Bingo. The influences for just 3 different bands/artists from different genres will yield tons of great new music to discover. Especially really good artists because they usually have tons of influences, many of which are actually outside their genre.
Rate Your Music has helped me to find some new artists that I'd never heard of before. It's also a good resource for getting into specific genres as the charts section can help you find out which albums are considered 'the best' in a specific genre, giving you a good entry point.
Some users have very extensive lists on one genre, scene or period of time. I don't have an account, but those lists are a good way of finding music, especially obscure albums.
@@ThomAvella I don't really get involved in the social aspect of the site so, I can't really say I know that much about its reputation. I just enjoy discovering and rating albums.
rateyourmusic is great for finding some of the most brilliant music that has come out of every year. But do keep in mind that a lot of the picks are very male dominated. Not trying to sound like some SJW here but they will often disregard female artists for doing the exact same thing a male artist has done. Besides that, it's a brilliant resource for finding new music.
1- follow music meme page 2- have the 5 albums they constantly mention and that everyone else who follows generally agrees are good in rotation at all times
@@TheeBus36 yeah bruh pageformusicchads, twerkingtoiwantwindtoblow, carseatbedrest, neutralalmondmilkhotel. Those are all the ones that arent specifically rap
Used to be so much eaiser when TH-cam actually showed you related music on the side and not multiple uploads of what youre currently listening to. Now it's just college radio and What's in my Bag?
when you log out (and probably have the cookies deleted) it will usually show related songs to the one you'Re listeing. Even some that have only a few hundred clicks! That'S how I browse YT for music usually...
i don't want to go to my local record store, its super seedy, only open for like 8 hours a week and i'm pretty sure is some sort of cover for drugs or something.
My "local record store" is an hour away cause i live in the rural south of the US nobody around here cares enough to open one unless its in one of the big cities
Following this channel really helped, but you can discover new music in unexpected places. Recently my colleague was but by a car, so I asked how did it happen. He said, he wasn't paying attention when he was crossing the street, because he was only focusing on the music he was listening to. So the first thing I asked was what was that music that could distract him so much. This is how I learnt about The Comet Is Coming.
1. TH-cam recommendations are surprisingly good in my experience. 2. As a metalhead, I love Metal Archives for listing all side projects band members can have, which becomes a quick six degrees of separation type exercise into all sorts of interesting things, since there's often a lot of interesting guests and other artists involved too. 3. band interviews 4. retrying things you may not have liked before a year ago. That's how I have now become a Death Grips fan.
Honestly I do 2 things 1. Go to the record store and pick the weirdest looking record from the dollar bin 2. Research influences and then research the influences of those influences
I have a unique way of finding music. I watch musicians livestream on TH-cam and turn on chat. People flood chat asking the streamer to listen to a song. I sit there and write the names of songs they say and then add them to my Watch Later playlist. I'll also watch videos of people asking their audience about crazy concert experiences and look up every band mentioned, find out what their best album is, then add four random songs from that album to my Watch Later. My Watch Later has about 4900 videos on it. All songs. I listen to them while driving, clearing out ones I don't like, and saving ones I do.
Haven't seen anyone say this yet but thank you so so much for this video. With so many people on the internet playing mysterious or "superior" because of their music tastes and findings these days, I feel that you are truly setting an example, as well as showing the more independent, hopeful musicians out there that their content matters and is appreciated while showing fans of music a path to finding them out at the same time. Killer work Oliver, cheers!
Dear Deep Cuts, Thank you . What a great insight and help this is. 30 years ago I lived in Melbourne and lived for music.I was obsessed with Coil, Current 93, Nurse With Wound, Psychic TV, Einsturzende Neubauten, J.G. Thirlwell and anything high quality experimental music I could find. Before the interweb it was hard to find a lot of this music, but lucky for me I had a fantastic 2nd hand record store called Au Go Go Records. (Even the independent radio stations did not know or played this genre of music) The store manager (I wish I could remember his name) knew me well and welcomed my weekly visits as half of my appalling income was spent in his shop. But he knew music like no one else and had his finger on the pulse. He knew how all the musicians were connected and together we would play the records in the store and listen to what new connection and band he had found for me. I never learned much about the musicians themselves. All I had was their album covers, what was written on it and of course the music itself. The musicians themselves never played in Australia But that was ok, because the music was so good and that’s what I was here for. It sent me into another world and the images they created in my mind were incredible. I owe so much of my creative process to Coil and the other bands mentioned. Fast track to the present day. Living in the tropics 100’s of miles from any big city, live music or in range of a good independent radio stations, 40% of my precious vinyl has been damaged by humidity. It’s heart breaking. I just am scared to play them. So it’s crazy in this time of social media interweb etc I still find it harder to find new and great music that challenges the mind like these bands did. I am slowly re educating myself to find new and great music (which is how I found you). Bandcamp is great, but I really don’t know where to go or to start. Movie soundtracks has been my main source to find some great sounds as at least cinema is something I have had access to. A great recent Bandcamp discovery has been a composer called Ben Chatwin from Scotland and so grateful to be able to purchase all of his music and know that he will see much of that. But for the rest, I will be ver dependent on TH-cam channels like yours. You are doing great and informative videos, that direct me to places I need to go. I look forward to reading “England’s Hidden Reverse” thanks for the recommendation. It will be strange reading it, because music from this time was such a personal thing and so little information was available. Recently I discovered Ameoba Music’s great series on TH-cam called “What’s in My Bag” where musicians visiting the store are interviewed about their purchases. Great insight into great music of all genres. Also every couple of years I buy a full ticket for the WOMAD festival in Adelaide, don’t read the program but just walk around until I hear something amazing. This is how I discovered Hanggai from Mongolia and Dakhabrakha from the Ukraine. Both outstanding bands from remote corners of the world that I would never have heard of had I not gone to WOMAD. I look forward to your future informative videos. They are so great. Sorry for the big rant but you did ask hahahaha. Regards Julia @seajewlz
I think it was Dominic who ran Au Go Go Records. Also I follow JG Thirlwell on social media and he is very active in seeing live music in NYC and posts about what he sees live. It’s been really great eye opener. I hope to get to Dark Mofo Festival in Tasmania oneday as many of the artists mentioned above are finally playing music in Australia and the audience (who has been deprived for 30 years) is soaking it up and it’s hard to get a ticket for the best shows. And I never seem to be able to get off work to go. Thanks again Jules @seajewlz
1. Go to last.fm 2. Search artist you like 3. Click "View All Artists" under the similar artists section 4. Scroll through artists and listen to some songs from them until you find stuff you like Doesn't solve the whole "echo chamber" problem of being stuck in certain genres, but will definitely introduce you to more music in a genre no matter how obscure it is.
Thanks for the great tips! Research about my favorite artist's influences is a great way for me personally to find new music. I also listened to a ton of stuff on Bandcamp too back in 2017. Might do that again cause you reminded me of how much new music i discovered. Cheers!
I strongly recommend books of Simon Reynolds. I've read "Retromania", now I'm reading "Rip It Up and Start Again" about postpunk and I'm gonna buy "Energy Flash" about electronic music. I love writing style of this guy
i’m a big fan of this autobiography called. Love is a mixtape because the author worked for Rolling Stone and uses lots of music references throughout the novel.
Local donator-supported radio stations in my area are awesome. I find that the university student-dj'ed radio station does a really good job of supporting local bands and playing great music.
An effective method for me is festival lineups. If I consider it a strong lineup from bands I already know, it's usually a great resource for finding lots of great bands at a time.
I have found that this works for me: 1. You will already need to have a last.fm account 2. Go to the profile pages of your "neighbours" 3. Listen to their top/loved tracks bc there's a high chance of it also being your taste
I ask everyone I meet to recommend me some of their favorite artists, then keep a big list of stuff I've been recommended. Great way to hear stuff you normally might not have found
Letting the youtube recommendations take me on a ride have helped a lot. I just click on a track from the almost same genre or a related artist. then it does it once again and i find something slightly different. i then save those i like, find inspiring, or interesting in a playlist, which let me find the same artist again if i become more curious. i dont think i would ever liked music very much if it wasnt for youtube. i would never have come in contact with the interesting and obscure things that fascinates me. i guess we all know youtube as a medium for this kinda thing but this is probably more of a love letter. thanks youtube
1:06 - funny enough, I actually discovered Sonic Youth through a passing mention in your No Wave guide! Kind of the reverse. They've since become one of my all time favourites, so thanks for that!
My favorite music book is by far "Please Kill Me", it's an oral history of the New York proto punk scene. Amazing interviews with Iggy Pop, Patti Smith, Lou Reed, and others. Endlessly entertaining and insightful, and it taught me of so many awesome, obscure NY punk bands
Shoutout to The Quietus for putting me onto an unreal number of albums, most recently Lorraine James 'You & I'. Easily one of the most valuable resources for finding new music.
