The Weekly DiScussion: How do you DiScover new music?

The only print I read is OMM, and that isn't all great. Primarily here, CMG and support slots at shows

thing that has done more for me recently than anything else has been the 'Top 66' list. myspace does nothing for me. This place and music press, really

Here, myspace, other websites - The Downloader being one of the best, gigs, word of mouth, local 'zines...the list is endless.

though we all have to say 'the internet' but really most music that makes you actually want to punch the nearest person to you with joy is usually discovered serendipitiously and can be 'streamed' on any form of media you just happen to be near. It just means now that there are more to choose from.

This is for old and new music of all genres.

of mouth at gigs etc... i just came on to this topic to read what everyone else had put and there i was confronted with Terris at the top of the article, i haven't heard of them for fucking ages, i will have to listen to Fabricated Lunacy when i get home. Whatever happened to them?

and the phrase 'new and exciting' only really works if it is and does that matter where you source it from?

Of course believing print before you hear can be misleading but sometimes being informed by a good dj can encourage you do seek out that band than someone sending you a demo via myspace. That's all I can be bothered to write for now.

places like this, occasionally the broadsheets but i seem to take them less and less seriously. Haven't heard anything on the radio that has sounded interesting for ages, but i don't listen in the evenings so miss most of it. I used to read a lot of print media, esp word and uncut, which i enjoyed and was previously my most used avenue. Not so much now though, and i found i never listened to the free CDs much either - always more useful in theory than in practice. Also having a job means i have far less time to listen to music, so i'm buying less too. I only ever use myspace and youtube to check out things i have already read about/heard, and want to discover a wee bit more about. They are very useful for that.

is why Terris are included in the opening salvo.

There's always a rat in separate.

This is something I've been thinking about a lot lately. It used to be Music magazines, and MTV2 did nothing but play peoples selections for an hour (That was brilliant, I saw some awesome stuff on there) I picked up loads of stuff from there (Aphex Twin anyone?)

Nowadays it's 75% blogs, DIS and label messageboards and 25% stuff recomended by friends.

The article put's it quite well, the way to find music has changed, probably for the better, but then again it's so easy to get saturated by the volume of stuff out there you struggle to boil it down to what you REALLY want to listen to on a regular basis...

the times they are a changing..

everything great that ive heard over the past year or so has come from these message boards, i dont listen to radio at all or read any magazines newspapers. if i keep seeing a band being mentioned on the music forum i check out their myspace and if their any good i download and/or buy the album

when a band I like mentions their influences in an interview I'll check them out. That often leads to checking out those bands' influences and so on. Friends recommendations play a part too. I read magazines like the Wire and Mojo, webzines like Buddyhead, Pitchfork and here. MP3 blogs like Buddyhead, cocaine blunts and aquarium drunkard for example. Plus if I know and like a label I will check out their new signings. Myspace is very occassionally useful for finding bands - Shoot It Up added me the other day and they are amazing. Radio and music television play a tiny role in me finding out about new bands.

I think over the last few years the place I've found most new bands from is the free cd with Rock Sound, Your Code Name Is:Milo, Hey! Colossus, Youthmovies, Circa Survive, Blood Brothers, Subtle, Jesu all came for me from there.

I find very little about bands I like from Magazines due to A) the hyperbol that surrounds certains, B) music preferences of the writers, C) the way sometimes a band if described as sounding like so and so when they're actually not or no where near as good.

Also you have to think about the financial costs of new music, not everyone can buy every good cd out there, especially since I've started University I have to be more cynical and cautious about what cds I buy, SPECIALLY since the indie shops I like to give money are very bad when it come to swapping unwanted cds (understandably).

The DIS board is a good place also but has the same restrictions as magazines, with the slight advantage that links to places such as myspace can be provided and visited instantly and you can usually listen to a recommended band/artist straight away. I think thats probably how alot of people here came about Los Campinos (sp?) for example.

