VIBEonline takes it to the Bridge

What makes the VIBE site the music site of the month? Could it be the ultra-amazing graphics? Maybe it's the astonishing amount of original content, updated WEEKLY. Or maybe it's the level of interactivity it initiates with live chats, reader surveys (of both serious political issues and just-fer-fun follies). No, no, maybe it's the diversity of subject matter. Though mainly musical, VIBE touches a bit on all aspects of entertainment; movies, video and literature. O.K., no, I get it, it's definitely the quality of the reviews section, with a specifically hot Web-site-of-the week review -a thorough walk-through of a great online creation. Hmm. Yes. Yes! YES! It is all of these things. In a word (or two), VIBE ROCKS!

It's a fantastic companion to the paper zine, in fact, it is definitely as good as the paper zine and one would have to wonder (less the coffee table status quo reasons): Why buy the paper zine at all? Everything you could ever want to know about the VIBE world of rhythm, blues, rap, and traditionally African-American entertainment is wrapped up in a snazzy, I mean super-snazzy, hypertexted format, whenever you want it - for free!

Technically, they pull off some nice stunts. The image maps are beautiful, but not server-bogging. The tables are aligned perfectly (no matter what size your browser is). The colors and fonts all work especially well with the overall design (kudos to the artists.) And the CGI scripts (for all that interactive stuff) run superbly. This is no small feat, mind you.

I reviewed the December issue of the zine, where I found an outstanding article about the history of black super-heroes (in chronological order complete with cool graphics). The reader survey opinion poll chose the controversial topic of abortion (with a nonpartisan non-bias): Are you pro-life or pro-choice (and why)? And, of course, the feature stories revolved around the year in hip hop, with comprehensive coverage of all the chart stoppers and flavors of the 1995 season - Mariah Carey, Notorius B.I.G., Tupac Shakur, and Adina Howard, to name a few. And there's a compelling interview with anti-rap activist and proclaimed feminist Delores Tucker. (I'd suggest a look at the back issues if you missed this one.)

Overall, I find it difficult to understand how anyone wouldn't like this site, even if VIBE isn't your chosen music scene. It's everything a good zine should be, and more.-SK
A

Andrew Lloyd Webber Online
You can't walk 10 feet out of Times Square without bumping into one of Andrew Lloyd Webber's long-running Broadway hits, like "Cats," or "Phantom of the Opera." Comprehensive and nicely organized, this fan-oriented page will point you to other Internet resources containing biographical data, show lyrics, tour dates, places to book tickets, and even a script to "Sunset Boulevard" translated into Dutch. The "Phantom"MIDI file I downloaded set the appropriate mood and, as a bonus, woke up the baby who has the misfortune of living next door to me.-MP
B+

Bikini Kill
Well, if Blue Grrrl (formerly Net Web site reviewer extraordinaire) were here, she'd rave about this site's adorable riot grrrl qualities, the darling photos of Tobi, Kathi, and Kathleen, and the grrrl manifesto. The Little hearts on a string graphic is super-Rad as well. But Blue Grrrl is at art school, and Shel Kimen is here to satiate the mainstream populous, and guess what? It's still a Rad site. Gossip, discography, sound clips, and cool girl links lace this Bikini Kill (grrrl rock non-stars) tribute page with style and thoroughness. It's super-duper fresh.-SK
A

Internet Music Review Service Main Page
Here's another place to check if you're not sure what to add to your music collection. The graphics are nice enough and the organization is handled well, considering how much information is stored here. Search for bands you may have heard of and read what others have to say, or browse through the "what's new" section to get some fresh ideas. It's got one of those dastardly little "Point Top 5% of the Web" logos on it, so it's apparent that others have also found this site useful.-SK
A-

IUMA Welcome to IUMA
Each band in the Internet Underground Music Archives has an entire MPEG-encoded song you can download for free. What a great idea. Cruddy modem users, fear not! They also publish a low-bandwidth version with smaller graphics and have smaller sound samples, too. Requisite photos, bios, lyrics, and lugubrious press releases fill out the rest of each performer's area. Easy-to-use search tools lead you directly to the genre or band you want to hear. And if you have the cash, you can even publish your own song. Something like this service will be the future of music distribution.-MM
A-

Pat Benatar Online Fan Club Home Page Unofficial
Pat Benatar, Queen of Rock, has been belting out hits since the late 70s, winning four Grammy's in the process. Her fans have dedicated this shrine on the Web. See her high school yearbook photo, read her bio, follow her touring schedule, and find out what the media has to say about her summer tour with REO Speedwagon and Fleetwood Mac. The real treat, though, is to read what the fans themselves have to say. Read how Pat turned their empty lives around through music! Their love is no battlefield.-MP
A-

