How do you keep up with the music scene?

Buddies

Out of college now with no college radio program, I find myself at a loss for whats new and upcomming in artists/songs. How do you find out your (obscure) music news?

Chanus

NPR's World Cafe is good for the "indie" stuff that's actually low-rung mainstream (good stuff, just not bands playing in abandoned warehouses -- more like just "under the radar").

Don't be so sure you don't have access to college radio... a lot of stations have online web streams you can listen to from anywhere.

Dark_Side

Yeah, for instance KEXP out of Seattle is a wonderful college stationand they've been streaming online for years. Beyond that this is where the internet is your friend. The big hipster-underground review/news site on the net is probably Pitchfork.com. I tend to think their coverage pretty wide, you just have to take the reviews with a grain of salt. There's a few other really good sites too, but I forget them right now.

meeker

Lots and lots of people ask questions in H&A and almost nobody puts a location in their post or bio. It would help a lot in these types of questions.

Aldo

If you're from the US: last.fm. Found lots of interesting new (local) bands that way. Especially when you fill in your location they show you local concerts as well.

THEPAIN73

Last.fm is great for that kinda stuff.

I am more mainstream towards music, but for finding obscure stuff Last.fm is tops.

Deebaser

Pandora.

Chanus

Pandora is alright, but I do find it to be a bit predictable... plus it's not totally free anymore.

I would recommend Last.FM over it.

Deebaser

:shock:

Chanus wrote: »

Pandora is alright, but I do find it to be a bit predictable... plus it's not totally free anymore.

ummm....what?
:shock:
o_O

Chanus

Deebaser wrote: »

:shock:

Chanus wrote: »

Pandora is alright, but I do find it to be a bit predictable... plus it's not totally free anymore.

ummm....what?
:shock:
o_O

They implemented something like 40 hours free per month, and you have to pay if you want more.

This happened in July or August... I haven't used it since then, so I don't know if they went back on that.

Candlemass

Last.fm is definitely a good choice. Down here there are two college radio stations, KUCR (UCR) and KSPC (Pomona College), with some really good shows. KSPC has more diverse shows, adding in a show for metal and one for video game music, but both have their share of djs who play other lesser known music. You can stream them online at www.kspc.org and www.kucr.org.

Another way to find music online is to find a blog or community with people who go out of their way to find new music. If you're into metal at all, there is a thread in D&D that can be very informative and there is an accompanying blog (http://autothrall.blogspot.com/) which does a lot of reviews for new and old releases. If you don't mind using 4chan, their music board has a diverse group of people posting which can help in finding some new.

Finally, depending on where you live, you might want to look into smaller venues. Even if there aren't any around, you can look online at those in other cities. Looking at their upcoming shows lists you can easily find new music to check out. In LA, there are a quite a few, such as The Smell and Pehrspace, if you need any to start.

Tav

The D&D metal blog (Above post, Hi^5 on The Wizard duder) is excellent if you're into that sorta thing.

Page-

If you live in a fairly large city I'd suggest looking for a free local weekly magazine/paper. Many have them, and they're usually centred around local/indie music, concert reviews and movies, so you can skip all the left wing politics (if you like) and whatever else they shove in there.

If you're in Canada you can also look for Exclaim!, which is monthly and also free and deals exclusively with independent music, mostly Canadian.

Nappuccino

I hang around music forums and just see what they're getting excited about. Even if one guy is like "omfg this is the best thing ever" I'll give it a shot and see what's up.


Most of it is just about willing to let yourself experiment and take other people at their word. I've gotten into some great bands that I'd never have heard of if not for the Internet eek bandits for one.

NotYou

Go to live music shows, and music festivals. Great way to find new music.

Deebaser

Chanus wrote: »

Deebaser wrote: »

:shock:

Chanus wrote: »

Pandora is alright, but I do find it to be a bit predictable... plus it's not totally free anymore.

ummm....what?
:shock:
o_O

They implemented something like 40 hours free per month, and you have to pay if you want more.

