what's your souce of alt music?

Blackpitts

i wonder how do you guys discover new alternative music?
Usually i read some names in this forum that I've never heard of, then after few months i get the chance to listen at some good music from some unknown band then suddenly I realize that I've read of them in some post here...
since the alternative music is a underground phenomena, how do you know which album is worth a listen before they become mainstream?
is it by a radio airplay, word-of-mouth, alternative magazine, blogs, gigs or else?

ElaElaElano

Last.fm is a great way of finding new bands, either through its radio service, or just when you click on a band that you know/like, seven or eight similar ones come up underneath them.

Otherwise, this forum is great for finding some new stuff to listen to- only for Jeff's thread on Menomena's new record the other day I'd never have listened to it. Some radio shows are good for it too, I find Paul McCloone plays more good than bad.

X-Calibre

Generally I discover music through one of a few websites or blogs. Drowned In Sound and Pitchfork are 2 examples of these.

Also I use EMusic to get most of my music and that recommends music for me based on what I've downloaded before.

I quite like the Nialler9 blog as well

Decatur84

Paul McCloone on 2FM is a pretty good show for new alt music.

Hot Press/NME.

Movis Soundtracks.

jefreywithonef

Can't beat Last.fm. AllMusicGuide is grand too for exploring 'similar artists'.

FortuneChip

Pitchfork tends to be one I keep an eye on, came across some site as well where you type in the name of a band and similar bands are listed. Name of the site escapes me now though.

Word of mouth amongst trusted friends on occasion

LadyMayBelle

Last FM, but enjoy using http://hypem.com/ too

Valmont

Lately, the sixties!

Although I don't actually know what alternative music really is, just that people in here tend to like the music that I like.

Damian Duffy

Going to gigs, gigs and more gigs. I've always found the terms 'alternative' a bit of a strange one. Is it simply alternative because it is not listened to by the masses? When I go to gigs with people who have a similar interest in music to me we don't regard what we listen to as alternative, just simply good music that we like that an average person isn't open minded enough to have a listen to.

Drowned in Sound is a very good blog too and you'll get decent bits of news from Uncut and review papers like The Observer.

For me though, seeing a band live is the only proper way of judging how good they actually are.

JerryHandbag

LastFM, the occasional gander at this forum, and the free music channels on sky (NME tv), got into Empire of the Sun, Foals through that channel.

Useda discover a lot of music through Tom Dunnes Pet Sounds show on Today FM, and Donal Dinneens show also which is still going strong.

jefreywithonef

Dunno if it's still going but Alison Curtis's show always had lots of class new acts I hadn't heard beforehand. Same with college radio.

Nononolan

myspace music is kinda like a diy last.fm, go to a alt act you like and check out their friends list. Mostly made up of people in the same genre as the act and sometimes the same label. Most of what I'am listening to at the moment is from going through myspace music.

AdMMM

Last.fm is my bread and butter of music recommendation. It can be very patchy with new and unknown bands with the similar artists listed often just being the most listened to music of the handful of fans that a particular band has. It has helped me discover literally hundreds of new bands, so I'm not going to criticise it too much.

Pitchfork helps me find some new music although it's one of the most pretentious websites out there but I certainly wouldn't follow it blindly like so many people seem to do. Their end of year write ups are very helpful and I would often check out most of the bands mentioned in them to see if I missed anything worthwhile during the year.

I used to rate the Hype Machine very highly but for the past year the noise:signal ratio is very high with even the Charts being infected with mediocre house remixes of mediocre songs. Your best chance of finding something pleasantly surprising is to just listen to the radio which cycles through random songs that have been submitted.