To be honest it has mainly been you and others that got me into new music. The TH-cam algorithm has also helped me out as well. Thanks for the other resources btw.
Bandcamp is actually pretty solid. I'll go through the first 10-15 pages of bestseller chart. You can also click on people who bought albums you like and find what they else they bought. The genre tag system is also pretty decent. The front page has a new an notable section, as well as a user spotlight at the bottom. Their monthly genre lists are also good.
It was actually watching the documentary Sound and Vision on TH-cam that got me into David Bowie, they’ve also prompted me to check out other artists as well like the Rolling Stones. But I generally turn to Spotify discover, daily mixes, and release radars to check out new music. My television also has Stingray channels that continuously cycle music, and I found the Struts through that. As well, ARTV is a channel on TH-cam I’ve been watching for years for album reviews, rankings, and music insights. I must say though, I live in quite an echo chamber so I’m definitely looking at branching out
Look at who is touring with and opening for your favorite artists! I learned about Deafhaven and Baroness after going to a concert just to see Zeal and Ardor.
One secret I've realised is different types of music need different strategies for discovering new music. If you consistently use only rym you limit yourself from the genres, artists scenes that rym doesnt represent well, for me that was riddim dubstep, space bass and psytrance
Thank you Oliver! Just got me a digital The Wire subscription. I'm not really used to reading magazines and it's a bit overwhelming, but I will try to get used to it. (Pro tip: if you want to get a digital The Wire subscription - don't get the subscription from the app through AppStore or Play Market, get it on the Exact Editions (the digital distributor for The Wire) website, this way, not only you will get a much more reasonable price for three months, but also have access to the archive and the new issues through any platform. If you get it through Play Market or AppStore you will be limited to the platform you bought the subscription on.
The most hilarious thing I’ve done recently to get new tunes is I went into this quiet indie kid I knew from college’s Instagram page, went into who he follows and downloaded an album from every obscure band he follows. SO MUCH GOOD TUNES WOW. Thanks indie kid!!
Do you hearing music just in free time, fully focused on it, or even while doing something other? I've recognized my addiction which comes up, while hearing music to fuel other doings through getting emotionally motivated by hearing music. Would be great to hear something of your thoughts and behaviours of that. Thanks for doing all of that, Oliver!!
and also, i love #everythingisnoise.net/ - for a bunch of metal distinction #produced Manfred Eichner album's are good, ecm-Recordings as an overral decision for post modern classics really delicious.
I'd honestly love to hear Oliver's perspective on this too. Sometimes I wonder if I'm doing it right (listening to something new, basically) if I'm not managing to focus on the music every instant in a quiet room or if I'm really getting enough out of it if I listen on crappy headphones during my commute? Or while doing something else? While high or drunk? Is there a right way to listen to music? Of course everyone has favorites that you already know the ins and outs of and can listen to in just about any context and relive the emotions and hear the song perfectly, but in particular I guess I'm wondering about NEW music you can't say the same about. Just nervous sometimes I'm not experiencing the art to its fullest.
@@SeanPeckham-xe2gt not necessarily looking for a definitive or prescriptive "right way" but more like are there situations where you're not getting as much out of the art as you can. For instance, you could "read" a book by just glazing your eyes over the pages and maybe catching every other word, paying little attention, but you wouldn't really experience the art in a way most people would agree to be optimal or the way the artist intended. You could walk through an art gallery with paintings in your peripheral vision but you wouldn't really be experiencing the art, in the same way you could listen to an album while vacuum sweeping. There's certainly value in experiencing art in the way the artist didn't intend but people don't usually seek that experience out (you could listen to albums and songs backwards, for instance) In general I think it's interesting the variety of ways we experience music and how it's a bit unlike how we experience a lot of other art which tends to require more deliberate effort. That's up for debate though.
@@augustvincent7514 nice comments, Josh. The 'deliberate effort'-thing stays in the focus in all of that I guess. Oftentimes the keymoments to get in a new kind of music, are the moments when we are fully open and conscious. Therefore we are able to attach our emotions to the piece of music, which is all what music is for? -flowing through emotions with rhythms, harmonies and stillness by giving space and time to let them flow. Ok, thats to philosophical. It would be great to hear Oliver's opinion, because different perspectives form our own behaviour. In case of my personal satisfaction, it's great to get into some new kind of music or artist only after a several of listenings. Than its like a wow-effect, spontaneously connecting and interacting and seeing the music from a new perspective.
RateYourMusic is a godsend. Other than that, lists on sputnik music, related videos to albums on TH-cam, people on Twitter, and music forums are the main ways I find music, and try to go outside of my comfort zone musically.
'share your secrets' > Lots of music comes from having conversations. You talk to people who listened to a lot during their life. They just name names or they hear you talk about a style or artist and they ask..: "do you know such and such???" And then you go looking and find these amazing albums! I found Suzanne Ciani this way, Robert Rich, CocteauTwins, DivJuz, Brian Eno in mid 80s. There is one other way; Just browsing through vynil and looking at album covers that trigger. Found treasures doing that and lots of artists that are not commonly known. {eye to eye, Toyah, HighFashion, I-level) Thanx for the SonicYouth Bio. That is one I am gonna check out !
Miles Davis' autobiography is brilliant. Apart from the juicy anecdotes and the incredibly entertaining way it's written, it also taught me a lot about the history of jazz.
I am so glad you are back. You always had an ear for the same kinds of music I like, and I love being able to see intelligent commentary about it. These New Puritans and William Doyle are both artists I never would have checked out without your recommendation, and they are both so up my street it's ridiculous. Keep up the good work for a good long time please!
I'm teaching to yt's algorithm my music taste and honestly he's a good student. And I follow KEXP as well, they bring everyday a new artist, it's very cool and remunerative!
These days I mainly find new music from 1. Spotifys "discover weekly" 2. Music centric media such as this channel and The Needle Drop or Interview podcasts The best way I've experienced was back in the days of Napster and later on DC++. I used to search for some band i already liked and then check out what else the users who shared band also had in their share. Miss those days.
Honestly youtube reccomended gives me a lot of different great stuff. It showed me Ryo Fukui, No Buses, Gabor Szabo, The Caretaker, soundtrack from the Angel's Egg(which has now become my favourite movie) several good yugoslavian bands(most notably Pauk), some cool playlists(math rock, post rock, the doomer playlists are nice sometimes). I keep putting it in "watch later" and forgetting about it, but honestly I've fallen in love with so much shit that yt has shown me
Thank you for sharing this. Another way you didn't mention is local radio stations. Nowadays you can listen to them even from another country because of internet streaming solutions provided.
I use discogs a lot to find new artists. Because most of the credits attributed to a specific release are hotlinked within a release page of whichever record you're looking at, you can just click through to a producers page, an engineers page, a photographers page or even a labels page and you end up discovering all the other artists these types of people have worked with throughout their careers.
using bandcamp is also a really great way to find new music! most of the music on here is not even on most major streaming services! i found this really helpful when trying to find fresh and new music
1: Make a spotify playlist with some music that you love but dont listen to a lot of in that genre, 2: Finish listening to the playlist 3: Skip recommended song until you see something new 4: Enjoy
Here in the Netherlands there are loads of festivals, some of them very specific. Most of the time these festivals have a spotify playlist with all the artists performin on the festival, so it's very easy to check those for any artists you haven't heard of.
How Music Works by David Byrne is also a fantastic book. It goes into how music has been shaped by transformations from vinyl, cassettes, CDs, the digital age, and how the size of live venues has shaped the sound of music. There are a few talking heads stories scattered within as well.
Loads of ways 1. Music loving friends with word of mouth. 2. Music TH-cam such as yourself and others 3. Streaming services. Doesn't happen often because I usually use it to listen to stuff I own already on the go, but once in awhile it happens. 4. Bandcamp, I mean you summed it up in the video perfectly. I wish browsing was a bit more advanced, on the app at least, but still one of the best platforms for art in general let alone music. 5. Own research. I known people have mixed feelings on it, but wikipedia is my biggest resource in discovering music, in fact Wikipedia along with an assist from Spotify is responsible for getting into Jazz in 2019. While I was dipping my toe into jazz on Spotify I found a song that I really enjoyed called Jack In which is the opening track off of a Jack Dejohnette album from 1990 called Parallel Realities, listened to the entire album, liked it, bought it digitally. Great thing about Jazz is how collaborative it is and how big names show up on each others work all the time so I go on the albums wikipedia page and look at the personal section and see who plays on it, turns out it's a trio featuring Jack Dejohnette, Pat Metheny and Herbie Hancock. Three absolutely amazing artists which makes three branching paths of discovery and from looking into their work over the course of a month I discover the work of John Abercrombie, Jaco Pastorius, Lyle Mays, Michael Brecker, Chick Corea, John McLaughlin, Jan Hammer and a few others.