Although I don't have MTV2 is I'm ever round a friends house I'll check it out, and 120 min (even though arguably it's not as good as it was). Around the middle of summer MTV2 introduced me to:

CCS - Let's Make Love (I've not seen the single yet)

The Gossip - Listen Up (I purchased the album)

Metric's Monster Hospital (I purchased the single)

on the day time shows and the LazyB - Underwear Outside The Pants on the 120mins show

I used to listen to the Zane Lowe show the problem with him for me is he plays alot of average stuff (arguably to keep up his indie cred.) and after a while what he was playing didn't fulfil my needs so I went on to late night One Music shows where not only a wider variety is played, the DJs seem more interested in playing good music than scoring scene points, as it where, and the shows havn't been identified by major labels as a way of selling their new 'product' as it seems to be on Zane Lowe's show.

The only problem with those shows is that not always can everything they play be gotten a hold of and the amount of stuff they play can be overwhelming at times. Specially if it's all good stuff.

I guess the main away alot of people still discover new music (or even old music), whatever the level (mainstream/underground etc) is through friends recomendations, and hearing cds friends play, I came across Bill Hicks (ok, not music but an example) through a friend who I know has good taste and I introduced him to 65 Days Of Static and Elbow in return.

Myspace is still the best place to 'hear' new music, whoever the owners are, and even if it is one of the worse sites online...get a better server damn it!

In order of importance:

1. Gigs

Time permitting, I try and make an effort to watch the support act, especially if I haven't heard of them before. This means I have seen an awful lot of dross, but the occasional gem makes it all worthwhile. Festivals and one-dayers are usually good for discovering new bands as well, in particular at the less mainstream ones (think ATP, Homefires, STA all-dayer, etc.)

2. Personal recommendation

I have several friends who listen to music a lot and whose judgement I trust. They play new stuff when I am around, or ask me to come with them to gigs, or make me compilations. I also have friends with terrible music taste. I politely ignore their recommendations. They think I'm a snob.

3. Record shops

This only applies to the independent ones. Walk into them. Read the little sticker on the cover, often it has a useful description. Ask the man behind the counter what's on the stereo. Go so often that they start mentioning cool stuff to you. Even better, they may start keeping promo copies for you behind the counter.

4. Mailing lists

The better record shops, labels and promoters will send you an email on a regular basis detailing their latest releases or gigs, often referencing bands in a similar vein. Just mention the magic words "Low" or "Mogwai" and you have my full attention.

5. Internet

Otherwise I wouldn't be here. But you have to be careful, because just the fact that a lot of nerds rave about a band (hello Mars Volta!) doesn't mean it will appeal to my peculiar taste in music. And I never look at the DiScover site. Or Last.fm. The Hype Machine is very useful on the other hand.

6. Radio

Not too often, but the occasional show on Resonance FM may make me reach for pen and paper to scribble down the name of some obscure Albanian jazzfunk duo, and a mad Internet search will ensue as a result.

7. Podcasts

I used to download the DiS ones, but I found the tinny sound played over my big stereo a bit irritating, and the presenters always seemed to mumble, so I had to search for a tracklisting, which wasn't always up at the same time as the podcast was published. It all seemed to much effort and not enough result.

8. Printed music press

I haven't read the NME in so long, etc.

9. Printed newspapers

Nope.

10. TV

TVs are for watching football, and nothing else.

In conclusion, in the last 10 years the way I discover new music has expanded, but with the exception maybe of the printed music press, none of the old methods have been replaced, or even diminished.

DiS, Organ and other music websites and then pop on interesting seeming bands' websites and piefaces.

i also do tape and cd trading with friends in other cities and am not averse to buying compilations from good/interesting labels (ie. second natures' This Changes Everything introduced me to kid kilowatt, isis and blood brothers)

finally, i listen to podcasts - mainly from resonanceFM and CombatMusicRadio.

