Hey I’m Andrew and I’m hanging out at Spark for a couple of weeks. And I need your assistance. I promise, I’m not asking for money, nor am I a Nigerian prince. I’m simply a music lover in distress.
At the start of 2012 I gave myself a goal to to discover a new band/musician/composer/ensemble every day for the rest of this year. I’ve been trying hard since then to follow through, with mixed success. My criteria is that if I was sitting in a bar, and this band comes on stage, would I stay for the whole set? If the answer is yes, they go on the list. If the answer is no, I move on and find another band.
I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but the internet is big and there are a lot of songs on it. Lots of songs means lots of crap. Lots of crap means Andrew’s spending a lot of time searching for bands fit for the list.
Sure, there are many websites to help. You’ve got Pitchfork, NME, the Guardian’s band for a day page and loads of blogs, online radio stations and the like. But after searching these pages, I’ve noticed something. In the quest for finding the next big thing, they’ll write about anyone and their banjo. Music overload. When one of these sites does happen to stumble across something really great, the other sites jump on it days later (just search “Devin Therriault” as an example). This ocean’s one thousand miles wide and about an inch deep. What’s a new music hound to do?
There are a few notable exceptions, and one I want to highlight here. Laurie Brown’s Radio 2 program The Signal is, in my not so humble opinion, one of the greatest show on the FM dial or online when it comes to new music. If you haven’t, check it out.
So here’s where I need your help [Webmaster’s note: FINALLY!]. I want you to let me know if you have the same problem I do. Do you find it difficult to find new bands? Where do you go for new music? Get lost in the online music world? Also, I lied. I am a Nigerian prince, and I want to share my vast wealth. All you need to do is let me know the names of some new bands I can add to my list, and I’ll wire the cash to your bank account. [Webmaster’s note: Andrew is not a Nigerian prince. He’s a radio producer.]
I am always looking for new music – it has become an addiction. I scour CBC Radio 3, listen to CBC Radio 2 Q, Canada Live, Morning, and Drive. I also listen to NPR Live Concerts. When this doesn't do the job of helping me find new music I poll friends for any new music that they have discovered. This sounds like an poorly written endorsement for CBC Radio, but it works.
Ha! I worte a plug for the Signal, so I'm guilty as well. You're right: friends are a fantastic way to find new music.
That's a problem nowadays. I'm not really sure from where, or from who, I'll find out a new song or artist. There are tons of sources, literally. Probably You Tube Recomendations. Good luck, you gonna need it.
See, that's exactly what my problem is. There are TOO many places to find new music. I put out this call to see if people know of a gold mine somewhere out there on the web…
I used to really like the YouTube recs. but Vevo now controls a lot of that, and I'm not always nuts about what they sugguest.
Neon Indian, best coast, Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, Beach House, M83, Nurses
Neon Indian is very cool. They're getting loads of paly. Love the sugguestions. Thanks
Local independent music shops remain indispensable for both discovering and acquiring new music. You go enough and you'll have suggestions thrown at you, plus their handy method of removing the actual discs from the cases facilitates listening booths / counters.
Band camp tags, College radio and cbc3 are a nice too.
Great tips. What're Band Camp tags?
http://bandcamp.com/tags
That's wicked. Thanks
CKUA radio in Alberta and everywhere else online at CKUA.com. Simply the best radio station in the country, well except for CBC.
Thanks for the rather awesome suggestion. I have this bookmarked now.
The two folks that I'm listening to a lot nowadays are Fatoumata Diawara and Jane Lui.
I love to discover new music and feel your pain. I tend to agree with you about breadth and depth. A great band a day might be a bit too optimistic. There may be way more bands out there these days but it hasn't (surprisingly) equated to way more good bands – although granted there are more generally.
I used to depend a lot on my DJ friends who'd keep me up-to-date but lately, I find my tastes are too diverse so I dig.
I strongly suggest using a site like hypem.com which is a search engine for music blogs. It takes time but if you spend a half hour a day on there, you're bound to find new music that you like nearly every day. Rummaging through Bandcamp can lead to interesting new discoveries as well. And of course radio shows are a good source too (long live radio!).
I remember a Spark episode about the problems with automatic moderation tools like Pandora. It just doesn't work. Even as a senior developer with 20+ years of experience working especially in music and TV, I don't believe you can take the human out of the equation. I've spent a significant portion of my career with headphones on – it's the most "human" part of my day.
Good luck!
You should try listening to Edge 102. They are way ahead of the curve.
I gave up on radio (for music, so not the cbc) years ago, so I find my music mainly in the background of movies and tv shows! I've found some great bands that way. You likely don't have time to watch hours of tv, but go to http://www.tunefind.com/browse/tv and look at the episodes of your favourite shows and you can listen to snippets of most of them. Good luck!
Believe it or not, I pick up music I like from TV comercials … not so much lately, but I found CSS, Justice, and Nikka Costa that way. In my university years, I worked at the campus's radio station and saw a lot of indie stuff: Sarah Slean, Ani Difranco. And I've been picking up music from the CBC from waaaaay back (Loreena McKennitt). I also got hooked on Imogen Heap thanks to you
The rest is recommendations from friends.
That's all I gots.
Mel
I'm fairly old school when it comes to finding new bands. I have the bands that I like now, and exposure to new bands mostly comes from checking out their tour schedules and seeing who they're touring with, or who else is playing at the same festivals. Another standby is to check out the side projects of different band members, then check out their touring schedules…repeat as necessary.
