As an example. I grew up in hip-hop but at a certain point I stopped listening to new people and realised recently that I’d slept on some bangers. Like Kendrick particularly, but even people like Juice WRLD and Xxxtentacion.
The same for the Kendrick and Drake (the nonce) beef which has given some rabbit holes to go down.
So I’m wondering what I can do to keep in the loop with my younger brothers and sisters?
Is it something as simple as watching trending videos on YouTube (somtheing I’ve never done) or are there people to follow etc. I don’t like Twitter though so hopefully it’s not that.
I just take older bands/artists that I like, and look up “artists similar to…” On Google, and start from there. Easy enough.
music-map.com works great too.
Yes I’ve seen this before but never saved the link. Thank you.
My dude, I’m the same as you and I just keep radioing shit on Spotify and shazaming shit I hear and doing the same for TV shows and movies and tapping into the Spotify premade playlists from time to time. Works aight enough.
Some good one here. Thanks.
Dude. Dude. You’re still a kid ;)
Age jokes from an old fart aside, it’s about your willingness to go looking.
It does mean you’ll end up using some otherwise shitty services unless you are active in a local music related scene (like clubbing). But YouTube, Pandora, spotify, and most of the other music streaming services have some degree of recommendations. They aren’t all that great usually, but in the absence of being immersed with real life music explorers, it’s the best option.
You can check out the Billboard top 200 and go the route of hoping your preferred music genres chart in the first place, but also being fairly reliable that other fans have vetted tracks for it to get there.
And radio still exists. You can pick a station that’s genre specific or a top 40 station and find stuff that’s already a little popular that way. It isn’t as reliable as it used to be, but you can find newer raising acts that way.
There’s forums. I haunt the typical lemmy based music C/s, plus the ones for my favorite genres, which keeps me fairly up to date on new releases as well as some new acts.
And, always participate in your local scene when possible. It’s harder with hip-hop since finding local acts outside of cities is damn near impossible, but if you’re into other stuff too, it can be a great way to catch acts before they get going, if your local scene is active enough. I’m fairly lucky in that bluegrass is one of the genres I’m into, and I’m not too far away from one of the better known cities for country and bluegrass music. So it’s easy to find new bands and solo acts performing at a bar or local festival that end up getting popular eventually. That’s an example of what i mean, making use of what’s already there locally.
Thanks you’ve provided many avenues I can go down here and it seems inescapable that it takes work and effort to keep ahead of these things.
I do live in a city but sadly it’s Manchester in the UK, so hip-hop is lacking. I do like UK Drill too but those kids are just a bit too wild for me to go seeking those, I’m not keen on getting stabbed up haha.
I feel you. I think I’m experiencing the same.
I’d say it’s almost summer now, go out and visit some music festivals. That’s a place where I found some inspiration and new (to me) artists.
Also having friends with a similar taste in music helps.
I have a Spotify subscription and that helps me listen to a broad range of music on a whim. But I think the Spotify algorithm isn’t helping me in discovering new artists. I rarely find anything interesting and new that way.
Seems Spotify is getting so many mentions and many people preferring it to Apple Music for finding new music.
Festivals are an idea too so thanks.
Early 30’s here. I was at a small gathering my best mate put together about a year ago, and his 19 year old nephew was there. He expressed his interest in anime and we got chatting. While showing me some newer anime-related TikTok stuff (I have no social media myself and haven’t really kept up with modern anime), I heard some fucking awesome ‘aggressive trap’ stuff and asked him who the artist was. It was Lil’ Darkie and I was immediately hooked. I went down a rabbit hole searching his best stuff as well as other similar artists, and now have a huge playlist of great music I’d have never discovered on my own.
imo music discovery is a pretty organic process for most people. It’s cultural and spreads via word of mouth. Chatting with younger people may be the best way to go, but understand that the youth rightfully don’t want us in their spaces lmao
Honestly just keeping up with whatever social media is popular with young people is the best way to stay in touch with new music and pop culture.
Which I think is TikTok and I really don’t need that temptation of getting sucked into more short form videos. I lack the self control.
