Where do you go to get music recommendations?

windowcleaner · 07-07-2011 1:34pm #1

Just spent a very pleasant 20 minutes looking through the past threads and noted a lot of new acts to check out. Which got me thinking - where do you go to find out about new music? Which blogs and bulletin boards do you check out? What about radio shows? Or is it largely word of count? Very curious, especially given what people are talking about here.

TemptationWaits · 07-07-2011 3:55pm

Last.fm is the best for finding bands that you'd like!

I find out about a lot of good bands by seeing them on MTV Rocks and Q on telly, also from reading music magazines, the bands that influence bands I like, bands that support bands I like, and also word of mouth.

knight_of_cake · 07-07-2011 3:58pm

For me anyways i use nialler9 and harmless noise most of the time...Hyper machine and those geese were Stupefied are both good too.

jefreywithonef · 07-07-2011 4:18pm

Last.fm is pretty great. AllMusic's similar artists category for each band is superb too.

As for blogs this lot have always been good:
http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/
http://www.fuelfriendsblog.com/
http://songbytoad.com/

lordgoat · 07-07-2011 4:41pm

twitter and blogs

indiewindy · 07-07-2011 7:15pm

Checking out who foggy notions are bringing to Dublin for gigs has introduced me to some great music.

Howard the Duck · 07-07-2011 10:02pm

Mostly i read reviews in mojo and uncut, the "The Name a song you've recently discovered and would like to share" thread" here has introduced me to some new stuff.
Also BBC6 music and other online music stations.

J_E · 07-07-2011 11:07pm

last.fm turned me from a tasteless lout to someone with a great taste and expansive library (if I do say so myself

)

You should try the last.fm radio, enter a broad tag in like "alternative" "electronic" or whatever, and let it play through, mark some artists you like the sound of, and you're off. Too bad it isn't free in Ireland though, only a 30 song trial. If you skip the track before the end you can bypass that I think.

DirtyLeeds · 08-07-2011 7:12am

I use the NME..............

Thundercats Ho · 08-07-2011 9:01am

last.fm is great. it's turned me onto some great artists i'd never heard of before, through its recommendations radio.

problemchimp · 08-07-2011 9:18am

Last.fm and BBC6. And sometimes reading the stuff you all post on Boards.ie, so thanks for that. 2FM aren't bad on Sunday nights.

Hackysack · 08-07-2011 11:48am

A combination of last fm, friend's recommendations and recently, the Post a Song you would like to share thread.

InTheTrees · 08-07-2011 10:08pm

KEXP Seattle.

Thank god I live in a US city with a decent radio station. Check out their playlist, they play excellent music.

http://kexp.org/playlist/playlist.aspx

Plus Boards, I should add. An invaluable source of new bands.

TwoCanDan · 08-07-2011 10:42pm

I concur with the other Last.fm fans here. I find it very handy to look at the charts of neighbours/friends there.

Around ten years ago, as a musically green culchie, I found pre-licence Phantom fm brilliant. They played a genuinely eclectic mix of stuff, it was a bit anarchic, and although they had a playlist they were happy to deviate from it for requests at any time of day.
I rarely listen to it anymore. I don't know if it actually has drifted from the leftfield towards the centre due to commercial concerns, or if I've become an insufferable snob in the intervening years. (I know they have niche shows, but I never feel compelled to listen like I used to...I even used to listen to "Mettol Notes" and I'm not a metal fan at all...)

lordgoat · 08-07-2011 11:29pm

http://dayandnightmag.ie/2010/03/26/the-best-of-irish-music-blogs/#comment-245973356

TommyTippee · 09-07-2011 1:30am

Q magazine supply my reviews....they are rarely wrong.

Only £20 for a year's delivered subscription too. God bless the UK.

You would barely get half a dozen Hot Press toilet roll for that price.

lordgoat · 09-07-2011 7:06am

TommyTippee wrote: »

Q magazine supply my reviews....they are rarely wrong.

Only £20 for a year's delivered subscription too. God bless the UK.

You would barely get half a dozen Hot Press toilet roll for that price.

yeah but Q has that shiny paper which makes wiping harder...