Everyone in Minneapolis should already know about it but First Ave is a legendary venue with excellent curation. Specifically their 7th street entry venue is a great way to find smaller artists and experience their music in a very personal and special way.
I usually look into what other projects people I like have done. Checking out what other bands a drummer was in, or what other artists a producer worked with introduces me to cool new music.
I go to record stores, read music magazines, Spend some time on Stereogum, Pitchfork and Under the Radar to name a few. Deepthony Cutstano is great too
In addition to these and other strategies, I probably most importantly discover new music by talking to my friends irl. If people you know have good taste, you can mutually benefit each other by sifting through the bad or bland stuff on your own and sharing what you find interesting. This works especially well if they have a better foothold in the underground of a genre you haven't really explored to the same degree.
I have 3 ways of discovering music 1. Context - Classics are classics for a reason I'll give them a try and go deeper to their discographies as time goes on. Historical context applies as well since you can read a generation by how the music they consumed evolved 2. Influences - Whether an artist is an inspiration or a spiritual successor you will be bound to find fantastic music 3. Exploration - Finding the cutting edge, finding a timeless classic, finding a newfound appreciation for a genre, the possibilities are endless by just letting your curiosity on the driving seat Edit: I also listen to one new album every day and I use my 3 ways a criteria by finding the album of the day, a great way to mix things up is find albums that are sonically distant so you wont have music fatigue
my favorite way is following bandcamp user accounts and having their purchases fill the feed section. just go on the album page for something you like, and click on one of the accounts and you can see everything they've purchased. if it looks interesting to you, you hit the follow button. Do this with enough people and your feed will be full of all sorts of interesting music.
Good tip: search on TH-cam for a musical keyword of your choice; filter the results to only show playlists. You will find already curated content, and a variety of artists and songs.
CoverKillerNation, who sadly recently stopped making vids, has been for 10 years a great source for Metal recommendations on TH-cam! Most recently he put out his favourite albums of all time and introduced me to Maudlin of the Well and i'm currently loving their album Bath. He might have stopped, but he has a huge catalog of album reviews and lists that can be watched. BangerTV is another YT channel that focuses on Metal and is currently still ongoing. Velocities in Music (more YT) used to do standard music reviews, but a few years ago swapped that out for more longform Podcast type videos. They're great for music discussions and specific topics as well as doing Artist Deep-Dives themselves!
Miles Davis' autobiography served as the history of jazz for me. He worked with so many amazing artists throughout his career and I would just listen to an album from almost anyone he mentioned in the book. This jump started my jazz education.
I grew up at the advent of CDs. during that time in Los Angeles, there were a ton of record stores desperate to get rid of their antiquated vinyl records and suddenly records became really cheap. I remember the import section of Tower on Sunset Blvd, had tons of records that I still own and cherish today. then when I felt my tastes were getting stale, I would buy compilations-for instance: Best of Ralph, The Elephant Table Album, Human Music (a Homestead Records comp). these opened me up to artists I would never have heard or read about otherwise. in 1997, I bought a copy of the Wire. Robert Wyatt (an artist I'd never listened to before) was on the cover. I remember being so impressed with a music magazine that actually talked about MUSIC and not about celebrity-a problem I had with magazines like Spin and Rolling Stone was that they embodied that celebrity-driven content. and now it's the web. discovering a channel like Deep Cuts has opened me up to artists I hadn't considered before, although I confess I started paying attention when I saw the Essentials video featuring Laughing Stock by Talk Talk, which I bought when it came out and is still one of my all-time favorites. thanks Oliver-I've really enjoyed your channel!
I've been in the group for years now, and although I love it and have discovered great stuff, sometimes I feel people are always talking about the same albums over and over.
Great video! In Pittsburgh there's a great DIY venue called Roboto that is fun to go to on a whim some days and just see who is playing. Shortly after I moved here I decided what the heck, I'll just go and enjoy the show, and I found that half of the set the night was honest to god incredible. I think you're really shorting yourself on music discovery if you never go to a live venue/participate in your local music scene. You'll catch stuff you'd never find otherwise! Also I think the biggest tip I'd give is just be un-inhibited when deciding which music to try. Take each album as an experience and take it or leave it afterwards. Try not to overthink whether you're listening to something "good" or if it's something you'll like.
My starting point with electronic music was thanks to a book in Spanish called "Loops 1: Historia de la música electrónica en el siglo XX". It is an amazing book about electronic music in the twentieth century, and the editors did some playlists with the music discussed in each chapter. It has an equally impressive sequel called Loops 2 in which they talk about electronic music in the twenty first century. Both are pretty good written and well documented.
1) Bandcamp. It's sorted by genre, with the front page of each being the most popular albums of that style. You can find some really neat stuff exploring there. 2) Allmusic. Look up an artist you like, and on the front page of theirs, Allmusic will list their influences and suggestions for similar artists. 3) Talk to your friends! Especially online friends from other countries. Different things are popular in different places!
The problem for me is not finding new music to listen to but rather how to find the time and attention span etc. to listen to all the interesting music out there :D. Love how you brought up some physical media, physical copies of books+literature+magazines. I have made discoveries through Spotify Discover Weekly. An artist whose music is mostly on Bandcamp more than Spotify, I found him thru Spotifai. There are some good music documentaries/miniseries' as well. The Defiant Ones for example. Didn't blow me away.
Omg you absolutely need to get into Rate Your Music. It's the most extensive music archive I've ever seen. It's a great social platform and the admins are incredibly knowledgeable and go to great lengths to get every album the best possible information and tagging (when they're not being asshats denying changes you know to be true for some stupid reason)
This could sound weird but i am really appreciating just random youtube listening, i find a lot of random gems and always get surprised, rather than spotify or similiars, which im finding always more stressful. Just opening it tells to my mind i am there to find new stuff, and i just keep listening to a lot of music very fast without concentrating on enjoying it but more on the search itself, because im there to find the perfect sound im thinking about in that moment. Anyway great video as always, favourite music channel on yt.
If you want to get into underground rock I cannot recommend the book, Our Band Could Be Your Life enough. Found it when I was in my early teens and was blown away with how passionately it was written. And the great thing was it covered so much more than just the bands it profiled. There’s whole chapters on amazing bands like Minutemen, Black Flag, Replacements and Sonic Youth but it also talks about Circle Jerks, James Chance, DOA, Fear, Lydia Lunch, Subhumans, the Weirdos, the Zeros and a million other incredible underground bands and artists. Punk rock is my favourite type of music and I owe a lot of that to Michael Azzerad and that amazing book
I'm the kind of person who can listen to the same music for years and not get bored but every now and then I want to expand my playlist. I'm not necessarily looking for new or underground releases, just new to my ears, don't care how old or well known is something if I like it. Not using Spotify, here are some of my methods: - Check out my favourite artists's influences, as someone else mentioned. Finds: Rachmaninov, Serge Gainsbourg, Cream, Kraftwerk - Pay attention to film sountracks, yes I'm occasionally that person shazaming in the middle of a screening, sorry not sorry. Finds: Einstürzende Neubauten, Elvis Costello - Ask mom. She always liked what I'm listening to, so I thought I might like some of what she listened to when she was young, too. Finds: Rush, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple. All classics, I know, but I needed to get introduced somehow. - Local radio. There are a few shows that highlight now so well known music, and one of the DJs is a very interesting musician himself. Finds: Febre39, Jurjak, Dakha Brakha, Wagner, Stravinsky - Documentaries & guitar lessons. Ever since I picked up guitar last year, my TH-cam feed is a goldmine of new music, or classics I haven't explored yet. Finds: Stevie Ray Vaughan, Muddy Waters, Villa Lobos, Justin Johnson, also I'm in the process of getting into the rabbit hole of contemporary African electric guitar music. - There's an app called Electrecord where you can listen to old music from before the fall of communism in my country, basically there was one main state owned record label that released everything and someone digitized the label's archives and made an app where you can listen to literally decades of music. Still exploring. - I'm planning to get into records, and there are so many local used books/antiques stores that sell old records for dirt cheap. Someday I'm definitely going to plunge into that and make some impulsive purchases based on cover artwork.
The bandcamp new arrivals tab is one of my favorite ways to find new music. Since there is no curation, much of the music is not very good but it has helped me discover (and rediscover) some of my favorite artists and genres. I love the feeling of listening to a good album knowing I am one of a handful of people that have herd that music.
People really underestimate the importance of labels, it's essentially their job to find music for you, especially ones with credibility and leading minds who are constantly at the cutting edge, you are repeatedly going to find something great. Also the label's relationship with the distributors and shops is equally as important. Boomkat, for example, is primarily a shop, same as Beep, yet they have great blurb writers who are honed in on listening to everything new, and can recommend you the best that comes through their doors.
