The Juxe: How To Find New Music

For this being a magic blog, the Saturday music posts have received a weirdly solid response. I started them with, like, three readers in mind. But each post gets a similar amount of feedback to the magic posts, so I’m glad that more people are enjoying them than I expected. Of course, I’m sure many more are not into them at all. But that’s okay. My taste is a bit all over the map and doesn’t tend towards artists or even genres that are wildly popular. And that’s why I put the posts on a designated day. If it’s not your scene, you can easily avoid them.

One question I get a lot is how to find new music—how to hear about new bands, especially less mainstream ones.

I’m in a bit of an unusual position in that regard. I hosted a radio show in college and from there went on to do freelance writing and promotional work with a number of different indie record labels and music publications. So I don’t need to actively seek out a lot of new stuff. Much of it comes to me directly from artists/labels I’ve worked with in the past.

But I do have some recommendations on how to track down music that will appeal to you.

The easiest (although not most effective) way is thru Apple Music. If you have an Apple music account, they give you a new playlist every week that’s based on the other artists you listen to. It’s 25 songs long. (Go to “For You” and then “New Music Mix.”) I usually end up adding 2-5 songs to my permanent playlist each week from the new music playlist.

The more productive ways are to start with one band you like and branch out from there.

There are a number of websites that will find similar artists for you. Some are pretty good, some aren’t. The one I think works best is Musicroamer.com. You enter in a band name, they give you a bunch of similar artists. And from those artists you can move further outward and so on.

If you find yourself getting into really obscure stuff, then below are the best ways I’ve found to find similar artists once you’ve identified one you really like.

See Who They’ve Toured With - Smaller bands generally tour with groups that complement their style.

Find Other People Who Like Them and Who Are Writing About Music - Take your favorite album from last year and then do this google search: “[Album Name]” “[Artist Name]” “Best of” 2019. This will lead you to other music reviewers/music bloggers who also thought that was one of the best albums of the year. Take a look at what else is on their list and you’ll often find other areas where your tastes align.

See What Label They’re On - Smaller labels frequently have bands with a similar esthetic. For example, one of my favorite bands I’ve mentioned here in the past is Gloria. After stumbling on them I found their label, Howlin’ Banana Records, out of St-Denis, France and found a bunch of other cool bands out of France in the “garage rock, indie pop and psych” genre.

Of course, once you’ve identified new music you need to make time in your day to listen to it in order to process it and see if it’s something you want to add to your permanent collection. I have a system for that too, but it’s way too convoluted. I’d recommend just making a new playlist and dumping your new music into it. Listen to it on shuffle when you can. Once a song has 3-5 plays, then you can decide whether to delete or migrate it into your long-term playlist.

New music is good for you. It keeps you young.