The printed press is either aimed at the young and dumb or the aged and nostalgic; the radio is mainly mush, music TV is worse...

is now pretty much my main source for new music.
I check Pitchfork daily- nice to know that they'll have five new reviews a day, and the little bit of text for each one is normally pretty useful in letting me know whether I'm gonna be fussed with it or not. Lots of reviews on there have intrigued me enough to investigate the band further. DiS, on the other hand, hasn't seemed to put me on to anything I haven't already heard about/ already like. Yet it's still a (now) daily visit.

Myspace is my main way of hearing the music now (better than having to download an mp3, and then having the slight inconvenience of deleting it if I don't like it)- when it's working properly that is, stupid thing. Googling a band's name (e.g. read about in Pitchfork or elsewhere) and 'myspace' is usually my first port of call.
I also like clicking on the 'friends' of music bands I like- especially the ones with the more interesting pictures. Have found a few good bands that way. The only good band to have randomly found and invited me to be a 'friend' are Kinit Her (http://www.myspace.com/kinither) who immediately enticed me in with the spooky goblin-like singing of theirs. Other than that, a whole heap of shite bands keep trying to be my friend.

And another daily check is Planet Sound on teletext- nice music stuffs to read there, and sometimes interesting stuff is mentioned there that will lead me to investigate more.

I'm pretty geeky in my music hunting now. Even have an excel sheet of bands to investigate, with separate sheets for those that have been later dismissed or have been accepted into my cd collection. & so last.fm appeals to my geeky nature, and so I use that, but I don't think it has yet led to me finding any new bands. Pandora was kind of interesting, but after listening to too much rubbish suggestions I gave up on that too.

Don't ever buy any more printed magazines though (now that Comes With A Smile has finished). Unless if they had a compilation cd that looked good, but not often. Can't remember the last NME I bought- thankfully been a few years now. Still give it a little glance in the reviews section if I'm in WHSMITH, as well as Uncut and Mojo, but none seem worth my money any more.

But yes, the internet's where it's 'at' for me. The written word (or pretty picture) entices me, and then I investigate it for myself with more words or whatever sound samples I can hear. Better than putting myself through the chore of the radio or music-television.

... and magazines personally i like gigs. Not high profile ones just randomn ones, small venues, relatively unknown bands, good atmosphere, cheep night out and usually coming away loving the band: it's a win/win situation. BUT it takes places like DiS to promote these sort of things and review the bands. There is so much trash in the charts at the moment its unbelievable so I rely on DiS, myspace and purevolume.com to give me ideas etc...
personally i would like more low-key gigs/details of them so i can judge for myself and generally have a good night out.

or just from other bands, they all link to each other in one or another. Labels seem pretty influential for finding new bands.

Gigs, friends' recommendations, websites and reviews, a couple of forums I go on.

Then I go on the bands' website or Myspace and check out some songs. If I like them enough, I'll buy their albums and catch their shows. For me, magazines and the radio are totally uninvolved.

artrocker,playlouder and ofcourse drowned in sound are really great sources for finding new music. i depend on them lots

don't trust 'em...always give top marks, too nicey nicey if you please

Circa 1996 I got into music through a mixture on mixtapes, M2 and Lamaq with a splodge of the NME. Since then Lamaq has become Lowe and infinately more dull, my friends dont "do" mixtapes cos it's the naughties you know! and MTV2 is the bastard version of M2, not to mention the crapheap that is the NME these days.

In between all this around 2001 I read a review of Jimmy Eat World's Bleed American which has been lovingly re-mastered here http://www.drownedinsound.com/release/view/2718 and basicly for the first time in ages I bought something on the strength of a review.

Today Jimmy Eat World are one of my all time favourite bands, and since then I have been on Dis on an almost daily basis. The best thing about this site is that I can read a review and from that get a rough idea what a band sounds like. Then if I like the sound of it I will try a website or download something if I can to see if they are for me. The podcast series was particularly good and I'd hope that someday you will find time to put a few more out.

