some of it was true!

These are some blogs and websites I thoroughly recommend:

MUSIC BLOG AGGREGATORS
Elbows – cool and diverse, although increasingly less so.  A playlist of the interweb’s hottest tracks sits on the right middle.
Hype Machine – a bit more mainstream but equally comprehensive.  Click on ‘popular’ for what’s achingly hip.
Muzic – the latest aggregator, with an accent on alternativa, electro and hip hop.  The word-cloud of hot artists is a neat touch.
Lintom – Not so much an aggregator as a rolling newswire with the latest content from selected blogs.  It’s a bit random, but useful if you have a few spare minutes.

MUSIC BLOGS
Nialler9 – a treasure trove of international indie, electronica, dubstep, hip… oh, basically anything cool, with some local Irish talent thrown in for good measure.  The music blog to which all others should aspire.
The Devil Has The Best Tuna – a British blog determining to uncover unknown bands, new and old.  Religiously updated and furiously energetic, it’s a lively read full of friendly giveaways
MFR – one of Minneapolis’ many great blogs, this rudely-named delight pledges to cover ‘popular unpopular music’, and is always on the ball.
Gorilla vs Bear – especially good for uncovering genuinely new music.  Just when I think I’ve stumbled on a great new band, I find GVB covered them two years ago
Awesome Tapes From Africa – a legendary site that single-handedly made me love African music.  Uploads old LPs of everything from Senegalese rap to Congolese metal.   Analog Africa also does a similarly wondrous public service.
Fluxblog – the very first mp3 blog, started (dizzingly) in 2002. Matthew Perpetua’s site is still as cool as it is easy to navigate.
The Catbirdseat – an excellent news-and-views blog, full of new bands, mixtapes and charts of this and that.
Said The Gramophone – another oldie, this time launched in 2003. If you like concise, pithy descrips of songs, head elsewhere.  If you like lyrical, flowery and often beautiful descriptions of an audioscape, this’ll be heaven.
Pigeons & Planes – much-more dance and hip hop-focused, and very good at it too.
Pretty Much Amazing – very brash, very American, very mainstream – and well worth a peek.  A site that knows what’s on the radio before the radio does.
Rollo & Grady – a constant helter-skelter of breaking new bands (nearly always good) and LA-based interviews.  How do they do it?  No-one knows…
FluoKids – the very hippest of the French blogs, and one with a penchant for sexy pictures.  Dance music is dominant here.  As at La Blogotheque.
Neon Gold – record-label blogs ought to be surfed carefully, but this one is hilariously well-written and on the pulse.
Don’t Stop Moving – accompanying blog to a very good regular with Emma Gulseven.

UK BLOGS
Music Mule – this is basically the blog I envisioned Some Of It Was True! being.  Regularly updated and neatly laid out, Music Mule focuses particularly on live music in London, and has mixtapes, gig recommendations and even a calendar with which to seduce you.  I’m jealous and resentful, but maybe that’s okay.
It’s Getting Boring By The Sea – music writer David Renshaw’s honest and sometimes acerbic take on upcoming bands and the more interesting new releases.
Rock Over London – an excellent blog, covering lots of East London fleapits and emerging bands so you don’t have to.  Mar also produces podcasts, takes photos and plays drums in a band called The Duloks.  The blog SOIWT feels spiritually closest to.
Touching From a Distance – Londoner Simon Mason’s new creation: a regularly-updated site swinging through all the arts, with specialist subjects including contemporary culture, new music and cool films.  If you’re feeling a bit out of the loop, or desperate for a new band to love, this is the site for you.
Transparent – a fanzine turned to one of the very best London blogs, with DJ nights and a record label for good measure, sating those who like their sounds weird, dishevelled and served with custard.  Brilliantly, beautifully, brilliantly written.
The Daily Growl – a very similarly-minded blog to yours truly (oh yes – I’m a speaking blog.  You didn’t know that?)  but perhaps slightly more focused on rock, indie, alternative etc than my weirdsville, directionless likes.  Run by a mystery person who attends a lot of gigs (yes, I am jealous).
shotwithsound – a terrific and very inventive London blog where photographer Nic Stevenson talks about music (often, but not always, ambient strains of rock) he likes while matching it up with beautiful snaps he has taken.  Effortlessly cool, beautiful and diverting.
Anika in London – Anika is eight years younger than me, and eight times better at blogging.  It’s depressing, frankly.  Oh, and she can draw, which I can’t.  A great blog with a possibly folksy bent.
Fried My Little Brain – disco, dubstep and dance galore at this excellent London resource.
Slutty Fringe – more electronica here, and a chance to find some fabulous DJs.  How do people get this cool?  Is there a course I can take…?
There Goes The Fear – a very consistent, well-written Manchester-based site concentrating on indie and rock.
What’s Your Vibe? With Nadia – a new blog by the Young & Lost Club label. It’s a bit straggly and random right now, but they’re using their connections for some fun interviews with very famous folk.
sniTch Land – the home of the Snitch DJs, a devilish deck-spinning turntable twosome who’ll play anywhere and everywhere – and have fine taste in offering presents to your ear. 
Audioscrawl – a very much dance-focused London site, updated reasonably regularly.
Exitfare – a London music blog with a taste for the esoteric, but one not often updated.
Tracks From The Stack – another London-based site, this time catering to rock and dance, but again intermittent at best.

