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When do we stop finding new music?

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Re: When do we stop finding new music?

#531

Post by d12345m »

erikbye wrote: post #516
goosejuice wrote: post #498

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a tremendous amount of talent in contemporary music. Comparing musician against musician is silly. Some of these have been around longer than others. Jacob Collier, Vulfpeck, Cool Sounds, Sylvie, Bobbing, Abigail Lapell, Big Theif, Tank and the Bangas, Richard Houghten, Kurt Vile, Thundercat, Little Simz, Nora Brown, Barrie, Dominique Dumont, Lusine, Cory Wong, Billy Strings, DoomCannon, Cory Henry, Mark Lett…

Let me preface by saying I listen to a lot of genres, but that jazz & funk is not my "main expertise". Of course there's no denying we have lots of creative and talented new musicians, but very seldom do I think they beat "the greats", or are even on par. Usually they feel more like knockoffs, and I find I'd rather go back and listen to the original instead. I'm not familiar with these artists, but I had a listen to…

I think you may have found a different Nate Smith than the one goosejuice was referencing. They were likely referring to the drummer named Nate Smith (he's collaborated with at least one of the groups mentioned).

The guy has a lot of interesting work, but I think the thing that blew me away the most is the composition 'Warble'. If memory serves, that's the piece where he explored 64th note and dotted 32nd note displacements in order to mimic J Dilla's 'wonky' swing. I've tried capturing the Dilla swing; it's nearly impossible to do on the drums without sounding like you don't know how to play the instrument. Nate Smith, on the other hand, makes it sound fantastic.

The guy is a wizard.

Re: When do we stop finding new music?

#533

Post by drngdds »

lapcat wrote: post #168

I find it interesting that GenZ and Millennials show a much smaller preference for their own decade's music. https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_pr... The 1980s are still doing quite well among all but the oldest generation. Is it possible that music may actually be getting worse? Corporatized, consolidated, computerized. Look at Hollywood now too: everything is a sequel, prequel, remake, reboot…

It's the opposite - we're way less centralized now. No one cares about what's on the radio or MTV anymore. We have infinite access to every song ever* for $11 a month, and the recommendation algorithms will happily show you music outside the mainstream and outside the current decade if that's what keeps you listening.

*yes this is hyperbole

Re: When do we stop finding new music?

#534

Post by d12345m »

goosejuice wrote: post #529
erikbye wrote: post #521

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Of course they were inspired by existing artists and by a greater set of them! Inspiration is a given, and nothing wrong with that. But I often feel like instead of inspiring to new heights we get a watered down version.

I don't know, maybe you're just not hearing what I'm hearing. Watch Cory Henry on Snarky's Lingus. Jacob Collier do his recent crowd work with the NSO. Cory Wong talk about Vulfpeck and their MSG show and never rehearsing. Hiromi and Tank and the Bangas on NPR's tiny desks. I'd say Abigail Lapell adds tremendously to the folk of the era you are referencing. Watered down is just not how I'd describe any of the musicia…

I come back to that keyboard solo on Lingus every couple of months and it never fails to make my hairs stand on edge. Absolutely legendary.

Larnell Lewis also delivered a world-class performance on that entire album.

Re: When do we stop finding new music?

#535

Post by goosejuice »

jmkr wrote: post #515
goosejuice wrote: post #498

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a tremendous amount of talent in contemporary music. Comparing musician against musician is silly. Some of these have been around longer than others. Jacob Collier, Vulfpeck, Cool Sounds, Sylvie, Bobbing, Abigail Lapell, Big Theif, Tank and the Bangas, Richard Houghten, Kurt Vile, Thundercat, Little Simz, Nora Brown, Barrie, Dominique Dumont, Lusine, Cory Wong, Billy Strings, DoomCannon, Cory Henry, Mark Lett…

Yam Yam and Karina Rykman would fit in your list. Thanks for it.

Rykman is awesome. I'll check out Yam Yam, thanks!

Re: When do we stop finding new music?

#536

Post by subpixel »

This doesn’t resonate with me at all.

I’m always looking with my ears.