SilverScreen · 10-07-2011 4:59pm

Last FM and Rate Your Music are the shizz.
Various music forums and blogs.
Magazines such as MOJO and Uncut. Stay away from Q, NME and the Day & Night section of the indo if you want some good reliable music reviews.

dots03 · 10-07-2011 8:54pm

so no one reads pitchfork eh...yeah right

lordgoat · 10-07-2011 11:58pm

dots03 wrote: »

so no one reads pitchfork eh...yeah right

being honest it's slipped down a good bit, i normally hear a name on twitter and stick it into spotify

H8GHOTI · 11-07-2011 2:41pm

The last couple of years I've found good new music in the Electric Picnic line-up.

lordgoat · 11-07-2011 4:49pm

H8GHOTI wrote: »

The last couple of years I've found good new music in the Electric Picnic line-up.

Check out this years primavera line up. It was on in May and had the best line up of a festival i've been too.

This years EP line up is awesome.

H8GHOTI · 11-07-2011 6:23pm

Ya it was a very good line-up, a few from it are playing EP this year too.
I wouldn't mind a few more being added from it.

TemptationWaits · 12-07-2011 12:50pm

I do use Pitchfork a bit as well, their reviews are very intelligent but they've a really high standard. I find if an album has a good review on Pitchfork it's gonna be very good, but if it has a bad review if doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad album.

TwoCanDan · 12-07-2011 7:51pm

TemptationWaits wrote: »

I do use Pitchfork a bit as well, their reviews are very intelligent but they've a really high standard. I find if an album has a good review on Pitchfork it's gonna be very good, but if it has a bad review if doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad album.

I don't agree entirely there.

I think it's a very good website for news and tour info, and the album lists for the 70's, 80's and 90's are brilliant (I've lost count of the number of great albums I found through them...take the piss if you like!).

However, their reviews are way too beholden to the vagaries of current scenes and trends...I've been suckered into buying a fair few lo-fi-for-the-sake-of-lo-fi turds on the back of their reviews over the last few years. Of course, they're spot-on a lot of the time too...

Two more legitimate (and funny) pisstakes of their review system...

...this...
http://www.theonion.com/articles/pitchfork-gives-music-68,2278/

...and this...
http://www.pitchfork.com/features/guest-lists/6044-david-cross-albums-to-listen-to-while-reading-overwrought-pitchfork-reviews/

J_E · 12-07-2011 10:17pm

TemptationWaits wrote: »

I do use Pitchfork a bit as well, their reviews are very intelligent but they've a really high standard. I find if an album has a good review on Pitchfork it's gonna be very good, but if it has a bad review if doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad album.

Pitchfork's reviews are unbelievably unconsistent and some of them are just horrendously unfair and self-absorbed. They try far too hard to be 'trendy'.

SilverScreen · 12-07-2011 10:50pm

Cydoniac wrote: »

Pitchfork's reviews are unbelievably unconsistent and some of them are just horrendously unfair and self-absorbed. They try far too hard to be 'trendy'.

They're also hypocritical. For example, they reviewed Belle and Sebastian's The Boy With The Arab Strap when it was first released in 1998. They gave it 0.8, despite it being a damn good album. They have since deleted the review from the website in the wake of the rise in popularity of B&S in the 00's in order for it not to be seen by all the new fans. However here is an archive of the review:

http://web.archive.org/web/20030604193859/pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/b/belle-and-sebastian/boy-with-the-arab-strap.shtml

Here are the B&S reviews that are currently on Pitchfork, note how most of them get rave reviews, even Write About Love:

http://pitchfork.com/artists/324-belle-and-sebastian/

J_E · 13-07-2011 12:54am

Nice find, case in point. They care more about their appearance than the music they listen to. Real hipsters at work.

14-07-2011 12:36am

Last.fm

& Pure Volume

smokedeels · 14-07-2011 4:50pm

http://www.tinymixtapes.com/ and Last.fm

grindle · 15-07-2011 8:08pm

Tiny Mix Tapes, The Hype Machine, Gorilla VS Bear, Last.fm, Resident Advisor, Pitchfork (when Philip Sherburne writes for them, otherwise fairly sh!t, and this new-found exaltation of some of the sh!ttest pop and hip-hop and thus music is severely depressing. Drake? Lil' Wayne? Soulja Boy? Fvck the fvck off.), but the best site I've found is, oddly enough, the forum on the Radiohead fansite ateaseweb.com. It almost works as an aggregator of sorts for all the above sites and once you get to know the regulars' tastes, you can sorta weave through their lists like a musical buffet. Plus, the breadth, scope and variety of the lists are fvcking epic.
Without it I'd be painfully unaware of at least half the bands I love.

rcaz · 16-07-2011 10:13am

I've been using Reddit a lot lately. There are tons of genre-specific Music subreddits that are great. Some of them are just full of YouTube links to great tracks. And some of them make regular Grooveshark playlists which is pretty cool.

http://www.reddit.com/r/idm/

Playoff_Beard · 17-07-2011 10:09pm

Last fm radio can be great fun, but I'm too cheap to pay!
Can't stand pitchfork reviews. It's about style over substance, with the reviews and the bands they seem to favour.

