Your method for discovering great music.


I'm in a slump. It has been a while since I've discovered new music that I really like. And when I say "new" I mean new to me. Maybe even rediscovered would count as new.

I do not have a method. I usually stumble into new music that I like. I also don't have loads of hours to sort through tons of stuff I don't like. Plus I find that random sort of pursuit to be frustrating and unrewarding most of the time.

Amazon Music had half decent 'recommended for you' lists but I don't recall if that ever paid off. I use Qobuz now which sucks in that particular department.

I've found a few bands that I like from recommendations here at Audiogon but I have not been here much lately.

So I'm curious as to how some of you approach that search for great music that is either actually new, new to you or rediscovered.

n80

Sure. It's a shorthand I use to describe movement somewhere on the web. This is based on using the free Bluesound app BlueOS, which I forgot to mention (sorry!). I'm betting there's Tidal or Spotify or Amazon have similar functionality.

1) It means I listen to Radio Paradise and hear a song I like.
2) I go to that song on Qobuz (one click if you have the Bluesound app)
3) I then go to the artist's page on Qobuz via their "Go to Artist" function (again, one click.)
4) Once at the artist's page, Qobuz automatically suggests other artists (one click on their "Similar Artists" feature)

So now you have a bunch of similar artists to explore in three clicks. 

Does that make more sense?  

Yes, it makes sense and for some reason I have not used the "Got to Artist" function in Qobuz but I will certainly check it out now. Thanks!

If not already mentioned, Brilliant Classics on YouTube regularly posts attractive classical music including lesser/unknown composers eg today piano sonatas by Galuppi.  They post music from Baroque through actually attractive more modern stuff.

One that has not been mentioned yet is "Pro Studio Masters".  If you are on their email list you will receive 4 or 5 mailings per week of new releases and remastered music from several genres all in hi-res.  Almost all of the albums have samples of all tracks that you can listen to as well as read reviews.  Even if you are not interested in hi-res, you can usually find the "red book" version.

 

Others have already mentioned record reviews in Stereophile and Absolute Sound.  I take that one step further by noting all of the music used to evaluate equipment.  I have found quite a bit of new-to-me music that way.