Lol, idk if I’m gonna sound pedantic but over the years, I’ve really broadened my musical taste. I love discovering really out there stuff, stuff I’ve never listened to before and I can vibe with. Something I can say “yeah, there was real thought put into this”.
And yet everything seems to fit neatly into a genre. I rarely, rarely find something that’s new and fresh. Most stuff you find you can compare it to something else you know already.
I think my biggest discovery in recent time was Polyphia, especially after their New Levels New Devils album (Listen to GOAT here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_gkpYORQLU). I’ve never seen anyone do something like this with a guitar, and to this day I haven’t found anyone that does something similar.
Gasoline (“A journey into abstract hip hop”) was also a good discovery thanks to Youtube (seriously making me consider switching to Youtube music and paying for it lol)
That’s what I’m interested in, yknow. I love all genres of music and sometimes I’ll put on some 2Pac, and other times I’ll listen to Dream Theater. Elton John has some great songs and actually works really well when you have a chill evening with friends (bonus points if you actually have the vinyls to put on).
But after a while I want to discover something new, something that makes me think in music, if that makes sense.
Youtube is actually really good at recommending music, and Spotify not so much. So when I typed “good music” on Spotify to try and find some playlists, the top ones were labelled as “no specific genre” but that’s a lie lol, apparently good music is pop, country and 90s alt rock.
That’s the ultimate genre. To regroup everything that cannot properly be categorized.
Edit: also I’m seriously looking for beautiful traditional African and Arabic music from such artists. Super difficult to find when your web experience is white-centric. Love Lili Twil but it’s not on Spotify.
I think you’re right, but I also think there’s plenty of excellent, creative art being made, some of which defies genre.
I wonder if finding the good stuff hasn’t always been a slog… Anyway, over the years YouTube has been my friend (as it’s been yours), but also reddit to some degree. Check out https://reddit.musicplayer.io/
I also am a huge fan of KEXP, a university-sponsored radio station out of Seattle in the US. Their programming is apparently run exclusively by actual human DJs who provide insightful info, commentary, and storytelling while working. The station def has a genre locus, but it’s breadth is quite wide compared to other radio.
Most of the stuff I love is categorized as “post-hardcore” but with how different so much of it is it’s basically a non-genre. Bands that fit snugly into metalcore, pop punk or even nu-metal of all things by genre purists are put alongside bands like la dispute, Old Gray, Touché Amoré, and Being as an Ocean. It makes no sense.
I don’t know how you feel about screaming but I adore la dispute and they led me to appreciating spoken-screamed-word-poem-songs if that makes sense lol. “like blood from a stone” by Old Gray is one of the most personally touching songs I’ve ever listened to, and it’s basically harsh music over a poem. It’s phenomenal.
You have good taste. Please post more of your discoveries.
Fortunately I have a playlist of just that that I update when I find new stuff to put in it: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/51smr6f4IBoruq2K62vocR?si=29387b51297d4397
https://youtu.be/0aOzT11GMKM (I like this kind of stuff as well as Roc Marciano or Jay Electronica or All them Witches or sturgill simpson or Bremer/McCoy or Weyes Blood or J Dilla or Casiopea or Nicholas Craven or Aphex Twin or Polo & Pan or L’imperatrice)
The problem I find is that you have some artists out there who aren’t creating music but are instead deliberaly being obtuse and trying to be edgy. While that is good in some ways as they push the boundaries of music I also think their music lacks an authenticity that resonates with me. Let other people share music with you, either via social media or in person.
Look up Berried Alive and Miya Lowe on youtube.
Funny enough, I think it’s kinda the opposite for me. Youtube sucks booty cheek for recommending music, unless you happen to stumble upon a nice channel. There’s a really nice channel called “David Dean Burkhart” which has a really nice selection of indie-esque music, if that’s your thing. Spotify is nice for me because of how fast you can go through music, and decide if you like it or not.
Do you have any music favorited on spotify? You probably won’t find much by just typing “good music” hehe. Their release radar is cool, the daily mixes, and the discover one (i think that’s what it is). You do have to sort through a lot of doodoo, but it’s worth it.
People say that they watch one “SJW destroyed” compilation and their entire recommendation feed is just that for months, but for me my recommendations are based on what I last watched. If Youtube recommends me a nice niche album and I listen to it, I will only get other albums. Until I watch a let’s play or something else, that is.
Release radar is a nice feature (if a bit hidden), but the daily mixes are usually just stuff I’ve heard before and is already in my playlist. Spotify is simply incapable of giving me anything new lol, unless I find something really really different (like afrobeat) and then ask for a radio based on that. Even then eventually it seems it will go back to songs I’ve listened to 50 times before. Which means they’re good, sure, but that’s not all I want to listen to x)
There’s a lot of that in the youtube shorts. I always make sure to hit “do not recommend”, but it keeps giving me the same shit. I don’t know why I spend that much time on it anyway, but holy shit, there’s so much Mat walsh shit and andrew tate shit 🤢. I think it’s nice when i come across a cute video of an animal doing something.
Do you watch Anthony Fantano? Even if you don’t like his critics he is a goldmine of widely different genres of music (like from city pop to extremely violent shit).