Concert going by itself is great too. All the different t-shirts of various bands to check out, plus a whole lot of "have you heard the new _____ yet?" For me, it's all about exploring the various types and degrees of connections that links music together. I find that pans out much more often that checking out random musical selections.
Music blogs. Start with the Hype Machine to find a blog post about a track by a band you like; then subscribe to that blog and visit all the blogs that you have in their blogroll. It's a never-ending whatchamacallit.
Last year I decided I was going the free music route (http://www.uncertainform.com/my-year-in-the-bush-of-ghosts/) and never looked back. Not only can you discover a band a day, you can do it without paying a thing.
Sort-of self-promotion: during the week I post a new album with short description most days with the hashtag #yourfreemusictoday. Good luck with your quest!
Back in the day, I used to go to music stores and check out their listening stations. Nowadays, that is much harder to do (mostly because they are far fewer music stores), and I dont have the time!
And yes, there are way too many sources to find new music. I'm not a fan of sources that tell me, "you like bands A and B, so you should like band C!"
I recently downloaded an iOS app called, appropriately, Band of the Day. I like it because it lets you stream a handful of songs (so you won't dismiss them because of one song), gives you full bios, and let's you rate the music, which is helpful if you want to go back later. I also usually download the iTunes free song of the week.
I do check out various online radio stations such as Smooth877.com, I Heart Radio.com (operated by Clear Channel), V103 FM, and even the Last.fm service (the premier site for suggestions for new music). Also, Chitown Smooth Jazz has a section for upcoming artists (called New Releases). Accuradio (operator of Chitown Smooth Jazz) is a good source for new music, and you can create your own custom online station. This service has twelve custom channels specific to the Chicago market, and Accuradio is based in Chicago.
Wow. Amazing sugguestions all around. I want to keep this conversation going. Here's a question I'd love for you to answer: What is the best CD/record store in your town? (please include the name of the town)
Captain Ed's in Michigan City, IN (US) has a large selection of vinyl and CDs in excellent condition. The store also sells rent-to-own furniture, chrome accessories for automobiles, and a large selection of coffee and candy.
There are some sites that either offer this really poorly or in a too focused manner (Amazon, Gnoosic, etc.), but I'd love to see a site called "If You Like This".
Essentially, you type in a band you love and it makes smart recommendations based on style, tempo, tour mates, etc. I think the potential, if done right, would be enough to make Zuckerberg drool. Throw in movies, radio shows, tv shows, books, restaurants, recipes and on and on. I'd be surfing a site like that for hours on end.
The International Music Council
collects articles and news
about music happenings from different countries.
imc-cim.org
Every year while waiting for June's
International Rostrum of composers
I spend time finding the pieces of past years.
http://www.imc-cim.org/index.php?option=com_conte…
It's a wonderful thing, because countries'
radio stations choose their best
composers to be represented.
My Canadian resource for new music
is musiccentre.ca
You can listen to an overwhelming amount of music,
it's the jewel of our land.
http://musiccentre.ca/
The last thing I keep track of
are new music prizes and competitions and
festivals like the Jules Leger Prize.
I discovered two of my favourite
young composers there.
Here're some more that I enjoy and
anxiously wait to
hear new works from.
Analia Llugdar
David Adamcyk
Ana Sokolovic
Brian Current
Jocelyn Morlock
Jordan Nobles
Christien Ledroit
Cheers
It all depends on what you call new music? If you are searching for adventurous music that stretches boundaries may i suggest The Wire from the UK. it scope is global and genre crossing. It explores improvisation, electro-acoustic to experimental hip hop and outside pop.
http://www.thewire.co.uk/
This can take you to a world of music you may never be able to discover elsewhere. I will also say that they search for excellence in music making.
Mike Hansen
The local public library has lots of FREE new & "new-to-you" music in many genres. Check it out!
Anne Driscoll
Does this music have to be recent?
If not, then …
I used to live in Newfoundland.
This was before web 1.0, and a millennium before web 2.0 (whatever those are ) …
Coincident with the beginning of my curiosity about (interesting) music (top 40 got old fast), the CBC
began to broadcast 24 x 7 on what is now Radio 2. This began with two programmes:
Brave New Waves (m-f) and Nightlines (weekend) …
Each show had a (roughly) midnight to 6am slot to fill, and had to be aggressive about finding music and content. They had one rule: no top 40 stuff.
I am sure sanities and minds got close to the edge (or beyond) on numerous occasions, in trying to deal with a quest similar to yours. This was more than a decade before gooGle and search engines.
I loved those shows — I kept a cassette in a deck all the time I listened, and gathered plenty of stuff. A few years in, I had lots of hours of good stuff when I left Newfoundland.
Try the playlists of those shows, if you can find any. You are in the mighty CBC; the stuff is there somewhere. Nightlines came from Vancouver, and Brave New Waves from Montreal. Fax machines (are there any left?) are your friend here.
You want good music; both shows had user based call-in favourites nights, at least once a year.
Those are the playlists you want.
Good music?
In that sense, good almost becomes a four letter word given the variety of tastes.
Host for Brave New Waves: Augusta Lapaix (spelling approx.) then Brent Bambury (still around)
Host for Nightlines: Ron Robinson, then David Wisdom, to whom you should speak.
This stuff _is_ old, but still good. Many of these people (performers featured) are probably still in music.
Just my half-nickel's worth …
I remain,
A random spacestronaute …
(no need to post this as a public comment, just a few hints, poor as they may be)
I'd love to see those playlists, should you find any …