Finding new music

Yep - all posts are valid whether it's a quick description or a full on review. I enjoy scanning the thread for inspiration and new musical discoveries. Repeated postings of the same album are usually the sign to investigate further.

Please consider posting again, IB.

For all that I (and some others) find the 'What am I listening to'  and similar threads pretty useless they get far, far more posts than ones that I like where people actually write something!

Hey ho

Bruce

Yeah, I do an occasional quick scan.  I spotted the Gillian Welch album "The Harrow & The Harvest", listed to a few samples and thought great this is for me and bought it on vinyl.

I generally ignore reviews anyway.

I too have politely asked contributors to the 'What Are You Listening To…' thread to write even a couple of lines about the album they are posting and my head wasn't bitten off and it seems to work with some posters. I agree that no commentary does not help the reader sort through the many postings on this thread to isolate those albums that merit further investigation. But as I have mentioned previously, if you are prepared to spend time on this thread you get to know who the 'like-minded' posters are and who's opinion/recommendations to trust. I agree though it would be more helpful if there was more supporting/explanatory text in the postings.

I also agree that without an on-line streaming service (I use Tidal), sampling your 'selection for further investigation' is impossible. For me this thread, Tidal and an economic source for CD purchases (the big river is great) all go hand in hand. This source of new music has been a godsend for me and has revolutionised and refreshed my entire music collection. I do read music reviews and have discovered a wonderful music shop not far from where I live, but the 'What Are You Listening To…' thread, combined with Tidal sampling, remains my main source. All I would ask is that contributors to the 'What Are You Listening To…' thread add a couple of lines to the cover art they post, even if it is 'belter', or 'don't bother'.

Isn't it all about reading the exam question. So many people fail because they just don't read the question.

So let's have a look, in detail, at what the OP intended when starting this thread. 

What are you listening to and WHY might anyone be interested?

The clue to gaining full marks is the second part which to help everyone is even spelt out in capitals "and WHY might anyone be interested" 

Seems that most people are not addressing the second at all.

It’s worth trying the What Are You Listening To thread I’d say. Several people here have fairly explained why it doesn’t work for them, but that isn’t the case for everyone. I’ve discovered several artists through it in the year or since I’ve been on the forum, The Hoax, Melody Gardot, Lizz Wright, Ese and the Vooduu People, and albums/recordings from artists I already knew. It may work for you.

Eoink posted:

It’s worth trying the What Are You Listening To thread I’d say. Several people here have fairly explained why it doesn’t work for them, but that isn’t the case for everyone. I’ve discovered several artists through it in the year or since I’ve been on the forum, The Hoax, Melody Gardot, Lizz Wright, Ese and the Vooduu People, and albums/recordings from artists I already knew. It may work for you.

I Couldent agree more - lots of discovery for me too, particularly in Jazz, it's even resurrected an interest in my old Genesis albums! Radio Paradise is also great, a few years back I found my music was really floundering and I wasent been exposed to anything new, then I discovered RP and it was a revelation. I do find though it's not as eclectic as it used to be and you can get stuck in hours of middle of the road american blues/rock which I'm not a fan of. Internet radio and Shazam is also a good combo, I regularly listen to Radio Swiss Jazz and also 1.FM Lounge, if you hear something you like bang it in to a playlist on Tidal or save the artist as a favourite.

I think you are all getting spoilt as in years gone by you walked into a Record Shop and scanned through the album racks in most cases not knowing what the bands sounded like.

If one with a decent cover came to your attention or piqued an interest you took it up to the desk and asked for them to play it through the phones for you. In that way you built knowledge about genres and also found artists you liked.

Well to me the forum is a record shop and the covers are on display and if you think you may like something then go to Tidal, Spotify, The River as some like to call it or numerous other web sites to hear the artist. Trust me there are tons of them out there.

I cannot recall many record shops ever giving you any indication of what the music inside the cover was like in the way of a description on the outside of the cover or on the racks, you had to find out for yourself.

The internet just spoils us all as everything (well mostly) is at the touch of a finger.

My two cents.

The What Are You Listening To... thread is trying to serve two purposes I think. As a reminder of something to play it works, as a discovery tool it’s deeply flawed for the reasons put above. As is the downloading thread. 

Many, many pleas have been made to stop the “slapping up of a picture: job done” syndrome, and to be fair some people make an effort.

Bruce’s thread for standout purchases offers a much better vehicle for discovery simply because it wouldn’t contain so much noise.

