Do you listen to, seek out new music? (Especially for those over 40)

[Caroline]

I'm always seeking out new music... I like all kinds, from classical to trip hop, and all in between (except most top 40). I'm also an old ex-punk/mod/grunge/whatever other tag you want to apply. Grew up in a house filled with music, and can't see living w/o it.

 

Places I search

 

http://www.npr.org/music/

http://tunein.com/

 

http://pitchfork.com/

 

Browse itunes, and at the end of the year I review the critics top choices on Amazon. The only radio I listen to is college radio (in Atl., GSU or GA Tech, also UT/Chattanooga has a great one).

An interesting aside about the GSU radio station... The song "I Don't like Mondays" was written by Bob Geldolf. He got the idea while doing an interview at the GSU radio station from a telex that came in.

 

My oldest has been listening the WREK since he applied to GA Tech last fall.

[Mom0012]

I do listen to new music, but only because of my kids.  Now that I have a teen/tween, they want to listen to the radio.  From the time they have been little and up until recently, we've been listening to audiobooks in the car instead of music.  I have no desire to listen to it at home because most of what I do involves thinking, reading or working with one of my kids and the background noise bothers me.  If I do get a chance to be alone in the car, I just want it to be quiet.  Sad, huh?  I used to love music.

[Tap]

Well, one of the biggest reasons I have a smart phones is so I can listen to Pandora in my car. Yep, I pay $30 a month just for new music in my car.  LOL  I drive 20,000 to 22,000 miles per year so I am in my car A LOT.  

 

I do love new music.  I hate that the main radio stations around Portland, Oregon are Pop (playing the same songs in an hour rotation) or classics from the 60-80s (but again they play the same 50 songs over and over).  Ds loves classic rock, but honestly since I grew up on it, the songs that still get radio play are boring and tired for the most part. 

 

For anyone not overly familiar with Pandora you can work on customizing stations, change genre with a push of my screen and always find something you want to listen to by skipping ahead.   I purposefully follow rabbit holes in music.  If I hear a new artist I like on Pandora, I will add their station and then watch for more new artists that I haven't heard to add their stations.   Then by thumb-uping or downing the current music list, I find that I can get some great custom stations playing. 

 

 

When I bought my car it cam with XM.  I was really hoping that it would fill that gap, but honestly I found it was just the same as the local stations, playing the same songs over and over.

 

 

 

 

[Jenny in Atl]

An interesting aside about the GSU radio station... The song "I Don't like Mondays" was written by Bob Geldolf. He got the idea while doing an interview at the GSU radio station from a telex that came in.

 

My oldest has been listening the WREK since he applied to GA Tech last fall.

Yup, 88.5 WRAS (used to stand for we really are stoned) has been a main stay of the alternative radio waves since 1971. I wanted to work there, when I was at GSU, but could not handle the graveyard hazing hours that all DJs started with. WREK is fun.. you never know what they will play.

 

 http://tunein.com/radio/Album-88-885-s22318/

http://www.wrek.org/schedule/

[MicheleinMN]

I started watching the Grammy Awards with my dd, and try to find one new(er) artist that I like enough to try their latest cd.  Then itunes and Amazon are great for connecting other musicians after that.  I'm usually a year or two behind the *latest* music, but hey...good enough for me. :)

 

 

[nmoira]

We have Pandora One and the clumsily named Google service (Google Play All Access). While I like Pandora, I'm constantly battling its throwing Erasure and Depeche Mode at me (such is the price of Alison Moyet). The kids are trained: "Depeche Mode... Thumbs Down! Now!" Pandora correctly divined a latent love of the accordion: say hello to A Hawk and a Hacksaw. :D

 

But it's All Access I'm listening to more right now. Being able to hear almost any particular something NOW is like a fantasy come true. To have had this when the young teen me was obsessively reading about bands I'd never be able to hear because I couldn't afford to buy it and I didn't live in a college town would have been wonderful (Wayne State could be tuned in once or twice a month for an hour or so if the planets were aligned correctly).

[amy58103]

We have a FANTASTIC public radio station in my city ... WXPN 88.5.  This is where I get all of my new music.  When I was in my 20s, I use to go to a LOT of concerts (like 15 or more in a year), but now I spend that money on iTunes :)

[Lizzie in Ma]

Not so much.  I love my 70's and 80's classic rock.  I have learned to like some more modern songs, mostly found by watching fan made videos on Youtube of Dr. Who and Supernatural, or forced to listen by my daughters.  I do like Nickleback and Train as well, Matchbox 20 and a few others.

[TravelingChris]

Both dh and I listen to new or new to us music all the time.  We are or are turning 50 this year.  We were just driving today from a vacation weekend camping trip and listening to Prairie Home Companion and learned about a group that is actually located near to us.  We are going to look for them if they come to town.  Through another show on NPR, my son found out about a jazzy/funk/classical Electric Violin group and we have seen them twice and gotten a CD too. I buy CDs of things I like-= tv commercials (the original song), soundtracks, music I heard on one of our music tv channels (and I listen to a number of them- some, like Party Music, plays newer music of which some I like and get, others like CLassical obviously play older music.  BUt I have also gotten interested in the last few years in getting more music from some composers I didn't have much before- like Holst and Schubert.  For the most part, I don't usually care about the lyrics at all. In fact, I don't usually listen to the lyrics.  I pay attention to melody, harmony, rhythm, etc. and the voice is often just part of the music but the lyrics can be dumb or profound and often I will have no idea.

