In the previous post, I highlighted artists and songs that I’d discovered thanks to Spotify’s recommendations. While I found some good music that way, the limitation is really that it’s not very good at recommending music that’s outside of your standard listening pattern. For example, recommending Greta van Fleet because I listen to Led Zeppelin is a bit of a no brainer (if you haven’t heard Greta van Fleet, they’re a great band and sound almost exactly like Zeppelin). What I’d really like is more of a listener-focused recommendation; So-and-so likes Led Zeppelin, but they also like Yola, therefore you might also like Yola (if you haven’t heard of Yola, keep reading). I get that this would be very hit and miss and likely result in a lot of complaints from people saying that Spotify has no idea how to recommend music. It’s not commercially successful, but it might be way more successful at helping people to discover artists and songs they never would have found on their own.
Back in the old days, one of the challenges with finding new music was that you typically had to have heard someone on the radio, or you’d get a recommendation from a friend. Most teenagers weren’t willing to drop $15 or so on an album unless they had heard at least one song already. Some record stores had “listening bars” where you could listen to a bunch of records that the store had opened. Once CD’s came along you could do the same with CD’s and since they didn’t get damaged as easily, I think a lot of record stores allowed this (Fidelio in Calgary and then A&B Sound had huge libraries of listening CD’s). I found some great albums this way. Do you remember when HMV had those little CD players on the wall? Yes, they were almost always broken, but it was a good idea. Or, maybe you joined me in credit card debt by signing up for this –
Today though, we have the opposite problem; we can listen to whatever we want. That has led to more focus on singles and also makes it hard to sift through all of the potential new stuff. How do you find stuff without having to spend hours on your favourite streaming service? Here are some suggestions from me, as well as some artists I’ve found this way.
So there are these things called “magazines”, some of you may have heard of them, some have even read one I expect. I have had a Next Issue/Texture/Apple News + subscription for a few years now and one of the pleasant surprises out of all of those magazines is Rolling Stone Magazine. It has turned out to be the way I find much of my new music. The reason that I like it compared to the recommendation engine in Spotify is that Rolling Stone doesn’t know anything about me (other than some obscure marketing profile for advertisers). So when they suggest a new artist, album, or song, it comes with no preconceived ideas of what I would like. That means that much of the time it isn’t right, but it also means that I find stuff I probably would never have found otherwise. Like who you ask?
Like Yola. She’s a fantastic R&B singer with a great ’60s sound who had 4 Grammy nominations this year. Her debut album Walk Through Fire is like nothing else out there right now. It has a great, relaxed vibe (for my singer friends, some of her phrasing is bizarre but remember, this is pop music) that’s perfect for sitting with a fancy cocktail and visiting with friends.
Another artist I found through Rolling Stone was Lana Del Ray. Now, before I go farther I should say that my daughter was listening to her before this, and I had heard some of her music. However, it wasn’t until I read a feature on her and her new album Norman F*#king Rockwell that I realized how great she (and this album) is. As you may have guessed from the title, it does have some explicit lyrics, so if you’re not OK with that, go on to my next artist. If you’ve ever sat in an LA coffee shop on a rainy winter day, or spent a cool evening looking out over the LA smog to the ocean from Bel-Air, this music will fit right in. It’s the antithesis of the Beach Boys‘, Surfin’ Safari, version of Southern California and it’s really good. Of course, there is a side of the Beach Boys that is very similar to this album. If you like songs like “Caroline, No“, “The Warmth of the Sun“, and “In My Room“, you’ll like this album.
This is getting long, so I’ll leave Rolling Stone Magazine for now (I am currently listening to every one of their top 50 albums of the 2010’s, so more to come on that). Another place that I’ve found some interesting artists is NPR. Very different from Rolling Stone, or my Spotify for that matter, NPR has all kinds of artists I never would have discovered. Their Tiny Desk series of concerts has revived my interest in a few artists with whom I was already familiar, but these concerts show how talented they really are (Taylor Swift, yes, and Lizzo both did really great concerts last year). You can’t hide behind a bunch of effects when you’re performing in someone’s office. A coupe of discovery highlights there are funk/jazz band Snarky Puppy and Alabama Shakes lead singer Brittany Howard. I knew of Alabama Shakes previously, but Brittany Howard on her own is a soul powerhouse.
And last, don’t ignore the musical tastes of your friends and family if you’re trying to find something you wouldn’t have considered before. Some selections from friends and family:
- Lizzo
- Kendrick Lamar
- Billie Eilish
- Khalid
- Jaco Pastorius
- Gorillaz
- and many others…
One of the things I’ve learned this year is that I’ll listen to pretty much anything. Enjoying it is another thing… but it’s good to venture out of your comfort zone every now and then, you might be surprised with what you discover. Let me know what artists are new to you.
I Have Things to Say About Music 