This happened in July or August... I haven't used it since then, so I don't know if they went back on that.

Well fuck that noise then.

Trus

Radio3.cbc.ca is how I find new music to listen to, but it only plays Canadian indie content so its not perfect.

Casual Eddy

I like sound opinions on NPR, and the AV club has pretty good music reviews.

I get a lot of music from the people around me, see what your friends are into.

RenegadeSilence

I find music blogs that share similar tastes to mine and check them every once a while.

Fletcher

occasionally i take a gander at recent reviews on metacritic.com or similar sites

i mean obviously its more critic-y than radio stations etc.

but you can still corroborate elsewhere

or listen to the track previews on iTunes!

Gafoto

Why has nobody mentioned Pitchfork? Sure they're mostly annoying but they certainly keep track of the latest hot shit to come into the music business.

Nappuccino

Pitchfork has lead me to music that just isn't good and have told me that good music is bad (the mars volta are fucking great, i don't care what pitchfork says).

In other words, if you're going to do reviews, look at lots of websites, not just one- it'll be incredibly biased (and pitchfork is one of the worst about that)

Page-

Pitchfork is fine, but pretty much a given. Didn't think it needed explicit mentions.

cooljammer00

Pitchfork is terrible. They gave Zaireeka a 0 because they couldn't listen to it (Zaireeka is a Flaming Lips album with 4 CDs or something that need to be played at once. The "experience" changes each time, allegedly). I mean, I get that it's a hipster gimmick, but the least you can do is listen to the damn album. You are a review site.

Page-

Meh, that's mostly in the past. They do far fewer PMS rant reviews nowadays, and they're pretty up to date with most news.

Plus, I love Radiohead, and my brother likes Ryan Adams.

Nappuccino

cooljammer00 wrote: »

Pitchfork is terrible. They gave Zaireeka a 0 because they couldn't listen to it (Zaireeka is a Flaming Lips album with 4 CDs or something that need to be played at once. The "experience" changes each time, allegedly). I mean, I get that it's a hipster gimmick, but the least you can do is listen to the damn album. You are a review site.

They also left a review for one of jet's albums as a youtube video of an monkey peeing into its own mouth. Now, as funny as that was, that doesn't not equate to a review. At least tell me why you think its so bad or don't review it at all.

linked here for anyone who doesn't believe me. I'm guessing that isn't really safe for work.

Page-

Some of those ARE appropriate though. I mean, really.

I loved their review of Tool's Lateralus. Because it's true. :x

wallabeeX

Pitchfork is a FANTASTIC way to keep on top of current trends. Just don't read the reviews - listen for yourself.

Personally, I use a combination of Pitchfork, friends, Gorilla Vs. Bear, KCRW (Los Angeles NPR), KXLU (Los Angeles college radio), and my private torrent tracker.

Eat it You Nasty Pig.

Zaireeka deserves a 0 for being impossible to listen to.

Last.fm is really the OP's best bet.

zenon

People need to stop being intimidated by hipsters, and realize that they can have a sense of humor too.

Pitchfork falls apart when you start to take it too seriously.

Nappuccino

they can be humorous and have integrity too.

Page-

I don't see how they don't have integrity. If they don't like a few albums you like, so what? They gave So Jealous like a 6 or something and that's one of the most beloved albums in my collection.

Are you implying that Jet is a good band or that Zaireeka wasn't retarded? Keep in mind that I love the Flaming Lips and so does Pitchfork; they've given all their good albums good reviews. However, I've never been able to listen to Zaireeka, and I doubt most others have. I've read reviews that talk about how amazing it is when you get it synced up just right, or how it has infinite replay value because you can DJ it yourself and start each disk at a different time, so each listening experience is completely unique. Well, fuck those guys -- I barely own one stereo right now, and I'm not getting 4 just so I can listen to one album. I'd have given it shitty marks as well.

cooljammer00

Nappuccino wrote: »

cooljammer00 wrote: »

Pitchfork is terrible. They gave Zaireeka a 0 because they couldn't listen to it (Zaireeka is a Flaming Lips album with 4 CDs or something that need to be played at once. The "experience" changes each time, allegedly). I mean, I get that it's a hipster gimmick, but the least you can do is listen to the damn album. You are a review site.

