A few links to start with

This page is a quick list of key sites for anyone who is interested in exploring the more experimental sides of contemporary poetry and music. The music links are skewed towards improvised music and avant-rock, as I'm not much of a guide to contemporary composition. A much more extensive list of links is available elsewhere on the site, but I thought new visitors might find these sites a useful starting place. Many of them act as gateways to a whole range of contemporary and historical work.

Poetry links

• The Archive of the Now - a brilliant site featuring full-length readings in mp3 format by more than 60 UK poets. Hosted by Brunel University.
• The British Electronic Poetry Centre - a reference guide to the work of contemporary British poets from the parallel tradition.
• The British Poetry Revival page at the Wikipedia. A useful potted history of British alternative poetry since the 1960s, with author links.
• The Electronic Poetry Center at SUNY, Buffalo - one of the starting points for any seach for innovative poetry on the web.
• Jacket - a quarterly magazine of new writing, edited from Australia by John Tranter. A vast archive of poems, reviews and features.
• Terrible Work - reviews, news, listings, critique & comment on new poetry, word-art & creative texts. Edited by Tim Allen.
• UbuWeb - "visual, concrete and sound poetry." A vital source of contemporary and historical work, including an ethnopoetics section, curated by Jerome Rothenberg, and an mp3 archive.

Music links

• The European Free Improvisation Pages - vast archive of information about improvised music, with tour dates and artist biographies.
• fakejazz.com - excellent independent music review & discussion site.
• Forced Exposure - online record store with a vast and eclectic stock of alternative and experimental music.
• Head Heritage - Julian Cope's site, opening onto a generous sampling of unsung music. Record reviews added almost daily.
• The London Musicians Collective - promoting improvised and experimental music.
• Paris Transatlantic Magazine - Global Coverage of New, Classical, and Avant-Garde Music, Film and Dance.
• Perfect Sound Forever - online music magazine.
• P.S.F. Records - English-language site for the Japanese label releasing CDs by Acid Mothers Temple, Keiji Haino, Kazuki Tomokawa and many others. Now accepts PayPal.
• ReR Recommended - independent record label and distribution service.
• Rough Trade - excellent UK record shop & mail-order source of imports you won't find anywhere else.
• Volcanic Tongue - a Glasgow-based mailorder for underground music & associated cultural ephemera. Highly recommended.
• The Wire - many useful articles, interviews and artist links on the website of the UK print-based music magazine.

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