The MusicFile, now based in Savannah, roars back to life with a fresh Southern edge

From The MusicFile:

Welcome to our beta version of the re-vamped MusicFile. Over the past two years, we’ve moved from New York City to beautiful Savannah,Ga., started a music festival called Savannah Stopover that takes place the weekend before SXSW each March (you need to come down for this!), launched a concert promotion and event business and in the process of all that, have sorely neglected our first born~~The MusicFile. All that changes now as we embark once again on our goal to bring you the best new music with no attitude and no fuss.

It’s overwhelming to keep up with music today, particularly if you’re not into the mainstream pipeline of mediocrity. We try and make it a little easier. We don’t do negative reviews, we just shine a spotlight on the best undiscovered, rediscovered and under the radar tunes that get our juices flowing. We do the scouring so you can do the listening. And, once we left the microcosm of NY and settled into the deep south, we realized how much great new music is coming out of the region that just doesn’t get its due so we’re launching a new section of the site called “Down South” where we’ll showcase the best new talent from south of the Mason-Dixon Line and east of the Mississippi.

I was really excited a couple of months ago when Kayne Lanahan — founder and CEO of both Savannah Stopover and MusicFile Productions — told me that she and her team were revamping and relaunching The MusicFile site. As Kayne herself noted in a guest post on the Creative Coast blog in February (see In Search Of A Music Scene), music blogging has a role to play in nurturing Savannah’s scene.

Of course, The MusicFile doesn’t fill the role of hyperlocal blog that Savannah also needs, but it will be another conduit for connecting Savannah music fans to broader trends as well as to specific bands that we’d otherwise miss.

The site has just recently been relaunched, so there’s still some tweaking to be done to the beta version.

The MusicFile will also need to be loaded up with content. Right now, the “Down South” section has just three posts: Daniel Ellsworth and the Great Lakes: Nashville, TN, this mountain, Johnson City, TN, and Losing My Religion With Phosphorescent. I’m looking forward to reading a lot more there, especially about bands like this mountain, which originally played here in a Stopover-produced gig during and after the Savannah Bicycle Campaign’s Midnight Garden Ride. (Click here for all my pics.) Btw, this mountain returns to The Jinx on December 1st.

With sites like Pitchfork doling out plenty of negativity, I like The MusicFile’s emphasis on positive reviews and spotlights.

So maybe the presence of The MusicFile in Savannah will attract a little more attention for us from outside — from bands, booking agents, and journalists.

And maybe its presence will spur some entrepreneurial writers to launch the kind of hyperlocal music blogs we need — ones loaded with reviews, schedules, pics, and clips. I do OK with my Music category posts and my 912 Music Calendar, but those barely scratch the surface of what dedicated bloggers could do.

In other news, Savannah Stopover will be making a big announcement on Tuesday, November 27th. They will also be hosting a reception at ThincSavannah on November 30th. Click here for more.