The Brighton music scene has enjoyed a bumper year, from Normstock II's 250,000-strong party to Electric Soft Parade winning best newcomer at the Q magazine awards.

The Brighton sound is thriving and nowhere is this more evident than on the internet.

The city's record labels have been increasingly using the web to spread their musical message to an even wider audience.

A good place to start is Skint's site. The label, which sponsors the Albion and is synonymous with Brighton dance music, launched Norman Cook's DJ career as Fatboy Slim and numbers the Lo-

Fidelity All-Stars, X-Press 2 and the Midfield General among its artists.

The site contains a Get Stuff section, which lets visitors download e-cards - executable files containing music and clips from artists' videos.

Most of them are about 500kb and shouldn't take too long to download, even for those using dial-up connections.

Another section, Disco, enables users to manipulate the movements of an onscreen "dancing fool" by using their mouse to click and drag on a red button.

It's pretty basic stuff by today's standards but entertaining nonetheless. There are links to other sites, including those of Fatboy Slim, Midfield General and The Boutique.

Norman Cook's site allows visitors to remix one of his tunes or download the latest Fatboy screensaver.

The remixer is great fun and confirms the skill is easy to learn but difficult to master.

For the online home of the Midfield General (Skint boss Damian Harris), visitors need the Flash plug-in to get the most benefit. The site plays a selection of music loops while visitors browse other sections which include a biography and four video clips.

Catskills Records has a jukebox of recent tunes from Pepe Deluxe and Hardkandy and Puma Strut includes music from Chubby Digits and Bobby Boucher. The Catskills site also provides a list of links to sites for Yogi Kitty, Cat Boxing and Punk Kittens.

Music fans who prefer downloading music to listening online should head for Marine Parade's site.

The label is probably best known as the home of DJ Adam Freeland and the site features contributions from him, Pulse and Evil Nine.

The site is among the most download-friendly and fans will find desktop wallpaper and screensavers, alongside MP3 downloads and interactive games.

The music downloads include mixes by Freeland, ILS and Evil Nine and a collection of weird and wonderful samples.

Tru Thoughts is one of Brighton's best known labels, both for its records and the club nights it runs in the city.

The site is probably the most thorough of any Brighton-based label and includes details of how to submit a demo tape. Playlists from previous broadcasts help you keep up with latest tunes.

It also links to the TotallyRadio internet radio site, which hosts a show, Unfold, by Robert Luis.

Full Frontal Recordings, which hosts the Orion's Gate club night and is home to music duo, Duel, has a much smaller site, albeit one which claims to be WAP-enabled for mobile internet users.

Other sites include BN1 Recordings, an independent dance music record label, which contains only the most basic information and Born To Dance records, which is in its infancy but contains information about the label and its studio.

There are more sites to explore but these are a good starting point for finding out about the city's own brand of beach music.

www.skint.net
www.gutterandstars.com
www.midfieldgeneral.com
www.the-boutique.co.uk
www.tru-thoughts.co.uk
www.catskillsrecords.com
*www.bn1recordings.com
www.pumastrut.com
www.blue-juice.com
www.positivesounds.com
www.marineparade.co.uk
www.fullfrontalrecordings.co.uk
www.borntodance.com