Are you still open to new music?

[HazBeen]

At 46 I can’t say I am a spring chicken anymore (nor over the hill), but I still actively look for new music/bands/musicians to get into.

So I was rather amazed to find that my band mates, all a few years my jr, all said they did not do the same and that they in essence felt that hardly any music that was worth their while is being made today. It certainly takes more effort to wade through the muck, but there is still good stuff being made by young guns.

Makes me wonder what my BC community thinks. Are you still open to “new”?

 

Edited August 18, 2020 by HazBeen

[Doctor J]

I'm continually searching for new music and spent about €80 on bandcamp last week on bands I had never heard of before. There's nothing quite like the thrill of finding a new band who do "it" for you. You've got to kiss a lot of frogs, though 😂

[Dapper Bandit]

I go through peaks and troughs (as we all probably do) but finding something new and good is a thrill I never get tired of! Doesn't have to be brand spanking new, either. Hidden gems of the past are just as valid as young bucks!

 

But yes, it is very hard to do in this modern age what with the sheer volume of recorded material available. Which is why forums, blogs and 'zines are still essential but I can see why some people can't be bothered with that when they've already got bands they like...

[Nail Soup]

Yes, still open to new music.

In that I include:

- Old music I never heard before

- Old music which I used to dislike when I was young (e.g folk)

- New artists making music based on the old music I like

- New music in a new style.

I guess only the last of those counts as entirely new, and although open to it, probably does represent the smaller part of my new music uptake

 

 

[Dad3353]

I'm still wading through the Schubert back catalogue. 

[BrunoBass]

I’m 51 and always looking for / actively seeking out new music. Most of my similarly aged friends are stuck in the eighties and won’t even entertain anything recorded after 1989. Fair enough, but I think that’s a pity. 

[Old Man Riva]

Open to any new sounds - always have been. When I was younger, when someone turned me on to something I hadn’t heard before (old or new), as much as I’d be excited I’d also have a moment where I’d genuinely feel perplexed, imagining a world of “what if I hadn’t heard this, my life would be so much less enriched”!

It only took me to get to my 40s to get past that! 

That said, my most recent ‘new’ thing is from from 1973! Probably from a love of those late 60s/early 70s US TV cop themes I heard as a kid...

https://open.spotify.com/album/0pFW8xs6GcqJqKKMIxCVcD?si=hwmn6eOpTaa9FjYXWCIaDQ

[Len_derby]

I’ll say, yes, at the age of 62 I’m open to new music.

But, a lot of what I hear sounds like recycled ideas. However, is it really possible in the field of popular music to produce something new?
There’s a comment from Steven Potter, the great playwright, which had always impressed me. I paraphrase, but his view was that a writer is like a farmer always ploughing and tending the same ground. He, or she, can repeat the same actions year after year, but the output is always unpredictable and unique.

 

[sykilz]

Yes, always looking / listening for new stuff I like. There's a fair bit I don't but that's ok, the great thing about being 51 is I'm not limited to liking stuff just because it's popular/cool. Not that age should be a factor in this, but it seemed to be when I was younger. I like that trying new music is easier than ever, I do still like to purchase my favourites in physical form though.

[Pinball]

Yes always on the look out, when not creating my own. I'm pining to see live music at the moment as I love to go and see what oroiginal music is being made in and around Bristol.

If it's recorded I like it I like to have the whole album or CD. Single tracks are just like flags that attract me to go and listen to more.

[la bam]

It sounds bad, but no, not really.

The lack of a mainstream top of the pops tv show (and similar) where the majority of the chart was decided by all ages and tastes killed of music for me. Look at the charts now. Awful. 

It is a shame because there are obviously countless amazing new bands out there, but very few break through. And even less get the air play and exposure they deserve.

I continue to listen to old stuff, and try out older stuff I've never heard before, but unless something new comes and finds me - like the odd good pop song I hear, or recommendations like Greta van fleet, I dont look for it anymore.

On the plus side, we must be due a new breakthrough type of music soon which might mix things up a bit. The rnb, grime, rap thing etc ran its course a long time ago. The whole thing needs a shake up for me.

Just my opinion, I know others will love it.

[upside downer]

I'm with Nail Soup in respect of counting old music I've never heard before, 50 year old Krautrock being a current fave. Also, I do like a rummage around Global Roots Radio, lots of weird and wonderful sounds from around the planet. Turkish psych, North African Chaabi, Middle Eastern rhythms, marvellous. You've just got to dig a little deeper than what the mainstream throws at you if you fancy something totally different. 

[SimonEdward]

Yes, I'm 47 and still (after all these years') have a SoundCloud account to not only host my own music, but also to listen to, and occasionally share/promote other artists tracks - via my own curated playlists. I've never really got along with Spotify, on either desktop or mobile.

The *new* music I tend to "like" (and save for later), usually features recorded instruments - guitars, drums, Bass and keys - and not what is modern R&B or ultra EDM genres. There are still plenty of Bands and solo artists out there, that I'd never heard of, writing decent, well crafted music.

It will be interesting to see over the next 18-months just what effect the various global crisis have had on bands/artists, and what the longer term effects on writing/producing music will be? I hope everything will be alright... 

[MartinB]

Yeah, absolutely. But I'm also confident that if new music was outlawed tomorrow, there'd be enough stuff from the past ~70 years for me to spend the rest of my life digging into without ever running out.