There is so much good new music being released these days, but there’s such a mountain of it, and so many micro-genres that it’s hard to know where to start that we all need a helping hand...but it IS worth it. Honest guv.

ewemon posted:

I think you are all getting spoilt as in years gone by you walked into a Record Shop and scanned through the album racks in most cases not knowing what the bands sounded like.

If one with a decent cover came to your attention or piqued an interest you took it up to the desk and asked for them to play it through the phones for you. In that way you built knowledge about genres and also found artists you liked.

Well to me the forum is a record shop and the covers are on display and if you think you may like something then go to Tidal, Spotify, The River as some like to call it or numerous other web sites to hear the artist. Trust me there are tons of them out there.

I cannot recall many record shops ever giving you any indication of what the music inside the cover was like in the way of a description on the outside of the cover or on the racks, you had to find out for yourself.

Indeed I spent many a happy hour doing that in decades past - however, it is not good analogy. Browsing in a record shop you wouldnt have the same several albums each appear half a dozen times when scanning through a rack, and racks are divided into genres, and sorted alphavpbetically so you can pick up readily from where you left off, etc.

By comparison, without the text giving some context the thread is like a poor secondhand music shop or market where everything is jumbled together, and if there are multiple copies they are all there. It doesn’t take long before I tire in such places and give up.

AndyP19 posted:

Innocent Bystander posted:

Interesting. I have tended to avoid the “What are you listening to” thread for a number of reasons: countless album covers with nothing explaining anything is meaningless (and some members posting numerous ones at the same time), and when first on this forum I made the mistake of politely requesting on that  thread that people follow the title and state why others might be interested - and got my head bitten off for the trouble, and told off for not posting there myself.

I don’t post albums there myself for a number of reasons:: the hassle with making a picture appear is too much for me (time-consuming, and seems to have only a 10% success rate) and a solitary post containing a line or two of prose amongst the voluminous images is just going to go unnoticed; Also, given people’s different tastes in music it is not easy to think of an explanation as to why someone may be interested, except perhaps when I am playing something that I think may be a bit unusual in some way. When I have posted there it has simply been in response to something someone else has posted, when that has caught my eye.

All that said, when I have looked there and someone has discussed an album unfamilar to me, with references to things I know, it can indeed prompt a curiousity to hear - which presumably is the purpose if the thread, and is welcome, and that indeed fits the context of this current thread. Perhaps posts in the “What are you listening to” thread without commentary should be removed automatically (and deducted from the poster’s ‘score’, as I get the impression some people, presumably who have a streamlined means of posting pictures, post there simply to raise their forum ratings).

Another bullseye. Well said indeed. The thread you are referring to is like watching cars flash by at high speed. Really no use to anyone unless your driving the car.

Wow, one of the things that I like the most about the "What are you Listening to" thread is the album covers. Reminds me when I was wondering around a record shop back in 1960's. The album cover was a draw to pick up the album, flip it over, read the back, sometimes take a chance on a group and make a purchase. Today with the internet it is so much easier, you see a album/group name and if it looks, sounds interesting, invest a minute of your time and do an internet search and the world is laid at your feet. 

Sometimes the "Why" I am listening is just because I want to, I may not know a damm thing about the artist or the music but I am taking it out for a spin. The "What are you Listening to" thread is more about the music then any other thread on this forum and for me is the most entertaining and informative as far as music goes.

Now if you want to spend your time talking about the gear then there is the rest of the forum.

JMHO - YMMV

Back to the OP's question.

Go to concerts, by rough calculation I have ended up buying music by the support band who were unknown to me before the event about 40% on the time.

AndyP19 posted:

Isn't it all about reading the exam question. So many people fail because they just don't read the question.

So let's have a look, in detail, at what the OP intended when starting this thread. 

What are you listening to and WHY might anyone be interested?

The clue to gaining full marks is the second part which to help everyone is even spelt out in capitals "and WHY might anyone be interested" 

Seems that most people are not addressing the second at all.

For me that second part is a play on words and meaning. As in WHY might anyone be interested and also WHY might I be interested. WHY is for me that creative whitewash, WHY might anyone be interested in what's interesting me.     Simply a way of situating a state of intent.

Im not a huge buyer of new material, and have sometimes posted what you could call classic albums. I feel that to write some personal feelings on such would be contrived and out of nature.

Those times when one does come across a truly exceptional NEW ( as in just been released, rather than a new purchase of an old )  album, I do agree that it's worth making an effort in bringing forward thoughts on WHY.

The Second Disc for reissues.

Richard Williams for well written columns about music, especially jazz.