In various conversations this past week I’ve been struck by the different ways people discover music. Subsequently I’ve started asking others about their preferred methods and preferred gatekeepers. At GÂRDEN, for example, we use the Smarter Playlists tool that Bas wrote about back in February. The list we distil from the tool gets filtered by our founder and CEO and then finds its way to our listening team. They say whether they like a track or not and whether they think it fits the GÂRDEN artistic profile. The songs that make it through all of these stages can be found in our GÂRDEN Seeds playlist.
In our personal lives, we maybe don’t want to set up an elaborate playlist tool and certainly don’t have the luxury of a listening team. I came across many other ways to discover new music and have my own recommendations as well.
Gatekeepers
First off, let me give my own favourite gatekeeper a nod of appreciation: MaryAnne Hobbs. I religiously listen to her New Music Fix on BBC6 Music. It’s a mix of an hour, and it’s always full of great music, some of it known to me and some of it new to me. My number one recent discovery through her New Music Fix is quest?onmarc, who’s crazy FACT Mix I recently highlighted in our newsletter. And while we’re in the BBC6 Music realm, there’s Gilles Peterson, who isn’t just a great gatekeeper, but who also opens up the worlds of other gatekeepers through Worldwide FM. My personal tip on Worldwide FM is Coco Maria, whose Wednesday morning show always brings new Latin-infused music to my ears. BB
Of course, MUSIC x has its own weekly nugget of great music in each newsletter. And we’re not the only one to bring to attention great music. First Floor, the weekly newsletter by Shawn Reynaldo, always has great tips in the electronic music/house/techno space.
In conversation with my students this week we touched upon Pitchfork, once my own go-to place for music discovery but I can’t remember the last time I read a review on their site. Other music recommendation engines that rose to prominence around the same time, at least for me, are still going strong, such as Hype Machine. I do feel, however, that many of these types of websites have lost some of their strength as gatekeepers as we’ve moved into a world more dominated by the endorsements of individuals.
And that leads me to the number one answer I got when asking a bunch of people how they discovered new music: through friends. Those close to you are your best gatekeepers apparently.
Lists and playlists
To get the obvious one out of the way: Discover Weekly by Spotify. I was briefly enthusiastic about this playlist when Spotify just launched it 5 years ago. However, I quickly grew tired of the choice of tracks that came into the playlist. That said, it got mentioned quite a bit in my Q&A’s the past couple of days.
I’m more inclined to follow playlists curated by people than algorithms. And if you’re into Drum & Bass music you’d do well to follow The Freshest Drum & Bass playlist on Spotify, curated by Simulate. It gets updated every week following the Friday releases.
If you’re so inclined you can also follow my own quarterly playlists where I collect new music upon its release, with a clear focus on albums over singles. The current one is, of course, 2021 – Q3. I trawl a lot newsletters and websites to find out about new releases but my first port of call is always the releases section of Album of the Year.
I’m not personally on Reddit, but I did hear the following two subreddits mentioned more than once: r/Music and r/listentothis. The latter one, especially, seems like an amalgamation of a lot of music I’ve never heard of. What’s more, the person who sat next to me on the train today was using it as I asked him how he discovers new music.
Labels
A great way to find new music is to find a label that releases consistently great music. Here’s some of my favourites:
- Bedroom Community, founded by Valgeir Sigurðsson and home to the likes of Nico Muhly, Ben Frost, Heliochrysum, Mizzy Mazzoli, and many more.
- Ilian Tape, founded by the Zenker Brothers and home to great techno and electronic music from Andrea, Skee Mask, Kas, and Stenny
- Gondwana Records, founded by Matthew Halsall and home to one of my favourite current artists: Hania Rani. Besides the beautiful piano-based neo-classical music of Rani, they also have the singer-songwriter Caoilfhionn Rose and the, supposedly, jazztrio, but in essence much more leftfield, GoGo Penguin.
- Warp Records, so many releases on this label have meant so much to me, from Aphex Twin to Squarepusher and from Battles to the most recent release by Nala Sinephro.
- Tzadik, the label founded by John Zorn and home to all of this great projects such as Moonchild, Bar Kokhba, but also the Lunatic Fringe of Mike Pathos or the compositions of Lisa Bielawa.
Gaming
I’m not a massive gamer myself, but gaming soundtracks are a great gateway into new music. I’ve been struck, for example, by the DOOM OST, which is such a layered musical experience. Definitely something to enjoy beyond the game itself.
Another gaming soundtrack that veers heavily into the epic is that of Skyrim. The OST has it all, including the theme which sets the tone with its 30-strong choir.
Besides games, there are also labels that have a strong allegiance to gaming. The best example is Monstercat, who have actively pursued gaming partnerships, such as with Rocket League. These kinds of partnerships have two main advantages: 1) direct income in the form of synch licenses; 2) new audiences and increased plays on DSPs.
Video
The final part I want to dig into is video-based music discovery. There’s several examples out there of organisations who have established both an aesthetic and a sound. The first one people mention is COLORS with its bare aesthetic and sound it has found an audience of its own who will happily watch each new artist put on their screens.
Immediately following a mention of COLORS is NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert. While a more cluttered aesthetic than COLORS, Tiny Desk brings another form of intimacy and has the benefit of audience feedback which you can always see the artists feed off of. My favourites are the ones where the band doesn’t really fit around the tiny desk, such as with Tank and the Bangas. Especially since they also switch it up in terms of performance to accommodate the setting.
Local radio channels in the US can have quite a big cultural impact and KEXP is one of them. Moreover, because they record awesome sessions with great artists. I’m not a fan of the lights in the studio but the sound is always so good. Brittany Howard is one example of an artist who seems to enjoy the studio-recording style setting.
How do you discover music?
Let me know via my Twitter or LinkedIn. Music recommendations are welcome too!