The human recommendation
The human recommendation
Discovering new music through people
W hen it comes to music discovery, the human recommendation remains so vital. There is so much emotion invested into the creation of music I believe it has to be this way.
A recent post by Steve Lawson where he mentions his most ‘trusted places to go for music discovery’ got me thinking about this. Currently there is such a deluge of music available we struggle to digest it. There are also so many music discovery start-ups out there promising to solve the problem for us, but discovering new music is not the issue, more finding the human filter on the music is what we need help with.Listening to music has remained a constant pleasure that has stayed with me into my adult life. Looking back, it was always going to be this way.
My music listening journey began around 1977, despite being on the receiving end of many ‘dead arms’ and getting ribbed all the time, there was a one major silver lining to growing up with older brothers in having access to ready a made music collection.
Digging through their crates, from an early age I was introduced to the likes of Cream, The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Thin Lizzy, Deep Purple, Rory Gallagher and many more. But nothing prepared me (or the Ferguson turntable system it was to be played on) for when my eldest brother brought home a vinyl LP called “Let There Be Rock” from the legendary Australian band AC/DC.
I will never forget the moment when hearing the menacing, scowling vocals of Bon Scott on “Hell Ain’t A Bad Place To Be”, “Dog Eat Dog” and “Whole lotta Rosie”.
Angus Young on his Gibson SG was a revelation with the raw riffs supported on rhythm guitar by brother Malcolm. Mark Evans supplied the bass line while Phil Rudd battered the drums. From that point on, I was sold on guitar music and there was no turning back.
The first album I bought with my own pocket money, heavily influenced by my older siblings no doubt, was ‘Tonic for the troops’ from The Boomtown Rats.
Being only 7 at the time, I was probably just as equally fascinated by the clobber worn by Johnny Fingers (an adult wearing a stage costume of striped pyjamas) as much as his melodic piano keys.
But since then, my listening journey has continued in all sorts of directions, across many genres and era’s. For me as a music enthusiast, the thrill of discovering new music has not waned over time but more than what my friends listen to, I really love finding out what bands I like are playing and what influenced them.
For example, Mike Skinner shared a great playlist on BBC6 recently of what he has been listening to ahead of the release of his latest project from The D.O.T. , I was never really a radio listener and apart from the odd issue of Mojo, I have grown weary of an ever increasingly fickle music press for my fix.
The physical record store also used to be a great bastion for recommendations and so whenever I get the chance in any city I am visiting, I make every effort to go try out one of those remaining trusted places. On one such occasion last year, I visited New York for the CMJ music marathon and whilst there I took the time to make a stop at Permanent Records in Brooklyn.
I struck up a conversation with the store clerk and we chatted enthusiastically about music, which is always refreshing and he directed me to Grizzly Bear’s ‘Shields’ among others when I asked for a recommendation for a local based act.
I since grew very attached to that record and when the Arts Festival in Galway announced that Grizzly Bear were going to headline one of the nights in the Big Top, I was delighted and excitedly snapped up a ticket. They did not disappoint and wowed the audience. I just loved those tracks even more after hearing them played live.
Wait … I visited a physical record store, bought a physical CD based on a human recommendation and then bought tickets to go see the act live, that is not the way it is supposed to work any more?
But outside of those rare visits to record shops, for me, music blogs ahead of any other medium remain my favourite source for new music especially as I don’t listen to radio and no longer really read the music magazines. Whenever a track or band inspires someone to take the time to write about it, I believe it has to be worth checking out.
At MusicTechFes t earlier this year, I think Marcel Corso from Shuffler.Fm nailed it when he spoke about ‘ goosebumps in front of an excel sheet ’ on the sheer joy of discovering new music through blogs.
As Frank Zappa once said:
“Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates, by which bills must be paid”