Do you still seek out new music or are you content to listen to what you know and like?
The what are you listening to thread suggests a cohort mainly fixed in a period of time. Mind you it’s probably the age segment who still uses forums.
I’m definitely part of that age segment though I do like to explore new music, always have, we try to do one live gig a month though sometimes these are bunched around a certain time of year, we did 3 in December.
I can’t stand these fixed output radio stations like GHR that rinse and repeat endlessly.
What’s your perspective and if you care to share it your aligned age segment?
There’s plenty of stuff from 60s and 70s I love as much now as then - middle-era Beatles, Dylan, Steely Dan, Love and lots of blues. There’s 80s bands I still love , like The Smiths , Talking Heads and The Bible, and as the years go by, I realise even more what a genius Scott Walker was . But there’s even more older stuff I’d only listen to at gunpoint now - prog rock nonsense like ELP , most Genesis and much else besides .
I love ‘discovering’ music new to me - whether late period Johnny Cash , Bluegrass , and I’m very taken by a lot of what we used to call world music - I love music from Mali (Fatoumata Diawara especially ), quirky stuff like Public Service Broadcasting and anything I come across I enjoy , from Palestinian and French rap to Americana .
I also ove seeing new the new breed of tough female acts, from Raye to Wet Leg and Self Esteem .
Music is , or at least should be , a very broad church.Ionce heard J Clarkson arguing that nothing could beat the ….errr… towering genius of Supertramp and , well, each to their own but ….
That’s a fair point and requires a level of curiosity. At least one of my recent discoveries has 10 album releases, the fact they are new to me is what’s interesting, and they’re unlikely to be often heard in mass broadcast media.
I was once told by a record producer, that there is no such thing as a bad recording, as someone always likes it.
Personally,. I can’t get along with the likes of Sam Smith or Girls Aloud, but there are millions of people that do and the production on their recordings is top notch.
If I like it, then I’ll listen to it. If not, then it’s top down and just listen to a quality noise!
I often set off down a musical rodent hole when talking to my real human spouse who’s in music publishing. Tonight she was talking about Godley and Creme. Curiosity turned up a bonkers sounding concept album Consequences featuring Peter Cook, Sarah Vaughan and The Gizmo. Yes, isn’t it…
I now need to know how to get hold of that and listen.
I always seem to find new music when I am not paying attention to anything in particular. Having been well travelled when I was young I learned to be open to listening to most things once for at least 30 seconds. There is tons of stuff I have played to death that I never seem to tire of hearing again and again and if I really like something new I do tend to play it to death. When I started driving ambulances one of my instructors advised I listened to Radio 3 and Hannah Peels night tracks introduced me to a huge amount of wierdness and reintroduced me to WITCH a Zamrock outfit I’d not heard from in 40 years now a favourite of mine on youtube, Yes I am still curious and still love hearing old favourites from years gone by again and again and ………
In my youth, albums were expensive, and i tended to limit my purchases to a relatively small number of bands, missing out on a much wider spectrum of music which was not easily accessible back then. Now, with streaming subscriptions, i really enjoy searching through the vast musical spectrum out there. I listen to hundreds of new tracks a week, and have done so for a few years now. The Service i use, collates what i listen too, and at the end of the year listed my statistics. What was of great hilarity to my family was that this year’s stats put my listening age and taste the same as a 21 year old - I’m 68!
We listen to Radio 6 a lot. It’s great for discovering new music, that’s both new releases and old stuff we’ve missed. Their playlist is not Radio 1, or Radio 2, I recommend it to the musically curious.
I have been using spotify for donkeys years, it is an App, a word I hate but there you go the whole seems determined to function on them. I have never paid to use the app so suffer all maner of ads but given that I use it mostly from my phone through apple play, a good only knows what, that connects by WiFi on my non oem car hifidelity. The sound quality in my car is so low that I do notice the ads much and it is worth it to hear my favourite ditties for free.
Most of my listening these days is via U-tube as I have a preference for “live”performances and of course it’s possible to see and hear such a vast range of artists this way.
You’re correct about the age thing….. I still have my album collection but never play them, the odd CD finds itself in the car, and at home it’s the U-tube live stuff. I don’t stream anything….if I like it I’d rather buy a physical copy than merely get to ‘rent’ it.
I’m an acoustic ( and electric) guitar person and used to play (a lot). Sadly life got in the way and there just wasn’t time with full-time work and 3 kids in the house……so I struggle to play at the level I did at age 20-21. There has been no progression.
Got the chance to take part in an evening of food and music last week- first time in many years. We were among friends- so no pressure……I got to join in and played,
A Case of You (Joni Mitchell)
and then,
From Clare to Here (Ralph McTell)
I think those just about sum it up really as regards my age (65) and the sort of music I like to listen to. Still open to virtually anything though- especially when played live.
BTW, Ralph first played Belfast in 1969 and played here for many years when no-one played here ( for obvious reasons)…..
He seemed to have a particular liking for Belfast (his kids went to Queen’s University) and we saw him in the Ulster Hall just a few months ago.
Interestingly he told us he found his song “From Clare to Here” whilst perusing the shelves in a music shop…… The sheet music was in a book and at the top it was marked “traditional “…….. replacing his name as the writer of the words and music and inferring this is a traditional song.
Instead of being upset, he said he was absolutely delighted…….
Not bad for a bluesman from the “Croydon-Delta”…….
I remember seeing Ralph at Leeds Poly in about 1974 . His (excellent ) show was spoiled by the PA picking up radio traffic from the AA . “ They’re on’t A64 you say ? Near t’garden centre? On my way”
Thanks for this info Art re Spotify……interesting……you are not alone disliking the word App ……D/L the App [do I have to ]
Having said that I’ve been impressed with my Banking App and the NHS one [except waiting for the security code]
I get Paramount free with Sky Cinema but they recently asked me to pay for it to ‘avoid the ads’ . I didn’t and unlike every other TV ads on every other channel I have……… it won’t let you fast forward through them and unlike normal TV ads they are not long enough to nip to the loo or make a cuppa !
I like to use Spotify to audition new music but also track down older music that passed me by when it originally came out e.g. JJ Cale, Tom Waits and Nick Drake. Then quite happy to shell out on a vinyl copy (generally £25-30) if it’s something special!
Here’s today’s purchase from by excellent local record shop, originally released in 1970.
Just added some of latest dance/techno to the mp3 for the car and some Japanese Hardcore. I keep it on random play and so there is over 90 years covered 1930 early jazz and blues recordings right up to 2026 House. There’s over 600 genres represented apparently. Can’t stand any of the radio stations and would prefer to listen to the engine or my own stuff.
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