They also left a review for one of jet's albums as a youtube video of an monkey peeing into its own mouth. Now, as funny as that was, that doesn't not equate to a review. At least tell me why you think its so bad or don't review it at all.

linked here for anyone who doesn't believe me. I'm guessing that isn't really safe for work.

I forgive them for that because I actually found their review of Jet's first album very humorous. It's written in the style of a backstage dialogue between the band and the venue owner.

Nappuccino

Page- wrote: »

I don't see how they don't have integrity. If they don't like a few albums you like, so what? They gave So Jealous like a 6 or something and that's one of the most beloved albums in my collection.

Are you implying that Jet is a good band or that Zaireeka wasn't retarded? Keep in mind that I love the Flaming Lips and so does Pitchfork; they've given all their good albums good reviews. However, I've never been able to listen to Zaireeka, and I doubt most others have. I've read reviews that talk about how amazing it is when you get it synced up just right, or how it has infinite replay value because you can DJ it yourself and start each disk at a different time, so each listening experience is completely unique. Well, fuck those guys -- I barely own one stereo right now, and I'm not getting 4 just so I can listen to one album. I'd have given it shitty marks as well.

Here's what you do- get a free music editing program (like, Audacity) and load up the individual mp3's for each track then mix and match. Its really easy to do.

And no, I'm not saying that jet is a good band but a monkey pee-ing on it self says nothing about the actual music content on the cd. If its bad, explain why, that's all i ask.

Page-

That's the reason I love their Lateralus review. Because it's written as a "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" essay. By I guy I used to know.

That's not really fair considering that Zaireeka was released in 1997.

And a review they'd written for that Jet album probably would have been just a long metaphor, maybe even one about a monkey peeing into his own mouth. A picture says a thousand words, I suppose.

Nappuccino

Page- wrote: »

That's the reason I love their Lateralus review. Because it's written as a "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" essay. By I guy I used to know.

That's not really fair considering that Zaireeka was released in 1997.

So it was ahead of its time, why are people complaining about it being impossible to listen to today?

And the video says nothing informative.

Page-

Nappuccino wrote: »

Page- wrote: »

That's the reason I love their Lateralus review. Because it's written as a "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" essay. By I guy I used to know.

That's not really fair considering that Zaireeka was released in 1997.

So it was ahead of its time, why are people complaining about it being impossible to listen to today?

And the video says nothing informative.

I'd imagine the review for it citing that it was impossible to listen to would have come out around the same time.

And I got the joke right away. Speaking to your audience isn't a bad thing.

Nappuccino

Do you mean the joke about the monkey peeing?

Sure, its funny. Sure people will "get it." but that is something I expect Cracked.com to do.

Page-

Writing negative reviews is an art in any genre. A lot of critics know this and put forth the extra effort rather than just saying "it's bad." Negative reviews are often more fun to read than positive reviews anyway, and I'm sure every single person who went to pitchfork to read a review of Jet's second album knew EXACTLY what they were getting into.

Nappuccino

You seem to be missing the point in the context of this tread. The op wants to find new music, people suggest pitchfork and, if he goes there assuming that all the reviews will clearly explain why or why not a band he has never heard of is worth listening to he will not always get that. He may be left scratching head thinking "well, ok, that says nothing to me" because there are a number of reviews like that. Particularly of semi-popular bands that are just edging out into the mainstream.

zenon

If these non sequitur style reviews were coming out of a site like The A.V. Club no one would be complaining. This criticism of Pitchfork relies on the reader looking up to the writer as some sort of 'in-the-loop hipper-than-thou' god, and not an internet journalist who is more than entitled to have fun with their material.

Remember, you're not paying anything for Pitchfork reviews. You are not entitled to anything. Let them have their fun.