MUSIC SITES
For Folk’s Sake – a London-based site centred on – this could possibly not be surprising – although you never know – folk.  Was that surprising?  Hmm.  The site’s brilliant, though, so stop complaining and go check it out.
London Calling – a radio station and website covering emeging talent, music news and aural trends from (despite the name) around the world in a snappy format.
God Is In The TV – frighteningly efficient, this UK-based independent music & culture webzine always has its fingers on the pulse
Tastes Like Caramel – covering pop culture in New York and London – regularly updated, really interesting and laid out with refreshing simplicity.
Bandstand Busking – the home of this brilliant initiative, cajoling up-and-coming bands to brave pigeon poo and play some of London’s ornate and ill-appreciated bandstands.  You’ve a real chance of seeing upcoming talent – Of Montreal, Wild Beasts and Speech Debelle have all performed for BB.
Gigwise – independently-run London-based site which has reviews and gig listings, but is best known for its excellent news pages.
Guardian Music – no other UK newspaper comes close to being as musically vogue.  Go here for well-written articles so trendsetting that bloggers use them, not the other way round.  The blog is particularly recommended.
Pitchfork – an influential indie music site with reviews and features.  Especiallty famed for breaking new bands.
Drowned In Sound – much like Gigwise, but bigger and more widely-read.  Yet somehow it lacks the same warmth.
NME – love it or hate it, NME gets exclusives, gives free downloads and shapes people’s iPods. 
MBV – news compilation using five blogs, including the above-mentioned Said The Gramophone and The Catbirdseat.

LONDON SITES
Londonist – news, events, opinions, features, and all with a slightly indie slant.  A brilliant site for leftfield Londoners.
Transpontine – fucking brilliant.  That’s the only appropriate way to describe this veteran SE London blog.  It’s a dangerous minefield down there, and you need advice on how to avoid the wanky Claphamites and Peckham pikeys.  It’s right here – cool as you like.
Urban Junkies – if it’s luxurious, cool or both in London, UJ will know about it.
Respectacle – a self-described ’satiricool’ zine, poking fun at the establishment, our cultural icons and, generally, anyone Will Benn and co can think of.  The best part is that, with hindsight - cue utterly shameful blog-plug-hyperlink-crime – Some Of It Was True!
Pocket London – the tiny guidebooks’ London blog, a useful resource.
Time Out London -  like you need me to explain that one.

ON THE PRISON COMPUTER?
Dazed – the online portal of Dazed & Confused magazine, full of design, architecture, culture, cinema and music.

DEAD LINKS?
Websites come and go, particularly in the case of blogs.  There’s few things sadder to me than stumbling on the ruins of a deceased blog – knowing now quite how much work is involved, I daren’t imagine the feeling of having to walk away.  See the remains of New York London Paris Munich for an example.

Anyway, if you any of my links don’t work, please do let me know, and I will endeavour to promptly update the buggers.

Equally, if you know a site you think I should add, make sure you get in touch.