Perhaps I’ll take a look at kick as I’ve seen some other current trends getting traction on kick. Not necessarily legal but people doing shit like Squeeze Benz, swimming through traffic like a maniac.
An alternative would be pop culture recaps on YouTube lol, I’ve done that during busy months sometimes. I’ve never heard of kick so maybe I’m not as caught up as I thought
Hey, now I’m the teacher haha.
TikTok has already succumbed to the Olds invading.
That’s why I thought it was hilarious that the US government wants to “ban” TikTok after it’s on the decline with the youth. TikTok at this point is mainly millennials hanging out, trying to find what cool stuff the youth are into.
Wherever the cool kids are hanging out, by the time we find out about it, they’re mostly going to have moved on to something else.
I enjoy listening to college radio stations. They’re usually varied in music genres and tend to reflect what college students want to put on the airwaves.
I’m a fan of 88.3FM Central Carolina Community College Radio.
Underrated suggestion.
TIL CCCC has a radio station.
I’d never have thought of that. I’ll find an app with radio stations and give these a go too. Thanks.
I like to listen to a new album every Friday. You’re streaming platform will recommend “New Albums for you” and just listen to one. Sometimes it’s great,sometimes it isn’t, but it is new and fun to explore.
KGRG is world famous among radio fans. Those kids have the pulse.
YouTube music made discovery worse compared to Google music, but it is still OK.
When I hear a good song on a show or movie, I ID it with my phone and explore others by the artist or genre. I also thumbs up it to get more recommendations from YTM
Same when friends recommended music. So yeah, talk to friends about music. And then do the above two steps with their suggestions and likes.
Bandcamp is nice, they have a curated genre section that updates frequently. College radio stations as someone mentioned, then just Shazam or whatever or look at their playlist online. I hate Spotify because it just gives you pop shit and doesn’t do anything niche or indie. There’s also SoundCloud, they make curated playlists of new stuff frequently. Sound cloud also has labels on there which curate some of their newest bands. It’s super easy to find niche indie labels I think. Lastly, look at lineups of local music spots. I used to listen to Deezer for finding non-US artists, but haven’t used it in a while since Bandcamp is kinda great about covering everywhere.
Thanks. I’ve not heard of bandcamp so I’ll have a look at that. +1 for the soundcloud shout out too.
I don’t know how to help you, but I’ll tell you that I have the opposite perspective. The two artists I’d most like to avoid are the ones you mentioned, so if there was a way I could eliminate suggestions from anyone who was like “fuck yeah Kendrick and Drake” I would absolutely do that.
Taste over time is totally divergent and you’ve probably got your work cut out for you to find your exact niche :).
I can’t help but feel the same as you do. I listen to a lot of political podcasts, and somehow their spat has spilled over into those too goddamnit.
I’m here, trying to listen to a deep analysis of what’s happening with decisions within the State Department wrt stopping weapons shipments to Israel, and some chucklefuck asks Sec. Blinken his take on Kendrick— I’m like, “what the actual fuck?”
Interesting different perspective.
May I ask why you don’t like Kendrick. Is it the style, as he is arguably the Goat of hip-hop and that feels like something not to be missed.
It’s the style, or more specifically what it is turning into. Seems like when I got my first tastes of hip hop in the 90s it was more… musical / music forward? and now it kinda feels like just another rap flavor.
Same with greatest rapper and greatest country singer of all time: I would be inclined to steer clear since it’s just generally not my thing.
As someone else said, bandcamp is pretty good. Their articles are, so far as I can tell, written by actual people and thus have more soul to them. I’m sure some asshole is plotting to replace them with LLM, but until then!
Also, go to shows. Go see live music. Usually folks have opening acts. Sometimes you can even make friends.
Thanks for pointing out bandcamp, I’ve not hit the other comment that mentioned it yet.
Aging? At 30? Kid, are you mocking us?
I’m in my early 20s. Just how old are you geezers??
Just add your twenties to OPs thirties, and you are close. Yes, I remember the time before smartphones, internet, and influencers.
