives by way of Mr. Rockafella himself). All in all, what I love most about the site is the layout and design. I just think it looks cool; plain and simple.
Noisey [noisey.com]
Shocker: another music site. Noisey is a pretty cool, still growing, ‘video-driven music discovery platform’. It has a fair bit of content and a nice (though frequently shifting) design. It’s a great place to check-out new talent from around the world and watch live shows and interesting interviews. The site is run by digital lifestyle magazine, VICE.