Discovering New Music

For a couple of years now, one of my biggest hobbies (or obsessions, take your pick) has been discovering new music, mostly new indie rock.  I'm not directly plugged in to the music scene in any way, but I still feel pretty well-exposed to new music thanks to the Internet.  (The Internet: Is there anything it can't do?)  Assuming I can actually stick to it, I'm planning to start writing my own reviews of new music that finds its way onto my iPod.  However, before I start that, I thought I'd share my sources and tell a little about them.

1) NPR: All Songs Considered

All Songs Considered started out as a website devoted to the incidental music used on the daily NPR news staples "All Things Considered" and "Morning Edition."  Over time, it morphed into its own weekly half-hour show hosted by NPR pop music critic Bob Boilen.  (While my local NPR affiliate doesn't carry the show, I do subscribe to the weekly podcast, available on iTunes.)  All Songs looks at contemporary popular music of various sorts, with an emphasis on world, indie rock, folk, and pop music.  All Songs was where I first encountered some of my favorite artists, like The Decemberists, The New Pornographers, and Belle and Sebastian.  These artists are typical of the kind of acts that are showcased: Interesting music that doesn't have too hard an edge.

2) The AV Club

Sister site of news satire site The Onion, The AV Club is all about pop culture reviews.  I particularly like their music review site.  Their reviews are a little more varied in some ways than All Songs: they aren't afraid to review music that is more polarizing, such as hip hop, metal, punk, and electronica.  One thing I really like about the AV Club is that they tend to link to audio streams from the albums that they review, assuming that the publisher allows it.  I for one am far more likely to check out an act I've never heard of if I can hear a sample track.

3) Sound Opinions

Hailing from WBEZ in Chicago, and billed as "The only hour-long rock 'n roll talk show," this is another public radio pop music show.  The format is a little different: Co-hosted by rock critics Jim DeRogatis of the Chicago Sun-Times, and Greg Kot of the rival Chicago Tribune, the show features music news, new album reviews, and the occasional live concert.  Jim and Greg also have some recurring features, like the "Desert Island Jukebox," where one of them waxes poetic about a record that they just can't live without.  They don't always agree, and I don't always agree with their reviews, but the show is always a fun listen.  This show is also available as a podcast from iTunes (which is how I listen to it.)

4) CD Baby Music Discovery Podcast

From the independent music publisher CD Baby, this weekly podcast usually showcases four or five tracks from a particular music genre (or sub-genre.)  Recent featured genres have been Celtic rock (for St. Patrick's Day), rockabilly, instrumental post-rock, and nerdcore hip hop.   Sometimes the genre isn't too appealing to me, but they always play something interesting.  One downside to this podcast: it's really a marketing took for CD Baby, and most of the tracks are only available from CD Baby directly.  You can subscribe to the podcast from iTunes.

5) Pandora

For those not in the know:  Pandora is a web radio station that uses technology called "the music genome project" to analyze a given piece of music, and to come up with other music that has similar characteristics.  How it works:  You tell Pandora the names of a few songs and/or artists that you like, and it will put together a playlist of other music that you should also like.  I was a huge fan of Pandora when it launched, but one problem of a web radio station that only plays songs it thinks you'll like is that the music starts to sound the same.  Nevertheless, it has played for me a few songs from artists that I'd never heard of that I just loved, and then bought the album.  (Cases in point: The Broken West, Greg Summerlin).

6) World Cafe

Okay, yet another public radio pop music show, this one from WXPN in Philadelphia.  Host David Dye plays an eclectic mix of world, folk, rock, and pop, both old and new.  I don't get to listen to this show very often any more (my new office doesn't get radio reception), and the show isn't podcast for licensing reasons.  I do try to catch it whenever I can, and I always seem to enjoy it.  Like All Songs, the music featured definitely has that "adult contemporary" feel to it, and rarely has any hard edges.

7) eMusic

I've been a subscriber to eMusic for about two years now.  This is a subscription-based music download service that is completely devoted to music from independent labels.  It's my favorite music download service: music is about a third the price of iTunes or Amazon.  It's on this list for the extensive music review sections and artist spotlight.  Another thing I love is the large number of free label sampler albums that are available free to subscribers.  

So, there you are:  my major sources for new music.  Other sources include local radio stations WVBR and WICB, Guitar Hero, MySpace, and word-of-mouth.  Keep on rockin'!