Jako8 · 18-07-2011 12:09am

I like the reviews on Sputnik Music. They've pointed me in the direction of some cool stuff.

InTheTrees · 19-07-2011 5:55pm

mercury prize nominees:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_Prize

KeanSeenan · 20-07-2011 11:32pm

I wouldn't pick many from the mercury prize this year....

gudwan · 21-07-2011 8:51am

We Are Hunted is pretty good for finding lesser-heard music.

Mr_Spaceman · 06-06-2012 8:58pm

I tend to stick with BBC 6 Music and I'll often listen to Jenny Huston on 2FM online.

Started dipping into Last fm so I'll see what that brings up.

Rothko · 07-06-2012 12:51am

Yahoo Answers
LastFm
Rate Your Music
Wikipedia

LindseyErin · 08-06-2012 4:47pm

I'm from the U.S., I live in Denton which is huge into the indie music scene (Austin, TX is also the live music capital of the world). Music blogs are a great way to start. Some of my favorites ones can be found here:

http://www.gorillavsbear.net/

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/

http://www.hipsterrunoff.com/

http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/

Enjoy

LindseyErin · 08-06-2012 4:48pm

Also, jukesy.com is a GREAT website to find awesome underground music recommendations. Like pandora, but better and with videos. I've found some cool stuff on here.

Miguel_Sanchez · 08-06-2012 4:57pm

LindseyErin wrote: »

I'm from the U.S., I live in Denton which is huge into the indie music scene

Ever see the best ever death metal band from there?

LindseyErin · 08-06-2012 5:03pm

Jeff_Lebowski wrote: »

Ever see the best ever death metal band from there?

From Denton or Austin?

We also have some really interesting Deep South Redneck death metal. Pretty interesting. I haven't listened to too much metal, so I may be unfamiliar with them.

jefreywithonef · 08-06-2012 5:53pm

LindseyErin wrote: »

http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/

That's a great blog I've following for years.

Few others that I frequent:

http://www.fuelfriendsblog.com/
http://captainsdead.com/ (Great for concert/radio recording of old alt rock heroes)
http://www.obscuresound.com/
http://songbytoad.com/
http://philspector.wordpress.com/ It's really called Plain or Plain, brilliantly written
http://bobdylanwrotepropagandasongs.wordpress.com/

LindseyErin · 08-06-2012 6:01pm

Nice! I'm reading the Dylan one now, haha! http://www.vice.com/music is also a great site. Not just for music (the do more music interviews and short docs than anything), but they have some of the craziest culture documentaries. Really an interesting site if you have a few hours of nothing to do and a really short attention span.

lordgoat · 09-06-2012 7:57am

LindseyErin wrote: »

From Denton or Austin?

We also have some really interesting Deep South Redneck death metal. Pretty interesting. I haven't listened to too much metal, so I may be unfamiliar with them.

Pretty sure he's talking about the best ever death metal band out of Denton. Not sure if they settled on a name??

jefreywithonef wrote: »

That's a great blog I've following for years.

Few others that I frequent:

http://www.fuelfriendsblog.com/
http://captainsdead.com/ (Great for concert/radio recording of old alt rock heroes)
http://www.obscuresound.com/
http://songbytoad.com/
http://philspector.wordpress.com/ It's really called Plain or Plain, brilliantly written
http://bobdylanwrotepropagandasongs.wordpress.com/

Aquarium drunkard is a Wilco reference...

Best New mostly Indie tracks is a handy ref for what's come out in the last month.

LindseyErin · 09-06-2012 3:29pm

lordgoat wrote: »

Pretty sure he's talking about the best ever death metal band out of Denton. Not sure if they settled on a name??

Aquarium drunkard is a Wilco reference...

Best New mostly Indie tracks is a handy ref for what's come out in the last month.

Oh... you mean that song by The Mountain Goats... ha. ha.

Where do you go to get music recommendations?

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