Going by the many lists and polls floating across the Internet, the average music critic believes R&B died with the rise of disco, or shortly after the so-called death of disco, or maybe at some random point during the first half of the ’80s. These people are either crazy in the head or, to be less harsh, allow their musical preferences (and almost always age) to bleed into a flawed belief system. A quick, informal poll of one anonymous critic claims the slow death of R&B just happens to run parallel with the time line of a session maverick who “spiraled downward” from uncredited Motown and Invictus sessions and work with giants (Stevie, Herbie, Chaka, Barry, Marvin) to a “flagrantly pop-oriented” funk band (”when the soul was first squeezed out of the music”), then “money-grabbing soundtrack hackery” (”the point at which soul truly died”) and Saturday morning TV themes (”when soul’s headstone was spat upon and bowled over”). (Watch this space for a detailed defense of the artist in question.)

The sharp staff at SoulBounce is kicking against this type of mindset with an R&B countdown of their own. They are going by their favorites, so the odds are pretty strong that the Top Ten will not be filled out with ’60s classics like “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” and “Respect.” Even if it does turn out that way, you can bet the entries will not toss around adjectives like “authentic” and “worthy” as a way to disregard almost everything produced during the following decades. The entries thus far are from the ’80s and ’90s, and you can bet the picks from the past few years won’t be limited to big crossover hits like “Say My Name,” “Fallin’,” “Yeah!,” and “Crazy in Love.” Only six songs in, it is shaping up to what could be the greatest music list in the history of the Internet. If Loose Ends’ “Hangin’ on a String (Contemplating)” (YouTube) places somewhere in the Top 20, its stature will be indisputable.

Say you’re a huge fan of Canadian indie rock and and you don’t have the good fortune to live in Canada. Gee whiz, think of all the excellent CBC Radio 3 sessions you’re missing out on. Why, maybe A.C. Newman, Destroyer, You Say Party! We Say Die!, Tokyo Police Club or even the New Pornographers hit the studio recently to record sessions and you’ll never hear them. Think again, hoser! Thanks to their seriously sweet website you can access boatloads of archived sessions and concerts recorded for the station by some of Canada’s top indie rockers. Go to CBC3’s main website http://radio3.cbc.ca/, then click on Concerts & Sessions and you’re in. You can see the five most recently added shows or browse through the archive and find some gems.

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While its great grandson YouTube may have stolen the thunder, local access cable television is still out there. Thanks to people like artist/jazz musician Mark Kostabi, it’s still going strong. Produced for the Manhattan Neighborhood Network, Kostabi’s show Title This “is a game show where celebrities compete to title Kostabi paintings for cash awards”. A panel of three contestants – like film director Michel Gondry or maybe Spin magazine founder Bob Guccione Jr. — are shown a Kostabi painting, then they try to name it and throw out ideas like “Sourpuss Tantrum” or “Condoleezza Rides”.

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Backstage riders are often the stuff of legend and speculation — just ask any rock music fan about Van Halen’s aversion to brown M&Ms. (Granted, they did have a sound reason behind the demand that had nothing to do with color preference.) For those who are curious to know the behind-the-scenes quirks of the Killers, Foo Fighters, John Mayer, or Amy Winehouse, The Smoking Gun has compiled an online archive of tour riders from 220 acts and counting. There’s a little something for everyone (the list categorizes acts by genre) and each document makes for fascinating reading — point five on page three of the Beatles’ 1965 rider, for example, states that “artists will not be required to perform before a segregated audience.” And for sheer comedy, the rider for Iggy & the Stooges is not to be missed. Pity the poor soul who reads through its 18 pages to find this addendum waiting for them.

If you haven’t seen it already, Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen has written a nice obituary of Ike Turner.

Fagen explains his importance to music and opines on what the native of the Clarksdale, Mississippi area (also home to Robert Johnson) may have asked the devil for down at the crossroads. Fagen’s guess?: “Organization!”

“His employers included the Bihari brothers at Modern Records, the Chess brothers in Chicago, and a host of tough club owners. They didn’t like to fool around with their money. Ike had to be at that session on time, he had to book those gigs, make sure the band’s suits were pressed, and that they rolled in to the next town ready to play.”

The Allmovie Blog launched today and is ready for its close-up. Check it out for insightful, useful, and funny posts, and commentary on any and all things related to film, video, and TV. With a spotlight on Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody, a sneak peak at the film adaptation of the graphic novel Perseopolis, a look at this week’s DVD releases, and an exposé of Santa Claus as a moody drama queen, the Allmovie Blog is already off to a great start. Aaaaand action!

The Sundazed label has built a stellar reputation for licensing classic — and sometimes obscure — titles and releasing them with great sound on heavyweight, high-quality vinyl LPs, and beautiful sounding CDs as well. Need we remind anyone of their stellar wax-only reissues of items in the Bob Dylan or Byrds catalogs or of the first Stooges album? But it’s not only classic rock; Sundazed has also re-released all-but-forgotten and legendary entries of tail-whipping surf, blistering blues, scorching soul, psychedelic-garage romps, and finger-poppin’ jazz-funk titles as well.

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We’ll make this short and sweet. RCRD LBL is a website that provides label-supported streams and absolutely free, legal, digital downloads of tracks from indie labels like Dim Mak, Ghostly International, Warp, Kompakt, and Modular by some pretty big artists (Art Brut, Grizzly Bear, Bloc Party, Justice), as well as some who are far below the radar, like Kings and Queens, Youthmovies, and Jacques Renault. Some tracks are exclusives, some aren’t, but they’re all free. Registering so far hasn’t netted spam, but some killer info. Their statement of purpose is on the home page and it’s well worth a few minutes to scope out. Just go here to find out more.