OP here. I am late thirties to be honest.
Anyway, there has always been influencers. What would you call Norma Jane.
What would you call Norma Jane.
No idea. Who is she?
My apologies, it’s Norma Jeane Mortensen who was Marilyn Monroe.
My nana used to always say Norma Jeane, well to me it sounded like Jane so just assumed it was common knowledge with the older generation
I guess it doesn’t help that I misheard her lol
OK, that name is known. Amazing when you think that she and Queen Elizabeth II are born at about the same time…
Ahhh to be 30 again
Yep. That was nearly 30 years ago…
You can’t, it’s over, let go.
So I’m wondering what I can do to keep in the loop with my younger brothers and sisters?
The question is completely weird to me. Why do you care? Why do you think that is important?
Because they want to keep in touch with and still feel like a part of their community?
Sounds from the example like OP doesn’t want to miss out on media they might enjoy just because they’re not hanging out with young people anymore. Seems like a reasonable thing to want.
If they enjoy the media won’t they just consume it? My music tastes cover several decades and while I don’t follow all modern music there are a few genres and artists that I seek out actively.
You have to discover it somehow, and that’s what they’re asking for help with.
Because I wanted to keep up with changes in art, as well as understanding the younger generation more.
There is huge divide between generations from the elders and it’s usually due to ignorance or superiority and it achieves nothing.
I honestly think your view is weird. Why wouldn’t you want to understand your fellow humans more.
There is huge divide between generations from the elders and it’s usually due to ignorance or superiority and it achieves nothing.
Preferred music doesn’t do much about it. Your focus in it was the main thing that confused me.
If you had mentioned having discussions about ideas I would understood better.
I honestly think your view is weird. Why wouldn’t you want to understand your fellow humans more.
Again, you mentioned music, which for “understanding my fellow humans” is fundamentally irrelevant to me. Discussions about philosophy, ethics, or politics are much more relevant.
Or maybe you just want to understand why they like the music they like and nothing beyond that, which is valid, but painting it as “understanding fellow humans” is a little too grandiose.
Do you not believe that music, particularly the lyrics, is a snapshot in time of what the artists ideas and beliefs are?
You can use the zeitgeist to get a measure of how things change over time. As I believe music is the most emotive form of expression.
Do you not believe that music, particularly the lyrics, is a snapshot in time of what the artists ideas and beliefs are?
It once was. Now music is mostly the result of an industry churning sellable platitudes and blandness.
As I believe music is the most emotive form of expression.
When you have sensible artists who talk about things beyond their own petty and minimal experience, perhaps. This is less and less frequent.
In any case, for me music is a very personal pleasure, I don’t compare notes frequently regarding what one “needs to like to be up to date”. I like what I like, and it’s not very transferrable. I rejoice when I find matches, but I don’t want to “learn what I must like” to be “modern” because that “gives me the pulse of the zeitgeist”.
Alls I can say is you’re listening to the wrong kind of music is you think all current music is vapid.
I’ve already mentioned Kendrick, who won a Pulitzer Prize I might add. There are plenty of people with conscientious lyrics. Dave would be an example from the UK, his album We’re all alone in this together is top tier. Three rivers is legendary and very political.
I don’t want to seem like I’m being aggy here, but perhaps you could take my approach to seeking out this kind of stuff as there is more than just industry knocking out clones. Sure there are plants and stuff but there are real artists out here still.
It’s honestly quite arrogant to think great artists stopped at our generation my guy.
Alls I can say is you’re listening to the wrong kind of music is you think all current music is vapid.
And all I can say is that your reading comprehension is lacking if you attribute me saying that all music is valid. I said “mostly”.
It’s honestly quite arrogant to think great artists stopped at our generation my guy.
And I had said so, I would agree. I, however, didn’t.
In any case, if music is your main focus, you could have used more prominence in the question, because your formulation seemed to indicate that there were other things you wanted to “keep up with” too. If I had understood that music was your primary focus, I would have abstained from participating. Which I will start doing right now.
