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

Roon credit lists and Roon  radio as well, plus record reviews in various publications. I have also found the various qobuz lists to be of assistance but not as much as Roon radio since I tend to already have a lot of the material Qobuz lists. BTW, I've never found Roon to have stability problems. If there's ever a problem, its with my ISP.

I go to the main site for the genre I'm interested in. For instance, if it's metal I go to metalstorm.com and look at the New Releases and Upcoming Releases categories. You can usually find a site like this for each genre. You could even start at newalbumreleases.net, which contains incomplete lists for all the genres.

For old releases find a site that does ratings. Each genre usually has these too. For instance, jazz has allaboutjazz.com/reviews, although it's navigation sucks. If you want to go back more than a few months in time change the page number in the URL.

 

If you find a band which you like, Google "bands that sound like 

[name of band]."

Used to buy random albums at Goodwill but with streaming, the 3000 or so vinyls I have are sitting fallow. 

Now it's"   Radio Paradise => Qobuz => "Go to Artist" => "Similar Artists" and you're off on an adventure.   

BTW, when I find someone or something interesting, it gets tagged in my Qobuz "Follow Up" playlist.  Radio Paradise has multiple channels so you can mood-hop as needed. 

Roon is built for discovery.  Definitely a good place to start.  But beware, it's a rabbit hole that includes overbuilding gear and a large amount of network troubleshooting.  Roon's first answer to any user problem is "it's your network."  You could live in a colocation facility and they'd say that.