I subscribed to Wire for a while. Really great writing but just complete information overload. It takes me forever to look up every artist that sound interesting.
Spotify discovery is a bit of an echo chamber, I'll agree with that always, but their release radar is very helpful for keeping up with everyone you listen to. Helpful when you listen to as many artists as me... Other than that, these are my picks for new stuff: Mixtapes - mixcloud is great but there's tons of publications and blogs who ask artists to make their own and often it leads to great stuff. See FACT magazine for a good example, the Mogwai and Stephen O'Malley ones are my fav picks. Compilation albums - search for a favourite artist and listen to some of those cheap compo CDs that has that one song from them. Discovered Indian Jewelry that way, utter bliss. Bandcamp featured and top lists- for some of the more underground stuff. Really good picks, found Clarice Jensen this way and I'll be utterly thankful for that. Wiki binge the spiteful way - binge until you find music genres or bands whose premise is the most upsetting or ridiculous. Check out the ones you think you could never get into. Well, I got into noise, Sunn O))), and a lot of stuff back in the day this way. Use this if you feel you're ready to explore the beyond. Watch deep cuts - you're already here, you're doing the right thing.
The discovery feature in streaming services has actually done a lot for my discovery in contemporary American jazz, which is a scene I follow closely and hope to be a part of in the future. Starting an album/playlist radio for artists like Kneebody or Mark Giuliana has taken me to some interesting places.
I follow a ton of small labels and try keep up with many releases there. I use rym lists and bandcamp too. Spotify is great for some random recommendations. When I'm looking to further explore a genre I'm not familiar with (been meaning to try more jazz for example since I'm only well versed in metal) I go find articles for starter packs or go on rym and get the top few albums. I follow reviewers on Instagram who come through with great stuff too. And then of course, your channel has been incredibly helpful for those new genres.
I use radio and records charts and old editions of Billboard to hone in on a certain era. Sideman and label exploration usually yields positive results. I also listened to Black radio in NYC during the 80's and 90's where there were two competing stations with huge playlists. Classic soul, currents, jazz, fusion, and smooth jazz were some of the many styles played day and night. There was less emphasis on a rotation especially on Sunday and at night. I kept a notebook of artists and songs and it was full. Amazon about a decade ago allowed customers to create lists and they would pop up when on certain related artist pages. Both Amazon and Discogs use cookies but the ones at Amazon are not as good as they used to be. On Discogs, you can cross reference all of the titles a current or reissue label has put out. Amazon also has a weekly and a 30/90 list of current titles. The Penguin guide to jazz is about the best reference book out there. When I started my collection back in the mid 90's, I bought a nice stack of various artists compilations so that I would have variety right away. Then I focused on one current and one classic with one for items that were going out of print. Cut-out and promo bin allowed for cheap buys from an era that I liked but the availability window was quickly closing as styles were changing.
Just take your time, more or less - pick an album or discography from that fits your vibe at the moment, and dive into it head-first. You won't catch up to every single release anyway, and finding 4-5 albums that will define your year is already an admirable task in itself.
@@JennyTheNerdBat appreciate the advice, i always try to listen to as much music as I can with enough time, instead of only listening through it once and move on to the next thing, but things get so overwhelming sometimes when so much is being released at once and I can't get through all of them even though I want to aha, sometimes I also tend to over listen to something I really like instead of trying to discover new music which is a annoying habit I have
Pragadesh Prakash but think about how long you’ll live. Nowadays thanks to modern medicine, we’re able to live for more time than any of ancestors were able to and you’re able to explore different genres from different eras so easily, if you keep listening to many albums, think about how much you’ll have listened in just a few years, so there’s no rush, just take your time and save the music you like the most
Usually I go through the obvious first: related artists on streaming services, then the artists playlist. I then go through the artists social media accounts and who they’ve played with, recommended, and tagged in certain posts. Then, of course, their influences. Then I usually look through comments on blogs at who people recommend (I trust fans tremendously), then the producers they choose and who they’ve produced in the past, THEN I end with checking out small zines and groups that put on shows and host anything involving the arts. Usually the underground scene is well documented within these little groups and blog posts.
1. -The artists themselves! There have been interviews where a band will mention a contemporary band(s) and I've gone on to listen to new music that way. Other times artists will spotlight other bands on their page. 2. - Looking at show/festival info in regards to who is opening or playing with the band sometimes yields good results. 3.- Associated Acts on Wikipedia 4.- A google search for a specific genre from a specific region 5.- LastFM "similar artists" suggestion. 6.- A random scroll/mention in TH-cam. 7.- Being friends with a promoter
I usually look at gigs at venues I've previously gone to and enjoyed (even in other cities) or looked at support bands for artists I like in different places. Helps me find new bands that I might love but takes a bit of time. But if you're interested, it's a fun hour or two on a weekend!
Of course Deep Cuts, your channel is really really awesome and one of the best places to find new music from a great variety of genres... In addition to your channel, other places to find new music are: The Needle Drop, Allmusic, Gapplegate Music Review, Gapplegate Classical Modern Review, Gapplegate Guitar and Bass Blog and Omnichord Records. As you mention in this video, The Quietus and Tiny Mix Tapes are also very good places to find new music...
I really like the Become the knight song suggestion livestream everyday Saturday. He generally gets through about 30 - 40 songs per stream from multiple different genres (with a slight emphasis on progressive rock and metal). It's a fairly small community so it does sometimes feel like a bit of an echo chamber but there's always some gems in there worth checking out.
In a record shop in my town, they had this vinyl record compilation of their favorite artists from that year and they had one the year before too. They also had a free printed book all about the music from that year.
I usually use rate your music. Every time you rate an album that you might’ve liked you could find user made lists in that page featuring that album and other music that might be similar. I’ve been trying to use the computer a bit less however so I’m starting to get into zines and books. I recently ordered a reissue of a series of zines that covered post-industrial music in the late 90s and early 00s called spectrum compendium. Excited to see what new artists I can discover.
1. Spotify - release radar and related artists, defo the radios that are made for you; or the random playlist that begins when you finish an album. 2. Instagram - there are some really great independent pages that write reviews, stories, and more based on music. They present so, so many great niche LPs. 3. Magazines. Some like NME have sections where they ask editors or even photoggraphers and graphic designers for the mag what they're favourites records are at the moment. 4. Books are certainly useful, currently on David Byrne's How Music Works but I reckon I could find some more.
I pretty much use TH-cam, either recommended albums or channels like black metal promotion. When I find something I like I go to Rate Your Music and check out where they come from, other bands the members perform in, etc
I've been a member of some really cool FB groups where we share, chat and talk abt new music across all genres. Some have informed me with so many great artists actually, my list has just dragged down too long. Another little obscure and mostly coincidental way of finding new music is checking out artists that have collaborated with some of the artists I love and follow - I would still be oblivious on The Necks had they not participated in the new Swans project.
1- Research the artists that you like and what were their influences
2-Listen to those influences
Bingo. The influences for just 3 different bands/artists from different genres will yield tons of great new music to discover. Especially really good artists because they usually have tons of influences, many of which are actually outside their genre.
Looking at kurt Cobain's influences was really helpful for young me not knowing he needed noise 😁
Yep, this has always been my go-to method.
Not very helpful for finding underground music. Artists who are popular enough to get interviews usually don't mention obscure underground stuff.
SNC same dude Kurt got me into noise
Rate Your Music has helped me to find some new artists that I'd never heard of before. It's also a good resource for getting into specific genres as the charts section can help you find out which albums are considered 'the best' in a specific genre, giving you a good entry point.
Some users have very extensive lists on one genre, scene or period of time. I don't have an account, but those lists are a good way of finding music, especially obscure albums.
Seconding RYM, I swear by it
Love that site, even if the community can be insufferable at times. Better to just ignore all that and find the good people, lol
@@ThomAvella I don't really get involved in the social aspect of the site so, I can't really say I know that much about its reputation. I just enjoy discovering and rating albums.
rateyourmusic is great for finding some of the most brilliant music that has come out of every year. But do keep in mind that a lot of the picks are very male dominated. Not trying to sound like some SJW here but they will often disregard female artists for doing the exact same thing a male artist has done. Besides that, it's a brilliant resource for finding new music.
1- follow music meme page
2- have the 5 albums they constantly mention and that everyone else who follows generally agrees are good in rotation at all times
hey /mu nerd
Dude I follow so many music meme pages it's like their own little world
Literally all music meme pages have the same taste. They all just like Kendrick, Kanye, Death Grips and Tyler The Creator
Jonathan Morales that’s in pages that are more hip-hop focused. APaigeformusichads is an example of one that’s not rap focused.
