Sources for unearthing and your favorite bands

[I Heart Brewers]

The favorite bands thread got me thinking and I think this one is a bit of an offshoot. While I consider myself a semi-hardcore audiophile I am by no means any sort of expert. I enjoy finding new bands, listening to an album or their catalogue until sufficiently exhausted with their sound and moving on the next. This seemed to be easier when I was younger and had more time. Now that I have a 5 month old priorities have changes but I still love to hear new music. My outlets for finding new music basically comes via four sources:

 

1) word of mouth

2) the web (mostly pitchforkmedia)

3) live music (Opening bands. This has become less of a source due to time spent on other things, see above)

4) Sirius (channel 26 left of center)

 

Since time is so valuable I find word of mouth and the internet the most valuable sources. So I'm wondering if anyone out there has music media outlets they enjoy visiting that give the reader great subjective opinions. I find that pitchfork can be a bit arrogant and condesceding at times although it really is my only source for the type of music that I enjoy (mainly indie rock/hip-hop - broad genres I know).

 

Also, in keeping with the word of mouth aspect of the thread are there any new bands that you are listening to that you would love to share?

 

Feel free to add any bands you've seen live that you enjoy as well. With so many music venues here in the SF bay area my wife and I are bound to find a baby sitter to get a concert once and a while. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[pogokat]

friends

allmusic

random experimentation (i'll buy any cd for $3 or less if i've heard someone say it's good..for example, someone around here has been talking about Kiss a lot lately...might have to give them an album's worth of a try if i can find a good one at no expense)

i love emusic as well..

 

i have a paste subscription..

and occasionally XMU (channel 43 on xm)

[burniebrewer]

There are a few websites of the genre I read regularly and XM's Boneyard.

[brettac1]

Friends

Blogs

Message boards (ateaseweb = the greatest for finding something new)

Pitchfork

XM

 

Edit: If anyone is looking for some unearthing (or some background music), go here and click the "listen live" link: http://www.littlemoonradio.com/

(formerly Ryan Adams Radio)

 

I'm DJ'ing at the moment, and for probably at least the next 3+ hours, playing a huge variety of stuff from a huge variety of eras.

[bigredrobbo]

Last.fm and pandora.com are really useful for finding new music. I also pay attention to the "listeners who liked this, also like these artists" buttons on Amazon.com.

[SenatorShriv]

I occasionally cruise through the live shows at archive.org and check out bands that I've never heard of or listened to.

[Fatter than Joey]

Sirius/XM

Pandora

Sampler CDs

[TURBO]

when I want to unearth my "favorite" bands, I head over to my wall cd case, browse through my 1300 cds, select one, then play it...

[And That]

a)People I know

b)The interwebs (primarily Last.fm, Emusic, Pitchfork, Tiny Mix Tapes, as well as various blogs and things)

c)89.3 The Current, the best radio station in the world

d)Buying albums for fun just to see what they are like

 

Edit:

e)Going to concerts

[danzig6767]

I might get ripped by some for this, but i don't really care. A lot of the new music i find is via file sharing. Whether i hear a bands name on here, via a friend, the radio, or other places i hear some say a band or artist is very good, i'll download a 3-4-5 random songs by them if i can find any. If i like it, often i'll then try a CD and if i like that, i'll buy another. If though say i download four songs and only like one while the other three sound terrible, i'll keep that one song and delete the other three and likely i'm done with that band/artist.

[And That]

Edit: If anyone is looking for some unearthing (or some background music), go here and click the "listen live" link: http://www.littlemoonradio.com/

(formerly Ryan Adams Radio)

 

I'm DJ'ing at the moment, and for probably at least the next 3+ hours, playing a huge variety of stuff from a huge variety of eras.

Play more Gwar!

I'd listen more, but I have to go unearth some music on my hard drive that I already know what it is. My, won't this be exciting!

 

[brettac1]

Sadly, I have no Gwar.

[And That]

But you *do* have A.A. Bondy! Excellent.

 

By the way, everyone listen to A.A. Bondy. He's one of the many thousands of artists that are compared to Bob Dylan, but I don't think it's always a bad thing.

[iluvlamp]

Slacker.com and word of mouth.

[funkyplaidcoat]

b)The interwebs (primarily Last.fm, Emusic, Pitchfork, Tiny Mix Tapes, as well as various blogs and things)

A good friend of mine writes/edits for TMT. Glad to see it get referenced and mentioned along with the likes of Lastfm and Emusic.

my list:

- friends

- shows

- various mp3 blogs

- pitchfork/tmt/radar/other online publications

- billboard top 10

 

[sgtcluels]

Whatever the record companies tell me I must like. I am a drone to their needs...

 

Usually word of mouth... opening bands, or bands that my favorite bands like.

[jwill535]

for me i would go to the bands websites and generally they have links to band friends of they're and generally that band would be in the same genre of the one you like.

[And That]

Just using Wikipedia is pretty useful as well. You can find out about a lot of side projects, related artists, and whatnot from your favorite bands.

[Bikeage77]

Usually I find out about bands at shows, myspace, and friends.

 

Right now I'm completely obsessed over the following

 

Jean Claude Jam Band : myspace.com/jeanclaudejamband

Thomas Funciton: myspace.com/thomasfunction

Tulsa: myspace.com/tulsa

The Marked Men:myspace.com/themarkedmen

Beach Patrol: myspace.com/beachpatrol

 

and if you wanna check out my band you can do so here

Louis Tully : myspace.com/louistullypartyprogram

 

We're playing tonight at Club Anything on 4th and National, starts at 10ish, I dunno when we're playing though. Word.

[I Heart Brewers]

Just using Wikipedia is pretty useful as well. You can find out about a lot of side projects, related artists, and whatnot from your favorite bands.

 

I forgot about that one. I was doing some research on a band I loved that broke up (Grandaddy) and found out that several of the members had side/solo projects. It was very useful.

[brettac1]

I'm spinning the hits again tonight on the same radio station linked in my post from last night up above.

 

Big Star right now.

[kilgore37]

the prp

use to use oink, now waffels

the only thing radio is good for is sports talk