Today a few more of my friends reccomend me music and do me compilation CD's which have opened me up to more new music, but it is getting much harder for me to seek out new stuff that's actually any good. Dis has been the pivotal source for most of what I find out about for about half a decade and I hope it will continue until I'm saying "them Prodigy's were a reet good mellow act back in my day you don't know you're born you scamp!"

Oh I found out about Minus The Bear through a friend, but then came on here almost knowing there'd be glowing reviews of it. Wierd eh?!

It's a combination of print, online and live music.
I tend to pick up on new stuff through whatever's generating a buzz in the media, either print or online. Then there's word of mouth, through people and online forums.
Print wise - there's NME, Q, Mojo that I buy on at least a semi-regualr basis. I tend to view 'next big things' in NME especially a little wearily, as they change their mind every 5 seconds, but they do occasionally strike gold.
Online - there's you lot here, NME.com, and again forums. Can't say I've got into DiScover yet though, but maybe I will.
Finally, there's gigs - I always pay close attention to support bands, when a lot of people go off to the bar or what have you. I've got into several bands through support gigs (examples being iForward, Russia!; We Are Scientists; Mumm-Ra; MC Lars, etc). Some are bands or artists that I would probably find out about at some point anyway, but some aren't (notably for me, MC Lars - not the sort of act I would usually give a second glance/listen to).

So, yeah, that's my £0.02.

Read the Stool Pigeon, it's a great way to discover new bands.

and it used to be DiS

Now it's a clever combination of . .

Hype Machine (favourite ones being headphonesex and 20JFG)
Last.fm
Myspace
Radioblog

I was reading the Ofcom regulations for all Radio today and they basically tell us that Radio is so last century and that Digital radios will be taking over soon.

Probably true.

Good call on the mixtapes front.

I usually discover new music by downloading a shit load of it through boards like ateaseweb.com and then creating mixtapes out of it through software like The Filter which I can wack on my mobile phone and listen to. I find that's pretty much the only way I can sift through all of the crap I download.

I don't really buy stuff on the strength of reviews, cos people just make shit up...remember reading a really glowing review of 'solomon bites the worm' by some band whose name I can never remember, that described it as being really spanish/mexican sounding...and being bowled over when I realised the three minutes of bog standard nineties indie toilet water, was in fact, said single.

Hype machine. Whoops.

...in terms of the internet, all the new tools that are available, from the likes of DiS and Stylus, through MySpace, to Last.fm and the Hype Machine just add to some organic way of discovering things.
The more little snippets you hear, or the more times you stumble across nice words about a certain band, the more likely you are to check them out.
I think it's quite a natural process, that no tool has really successfully streamlined as each has it's strengths, weaknesses and limitations - but they all form part of a jigsaw of peer recommendations, track previews and just creating interest.

I've discovered..
A: Loads of bands/artists i'd never heard of before and
B: Stuff that people on DiS have raved about but hadn't yet heard. I.E A win-win situation. I sit there with a notepad jotting down band names!

I occasionally buy Music Week and local fanzines.

I'm actually a bit bored of people ramming 'new' music down my throat all the time and have found a piece of software called The Filter (free to download at www.thefilter.com or .net or something like that) that gives me really good playlists from my own library. I'm hearing classics I'd forgotten that I had.

It does give new music recommendations too but it's not necessarily new music but because it knows what you own it doesn't recommend tracks you already own.

All in all a pretty cool application
Pip

Reviews - Cokemachineglow, Drownedinsound, Metacritic, Pitchfork, Popmatters, Stylus, Tinymixtapes

Blogs - Stereogum, Largehearted Boy, Gorilla vs. Bear, Said the Gramophone, Fluxblog

Other sites - I Love Music, Last.fm, Allmusic, Amazon

Independent record shops - especially one clerk in particular who shares my current tastes almost identically, yet has knowledge that extends even further and can always make a good recommendation

People/friends/word of mouth - to some degree, since most people have shitty taste in music (even most of my friends)

Gigs - this is a smaller factor for me than it seems to be for a lot of people here; I mostly choose to see live bands that I already love

Local college radio - on occasion

I don't think anyone's suggested these ones yet:

1. Playing gigs with other bands. That's alerted me to Hunting Lodge, Mystery Jets and The Laurel Collective. You end up seeing bands that you wouldn't normally.