@@TheeBus36 yeah bruh pageformusicchads, twerkingtoiwantwindtoblow, carseatbedrest, neutralalmondmilkhotel. Those are all the ones that arent specifically rap
Your "5 albums to get you into..." series has been very helpful to me to discover new music. 🖤
i have an EP out now called Wishing on One if your looking for more music :))))
Used to be so much eaiser when TH-cam actually showed you related music on the side and not multiple uploads of what youre currently listening to.
Now it's just college radio and What's in my Bag?
when you log out (and probably have the cookies deleted) it will usually show related songs to the one you'Re listeing. Even some that have only a few hundred clicks! That'S how I browse YT for music usually...
Go to record stores and ask the owner for reccomendations. If found amazing music through my local record store
"local record store". Now, that's something that I haven't heard in a LONG time !
i don't want to go to my local record store, its super seedy, only open for like 8 hours a week and i'm pretty sure is some sort of cover for drugs or something.
@@oscarlove4394 😃
@@oscarlove4394 that's how you know it's good wtf
My "local record store" is an hour away cause i live in the rural south of the US nobody around here cares enough to open one unless its in one of the big cities
For electronic music in particular, I like to look at the music labels, where you can find other producers who also release on the same label
Warp and Mute Records has lead me in some great directions with this method.
Yeee this is really accurate. Probably the best way of finding new House/garage/dnb etc
True, warp covers most of the greatest artists in the IDM, ambient and electronic world
Following this channel really helped, but you can discover new music in unexpected places.
Recently my colleague was but by a car, so I asked how did it happen. He said, he wasn't paying attention when he was crossing the street, because he was only focusing on the music he was listening to. So the first thing I asked was what was that music that could distract him so much. This is how I learnt about The Comet Is Coming.
1. TH-cam recommendations are surprisingly good in my experience.
2. As a metalhead, I love Metal Archives for listing all side projects band members can have, which becomes a quick six degrees of separation type exercise into all sorts of interesting things, since there's often a lot of interesting guests and other artists involved too.
3. band interviews
4. retrying things you may not have liked before a year ago. That's how I have now become a Death Grips fan.
4. Is quite underrated
4. It has happened to me with Mr. bungle
Honestly I do 2 things
1. Go to the record store and pick the weirdest looking record from the dollar bin
2. Research influences and then research the influences of those influences
i have an EP out now called Wishing on One if your looking for more music :)))
Still really glad to have Deep Cuts back, always a pleasure to watch these videos
I have a unique way of finding music. I watch musicians livestream on TH-cam and turn on chat. People flood chat asking the streamer to listen to a song. I sit there and write the names of songs they say and then add them to my Watch Later playlist.
I'll also watch videos of people asking their audience about crazy concert experiences and look up every band mentioned, find out what their best album is, then add four random songs from that album to my Watch Later.
My Watch Later has about 4900 videos on it. All songs. I listen to them while driving, clearing out ones I don't like, and saving ones I do.
How do you find random livestream musicians?
@@thediamonddog95 That's the hard part. Music reviewers who livestream is another option.
@@ZyrusSmith Ok. Thank you.
Haven't seen anyone say this yet but thank you so so much for this video. With so many people on the internet playing mysterious or "superior" because of their music tastes and findings these days, I feel that you are truly setting an example, as well as showing the more independent, hopeful musicians out there that their content matters and is appreciated while showing fans of music a path to finding them out at the same time. Killer work Oliver, cheers!
Dear Deep Cuts,
Thank you . What a great insight and help this is.
30 years ago I lived in Melbourne and lived for music.I was obsessed with Coil, Current 93, Nurse With Wound, Psychic TV, Einsturzende Neubauten, J.G. Thirlwell and anything high quality experimental music I could find.
Before the interweb it was hard to find a lot of this music, but lucky for me I had a fantastic 2nd hand record store called Au Go Go Records. (Even the independent radio stations did not know or played this genre of music)
The store manager (I wish I could remember his name) knew me well and welcomed my weekly visits as half of my appalling income was spent in his shop.
But he knew music like no one else and had his finger on the pulse. He knew how all the musicians were connected and together we would play the records in the store and listen to what new connection and band he had found for me.
I never learned much about the musicians themselves. All I had was their album covers, what was written on it and of course the music itself. The musicians themselves never played in Australia But that was ok, because the music was so good and that’s what I was here for. It sent me into another world and the images they created in my mind were incredible.
I owe so much of my creative process to Coil and the other bands mentioned.
Fast track to the present day. Living in the tropics 100’s of miles from any big city, live music or in range of a good independent radio stations, 40% of my precious vinyl has been damaged by humidity. It’s heart breaking. I just am scared to play them.
So it’s crazy in this time of social media interweb etc I still find it harder to find new and great music that challenges the mind like these bands did.
I am slowly re educating myself to find new and great music (which is how I found you). Bandcamp is great, but I really don’t know where to go or to start.
Movie soundtracks has been my main source to find some great sounds as at least cinema is something I have had access to.
A great recent Bandcamp discovery has been a composer called Ben Chatwin from Scotland and so grateful to be able to purchase all of his music and know that he will see much of that.
But for the rest, I will be ver dependent on TH-cam channels like yours. You are doing great and informative videos, that direct me to places I need to go.
I look forward to reading “England’s Hidden Reverse” thanks for the recommendation. It will be strange reading it, because music from this time was such a personal thing and so little information was available.
Recently I discovered Ameoba Music’s great series on TH-cam called “What’s in My Bag” where musicians visiting the store are interviewed about their purchases. Great insight into great music of all genres.
Also every couple of years I buy a full ticket for the WOMAD festival in Adelaide, don’t read the program but just walk around until I hear something amazing. This is how I discovered Hanggai from Mongolia and Dakhabrakha from the Ukraine. Both outstanding bands from remote corners of the world that I would never have heard of had I not gone to WOMAD.
I look forward to your future informative videos. They are so great. Sorry for the big rant but you did ask hahahaha.
Regards
Julia
@seajewlz
I think it was Dominic who ran Au Go Go Records.
Also I follow JG Thirlwell on social media and he is very active in seeing live music in NYC and posts about what he sees live. It’s been really great eye opener.
I hope to get to Dark Mofo Festival in Tasmania oneday as many of the artists mentioned above are finally playing music in Australia and the audience (who has been deprived for 30 years) is soaking it up and it’s hard to get a ticket for the best shows. And I never seem to be able to get off work to go.
Thanks again
Jules
@seajewlz
1. Go to last.fm
2. Search artist you like
3. Click "View All Artists" under the similar artists section
4. Scroll through artists and listen to some songs from them until you find stuff you like
Doesn't solve the whole "echo chamber" problem of being stuck in certain genres, but will definitely introduce you to more music in a genre no matter how obscure it is.
Thanks for the great tips! Research about my favorite artist's influences is a great way for me personally to find new music. I also listened to a ton of stuff on Bandcamp too back in 2017. Might do that again cause you reminded me of how much new music i discovered. Cheers!
I strongly recommend books of Simon Reynolds. I've read "Retromania", now I'm reading "Rip It Up and Start Again" about postpunk and I'm gonna buy "Energy Flash" about electronic music. I love writing style of this guy
i’m a big fan of this autobiography called. Love is a mixtape because the author worked for Rolling Stone and uses lots of music references throughout the novel.
Local donator-supported radio stations in my area are awesome. I find that the university student-dj'ed radio station does a really good job of supporting local bands and playing great music.
An effective method for me is festival lineups. If I consider it a strong lineup from bands I already know, it's usually a great resource for finding lots of great bands at a time.
I have found that this works for me:
1. You will already need to have a last.fm account
2. Go to the profile pages of your "neighbours"
3. Listen to their top/loved tracks bc there's a high chance of it also being your taste
I ask everyone I meet to recommend me some of their favorite artists, then keep a big list of stuff I've been recommended. Great way to hear stuff you normally might not have found
Letting the youtube recommendations take me on a ride have helped a lot. I just click on a track from the almost same genre or a related artist. then it does it once again and i find something slightly different. i then save those i like, find inspiring, or interesting in a playlist, which let me find the same artist again if i become more curious. i dont think i would ever liked music very much if it wasnt for youtube. i would never have come in contact with the interesting and obscure things that fascinates me. i guess we all know youtube as a medium for this kinda thing but this is probably more of a love letter. thanks youtube
a lot of times on spotify artists have their own playlists on their page. seeing the music your favorite artists listen to broadens everything.
1:06 - funny enough, I actually discovered Sonic Youth through a passing mention in your No Wave guide! Kind of the reverse. They've since become one of my all time favourites, so thanks for that!