NME occasionally back the right horses too and some of their picks are rightfully hyped and promoted. They've backed some three-legged donkeys in their time though.

vrobot

The Ticket in the Irish Times on a Friday is brilliant for discovering new music or Dan Hegarty's show on 2FM - you can listen back to it, plus he puts up his playlist on the site.

skeleton_boy

Last FM, Last FM & Last FM. Best site I was ever directed to. Found so much new stuff on there

bantics

Yeah last fm is pretty good for new stuff, though sometimes the similarities they draw between artists are a bit silly eg. their nationality. I also like stereogum.com, it's very selfconsciously alternative but every time I go on I find new material from somebody I've never heard of who turns out to be my new favourite band.

jill_valentine

I love Stereogum's actual articles but the commentors beneath invariably make me want to burn the internet down.

bantics

jill_valentine wrote: »

I love Stereogum's actual articles but the commentors beneath invariably make me want to burn the internet down.

AGREED! the problem with this whole 'alternative' idea is the unsettling number of pretentious types you come across. it's just music, stop judging!

plinkyplanky

For me, it's myspace, word of mouth, going to gigs, blogs like nialler9, also find AU is usually worth a read.

Recently found RCRD LBL, anyone else use this site?

Feu

plinkyplanky wrote: »

For me, it's myspace, word of mouth, going to gigs, blogs like nialler9, also find AU is usually worth a read.

Recently found RCRD LBL, anyone else use this site?

that Aussie one looks good and the RCRD LBL, never heard of either before but both look good! Will be checkig them out more thoroughly

as for me, well, like a few people said, Last.fm, links im my siggie, tho not so much now as in the old days, as someone mentioned, the similarity is now based on listeners, whereas previously with the Pandora software it was based on structure of music, instruments etc. Still good tho.

Also, i use a site called blip.fm, on which i've found tons of new stuff, often ages before i've seen it anywhere else, I would highly recommend it, but it does take a bit of getting used to! You set up as a dj, and then you can just add to your favourites, of other djs who's music you like. It's a bit like grooveshark or spotify, but you actually interact with other listeners, and can hear what they're playing, you can hear dozens of new bands this way. Blippers are from all over the world too, so you can get recommends of new local bands in some weird places! if anyone has any questions about blip let me know

As vrobot said, the ticket's actually pretty good on a friday with The Times, they recommend, what 4 new bands, then have single recommends, as well as album reviews, so between all of that, there's usually something good.

OTherwise i just have a few blogs that i check sporadically, which are generally people that go to a lot of gigs and have their finger on a pulse, since my gig buddy moved to London i have to live vicariously through them, for example
come pick me up
audio muffin
hugger for an irish take


neon gold
neon gold are a blog/small label and they tend to push their own stuff, but they will also recommend other stuff and i heard about the likes of marina & the diamonds, Wolf gang, ellie goulding, giantess, passion pit, mumford n sons, mr little jeans, and Clare maguire on there, months before i saw/heard them anywhere else.

and as people mentioned the hypemachine, pitchfork, drowned in sound

pokingiris

Click after click on last fm from band pages or user profiles. I am at www.lastfm.com/user/hootenany if any of you are looking for something to do

loveissucide

The following for the most part
avclub.com
stereogum.com
drownedinsound.com
last.fm
pitchforkmedia.org

Fanzines and college radio are very useful as well.

Feu

+1 for stereogum

bantics

pokingiris wrote: »

Click after click on last fm from band pages or user profiles. I am at www.lastfm.com/user/hootenany if any of you are looking for something to do

im off to add yeh pokingirls our compatibility is super!

Feu

forgot to mention, the guardian on saturday, got a brilliant little magazine supplement called the guide, got singles of the week, which are usually indie-ish, and they'll often have an article on a new/existing band. the website's not bad either

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music

pokingiris

bantics wrote: »

im off to add yeh pokingirls our compatibility is super!

Knock yourself out.

Dazd_N_Confusd

Can't believe no one has mentioned http://rateyourmusic.com/.

The amount of amazing music I've found through this is unreal.

In respect to the OP, I never would've found out about Pavement, Neutral Milk Hotel, Pixies and countless more.

smokedeels

for reviews...

tinymixtapes
drownedinsound
dusted reviews
guardian
wire
allmusic
various blogs

for "similar bands"

last.fm recommendations
amazon listmania/"what other people bought"
dusty groove america - filtering
spotify playlists
podcasts
label samplers
blogsearch.google.com