Richard Wagner Archive
Wagner, underscorer of weddings and formal gala events, is alive and well in cyberspace. Though this site tries one's patience with its slow server and too-heavy graphics, it's well-informed and thorough. Quotations, critical essays (by the site creator and others), a biography, and, of course, a complete discography provide this site with the necessary components of any "fan page." If you can wait for the pages to load (hint - turn off the auto-load images on your browser), it's worth it. Some of the pages load first in Finnish, though they're all also available in English.-SK
B

Rockweb TM Interactive
Rockweb has a lot of stuff in it. The good things include the "House of Boo" (a decent rock zine), lots of Web-based chat rooms dedicated to different bands, some cool graphics, and a moderate collection of RealAudio interviews and songs.The rest of the site feels like a publicists' wet-dream. Filled with dry, corporate propaganda, tons of bandwidth-hogging promotional pictures, and hardly any sound samples, Rockweb lacks soul. And, with all this content, there's no easy way to navigate. No search engine, no little hints, nothing but a bunch of twisting menus. It's all flash, and no ROCK!-MP
C+

RootsWorld Music On The Net
From flute music of the Andes to Mexican polka, RootsWorld is a one-stop shop for information on world music. Extensive artist catalogs, music reviews, recommendations, and many magazine features on the world music scene shape RootsWorld. While the graphics are generally good (I like all the accordions), it does not have many sound samples, nor an easy way to navigate this large site. Still, RootsWorld is fun to browse.-MP
B+

The CRYPT
Grrr! White Zombie has been rockin' for 10 years, but only recently has the group broken into the mainstream. New and old fans can follow satanically inspired image-maps to band photos, bios, video, sound clips, and a complete discography. The cool cartoony graphics set an edgy tone, and can be easily navigated around by low-bandwith users. Although the site is easy to follow, has lots of good info, and looks cool, it still feels a bit empty. The fan presence is here, but not felt, especially since the letters section was removed due to lack of disk space.-MP
B+

The George and Ira Gershwin Homepage
For the Gershwin fan, this is the creme de la creme. It's a full-on archive that must have taken quite a lot of time to research (I'm suspecting years of enthusiastic pursuit). Though I am no Gershwin expert, the bundle seems complete, with a listing of plays, film scores, and behemoth discography, all in glowing hypertext format. Plentiful in details and trivia, it even includes some reviews written by the site creator. And, of course, you'll find the ubiquitous link page of other Gershwin related sites. Bravo.-LS
A-

The Indian Scene Page By Nav
India has long been a culture rich with music. Unfortunately, this site is not too rich in content or aesthetics. It takes a stab at informing the curious net surfer about concert events around the world and new Indian music releases. Considering the site attempts to serve a global community but is only a few pages thick, it's missing a lot. For someone casually interested in exploring a little more of India's music who isn't that in touch with the community, it's an O.K. site. And the top-10 Bhangra charts are nice.-SK
C

the ultimate band list
What the Ultimate Band List lacks in visual slickness is more than made up for in true functionality. Want to know something about your favorite band? Use the handy search tools to find a band's listing of links to related newsgroups, mail lists, related Web pages, sites with lyrics, song files, and even guitar tab for the budding musician! You can even add links to material yourself. This isn't publicity-inspired hype, but a real tool. The only problem I encountered was that many promising links turned out to be dead ends.-MP
B

Welcome to Agents Inc. Firefly
Ever spent too much time waiting to hear the latest CD at a record store listening booth, only to be disappointed? Firefly can help. It's an intelligent agent of sorts designed to categorize your music tastes, then spew recommendations of other artists you might like. You're given a list of bands to rate according to what you already know of them, and Firefly stores that in a mega-database. It then searches the database for other people who've entered similar interests, and recommends potential new music for you. It's ingenious and surprisingly accurate.-SK
A

Welcome to JAZZ Online
This is a GREAT site. It starts with a smashing BANG of colorful graphics, then shoots to an outstanding table of contents. Reviews, news, catalogs, and links line the pages and yikes, you could even register to win a Gibson guitar. (That's enough to lure me in...) Did I mention the online live chat rooms, interviews, and intelligent feature articles? Yes, it's a definite winner.-SK
A+

Welcome to the Metaverse
Go, Adam Curry! Though I'm tempted to slight this site on the premise that Adam Curry is a dweeb, it's really a well-designed, thoughtful, comprehensive look at the music industry. Metaverse uses the technology well, and has pages and pages and pages of industry news, gossip (the infamous sleeze report), reviews, events, and so on.... And while the site sports advertising, it's for the most part tasteful and unobtrusive. A great site for most modern (alternative, pop, punk, funk, etc.) music fans.-SK
A