Also there is a lot of stuff that hits really different and still have lots of fans, example:
- Igorrr
- Black Dresses
- Crywank (the yellow dog album)
- Death Grips
- Machine Girl
- 100 Gecs
I’m more of a metal dude, if you want to try something more underground I recommend Yellow Eyes, I fell in love with their album Rare Field Ceiling
Ethiopiques is a whole series of albums of like 70’s Ethiopian Jazz with a traditional feel to it. from all different musicians. May not be your cuppa tea but I’m shooting it your way in case. here’s some good tracks from it:
Tesfa Maryam Kidane - Heywete (1970)
Mulatu Astatke - Tezeta (Nostalgia)
also on a similar note, ‘As Sweet As broken Dates’ is a compilation album of tapes and vinyls buried literally in the ground i think near Mogadishu at the beginning of the Somalian civil war. they were then excavated and compiled. a lot more upbeat and really fun, most songs on the album slap but these are a couple of my favs:
hope u like :^)
(all available on spotify)
Clearly you do not know me and that is my saddest mistake. Get in the boat
yes sir
i’m not a guitarist, but as far as new and interesting things being done on the guitar justin king and generally slap guitar is some pretty sick shit that is totally unlike anything i usually see. here are two of his most well-known songs, the first one is kind of hard not to listen to on repeat. whenever i look at his hands i’m so amazed lol
i can understand wanting to listen to things that are fresh, but what exactly do you mean by “think in music”? interested to investigate further
as far the normativity of music, well, a whole lot can be said about that, probably too much. on the very pedantic side, pentatonic scales, tonal centers and the concept of tonic is something i’m going to go out on a limb and say are present in most musical traditions. on the historical side, i think the advent of capitalism has produced enough surplus that much more musicians can record and produce music, leading to a much less normative musical landscape than 300, 100, or even 50 years ago.
but at the same time, perhaps as musical production further monopolizes it seeks to market harder and harder to already-existing audiences, further entrenching the definition of already-existing genres. this either calcifies the genres, or at least maybe makes them less likely to interact with each other.
tbh i’ve had the exact opposite problem of you it sounds like, where musical availability is so incredibly open and widespread that it becomes overwhelming to even choose what to listen to, and i never quite liked getting recommended works by an algorithm. i also felt like, in the gigantic market, musicians were explicitly trying to do whatever new or interesting thing they could do to get noticed, rather than just focusing on making good music.
the real question is then how to find music without an algorithm, and i think maybe historical study of genre might be interesting for you. nothing serious, can just be wikipedia: maybe by listening through the historical gambit of a favorite genre or even artist of yours, you can see how they developed into what they are, and get introduced to new artists along the way going either backwards or forwards in time. this is something i used to do a lot when i had more time to listen to music freely.
just some thoughts. loved the music you shared btw
edit: here’s a third justin king, man these are pretty cool
Probably not what you’re looking for, but oh well…
Ned Rorem, Views from the Oldest House (Organ): https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNCTpbqq5_ehLkaTzybtV5IN4Feb5zZ2g
Toru Takemitsu, In the Woods (Guitar): https://youtu.be/0IgRR5X9ftA
Luigi Dallapiccola, Quaderno Musicale di Annalibera (Piano): https://youtu.be/Kb6PxV6f4C4
Peter Maxwell Davies, Eight Songs for a Mad King (Pierrot Ensemble): https://youtu.be/m6357vL9TPg
Arnold Schoenberg, Pierrot Lunaire (Pierrot Ensemble): https://youtu.be/bd2cBUJmDr8
Andy Akiho, Pillar I (Percussion Quartet): https://youtu.be/FsiF8tbwJR0 Andy Akiho, Ricochet (Triple Concerto involving table tennis): https://youtu.be/H6RwAhUiApA
Richard Strauss, Eine Alpensinfonie (Orchestra): https://youtu.be/zsTo7QxxgYg
György Ligeti, Atmospheres (Orchestra): https://youtu.be/RCNzwdLwA8g
Olivier Messaien, La Nativité du Seigneur (Organ): https://youtu.be/jQhswO78VDo
Steve Reich, Music for 18 Musicians (Chamber Ensemble): https://youtu.be/ZXJWO2FQ16c
Dmitri Shostakovich, String Quartet No. 8: https://youtu.be/-0nKJoZY64A
Sergei Prokofiev, Piano Conceto No. 3: https://youtu.be/BS0SwRoYAW0
Jennifer Higdon, Percussion Concerto (Band + Percussion Soloist): https://youtu.be/4qxVCoX5VUA
Kurt Weill/Bertold Brecht, The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny: https://youtu.be/2y0SmvSBzPc
Viktor Ullman/Peter Kien, Der Kaiser von Atlantis: https://youtu.be/2y0SmvSBzPc (warning—holocaust imagery; it was written in the Theresienstadt ghetto)
Morton Feldman, Rothko Chapel (chamber choir+soloists): https://youtu.be/ks_mZJR-lAQ
John Cage, Sonatas and Interludes (prepared piano): https://youtu.be/N6Sl5wmy9t4
Leonardo Vinci/Metastasio, Artaserse, Vo solcando un mar crudel (baroque orchestra, Franco Fagioli—countertenor): https://youtu.be/rXmF6h3Yd_A
