rare music online

I've been using a lot of mp3 blogs recently, and concentrating less on the sort which provide the odd song and more on those which give full album downloads, so I thought I'd attempt a brief summing up of those I've found useful. My browsing has for the most part been confined to those blogs which offer not new records for free but rather obscure and out-of-print back catalogue stuff. In other words, for the most part, unless you're especially knowledgeable, you probably won't know many (if any) of the artists whose work is presented. I certainly didn't, but my grounding in folk, soul, funk and jazz is limited at best. The following blogs have just broadened my horizons - so perhaps you'll like them too.

Heavyweight Crates: beats and breaks and lots of library records.
My Favourite Sound 2: just 12" disco mixes, basically. Oh yes.
Raiders of The Lost Ark: amazing Philly Soul stuff.
Lost In Tyme: funk, soul, jazz and world; this Alice Clark record is an absolute stunner.
Lost In Tyme: this part of the blog concentrates on psych, folk, acid garage.
Lost In Tyme: more genres, another Tyme blog; here it's alternative, punk and new wave.
Pharaohsdance: great jazz stuff; look for the host of tribe records that are provided; they're ace.
Awesome Tapes From Africa: a long-time favourite, this - it does exactly what it says on the tin.

Hope some of that is useful.