2. Music reviewing! I've found some really odd stuff in the post that I've ended up loving. It's all luck but sometimes lightning strikes.

3. Crouched in front of Papa's record cabinet. I know we're all a bit old and way too cool for this, but going through the old man's vinyl and asking "Dad, what do Stone The Crows sound like?" can yield great results.

6. This one's kinda nerdy too: Allmusic.com isnt the most passionately written thing but it's good for getting the links between bands; who's playing with who.

but you figured that out already, right?

Last.fm reccomendations I find the most useful, as it learns what you listen to and give you reccomendations based on that. It also tells you the band's most popular songs/albums and gives you somewhere to start with them. The reccomendations on here aren't as good as I am too lazy to go and rate all the bands I listen to.

MTV2 is also good, as long as it's not Txt, Drugs & Rock'n'Roll, then it just plays My Chemical Romance on a loop. Things like 120 minutes and when they play something for 2 hours (like DIY Disco), I type every track into The Hype Machine.

it's fucking great :)

is the SHIT! (admittedly biased) reviews, audioclips and buy buttons! Terrible for the bank balance though...

Stool Pigeon? I love that. It's the only music newspaper, it's free and I've never heard of anyone in it. Ace. The writing's of a very high standard too.

But also to lessening extents:

Pitchfork
Absolutepunk
NME

People are my usual source - by it people i know or people on the internet.

Say you're on a messageboard with 2000 people who share your taste, then you start to rely on popular choices on that board suiting your tastes. I find that on the Biffy Clyro board, but thats just me.

Reviews on the internet or in mags are great, but even a 10/10 'best record of the year' review doesnt often lead to me buying it unless i happen to hear a song off it or get advised it by somebody with taste alike to my own.

It's a shame reviews dont cound for as much as they used to (in my opinion), it's something i've thought about a lot since i started writing for a national music mag (albeit a small one).

To me it feels as if reviews are there mostly to please or upset the existing fanbase of the artist, and keep them interesting in the print/online publication. As to how much reviews influence music buying trends, i'm not too sure anymore.

First things first...I'm not mentioning my radio show to give myself a plug - but that is honestly how I have found out about some of the most amazing music in the past couple of years which I'm sure would otherwise have passed me by.

Since John Peel died, and since I stopped read the eNeME a few years earlier, my sources of inspiration have dried up somewhat.

I've been doing the show for nearly 3 years now, and I've built up a good relationship with various pluggers. Admittedly I get sent some dross, but I am amazed by the quality of some of these artists that would otherwise have passed me by.

The fact that hardly anyone listens to my show (apologies and many thanks to those who actually do!) , doesn't upset me because I love my own voice, but simply because I think these acts deserve to be heard by more people.

I also think the internet has done great things for new artists. I get approached directly this way by quite a few acts, and it's so much easier for them, and me, than it would have been 10, or even just 5 years ago.

The radio is probably my main source for hearing new bands, Xfm, and Radio One. I love Zane Lowe and John Kennedy's shows.

Seeing friends bands, local bands, university bands, going to as many gigs as I can. Your friends band can easily be the next 'big thing', if they have good tunes, an image and a following.

I do buy NME but i don't rely on it for all new music. I'm gonna get involved with my uni radio station which I rekon will be great for accessing new music.

MySpace is good for hearing new music but unless the band is suggested by another source, how are u gonna find them? MySpace is just the tip of the iceberg though, nothing beats live music thats why events like Crawl are so important, exposing such a lot of music in one place. I think the best way to find new bands is through other bands.