My favorite music book is by far "Please Kill Me", it's an oral history of the New York proto punk scene. Amazing interviews with Iggy Pop, Patti Smith, Lou Reed, and others. Endlessly entertaining and insightful, and it taught me of so many awesome, obscure NY punk bands
Shoutout to The Quietus for putting me onto an unreal number of albums, most recently Lorraine James 'You & I'. Easily one of the most valuable resources for finding new music.
My favourite source of music right now, those guys are amazing.
Hell yeah
To be honest it has mainly been you and others that got me into new music. The TH-cam algorithm has also helped me out as well. Thanks for the other resources btw.
Bandcamp is actually pretty solid. I'll go through the first 10-15 pages of bestseller chart. You can also click on people who bought albums you like and find what they else they bought. The genre tag system is also pretty decent. The front page has a new an notable section, as well as a user spotlight at the bottom. Their monthly genre lists are also good.
It was actually watching the documentary Sound and Vision on TH-cam that got me into David Bowie, they’ve also prompted me to check out other artists as well like the Rolling Stones. But I generally turn to Spotify discover, daily mixes, and release radars to check out new music. My television also has Stingray channels that continuously cycle music, and I found the Struts through that. As well, ARTV is a channel on TH-cam I’ve been watching for years for album reviews, rankings, and music insights. I must say though, I live in quite an echo chamber so I’m definitely looking at branching out
Look at who is touring with and opening for your favorite artists! I learned about Deafhaven and Baroness after going to a concert just to see Zeal and Ardor.
One secret I've realised is different types of music need different strategies for discovering new music. If you consistently use only rym you limit yourself from the genres, artists scenes that rym doesnt represent well, for me that was riddim dubstep, space bass and psytrance
Thank you Oliver! Just got me a digital The Wire subscription. I'm not really used to reading magazines and it's a bit overwhelming, but I will try to get used to it.
(Pro tip: if you want to get a digital The Wire subscription - don't get the subscription from the app through AppStore or Play Market, get it on the Exact Editions (the digital distributor for The Wire) website, this way, not only you will get a much more reasonable price for three months, but also have access to the archive and the new issues through any platform. If you get it through Play Market or AppStore you will be limited to the platform you bought the subscription on.
The most hilarious thing I’ve done recently to get new tunes is I went into this quiet indie kid I knew from college’s Instagram page, went into who he follows and downloaded an album from every obscure band he follows. SO MUCH GOOD TUNES WOW. Thanks indie kid!!
Do you hearing music just in free time, fully focused on it, or even while doing something other?
I've recognized my addiction which comes up, while hearing music to fuel other doings through getting emotionally motivated by hearing music.
Would be great to hear something of your thoughts and behaviours of that.
Thanks for doing all of that, Oliver!!
ni hey yes!
and also, i love
#everythingisnoise.net/ -
for a bunch of metal distinction
#produced Manfred Eichner album's are good, ecm-Recordings as an overral decision for post modern classics really delicious.
I'd honestly love to hear Oliver's perspective on this too. Sometimes I wonder if I'm doing it right (listening to something new, basically) if I'm not managing to focus on the music every instant in a quiet room or if I'm really getting enough out of it if I listen on crappy headphones during my commute? Or while doing something else? While high or drunk? Is there a right way to listen to music? Of course everyone has favorites that you already know the ins and outs of and can listen to in just about any context and relive the emotions and hear the song perfectly, but in particular I guess I'm wondering about NEW music you can't say the same about. Just nervous sometimes I'm not experiencing the art to its fullest.
@@SeanPeckham-xe2gt not necessarily looking for a definitive or prescriptive "right way" but more like are there situations where you're not getting as much out of the art as you can. For instance, you could "read" a book by just glazing your eyes over the pages and maybe catching every other word, paying little attention, but you wouldn't really experience the art in a way most people would agree to be optimal or the way the artist intended. You could walk through an art gallery with paintings in your peripheral vision but you wouldn't really be experiencing the art, in the same way you could listen to an album while vacuum sweeping. There's certainly value in experiencing art in the way the artist didn't intend but people don't usually seek that experience out (you could listen to albums and songs backwards, for instance)
In general I think it's interesting the variety of ways we experience music and how it's a bit unlike how we experience a lot of other art which tends to require more deliberate effort. That's up for debate though.
@@augustvincent7514 nice comments, Josh. The 'deliberate effort'-thing stays in the focus in all of that I guess. Oftentimes the keymoments to get in a new kind of music, are the moments when we are fully open and conscious. Therefore we are able to attach our emotions to the piece of music, which is all what music is for? -flowing through emotions with rhythms, harmonies and stillness by giving space and time to let them flow. Ok, thats to philosophical.
It would be great to hear Oliver's opinion, because different perspectives form our own behaviour. In case of my personal satisfaction, it's great to get into some new kind of music or artist only after a several of listenings. Than its like a wow-effect, spontaneously connecting and interacting and seeing the music from a new perspective.
RateYourMusic is a godsend. Other than that, lists on sputnik music, related videos to albums on TH-cam, people on Twitter, and music forums are the main ways I find music, and try to go outside of my comfort zone musically.
'share your secrets' > Lots of music comes from having conversations.
You talk to people who listened to a lot during their life. They just name names
or they hear you talk about a style or artist and they ask..:
"do you know such and such???"
And then you go looking and find these amazing albums!
I found Suzanne Ciani this way, Robert Rich, CocteauTwins, DivJuz, Brian Eno in mid 80s.
There is one other way;
Just browsing through vynil and looking at album covers
that trigger. Found treasures doing that and lots of artists that are not commonly known.
{eye to eye, Toyah, HighFashion, I-level)
Thanx for the SonicYouth Bio. That is one I am gonna check out !
Miles Davis' autobiography is brilliant. Apart from the juicy anecdotes and the incredibly entertaining way it's written, it also taught me a lot about the history of jazz.
I am so glad you are back. You always had an ear for the same kinds of music I like, and I love being able to see intelligent commentary about it. These New Puritans and William Doyle are both artists I never would have checked out without your recommendation, and they are both so up my street it's ridiculous. Keep up the good work for a good long time please!
I'm teaching to yt's algorithm my music taste and honestly he's a good student. And I follow KEXP as well, they bring everyday a new artist, it's very cool and remunerative!
When scrolling through soundcloud, I go through the artist I follow already and see who they follow. I find tons of cool artist.
These days I mainly find new music from
1. Spotifys "discover weekly"
2. Music centric media such as this channel and The Needle Drop or Interview podcasts
The best way I've experienced was back in the days of Napster and later on DC++. I used to search for some band i already liked and then check out what else the users who shared band also had in their share. Miss those days.
Honestly youtube reccomended gives me a lot of different great stuff. It showed me Ryo Fukui, No Buses, Gabor Szabo, The Caretaker, soundtrack from the Angel's Egg(which has now become my favourite movie) several good yugoslavian bands(most notably Pauk), some cool playlists(math rock, post rock, the doomer playlists are nice sometimes). I keep putting it in "watch later" and forgetting about it, but honestly I've fallen in love with so much shit that yt has shown me
TH-cam has been doing great for finding me new music recently
Thank you for sharing this. Another way you didn't mention is local radio stations. Nowadays you can listen to them even from another country because of internet streaming solutions provided.
I use discogs a lot to find new artists. Because most of the credits attributed to a specific release are hotlinked within a release page of whichever record you're looking at, you can just click through to a producers page, an engineers page, a photographers page or even a labels page and you end up discovering all the other artists these types of people have worked with throughout their careers.
using bandcamp is also a really great way to find new music! most of the music on here is not even on most major streaming services! i found this really helpful when trying to find fresh and new music
1: Make a spotify playlist with some music that you love but dont listen to a lot of in that genre,
2: Finish listening to the playlist
3: Skip recommended song until you see something new
4: Enjoy
Here in the Netherlands there are loads of festivals, some of them very specific. Most of the time these festivals have a spotify playlist with all the artists performin on the festival, so it's very easy to check those for any artists you haven't heard of.
How Music Works by David Byrne is also a fantastic book. It goes into how music has been shaped by transformations from vinyl, cassettes, CDs, the digital age, and how the size of live venues has shaped the sound of music. There are a few talking heads stories scattered within as well.
Loads of ways
1. Music loving friends with word of mouth.
2. Music TH-cam such as yourself and others
3. Streaming services. Doesn't happen often because I usually use it to listen to stuff I own already on the go, but once in awhile it happens.
4. Bandcamp, I mean you summed it up in the video perfectly. I wish browsing was a bit more advanced, on the app at least, but still one of the best platforms for art in general let alone music.
