Oxford Journal Newspaper

Have you noticed that we're now living in the 21st century? It's not quite what might have been expected, at least based on what cultural commentators were saying from the mid-20th century onwards.

If they'd have had their ideas realised, we'd all be flying around in hovercars by now, eating our meals in nutritious pill form, wearing silver jumpsuits to go to work and listening to music by injecting it directly into our brain. Perhaps that stuff is still to come, but it seems that in terms of music, at least, people are happily hanging on to the old way.

Indeed, the results of a recent forum on MusicInOxford.co.uk suggest that while readers do listen to music in bang-up-to-date electronic ways, they also continue to collect it in physical formats like vinyl and CD. The big change seems to have been more from the perspective of those making music - never has it been easier to do it yourself, with recording, promotion and distribution of music being completely possible from a bedroom operation.

Record labels may still have their place in the industry, but musicians can now kick-start themselves into action on their own terms, which can only be a good thing. News this week includes a self-released album by Grey Children (www.greychildren.co.uk) as well as a free download release from Oxford experimental label fourier transform (www.fouriertransform.com).

MusicInOxford.co.uk said recently of the free download by Unpunished Monsters (www.unpunishedmonsters.co.uk) that "we hope this collaboration isn’t a one-off, and we won’t be surprised to find that Moon Dance ends up one of our favourite Oxford tunes of 2012".

Things are looking rosy from the musician's perspective, then, and as listeners that can't be a bad thing. Of course, there's still no better way to experience music than to see it performed live - and for the more broadminded listeners out there, the announcement of this year's Audiograft festival of experimental music (www.audiograft.com) will be of interest. Whatever form your musical enjoyment takes, it's all good. Just make sure that you're keeping on top of what Oxford has to offer.

Read full reviews of the latest releases, and find out loads more about Oxford bands, music and gigs, at MusicInOxford.co.uk