 

My dh is much more typical listener.  He does listen to lyrics.  But he is equally varied in his music tastes though he likes satirical lyrics a lot like Weird AL Yankovick and Austin Lounge Lizards.

[Peach]

We are long time They Might Be Giants fans here :)

[sparrow]

We have Pandora One and the clumsily named Google service (Google Play All Access). While I like Pandora, I'm constantly battling it's throwing Erasure and Depeche Mode at me (such is the price of Alison Moyet). The kids are trained: "Depeche Mode... Thumbs Down! Now!" Pandora correctly divined a latent love of the accordion: say hello to A Hawk and a Hacksaw. :D

 

But it's All Access I'm listening to more right now. Being able to hear almost any particular something NOW is like a fantasy come true. To have had this when the young teen me was obsessively reading about bands I'd never be able to hear because I couldn't afford to buy it and I didn't live in a college town would have been wonderful (Wayne State could be tuned in once or twice a month for an hour or so if the planets were aligned correctly).

 

*gasp* How could you? No Depeche Mode? You're depriving those poor children!

 

My planets had to align, and skies needed to be cloudy, to tune into my cultural touch point growing up in a rural Michigan town---CBC's Brave New Waves and Nightlines.  It's somewhat of a bond between dh and I.  We grew up in towns about 2 hours apart and didn't meet until college.  We remember listening to specific BNW shows as teenagers and laugh at the fact that we were actually listening together.  We got our introduction to tons of bands through those shows and dh's favorite bands show a definite Canadian punk influence since some of his favorite bands are DOA and Nomeansno :) . I think the internet makes things too easy on kids today, says the old curmudgeon ;)

[nmoira]

*gasp* How could you? No Depeche Mode? You're depriving those poor children!

 

My planets had to align, and skies needed to be cloudy, to tune into my cultural touch point growing up in a rural Michigan town---CBC's Brave New Waves and Nightlines. It's somewhat of a bond between dh and I. We grew up in towns about 2 hours apart and didn't meet until college. We remember listening to specific BNW shows as teenagers and laugh at the fact that we were actually listening together. We got our introduction to tons of bands through those shows and dh's favorite bands show a definite Canadian punk influence since some of his favorite bands are DOA and Nomeansno :) . I think the internet makes things too easy on kids today, says the old curmudgeon ;)

BNW! Memories. :D And the wait for Citytv (ahhhh, the, then, miracle of cable... how quaint :tongue_smilie: ) and then later, Much Music (1984, but we had to get a new cable package). I remember going on an exchange to Newfoundland in maybe 6th grade (1979) and being treated to videos for an entire night each week on either a provincial channel or cable access (anyone know?). Most of us in Ontario still had years to wait.

[SwallowTail]

Yes, I still seek out new music, while still loving the old.  Music has always been sort of the main thread in the tapestry of my life, and having a sensory sensitive child who didn't allow me to play it in the house for years was horrible.  She can tolerate it better now, and I can get time away from her as well, so I can listen to my own stuff.

 

I have learned about some of my newer favorite artists through TV.  So You Think You Can Dance gave me Damien Rice, Lisa Hannigan, Ingrid Michaelson, to name a few.  I think SYTYCD is also where dh ad I discovered someof the new electronica like the stuff the animators dance to at clubs.  Chuck gave me Bon Iver and Nico Stai.  American Idol yielded David Cook,and I learned about and fell in love with Ryan's Star's music at a David Cook concert.  Phillip Phillips from American Idol is also one I enjoy.  The Walking Dead had some good artists  do songs for them this past season, and we discovered Bear Mcreary through Battlestar Galactica.  Other new finds sort of show up from looking around Amazon, maybe listening to the radio.  Dd and I enjoy some of the new pop stuff - Maroon 5, Pink, Katy Perry - and I can listen to some Taylor Swift and blame it on her. :p

[radiobrain]

SInce I used to be in an indie band, and my husband is a musician, I have seen more shows than your average person, and know more music that no one has heard of. However, I don't keep up with newer music of my "preferred" genre, as it is all too whiney and has too many beards. My friend owns 2 music venues and runs a festival and I still only go to like 3 shows a year right now. Sometimes when I hear new music it pisses me off as it is derivative of other stuff, and I can't tell if it is in homage or if they are dumbasses. I also really dislike the singing style of a lot of bans, and their earnestness. I don't know, everyone takes themselves too seriously or something. A real turn off. 

 

Lately I have noticed that I am listening to stuff I listened to in middle school and high school. It's bizarre. Things I haven't listen to in 20+ years. 

 

 

 

 

[radiobrain]

I do not seem to care for this band, but this video encapulates all that I think is wrong with music now. Except that this is making fun of it, so I guess that's something. Beards, earnestness, pretensions, banjos, pianos.

 

[Spryte]

Perhaps I need to give Spotify a try. I cannot escape John Mayer and the Hawaiian guy that does What a Wonderful World.

 

:lol: Me, too!

 

Thumbs Down for them.  They will go away.  

[nmoira]

I do not seem to care for this band, but this video encapulates all that I think is wrong with music now. Except that this is making fun of it, so I guess that's something. Beards, earnestness, pretensions, banjos, pianos.

I gave Vampire Weekend a go last week and just couldn't shake my initial impression that their pretentiousness trumps all attempts at being tongue-in-cheek. Which is too bad, because they have a kinda stripped down rhythm I'd otherwise enjoy.

[nmoira]

I love Depeche Mode!

So does DH and I'm still married to him. And Queen.