5. Own research. I known people have mixed feelings on it, but wikipedia is my biggest resource in discovering music, in fact Wikipedia along with an assist from Spotify is responsible for getting into Jazz in 2019. While I was dipping my toe into jazz on Spotify I found a song that I really enjoyed called Jack In which is the opening track off of a Jack Dejohnette album from 1990 called Parallel Realities, listened to the entire album, liked it, bought it digitally. Great thing about Jazz is how collaborative it is and how big names show up on each others work all the time so I go on the albums wikipedia page and look at the personal section and see who plays on it, turns out it's a trio featuring Jack Dejohnette, Pat Metheny and Herbie Hancock. Three absolutely amazing artists which makes three branching paths of discovery and from looking into their work over the course of a month I discover the work of John Abercrombie, Jaco Pastorius, Lyle Mays, Michael Brecker, Chick Corea, John McLaughlin, Jan Hammer and a few others.
If anyone hasn’t seen sound breaking it’s the best music doc I’ve seen. It’s split up into 8 episodes, an hour each and covers the history of music.
Everyone in Minneapolis should already know about it but First Ave is a legendary venue with excellent curation. Specifically their 7th street entry venue is a great way to find smaller artists and experience their music in a very personal and special way.
I usually look into what other projects people I like have done. Checking out what other bands a drummer was in, or what other artists a producer worked with introduces me to cool new music.
I've found a lot of acts I love through the Underrated Albums channel.
I go to record stores, read music magazines, Spend some time on Stereogum, Pitchfork and Under the Radar to name a few. Deepthony Cutstano is great too
In addition to these and other strategies, I probably most importantly discover new music by talking to my friends irl. If people you know have good taste, you can mutually benefit each other by sifting through the bad or bland stuff on your own and sharing what you find interesting. This works especially well if they have a better foothold in the underground of a genre you haven't really explored to the same degree.
I have 3 ways of discovering music
1. Context - Classics are classics for a reason I'll give them a try and go deeper to their discographies as time goes on. Historical context applies as well since you can read a generation by how the music they consumed evolved
2. Influences - Whether an artist is an inspiration or a spiritual successor you will be bound to find fantastic music
3. Exploration - Finding the cutting edge, finding a timeless classic, finding a newfound appreciation for a genre, the possibilities are endless by just letting your curiosity on the driving seat
Edit: I also listen to one new album every day and I use my 3 ways a criteria by finding the album of the day, a great way to mix things up is find albums that are sonically distant so you wont have music fatigue
my favorite way is following bandcamp user accounts and having their purchases fill the feed section. just go on the album page for something you like, and click on one of the accounts and you can see everything they've purchased. if it looks interesting to you, you hit the follow button. Do this with enough people and your feed will be full of all sorts of interesting music.
Good tip: search on TH-cam for a musical keyword of your choice; filter the results to only show playlists. You will find already curated content, and a variety of artists and songs.
CoverKillerNation, who sadly recently stopped making vids, has been for 10 years a great source for Metal recommendations on TH-cam! Most recently he put out his favourite albums of all time and introduced me to Maudlin of the Well and i'm currently loving their album Bath. He might have stopped, but he has a huge catalog of album reviews and lists that can be watched.
BangerTV is another YT channel that focuses on Metal and is currently still ongoing.
Velocities in Music (more YT) used to do standard music reviews, but a few years ago swapped that out for more longform Podcast type videos. They're great for music discussions and specific topics as well as doing Artist Deep-Dives themselves!
Miles Davis' autobiography served as the history of jazz for me. He worked with so many amazing artists throughout his career and I would just listen to an album from almost anyone he mentioned in the book. This jump started my jazz education.
I grew up at the advent of CDs. during that time in Los Angeles, there were a ton of record stores desperate to get rid of their antiquated vinyl records and suddenly records became really cheap. I remember the import section of Tower on Sunset Blvd, had tons of records that I still own and cherish today.
then when I felt my tastes were getting stale, I would buy compilations-for instance: Best of Ralph, The Elephant Table Album, Human Music (a Homestead Records comp). these opened me up to artists I would never have heard or read about otherwise.
in 1997, I bought a copy of the Wire. Robert Wyatt (an artist I'd never listened to before) was on the cover. I remember being so impressed with a music magazine that actually talked about MUSIC and not about celebrity-a problem I had with magazines like Spin and Rolling Stone was that they embodied that celebrity-driven content.
and now it's the web. discovering a channel like Deep Cuts has opened me up to artists I hadn't considered before, although I confess I started paying attention when I saw the Essentials video featuring Laughing Stock by Talk Talk, which I bought when it came out and is still one of my all-time favorites.
thanks Oliver-I've really enjoyed your channel!
Patrician Music Chartposting on Facebook have pointed me in a few good directions over the years
just go straight to the source and visit the daily chart threads on /mu/
same
@@fayubstay I thought /mu/ talks more about the bell curve now days than music
@@DANKKrish they talk about a lot of shit but in general chart/share threads are still a great way to find new music.
I've been in the group for years now, and although I love it and have discovered great stuff, sometimes I feel people are always talking about the same albums over and over.
Great video! In Pittsburgh there's a great DIY venue called Roboto that is fun to go to on a whim some days and just see who is playing. Shortly after I moved here I decided what the heck, I'll just go and enjoy the show, and I found that half of the set the night was honest to god incredible. I think you're really shorting yourself on music discovery if you never go to a live venue/participate in your local music scene. You'll catch stuff you'd never find otherwise!
Also I think the biggest tip I'd give is just be un-inhibited when deciding which music to try. Take each album as an experience and take it or leave it afterwards. Try not to overthink whether you're listening to something "good" or if it's something you'll like.
My starting point with electronic music was thanks to a book in Spanish called "Loops 1: Historia de la música electrónica en el siglo XX". It is an amazing book about electronic music in the twentieth century, and the editors did some playlists with the music discussed in each chapter. It has an equally impressive sequel called Loops 2 in which they talk about electronic music in the twenty first century. Both are pretty good written and well documented.
Subreddits dedicated to a genre are good places to start
1) Bandcamp. It's sorted by genre, with the front page of each being the most popular albums of that style. You can find some really neat stuff exploring there.
2) Allmusic. Look up an artist you like, and on the front page of theirs, Allmusic will list their influences and suggestions for similar artists.
3) Talk to your friends! Especially online friends from other countries. Different things are popular in different places!
The problem for me is not finding new music to listen to but rather how to find the time and attention span etc. to listen to all the interesting music out there :D. Love how you brought up some physical media, physical copies of books+literature+magazines. I have made discoveries through Spotify Discover Weekly. An artist whose music is mostly on Bandcamp more than Spotify, I found him thru Spotifai. There are some good music documentaries/miniseries' as well. The Defiant Ones for example. Didn't blow me away.
Omg you absolutely need to get into Rate Your Music. It's the most extensive music archive I've ever seen. It's a great social platform and the admins are incredibly knowledgeable and go to great lengths to get every album the best possible information and tagging (when they're not being asshats denying changes you know to be true for some stupid reason)
This could sound weird but i am really appreciating just random youtube listening, i find a lot of random gems and always get surprised, rather than spotify or similiars, which im finding always more stressful. Just opening it tells to my mind i am there to find new stuff, and i just keep listening to a lot of music very fast without concentrating on enjoying it but more on the search itself, because im there to find the perfect sound im thinking about in that moment. Anyway great video as always, favourite music channel on yt.
If you want to get into underground rock I cannot recommend the book, Our Band Could Be Your Life enough. Found it when I was in my early teens and was blown away with how passionately it was written. And the great thing was it covered so much more than just the bands it profiled. There’s whole chapters on amazing bands like Minutemen, Black Flag, Replacements and Sonic Youth but it also talks about Circle Jerks, James Chance, DOA, Fear, Lydia Lunch, Subhumans, the Weirdos, the Zeros and a million other incredible underground bands and artists. Punk rock is my favourite type of music and I owe a lot of that to Michael Azzerad and that amazing book
I'm the kind of person who can listen to the same music for years and not get bored but every now and then I want to expand my playlist. I'm not necessarily looking for new or underground releases, just new to my ears, don't care how old or well known is something if I like it. Not using Spotify, here are some of my methods:
- Check out my favourite artists's influences, as someone else mentioned. Finds: Rachmaninov, Serge Gainsbourg, Cream, Kraftwerk
- Pay attention to film sountracks, yes I'm occasionally that person shazaming in the middle of a screening, sorry not sorry. Finds: Einstürzende Neubauten, Elvis Costello
- Ask mom. She always liked what I'm listening to, so I thought I might like some of what she listened to when she was young, too. Finds: Rush, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple. All classics, I know, but I needed to get introduced somehow.
- Local radio. There are a few shows that highlight now so well known music, and one of the DJs is a very interesting musician himself. Finds: Febre39, Jurjak, Dakha Brakha, Wagner, Stravinsky
- Documentaries & guitar lessons. Ever since I picked up guitar last year, my TH-cam feed is a goldmine of new music, or classics I haven't explored yet. Finds: Stevie Ray Vaughan, Muddy Waters, Villa Lobos, Justin Johnson, also I'm in the process of getting into the rabbit hole of contemporary African electric guitar music.
