How to discover new music?

[Soniclife]

I do a bunch of different stuff mentioned above, including listening to actual radio, mainly BBC 6 Music.

An idiosyncratic approach I use a bit that works really well with streaming services is to get some software to display a full screen of new albums as front covers, and then without reading anything just see if a cover interests you, for whatever reason, this is a don't think exercise, then hit play. Oddly this works as well or better than other music recommendation systems I know.

 

[cyruz]

When I was younger I relied on reviews a lot, until I learned that there's nothing objective in music when you conceive it as art.

After I surrounded myself with people appreciating my tastes, my music library increased a lot, thanks to friends advices.

Next step was to fine-tune and comprehend my taste, trying to create a subset of genres that I appreciate the most. Researching into these genres, their history and all contaminations allowed to me discover a lot of stuff I didn't imagine before.

Final step was researching the artists and composers that were part of all the groups I liked. This lead me to an impressive amount of information, branched like a tree, where I discovered other interesting artists and even some unknown genres.

This and all wonderful discovering services provided by Spotify.

 

[Jimbob54]

When I was younger I relied on reviews a lot, until I learned that there's nothing objective in music when you conceive it as art.

After I surrounded myself with people appreciating my tastes, my music library increased a lot, thanks to friends advices.

Next step was to fine-tune and comprehend my taste, trying to create a subset of genres that I appreciate the most. Researching into these genres, their history and all contaminations allowed to me discover a lot of stuff I didn't imagine before.

Final step was researching the artists and composers that were part of all the groups I liked. This lead me to an impressive amount of information, branched like a tree, where I discovered other interesting artists and even some unknown genres.

This and all wonderful discovering services provided by Spotify.

I'd agree with this. Reading about music and artists, as well as lots of listening is key.

Reviews are useful more for what reference points they use regarding other artists and genres - not so much the comments about the record itself. But of course you need to have a decent depth of knowledge to understand the references in that case.

 

[Katji]

Soundcloud [and Bandcamp]...newsfeed style, Dj/producers and record labels and magazines that I follow. And some work. 20-30 seconds, skip forward...If it seems maybe good, leave it and see. If I want to listen to it again, check if download option is enabled, or linked, otherwise do I want it enough that I accept the Soundcloud 128kbps stream.
That's it, basically. Only mixes nowadays. Most of the time I don't know the individual track titles or producers. The magazine mixes /podcasts/ usually have interviews, sometimes I screenshot them...all goes in the ID3 tags.

 

[bluefuzz]

Beefheart was a composer, he taught those taut lines to his Magic Band.

There's no doubt that Don van Vliet was one of the greatest musical visionaries of the 20th century, but if you read between the lines of a few Magic Band interviews then it is quite obvious that the Magic Band's input to those compositions – at least post Trout Mask – was rather more than Don would care to admit ...

Turned me on to this delicious musical insanity:

That video's great but the Music is pretty dull IMO. I'm sure everyone has heard of Babymetal but they are hard to beat for J-Pop insanity – although the the 'Baby' is a bit of a misnomer – the girls being in their 20s by now:

 

[cyruz]

That video's great but the Music is pretty dull IMO. I'm sure everyone has heard of Babymetal but they are hard to beat for J-Pop insanity – although the the 'Baby' is a bit of a misnomer – the girls being in their 20s by now:

I'm usually fascinated by Japan and everything coming from there but this is an abort

 

[StefaanE]

I’m into older music, with a special predilection for piano and violin concertos, and I tend to take a period and country and go digging in encyclopaedias and find forgotten or little-known composers. There is often a lot of material in the archives of national radios. I found a downloadable version of František Drdla’s violin concerto in the library of the Czech radio, for example. Labels such as Hyperion are also quite good when it comes to resuscitating forgotten music. Then there is the little-played music of the well-known composers. One can discover a lot of delightful music in complete editions of Bach, Mozart, Ravel etc.

 

[Katji]

[...]I'm sure everyone has heard of Babymetal but they are hard to beat for J-Pop insanity – although the the 'Baby' is a bit of a misnomer – the girls being in their 20s by now:

Love it! I had to turn the volume down, wasn't expecting heavy metal - I saw J-Pop and wondered how it is compared to K-Pop. Great dancers!

 

[bluefuzz]

this is an abort

You sir, have no taste! ;-)

 

[Robin L]

You sir, have no taste! ;-)

My thoughts went straight to Shonen Knife.