A current fascination is the unnamed genre of popular American music from the era when jazz and ragtime and vaudeville sort of intersected with jug bands and blues: https://www.youtube.com/live/GGxIeMxG5l8?si=RLaYnnWGqQkfMXk1

I also listen to a ton of music in languages I don’t understand, from Balkan dance music to Brazilian pop and psychedelia.

And there’s a certain DJ in New Orleans (Mark LaMaire) I listen to every week who has turned me onto a whole mountain of music I’d never heard of before.

Re: When do we stop finding new music?

#537

Post by lapcat »

drngdds wrote: post #533
lapcat wrote: post #168

I find it interesting that GenZ and Millennials show a much smaller preference for their own decade's music. https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_pr... The 1980s are still doing quite well among all but the oldest generation. Is it possible that music may actually be getting worse? Corporatized, consolidated, computerized. Look at Hollywood now too: everything is a sequel, prequel, remake, reboot…

It's the opposite - we're way less centralized now. No one cares about what's on the radio or MTV anymore. We have infinite access to every song ever* for $11 a month, and the recommendation algorithms will happily show you music outside the mainstream and outside the current decade if that's what keeps you listening. *yes this is hyperbole

> No one cares about what's on the radio or MTV anymore.

Why not?

> if that's what keeps you listening.

That's the key, though. Kids are generally biased toward new music. This phenomenon is perfectly natural and consistent over the generations, as shown in the article. In the 1980s, it wasn't particularly hard to "discover" 70s or 60s music, and indeed parents might want their kids to listen to their music, but that's not necessarily what the kids want to listen to, because it's not cool. Parents are uncool. Kids want their own music.

What's interesting, though, is that GenZ and Millennials appear to be less biased toward the new music and less biased against the old. The fact that every song ever is available for streaming doesn't mean that people want to listen to every song ever. My understanding is the streaming plays are very top-heavy toward the top artists, and smaller artists are struggling mightily under the streaming payout system.

Re: When do we stop finding new music?

#538

Post by js2 »

lapcat wrote: post #455
js2 wrote: post #339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's an older post (2015) by the same guy about Hollywood films: https://stephenfollows.com/how-original-are-hollywood-movies... > 39% of top movies released 2005-14 were truly original, i.e. not an adaptation, sequel, spin-off, remake, or other such derivative work. I don't know, I watch most of my movies at home (I have a nice setup) and watch as many old movies as new. I never feel like I have any trouble findin…

> The blockbusters may soak up all the ticket sales, but there's just no shortage of original films to me. But my comment was not about you. ;-) My original point was "GenZ and Millennials show a much smaller preference for their own decade's music." And if you "watch as many old movies as new", that's certainly not a ringing endorsement of new movies.

I'm GenX and a movie buff, but not much of a music listener, so I replied to the Hollywood part of your comment. There's always going to be more old movies than new and I watch enough movies that I run out of the new ones.

Re: When do we stop finding new music?

#539

Post by dlivingston »

licebmi__at__ wrote: post #403
cesaref wrote: post #389

The useful metric with these sorts of things is to ask yourself, when was the last time you tried something that you didn't like? For expensive experiences, say, going to the theatre, it's hard to see shows you don't think you are going to like, as the price pressure makes you choose 'safe bets' as the cost/reward is somewhat weighted in one direction. For something like music, the above used to be the case, as typic…

>We really need music search which follows more interesting routes through content rather than just 'people who like this also like' or 'here's another album by someone you already listen to'. I wish we had something like /mu/ flowcharts[1] but in a more general way. So after playing a song you can get a question or a prompt of what you liked and get some suggestion based on the input. But IMO, music recommendation p…

I really enjoyed 8tracks back in its prime: it was a social network for user-created playlists, and it made finding cool new music really easy. The playlists were often very well thought out; nothing like the playlists you'll find on Spotify.

There is rateyourmusic.com, which is positioned as sort of a Letterboxd for music, but I haven't used it much.

Music discoverability is a big problem I'd like to solve, especially now that I'm in my 30s and don't really have the sort of social circle these days that would expose me to cool new music.

I've toyed with the idea of making an 8tracks-like service, where tastemakers can create playlists to share, and the streaming happens via the API of whatever streaming services you're subscribed to (Spotify, Apple Music, TIDAL, whatever). If anyone is interested in a project like this, feel free to reach out.

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