- There's an app called Electrecord where you can listen to old music from before the fall of communism in my country, basically there was one main state owned record label that released everything and someone digitized the label's archives and made an app where you can listen to literally decades of music. Still exploring.
- I'm planning to get into records, and there are so many local used books/antiques stores that sell old records for dirt cheap. Someday I'm definitely going to plunge into that and make some impulsive purchases based on cover artwork.
The bandcamp new arrivals tab is one of my favorite ways to find new music. Since there is no curation, much of the music is not very good but it has helped me discover (and rediscover) some of my favorite artists and genres. I love the feeling of listening to a good album knowing I am one of a handful of people that have herd that music.
People really underestimate the importance of labels, it's essentially their job to find music for you, especially ones with credibility and leading minds who are constantly at the cutting edge, you are repeatedly going to find something great. Also the label's relationship with the distributors and shops is equally as important. Boomkat, for example, is primarily a shop, same as Beep, yet they have great blurb writers who are honed in on listening to everything new, and can recommend you the best that comes through their doors.
I subscribed to Wire for a while. Really great writing but just complete information overload. It takes me forever to look up every artist that sound interesting.
Spotify discovery is a bit of an echo chamber, I'll agree with that always, but their release radar is very helpful for keeping up with everyone you listen to. Helpful when you listen to as many artists as me...
Other than that, these are my picks for new stuff:
Mixtapes - mixcloud is great but there's tons of publications and blogs who ask artists to make their own and often it leads to great stuff. See FACT magazine for a good example, the Mogwai and Stephen O'Malley ones are my fav picks.
Compilation albums - search for a favourite artist and listen to some of those cheap compo CDs that has that one song from them. Discovered Indian Jewelry that way, utter bliss.
Bandcamp featured and top lists- for some of the more underground stuff. Really good picks, found Clarice Jensen this way and I'll be utterly thankful for that.
Wiki binge the spiteful way - binge until you find music genres or bands whose premise is the most upsetting or ridiculous. Check out the ones you think you could never get into. Well, I got into noise, Sunn O))), and a lot of stuff back in the day this way. Use this if you feel you're ready to explore the beyond.
Watch deep cuts - you're already here, you're doing the right thing.
The discovery feature in streaming services has actually done a lot for my discovery in contemporary American jazz, which is a scene I follow closely and hope to be a part of in the future. Starting an album/playlist radio for artists like Kneebody or Mark Giuliana has taken me to some interesting places.
The plant in the back reminds me of Plantasia album cover.
TASTE
I love the good old "go to a record store and discover new stuff" I've found some music I really love like that
I follow a ton of small labels and try keep up with many releases there. I use rym lists and bandcamp too. Spotify is great for some random recommendations. When I'm looking to further explore a genre I'm not familiar with (been meaning to try more jazz for example since I'm only well versed in metal) I go find articles for starter packs or go on rym and get the top few albums. I follow reviewers on Instagram who come through with great stuff too. And then of course, your channel has been incredibly helpful for those new genres.
I use radio and records charts and old editions of Billboard to hone in on a certain era.
Sideman and label exploration usually yields positive results.
I also listened to Black radio in NYC during the 80's and 90's where there were two competing stations with huge playlists. Classic soul, currents, jazz, fusion, and smooth jazz were some of the many styles played day and night. There was less emphasis on a rotation especially on Sunday and at night. I kept a notebook of artists and songs and it was full.
Amazon about a decade ago allowed customers to create lists and they would pop up when on certain related artist pages. Both Amazon and Discogs use cookies but the ones at Amazon are not as good as they used to be. On Discogs, you can cross reference all of the titles a current or reissue label has put out. Amazon also has a weekly and a 30/90 list of current titles.
The Penguin guide to jazz is about the best reference book out there.
When I started my collection back in the mid 90's, I bought a nice stack of various artists compilations so that I would have variety right away. Then I focused on one current and one classic with one for items that were going out of print. Cut-out and promo bin allowed for cheap buys from an era that I liked but the availability window was quickly closing as styles were changing.
The studio where the artist/band recorded their stuff, what else has been recorded there. Or what bands have the producer worked with.
there's just so much content and not enough time :(
Just take your time, more or less - pick an album or discography from that fits your vibe at the moment, and dive into it head-first. You won't catch up to every single release anyway, and finding 4-5 albums that will define your year is already an admirable task in itself.
@@JennyTheNerdBat appreciate the advice, i always try to listen to as much music as I can with enough time, instead of only listening through it once and move on to the next thing, but things get so overwhelming sometimes when so much is being released at once and I can't get through all of them even though I want to aha, sometimes I also tend to over listen to something I really like instead of trying to discover new music which is a annoying habit I have
time to get existential
Pragadesh Prakash but think about how long you’ll live. Nowadays thanks to modern medicine, we’re able to live for more time than any of ancestors were able to and you’re able to explore different genres from different eras so easily, if you keep listening to many albums, think about how much you’ll have listened in just a few years, so there’s no rush, just take your time and save the music you like the most
Usually I go through the obvious first: related artists on streaming services, then the artists playlist. I then go through the artists social media accounts and who they’ve played with, recommended, and tagged in certain posts. Then, of course, their influences. Then I usually look through comments on blogs at who people recommend (I trust fans tremendously), then the producers they choose and who they’ve produced in the past, THEN I end with checking out small zines and groups that put on shows and host anything involving the arts. Usually the underground scene is well documented within these little groups and blog posts.
1. -The artists themselves! There have been interviews where a band will mention a contemporary band(s) and I've gone on to listen to new music that way. Other times artists will spotlight other bands on their page.
2. - Looking at show/festival info in regards to who is opening or playing with the band sometimes yields good results.
3.- Associated Acts on Wikipedia
4.- A google search for a specific genre from a specific region
5.- LastFM "similar artists" suggestion.
6.- A random scroll/mention in TH-cam.
7.- Being friends with a promoter
RateYourMusic has become my favorite website for finding new bands and albums I’ve never heard of
I usually look at gigs at venues I've previously gone to and enjoyed (even in other cities) or looked at support bands for artists I like in different places. Helps me find new bands that I might love but takes a bit of time. But if you're interested, it's a fun hour or two on a weekend!
Of course Deep Cuts, your channel is really really awesome and one of the best places to find new music from a great variety of genres... In addition to your channel, other places to find new music are: The Needle Drop, Allmusic, Gapplegate Music Review, Gapplegate Classical Modern Review, Gapplegate Guitar and Bass Blog and Omnichord Records. As you mention in this video, The Quietus and Tiny Mix Tapes are also very good places to find new music...
I really like the Become the knight song suggestion livestream everyday Saturday. He generally gets through about 30 - 40 songs
per stream from multiple different genres (with a slight emphasis on progressive rock and metal).
It's a fairly small community so it does sometimes feel like a bit of an echo chamber but there's always some gems in there worth checking out.
I quite enjoyed Joe Carducci's rock book "Rock and the Pop Narcotic". It gives a good overview of Rock music - up to the 90s at least.
In a record shop in my town, they had this vinyl record compilation of their favorite artists from that year and they had one the year before too. They also had a free printed book all about the music from that year.
I usually use rate your music. Every time you rate an album that you might’ve liked you could find user made lists in that page featuring that album and other music that might be similar. I’ve been trying to use the computer a bit less however so I’m starting to get into zines and books. I recently ordered a reissue of a series of zines that covered post-industrial music in the late 90s and early 00s called spectrum compendium. Excited to see what new artists I can discover.
Trying to listen to at least a couple of new albums on every drive i do from now on, so this is great!
Thanks for the tips on those Kent venues. I actually live in Kent so its great, will check them out.
1. Spotify - release radar and related artists, defo the radios that are made for you; or the random playlist that begins when you finish an album.
2. Instagram - there are some really great independent pages that write reviews, stories, and more based on music. They present so, so many great niche LPs.
3. Magazines. Some like NME have sections where they ask editors or even photoggraphers and graphic designers for the mag what they're favourites records are at the moment.
4. Books are certainly useful, currently on David Byrne's How Music Works but I reckon I could find some more.
I’m very thankful that this channel exists.
Thanks for sharing your tips, discovering new music is always time consuming but worth it.
Cheers from France
I pretty much use TH-cam, either recommended albums or channels like black metal promotion. When I find something I like I go to Rate Your Music and check out where they come from, other bands the members perform in, etc
I've been a member of some really cool FB groups where we share, chat and talk abt new music across all genres. Some have informed me with so many great artists actually, my list has just dragged down too long. Another little obscure and mostly coincidental way of finding new music is checking out artists that have collaborated with some of the artists I love and follow - I would still be oblivious on The Necks had they not participated in the new Swans project.