RAIN’s Pureplay of the Day celebrates Internet-only streaming stations for outstanding programming and usability. Here are recent selections.
The Jazz Groove: Understated, elegant acoustic jazz. Elegant website too. Also, an iOS app for mobile listening. [STATION SITE]
Streaming Soundtracks: Inspirating, uplifting, tragic, dramatic, tectonic — movie scores evoke big feelings and events. [STATION SITE]
Pear Radio: An 8,500-song playlist ensures that the stream won’t go stale if you listen for hours, and you might do so. Pear Radio crosses genre boundaries with its ear fixed resolutely on good music, not niche music. [STATION SITE]
The World of Blues: Not since we bestowed Pureplay of the Day onBellyUp4Blues have we found an Internet station with the same outstanding quality of programming, paired with a more immersive website. [STATION SITE]
Cafe Cody: Emanating from Palma De Mallorca, Spain … well, look it up, and tell us you don’t want to be there right now. There is definitely a sunset-over-the-ocean feel to the tracks, with lots of acoustic guitar, shakers, soft percussion, unintrusive sax — it’s smooth jazz exotica with a world music tinge. [STATION SITE]
Minimal Mix: This is music which provides a pulse, sonic wallpaper that can propel a productive day. The tempo might be too slow for the Red Bull set — this is marathon music, not sprinting music. [STATION SITE]
VinylEars: Audiophile alert. Also, classic rock alert. Oh, and vinyl bandwagon alert. VinylEars asserts to be the first all-vinyl online radio station, and that claim gets no contradiction from us. [STATION SITE]
Bar Legend Radio: Emanating from the town of Larissa, Greece, Bar Legend Radio celebrates U.S. and British blues with an unrelenting blues-rock playlist. [STATION SITE]
Somehow Jazz: What happens when you blend tasteful Smooth Jazz with articulate Straight Jazz? Go to Somehow Jazz to find out. [STATION SITE]
BellyUp4Blues: Ten years of hand-to-mouth operation hasn’t dimmed the fire of BellyUp4Blues, an Internet-only blues-rock stream. This is relentless pounding blues, with hard-baked vocals and scorching guitar solos. [STATION SITE]
Kosmik Station: Kosmik Station is a Radionomy electronica station featuring old-school hard-core techno. Sub-genres include Hard Trance and Hardstyle. This is a merciless stream, supportive of desk-bound mental workouts. [STATION SITE]
SomaFM: One of the landmark indie pureplays, SomaFM has grown into a streaming empire over 14 years. The current programming lineup includes 28 hand-curated, electronica and alt-genre stations. [STATION SITE]
Musicovery: A unique interactive mood map leads to instant music and startling levels of music discovery. [STATION SITE]
East Village Radio: EVR resembles college radio in its eclecticism, webcasting from a storefront in New York City. [STATION SITE]
SpacesFM: A mix of electronica and classical — distinctive and intriguing. [STATION SITE]
Nightbreed Radio and Abnormally Dead Air: Our Halloween choices, these two Goth stations provide dreadful listening (in a good way) any day.
100 Chill: On the easy-listening side of Lounge Chill, great for the morning after. [STATION SITE]