click INK

Autumn.
Clocks change, trees go spindly, pants get bigger and websites change names. Well, ours has, anyway: talk.to/ink is reborn as www.inkmagazine.co.uk - your direct dash to all this, and more, online. It's been like 'Attachments' round here recently (though without any of the naked skateboarding and very little of the shagging) as we've spruced up the site and added lots of sexy extra stuff that just won't fit in the paper version of the magazine - this month, exclusives with Cousteau and My Vitriol, for example.

Meanwhile, Liverpool music elsewhere online seems strangely stagnant. Confusingly, there are two liverpoolmusics - .com promises "launch:Spring 2000", .co.uk has a single page on the Ozeds. Liverpool music? I'm moving to Accrington. Better is the Acoustic Engine site, which does that rare thing online - gives a sense of what the place is like in both its unregimented design and overall cheerful friendliness.

Try also: Liverpool Hoopla Archive
Liverpool Nightlife with Lee Butler
Juice FM's brand new site
Liverpool Now Music Festival
MMDA - representing the music industry locally
Liverpool-Music-City
Sound City Sounds

Monkeystealsthedrum offers hot chunks of music, and the adventures of Slak Fox, singer Christian's cartoon chum; the Clinic site isn't as weird as you might expect, though still lacks that holy grail, a picture of their faces. Lightning Seeds have a large, yawning gap where the news page should be; further along the boarded-up street, Cast still sport a Copyright Polydor sign, although the site has been sealed now for several months. Ooberman, however, revel in their new independent status, even lobbing away bsides and video downloads.

Try also: Echo and the Bunnymen
Space
Eto
UBL - best online listings for band and fan sites

The long-promised new Liquidation site goes live November 13th, bringing their flier Playpeople to life; the same day an all new Invicta HiFi site switches on. No other website smokes Gauloise … to keep up with goings on in the land of robosexcool, trust the team with your email address. Bizarrely, the first ever officials Beatles site goes online the same day.

Vitaminic hosts 61 Liverpool acts of varying quality - Tramp Attack, anybody? - while mp3.com is nearing 400 (try Imphezenia). bandline.net, a local alternative, is fast catching up.

Voodoo's excellent site includes exclusive mixes, piping you sets from Ism, Sheilds et al, while Cream's message boards are still offline to stop any nasty chat about drugs.

Try also: 3Beat
Chrome
NoLoGos

Like IRL, Liverpool music online boasts some golden gems, a lot of empty promises and a mix of joy and disappointments.