FALLING INTO THE SOUL NET - Soulful Kinda Music Article

 FALLING INTO THE SOUL NET - Soulful Kinda Music Article

Looking back bit dated but guess thats expected as it is a bit dated

FALLING INTO THE SOUL NET - From Soulful Kinda Music Mag

Hey here's an article in latest soulful kinda music on soul on the internet thought it might be interesting to errrrr soul fans who are on the internet....

Looks like more and more soul people out there are finding themselves on the internet, at moment it seems to be booming with all kinds of soul content on there for soul fans. For those who have resisted the march of new technology, thrown together here’s a bit of a insight to let you know what you’re missing, Myself, I first came across soul side of internet about 4 years ago, then there were just a couple of sites concerned with northern soul, stumbled across one, Glyn Williams I think, and was inspired to start my own up, started it and was amazed at how many soul fans where on online then, and since then the numbers have just kept growing, with more and more soul fans turning up on there every week, hard to tell how many but I know a few sites get around a 1000 visitors a month, also another indicator of growth is about a year ago it was hard to find a well know name online, nowadays its not whose on but who isn’t, with top DJs, promoters, record sellers, collectors etc all there online. WEBSITES Have found there’s three main areas of the internet that get my soul attention, first up is the websites. On the web at moment there’s stacks of northern/rare soul related sites, majority UK based but a few in world wide places such as USA, Germany, Canada, Sweden and so on.

If you never seen a website, they’re a bit like an electric fanzines, but with a bit more. Main thing about these sites is the variety and content, ok you can’t take em into the bath with you for a relaxing read, but if I list some of the stuff you can find, it will give you a idea of it all, start off with normal stuff like reviews of events, vinyl and even videos! label and artist info and listings, then there’s articles ranging from thoughts on current scene to interviews with various soul people, on vinyl side theres reviews, records for sale records wanted, ok not much difference from your local soulmag, but hang on as we get up the high tech ladder, can get scans of record labels you only dream about, sound clips some in near CD quality of current top sounds, cover ups, rarities, little known, classic decent oldies and so on, there’s video clips of northern TV stuff and radio shows knocking round as well.

 So as you can see there’s a fair bit of stuff there, and the best thing is that its all free and more likely than not, bang up to date. This is where these soul sites are going to come into their own as more users get on, fancy going out, don’t know where or what soul event is to you, check one of the sites out, it all be there, where, timings, costs and so on instant info. How did last nite event go, yeah could be up there, what sounds did soul sausage play last nite, chances are could be up there as well, no more trekking to newsagents to see what echoes hasn’t put in this week. Who runs these sites then? Well that’s another good thing, ok have well known names such as John Manship, Pat Brady, Dave Rimmer, Bernie OBrien, and others, but majority of them are done by ordinary Joe’s, which has gotta be a good thing Ok hopefully got your appetite going, so you’re likely thinking yeah where do I start, where to go, well you could visit a search site and enter a search for northern soul, may find some but that’s a bit like going to woollies and asking for a northern soul CD, you may get a couple but won’t get em all. Suggest try this link out, as it’s a collection (35+ at moment) of northern sites all linked up, plus a lot of sites have links to others, http://www.ringsurf.com/netring?ring=nsoul;action=list

 Ok overdosed there, yeah? Well as said there’s something for everyone’s taste from latest 60/70s rare stuff to memories from Wigan, plus the dirty vixens when need a break! And haven’t even mentioned the US mainstream soul sites covering every thing from 50-90s VINYL SIDE 30 year old scratched vinyl and shiny hi-tech machines don’t seem to go together, but tell you what, they were made for each other. Remember those old days when only a few people with money could get to USA to dig out the gems, or waiting for those lists with funny stamps on to arrive and then after sending the order in and waiting a couple of weeks for the reply and finding all the stuff you wanted has gone. Well lets just say nowadays, you can now browse through that far away record seller from the comfort of your home, read his latest list as soon as it comes out, pick what you want and even pay for it there and then, he’s got nought worthwhile? Ok check out that Los Angeles one. Though might be a bit hard nowadays to find the bargains cause a lot of record sites have been plundered, and also a lot of us dealers are sussing out 60s soul = big bucks, but there’s still a few good deals to be had and lots of unheard stuff, if you fancy building up your “title sounded good but the tracks shite” pile. If the thrill of record hunting doesn’t do anything for you, can always check out UK dealers online as in john manship, pat brady and loads of others out there, again quick instant buying is the thing.

One new thing that’s exploded on vinyl side online is the Ebay record auctions, this is a site where dealers put up a record for 7 days or so, visitors bid on them with the highest bidder getting the record. A while ago many bargains could be grabbed, but as with all good things more and more people found out about and more bids started coming in. So if any well known rarity comes up, the guys with the big wallets move in and the one with biggest wins, nowadays you can find stuff like imperial C’s going for 1800 dollars, (the seller who I think first listed it at $5 was a bit surprised but then come out and said, due to the bids I gave it another spin and realised what a great doo wop record it was, finger on the pulse springs to mind) and obviously a lot of us dealers are getting wise to what a “northern” soul record means cashwise. Can be enjoyable and expensive, great when you get a bargain, shite when someone bids 50 cents more1 minute before auction ends and gets the record.

Ok spent all your time visiting sites and all your money on vinyl, better half giving you a hard time cause of phone bill and you haven’t spent any “quality” time with them, just check your email before you go… fatal mistake. Email lists, way they work is there’s a group of mail all on a list anything that is sent to the list is read by everyone else, don’t sound much, but in practice works well, got a vinyl query just ask, if anyone knows they give reply, someone from York reckons answers wrong sends his bit, someone from Australia used to go the same club as guy from York, gets in touch with him, someone wants to know what’s going on in area visiting, guy answers him and tells him of a warm up and pub to meet in and so on. There’s quite a few lists on there, ranging from biggest one ktf to more specialised soul ones like raresoul and soulnorthern, plus some by invite ones as well. Highly recommended on both soul and social side if you can put up with 100~+ emails a day, though one of entertaining bits is when two members have online argument, been some memorable ones.

All right just giving you a quick idea of what you can find once you get online loads more than mentioned here. Never beat getting down to a local event, but for that Wednesday night when corries is on or you’re too skint (cause had to pay phone bill) to get anywhere, you’ll find a thriving group of soul fans from all over the place, hear some great sounds, and can discuuss all things soulful so can’t be bad eh. But just to let you know that the internet soul side has started being taking seriously, two well known people on UK scene have recently been slagging it off, as you know nothing on northern scene is worthwhile till its been slagged off must be a seal of approval. Though both the two main critics of it though aren’t online yet which tells you something.

Mike h

Soul Source – a site for soul