Matt Rowe of MusicTap recently interviewed Anji Bee for a feature on the newly revamped music site. Entitled, Quality Time With Anji Bee of Lovespirals and Chillcast, the piece goes into some depth about Anji’s thoughts on the current state of music while looking into the origins of her Chillcuts Digital label, the creation of her new The Chillcast with Anji Bee: 5 Years of Chillin’ compilation, and how she selects music for her weekly podcast, The Chillcast with Anji Bee. Matt has been a long time supporter of Anji’s band, Lovespirals. He featured the duo in 2006 with his MusicTap piece, Honey and Cool Jazz ‘n’ Rock: An Interview with Ryan Lum and Anji Bee of Lovespirals.

Here’s just an excerpt from the interview:

Music has gone through so many changes over the decades.  Do you feel that this generation of music provides enough in styles to help those caught in a decade of preference?
First of all, what people need to realize is that there is a whole world of music that is not being played on the radio or TV. I get all the music I can handle and then some strictly from the Internet. And the variety of music available on the Internet is more vast that you can even imagine. Its truly staggering how much great music is out there when you start searching for it.

What do you look for in a band that sends music across your desk?  What do you listen for?
The music needs to strike certain chords for me; I want to feel it in my gut. It could be a tear jerking lyric/vocal, or it could be a booty-shaking bassline/groove. It could be a gorgeous melody played on keyboard or guitar, or an amazing vocal harmony. It could simply be a really sweet string pad or a sitar hook — who knows? But I think there’s generally an element of authenticity in expression that I’m seeking. That’s what is wholly missing in the pop music industry. I want to feel what the artist was feeling when they were creating the song. I need to be drawn into that little world and feel immersed in it. Hearing a really sincere song is a bit like falling in love for me. Obviously not every song on the show can have that strong of an impact on me, but the more of them I can find and string together for a set, the better the show is.

What needs to change as we move forward into an uncharted world of music?
From my perspective, I’d say what needs to change is the perception of music listeners. The major labels have been attempting to convince people that the only music of importance is the stuff that they push down our throats via their multi-media corporate conglomerates. They’d like everyone to believe that all independent music on the Internet is just crap created by half-assed noobs playing around with free software. But that is simply not the case at all. If you put some time into music discovery online, you’ll find a whole new world of incredible music just waiting for you!