I don’t listen to the radio, but do listen to Radio@Netscape quite often. I don’t have MTV or MuchMusic or any of the other music television stations. I have acquired some new interests in music as of late by making some new friends whose musical tastes were in a slightly different direction than I have been, but where there was plenty of common ground for me to discover some artists that I’d previously not paid any attention to. This, of course, has led me to wanting to purchase these CDs.
when i first heard the sex pistols album…(it woke me up)…it was a few years after they were disbanded i had to hunt for good music…the mainstream Philly radio scene was not new band friendly…so i had to really get out my search tools to look for new music…started hanging out with new people who had alot of new music to let me hear…every few years Philly radio would try the new music thing and then revert back to classic rock…boy did i hate classic rock for the longest time…(getting back to it a little now)…but college radio…people…movies…they are some leads to help to find new music
The Internet. I go to the websites of my favorite bands and discover the bands that they like, I lurk at message boards and discover the bands their fans like, and I get recommendations from this board. There are also many websites devoted to various genres and sub-genres that have reviews and information, and I browse them. Then I try out the music through the miracle of sites like sonicnet.com and buy the stuff I like.
I’ll second the idea of going to the band’s website and checking out their links. Also, review sites are good. I’ve found good stuff at Amazon.com, too, using the “Other Users Purchased These Albums” and people’s lists of CDs. You should say what kind of music you’ve been getting into, then people could recommend some good sites and even some good bands/artists you might like.
Allmusic.com is a fairly handly internet source. It has band bios and album reviews as well as links to similar artists, roots & influences, followers, and formal connections.
I was thinking about starting this thread; thanks for making it, Karmic. My most consistent source is CBCRadio3.com (But I haven’t checked it in a while). Canadian bands mostly. It usually has a few gems among the 20 songs on each issue. It’s kind of a magazine, with some cool stories and occasionally awesome photography.
Since I also avoid pop radio & TV, I’d have to say…right here in Cafe Society! The best thing is, many recommendations are bands outside my normal (very narrow) range of musical styles.
In the past year or so, my “discoveries” in CS threads have included The Vaselines, Fountains of Wayne, Detroit Cobras, Me First & the Gimme Gimmes and Queens of the Stone Age. All of which - and especially QotSA - are now major features in my record collection :D.
type in random words on P2P programs, see what it comes up with. if i like something from that, i’ll probably buy it.
this message board.
asking people i used to work at tower with. theyre generally up on whats good thats coming out, and can recommend stuff.
You might want to try the Global Network of Dreams, an associative database project that expands as people use it. You type in three of your favourite bands and then the database supplies ten recommendations based on user feedback.
Talking to people, using the “other people who bought this” lists at Amazon, listening to internet radio, looking at the label websites (works better for smaller, more specialized labels), and looking at the liner notes to see who the bands have cited as influences.
I have found SDMB to be most helpful, there was a thread about Radiohead, where several dopers were saying that Radiohead wasn’t the best band around. Being a Radiohead fan I asked what bands they would rate as high or higher than Radiohead. I learnt about Sigur Ros, God Speed You Black Emperor, and a few others from that thread. Another thread about perfect albums gave me Grace by Jeff Buckley which has become a favorite.
If you don’t mind given Amazon lots of consumer info about yourself, you can enter all you favorite music you own into it, and then it will often come up with good choices in its suggestions section (which I then try out, and buy from the local CD shop )
I listen to the DMX channels that come with my digital cable. No commercials, no chattering DJs, and I always see the artist and the title of the songs. They also play music that is more consistent with the format labels of the channels (I usually listen to the hard rock station), only a few dog tracks here and there. The Journal Broadcast Group-owned “alternative rock” radio station here plays too much crap that shouldn’t even be on there, and they don’t play a lot of the stuff I hear on DMX.
Message boards, online discussions, but these are not my main sources:
I dig through the “50 cents a disc” boxes that every used-CD store keeps somewhere under the bins and buy anything that looks interesting; have discovered a lot of obscure artists this way.
And I listen to KEXP, the greatest radio station on the planet (kexp.org)
Message boards, online discussions, but these are not my main sources:
I dig through the “50 cents a disc” boxes that every used-CD store keeps somewhere under the bins and buy anything that looks interesting; have discovered a lot of obscure artists this way.
And I listen to KEXP, the greatest radio station on the planet (kexp.org)
Ha! Glad I’m not the only one… I’ve found 5 or 6 of the CD’s I’ve bought in the last few months because of listening to KEXP, and about 10 more that I want to buy.
Also, as a rabid fan of movie scores, going to the movies often provides me with some new music to listen to at some point.
When I listen to indie radio, I make a list of (nearly) all the artists they mention, then hie on down to the used CD store, where I can listen to them before buying them.
Of course, someone has to have disliked it enough to get rid of it, but there’s always a downside.
I don’t subscribe to Satellite or Cable or Broadband radio, since IME while their indie selection is pretty good over a 24-hour span, they repeat the same thing every day
I leave VH-1 and MTV on late at night (when they actually play music videos), mostly to be background noise for whatever I’m doing. I’ve discovered Maroon 5 and The All-American Rejects this way.
There’s also the iTunes Music Store. Yay for 30-second samples.