 

[Katji]

I’m into older music, with a special predilection for piano and violin concertos, and I tend to take a period and country and go digging in encyclopaedias and find forgotten or little-known composers. There is often a lot of material in the archives of national radios. I found a downloadable version of František Drdla’s violin concerto in the library of the Czech radio, for example. Labels such as Hyperion are also quite good when it comes to resuscitating forgotten music. Then there is the little-played music of the well-known composers. One can discover a lot of delightful music in complete editions of Bach, Mozart, Ravel etc.

Friend suggested internet radio yesterday, something .fr, later I made a mental note to look for some that do channels or shows that might do solo piano, so now I must make an actual note. ...I'm very limited with classical, all that made it from CD to computer is Satie and Leoš Janáček. ...I seem to be missing some Satie, I thought I'd ripped them all.

 

[bluefuzz]

My thoughts went straight to Shonen Knife.

Good thoughts! ;-)

Evqually fine: Afrirampo

 

[Robin L]

Good thoughts! ;-)

Evqually fine: Afrirampo

Interesting noise they make. Great visuals. Wonder what kind of drugs are in circulation over in Japan?
Kyary Pamyu Pamyu's music might be anodyne, but the visuals are downright hallucinogenic:

In closing:

One more thing:

 

[FrantzM]

Most of the time I rely on Roon radio service. It does a very good job of taking my starting point and then playing similar tracks.

+1
Spotify is also very good.

 

[StefaanE]

Friend suggested internet radio yesterday, something .fr, later I made a mental note to look for some that do channels or shows that might do solo piano, so now I must make an actual note. ...I'm very limited with classical, all that made it from CD to computer is Satie and Leoš Janáček. ...I seem to be missing some Satie, I thought I'd ripped them all.

Janáček is great. Káťa Kabanová, Taras Bulba, the Sinfonietta, and of course the second string quartet. Lovely music.

 

[Propheticus]

Pick a track on Spotify I like in a genre I'm in the mood for > Start a track radio > Find other tracks that are great and click like.
Or play a curated mood/genre radio, then find something great and start a radio based on that track...

 

[paulraphael]

I don't love using Spotify / Apple Music recommendations. Their algorithms often pick music that's exactly like what I already like. So the discoveries are mostly just new samples of the same old thing.

What's worked best for me was having friends who are serious music heads. They did the heavy lifting by listening to everything. They'd share the best of it. Years ago I worked at MTV (which hasn't been about music since the 20th century, but lots of music lovers work there). Half my music library is based on what I discovered thanks to my coworkers.

But I'm not there anymore, and my cool music-head friends have moved on to serious jobs and are raising families, so I'm mostly on my own. I sometimes find stuff by going down rabbit holes on youtube and Apple Music and Bandcamp.

Allmusic.com is also great for research. The critics are excellent, and if you look up a band that you like, you stand to learn about all their associations—their predecessors, their influences, their members' side projects, their collaborators, projects started by the leader after the band broke up, etc. etc... Many ways to find new stuff. The reviews also help you decide where to start.

 

[Jimbob54]

How can there be too many songs?

I find Spotify's various recommendation features excellent. 'Discover weekly', Artist/Song radios, 'Made for you' etc. It helps if you have varied tastes and remember to 'like' new songs/artists to add them to your library (and to actually play them once added). Otherwise it can get in a rut of only recommending the same handful of artists/tracks. Tidal's recommendations were dreadful in comparison, so obviously not all streaming services are created equal. It's a bad day I don't discover at least one new artist or track I like on Spotify ...

I agree Spotify is better straight off the bat. But if you have Tidal long enough, with a good play history and lots of favs its very good for suggesting new releases. When I had been a member a year or so, the first row of the "new releases for you" was exactly what I wanted to get that week based on reviews and release schedules and other research I had done. Spotify doesnt quite get that right.

But hell, rejoined Tidal and without that deep history, its woeful at recommending. But at least it tries, unlike Qobuz which seems to be an algorithm free zone as best I can tell.

 

[Wes]

I just hang out in the coffee shops in North Beach

 

[Sukie]

I tend to get ideas from the likes of Pitchfork. I'm also old fashioned enough to subscribe to a monthly printed music mag (Uncut) which I really enjoy and which often points me in the direction of good new releases.

I'm a recent "convert" to Roon and it's a +1 from me on Roon Radio and general Roon recommendations. I never understood the appeal of Roon until I started using it.