[darkandrew]

I'm soon going to hit 50 and I'd say that probably 75% of music I buy is by older bands from the 80s and 90s - either new releases or re-releases but that does mean that about 25% of what i buy is by more current bands. I'm a secondary school teacher and a lot of new stuff is recommended to me by the students but something I've found surprising over the years is how many kids listen to older music these days - when I was their age there was no way that I'd listen to something that my parents might have listened to but a lot of today's kids love it, one artist that was really popular with them before lockdown was Neil Diamond (?!)

[Passinwind]

7 hours ago, HazBeen said:

At 46 I can’t say I am a spring chicken anymore (nor over the hill), but I still actively look for new music/bands/musicians to get into.

So I was rather amazed to find that my band mates, all a few years my jr, all said they did not do the same and that they in essence felt that hardly any music that was worth their while is being made today. It certainly takes more effort to wade through the muck, but there is still good stuff being made by young guns.

Makes me wonder what my BC community thinks. Are you still open to “new”?

 

67 years old here. "Old" and "new" are always a moving playing field as far as my perception. The last thing I heard that seemed genuinely new was Esperanza Spalding's Exposure stream a few years ago. Missed a couple of night's sleep for that as it went dfown, which I think must be a geezer's highest compliment.

[Skybone]

That Spotify account is great for finding new music. Yes, there is a lot of stuff on there that doesn't float your boat, but for every few artists doing stuff you don't like, there's one or two doing stuff that does stuff you do like.

New music by old bands, new music by new bands. Bring it on, I'll give it a listen.

[Baxlin]

9 hours ago, Nail Soup said:

Yes, still open to new music.

In that I include:

- Old music I never heard before

- Old music which I used to dislike when I was young (e.g folk)

- New artists making music based on the old music I like

- New music in a new style.

I guess only the last of those counts as entirely new, and although open to it, probably does represent the smaller part of my new music uptake

 

 

I’m well over 70, so the music of the 60s is engrained in me, but I agree with the summary above, although I have to say I can’t get my head round rap, so I’ll exclude that.

I’ve recently re-found (is that a word?) Bluegrass, not necessarily by the original artists, but there are some new, young bands, playing older stuff, and their own originals, in BG style.

Also there’s a lot of YouTube acoustic stuff around, some really talented youngsters, like Josh Turner, (search Josh Turner Guitar, as there’s another Josh Turner) and Toni Lindgren.

Searching for ‘bass backing tracks’ on YT, I’ve found some jazz-type arrangements to play along to, again something I’ve not looked at or liked previously.

So for me at least, lockdown’s not all bad!

[Mykesbass]

In the last couple of years I have found more new artists that I have bought than for many years. A lot of it courtesy of 6 Music. Michael Kiwanuka, White Denim, Christine & the Queens, Fantastic Negrito to name 4.

[stewblack]

I don't actively seek out new stuff, but I check out recommendations here and elsewhere online  Occasionally listen to 6 Music and if something leaps out at me I can get very excited about it. 

As others have said the big thing that's changed for me is I now treat any unfamiliar music as 'new' regardless of when it was recorded. Some bands or songs from 50 years ago are entirety 'new' to me. I suspect the older I get the less I'm ruled by the passionate prejudices of my youth. 

However great age also brings a great big record collection so I have less time to look for novelty. I simply have more 'old' music to enjoy. 

 

[dmccombe7]

At 60 i don't actively go seeking music but regularly come across a band on youtube i've never heard before. Most times i hear suggested bands on BC and think they are worth looking into a bit more. I'm not one for streaming or downloading music, i prefer to buy the CD.

Only thing i've noticed is that i do seem to listen to my favoured styles of music like Prog. 

In recent years some cover bands i've been in had songs from artists i'd never heard so that was a new avenue i did search out.

Greg Allman, Tony Joe White being examples.

I've bought CD's from younger bands that were suggested on BC.

Dave

Edited August 19, 2020 by dmccombe7

[MacDaddy]

There is no new music.

There are no new harmonies, tonalities, or rhythmic devices.

That aside, in terms of 'popular music', there was music released in 1969 that would not be mistaken for music released in 1959; there was music released in 1979 that would not be mistaken for music released in 1969;  and there was music released in 1989 that would not be mistaken for music released in 1979.

IMO we can not say the same for 2010/2000 and 2020/2010. Has there been anything new in popular music in over 20 years?

[Newfoundfreedom]

Nope. I'm very much still set in my ways. 

A acquired my musical taste in my teens and pretty much listen to the same music and bands now in my mid 40's as I did then. 

Whatever part of my brain attracted me to music as a teen just isn't there in the same way any more, and I find it really difficult to get into new music, no matter how good the band are. I just don't have the mental or emotional stamina to really get into the nuts and bolts of anything new. I can count on one hand (well, maybe 2) the number of bands or artists I listen to now, that I didn't listen to 30 years ago.  

[Cat Burrito]

Playing in two originals bands (at the tender age of 47) I keep an ear to the ground. A lot of the mainstream stuff passes me by but on the fringes there always seem to be cool bands out there. I flit between the old guard in new bands (Tom Petty's guitarist Mike Campbell has a new band with a record out in November) and a lot of (mostly American) bands that are guys in their 20s. My default will always be the classics from Bowie to Elvis to the Stones but I think it's healthy to keep my collection fresh. I find YouTube is a good source and then I go off to Bandcamp to support the artists I like.

[Lozz196]

When I was in my last band, an originals punk band, I found loads of great new bands on the scene. Obviously I wouldn’t have known about them had I missed out on them but I’m glad I didn’t.