I love Internet radio. I’ve been listening for over a year, and have fallen in love with the diverse streams of music that are beamed onto my computer and into my ears. I’ve discovered thousands of artists I’ve never heard of before, and explored a few different genres that have changed the way I think about music. Unlike traditional FM radio, which play loosely grouped music according to broad style categories, Internet radio is a great way to hear new music within any given genre. And unlike listening to your own household music collection, you aren’t limited by your own DJ-ing skills.

I’d like to point you towards my 5 favourite web radio stations. These are channels that have greatly influenced the music I’ve experienced over the past year. They’re stations that I’ve played throughout my house, throughout my office, and throughout my day, and have proven themselves to be incredibly well-tuned channels. I highly recommend checking them out next time you’re looking for some new music to listen to.

Illinois Street Lounge (by SomaFM)

Tagline: Classic bachelor pad, playful exotica, and vintage music of tomorrow.
Ads: Nope.
Listening through iTunes: Radio > Eclectic > Illinois Street Lounge
Other ways to listen: Check out the official site.

This radio station is an absurd collection of circus music, organ solos, Brazilian pop, and polka music. The playlists are so unbelievably eclectic that they end up being sophisticated, hip and actually fun to listen to. It blends in like electronica or jazz, but when you start listening, you recognize that it’s the strangest music you’ve ever liked.

Favourite moment: A quirky organ + xylophone + accordion cover of “Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps.”

RadioIO Jazz

Tagline: Independent, original jazz
Ads: Every half hour
Listening through iTunes: Radio > Jazz > radioioJazz
Other ways to listen: Sign up for free on the website.

Operated by the ubiquitous RadioIO network, their jazz station is definitely the real thing. From vocal scat solos to piano freak-outs, deft trumpet work from Miles Davis and drum-kit brushes behind it all, this collection of music is the perfect classy background music for dinners, get-togethers, meetings, working or just reading alone.

Favourite moment: Robert Glasper’s 15-minute jazz piano medley of Radiohead’s “Everything its Right Place” with Herbie Hancock’s “Maiden Voyage.”

RadioIOAcoustic

Tagline: A soothing mix of folk, alt-country, pop, rock, jazz and blues
Ads: A few.
Listening through iTunes: Radio > Folk > radioioAcoustic
Other ways to listen: Get the stream from the website.

Another great station from RadioIO, this one takes care of anything you need from the genre of acoustic folk. Flooded with gorgeous contributions from acoustic kings like Tom Waits and unknown folksters I couldn’t name, this station supplies a steady stream of inspired songwriting and intelligent folk music. Really.

Favourite moment: Shawn Colvin’s acoustic cover of Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy.”

Little Radio

Tagline: Little Radio
Ads: None.
Listening through iTunes: Radio > Eclectic > Little Radio
Other ways to listen: From the website.

There are innumerable web radio stations that are begging to become the go-to music hangout for the indie kids. Forget about the clamour; the contest doesn’t matter. Try out Little Radio just because it’s got a cute name. It also has no ads, which is nice. If you’re looking for well-put-together playlists of Pitchfork-endorsed music to throw on just to hear some new tunes and feel like you’re part of the scene, Little Radio will be the perfect little station for you.

Favourite moment: Hearing Wilco’s new song “Impossible Germany” for the first time.

Midnight Blues

Tagline: From early masters to current day.
Ads: Yes.
Listening through iTunes: Radio > Blues > Midnight Blues
Other ways to listen: Click here to start listening now.

I never realized it until last year, but I love this kind of music. The blues music that rages out of this station is mysteriously filled with an ancient magic, boiling over with heartache and pain, carried by angry and dirty guitar riffs, reaching back 80 years to give this tumultuous loneliness a voice. Each guitar solo and screaming black man seems to be invoking some kind of horrible purging ritual, channeling every ounce of emotional pain into their guitars. The playlists are simultaneously so ethereal and earthy that there’s no way to tell if the players are real men or already spirits.

Favourite moment: Listening to this station for nine hours straight between the hours of midnight and 9 am during one of the most intense all-night work sessions I’ve ever experienced.

Closing note:

If you consider yourself a fan of net radio, you should listen up: Internet radio is dying. A bill has recently been introduced which, if it passes, will make most web radio stations go bankrupt. Higher fees and tighter restrictions mean that the majority of current stations will have to close up shop. If you live in the States, visit SaveNetRadio.org to find out what you can do to help.