How do you find music that you actually like?
 

I know this seems an odd question, but I do have a hard time finding music that I like.
My favorite genre is New Age, followed by Classical, but this doesn't get me far. (I like other genres too, but they're less prominent.) I don't like all New Age, or all Classical, but I really like certain styles of both of these genres, but I have no idea how to find them. I simply stumble upon them every now and then, I end up discarding almost all of the music that I listen to.
So, how do you music nuts find your bacon?:D

Word of mouth, reviews, and I know this sounds like a weird word to use but, research. What I mean by that is that I love reading about bands and styles I like and when I find out about influences, peers or labelmates of bands I like, I make it a point to give them a listen.

So, as a New Age fan, do you listen to any Windham Hill artists?

i dont think research is a weird word to use in this context. actually i think it's the one word that sums it up best.

I'm still always looking for music and the net is probably the best resource. Get posting in here and in 6 months you will be a changed person!

Blogs and forums are definitely the best things.

I make people make me mixed tap I go to shows and try everything once

Recommendations from people who's taste is similar to mine, bands that are considered to have similar sounds to ones I like/love, other prominent bands in genres I particularly like.

And a lot of stuff I really like I found from just random listens of albums/artists that catch my attention for no discernible reason. If something catches your eye, due to some quirk of its description or because of its association with something else, consider listening to it even if there's no specific reason to believe you'll like it. It may be nothing or it may be something you like and would never have found through research.

I well maybe its old fashioned.... I feel kinda weird saying this ... geez.. I use my .....ears

you don't use the digital stimulator?? that is old-fashioned...

I use a pair of vibration-sensing proto-ears. I dunno, maybe I'm old fashioned.

you should upgrade, man.

And if none of the previous advice helps you, try Pandora.

When I lived in Australia there was this cool National station called Triple J... picked up alot of music from that station...


Now that I am in commercial radio hell, suprisingly, I haven't picked anything up from radiohead listening at all...

Apart from a hatred of Pablo Honey, I should think not... ;)

Not if you don't happen to be American.
I would listen to lucifer_sam, however, or try last.fm

Did I say radiohead... sh1t! I meant radio.... and this is the point at which I feel like I just wrote a speech for George W. Bush, and I realise I need more sleep....hmmm...

I love gigfreaks.com
They recommend music and concerts, based on a single artist!
Worked for me - this is how I've found cool bands like wolf parade and deerhunter!

Friends w/ similar tastes usually do the trick for me.

Last.fm is pretty good...

Friends with dissimilar tastes do it for me.

I've learned a great deal about bands I don't care about through a good friend (and the occasional ones I do care about).

Most of this is just repeating, but...
1. Always find out the influences of the music you like, chances are you'll like them too.

2. Use web radio sites like the aforementioned last.fm or pandora.com

3. Having friends with similar tastes always helps. Get more friends.

4. Musicbanter kicks ass.

5. Go to more concerts.

musicbanter. always the best way:

seeming as i've never even once had a single recommendation from a single person on these boards that i've ever actually liked, i just sniff around and see what other people are listening to, and then go off and listen to the complete opposite. it works a charm every time.

i listen to everything i see, and then i know what i like and what i don't like.

You obviously have'nt been paying enough attention to my threads then :D

I listen to new music often based on recommendations on Last.fm.

I'm also fairly easy to impress in terms of music.

Maybe I haven't spent enough time on last.fm, but every time I'm on there 99% of the recommendations it gives me are bands I already listen to.

You can remove recommendations, which will in turn, give you more.

Most of the time I look for reviews, whether they be from magazines or online. Sometimes I find music by accident (amv's and video's reccomended on youtube). Coincidentally this is how I've found some of my favorite bands.

The first step for me is to find something I think would interest me on allmusic and go by their ratings - they're not always right by any means (Diamond Dogs 2.5/5, what the fuck?!), but they're good to get an initial idea of which albums you should be looking for.

From there it's a question of finding the album I want on a blog, and then checking back to allmusic and having a gander at their 'similar artists' section. All a good laugh really.

Lol, Allmusic is awful at categorizing bands.

Possibly, but it's good to get a vague idea of what you wanna look for, however correct or incorrect their categorisations may end up being. Takes a bit more research than allmusic at the end of the day though

Yeh, when I browse Wikipedia to find rankings regarding albums, Allmusic is the source I tend to look at first, because they don't have an elitist bias.

Thanks for the responces.

>> So, as a New Age fan, do you listen to any Windham Hill artists?
No, some are okay like Lynne and Vangelis, but all in all I'm not that fond of Windham Hill.

I don't really have favorite artists, because for some reason the same people who make really good tracks, also make alot of really shabby ones. Even so, the artists that I most listen to would probably be Hans Zimmer and Jack Wall, based on their similarity would anyone here be able to tell me what others I might like?

Oh yeah and dont buy cd's at wally world... there is no diversity there.

No William Ackerman or Michael Hedges then? I love both of those guys.

I <3 blogs... Once you find one that is similar to your taste, as long as they regularly update it, you will find a plethora of music you will love as long as they are consistent.

Usually finding people with common interest. It's the best way to find new anything. Movies, books, and music. My friends and I usually trade off CDs of music we think the other will dig and then talk about it later. OR forums like this is a pretty alright place to find and plug music. Other than that, some record shops are still worth digging around in. Most of the time the staff is there because they love music so they tend to be knowledgeable even if in only one genre.

Last Fm is always a good choice to find new music that is similor to music you always like . I like to swap ipods with people and just putting it on shuffle. JUst ask people I find its the best way. Or invest in some classic albums

The 'friends with similar taste' never seemed to have worked for me - prolly because I've yet to meet such a person!

Now people with totally weird and different taste has worked out wonderfully well. And that's how I like my music to be - Different and new all the time. Even completely random comments on a site such as youtube has helped me find stuff :p:.

I've also found a lot of great stuff looking through record label catalogs. And of course, there's the "reading about bands influence and collaborations" part as well. So, yeah. I guess thats about it.