Giving new albums a chance, How Do You pass Judgement??
 

Since most everyone here seems to be a music lover, I was wondering, how often do you usually listen to a new album or artist before passing judgement on them?
Most of the people I know decide immediately whether or not they like an artist, which often repulses them from the likes of more experimental artists like Radiohead and older music from people like Stevie Ray Vaughan and Duane Allman.
Because of this, most of them are trapped in the realms of Jack Johnson and John Mayer.

I try to be a little more open minded, giving artists at least a week of listen and albums at least 4 playthroughs before deciding whether I love them or they don't suit my tastes. But I feel like maybe this is preventing me from discovering more artists, and making music feel more laborous than enjoyable.


I just want to know, what is the best way to go about discovering new musics??

I use the itunes store a lot to just preview an artists work. They have a pretty comprehensive inventory and most of the time I can tell with a 30 sec. soundbite or two whether or not I'm gona' like them.
I use you tube too, but basically my general rule is if I can think of at least 3 bands/artists that sound very similar I'm pretty much not interested.

Usually I make a decision based on a couple of songs but my first impressions have been wrong so many times by now that I'm seriously reconsidering that policy. But on the other hand, there are just so many albums out there right now that I have very little patience to spend more time with a new album if there isn't at least something that intrigues me about it.

I have to admit that I have come close to posting a similar question to Music Banter members.

I am amazed at the amount of new music that I see everyone claim to have listened to and then claim that it is Great/Poor and then seemingly make this decision on limited listens. If I dismissed everything I listened to on one to two listens I would be passing by everything.

I have found that the albums that grab you by the balls initially generally have limited staying power where as the growers have a life.
So in the end I play most things a minimum of 3/4 times to give it a chance, if it grabs me, say the odd song really stands out, I keep playing and tend to find that the albums are very good usually. In fact not too much offends me with this system. No matter who the artiste most of the time I get to appreciate what is presented. There are of course exceptions that I don't like but they are few.

If I get a new album, I rarely listen to it close to when I download it... Normally its just hanging around for a fe wweeks when I decide to give it a whirl... I will generally know if I love an album straight away but there have been plenty of great-good albums where on first listen I couldn't stand, but then a few months later I 'rediscover' that I love it.

If I hate something I have downloaded I pretty much delete it from my comp simply so it never graces my ears again.

That's pretty much how it works for me too.

But I never do this. I've owned albums that have taken literally years for me to get into. Knowing that, I hang onto albums indefinitely. Without a doubt there are some albums that I don't like right now that will suddenly start appealing to me in five years or so.

2 listens is the average for me, if i'm still unsure but there's something there that keeps me interested then it gets a few more because i assume it's a grower. I very rarely delete anything, only if it's been on my computer for years without me even thinking about touching it.

thanks for the replies
=)


there are just soooo many albums to listen to, I feel so behind and don't know how to go about it.
I read some people's comments and they talk about all of the artists on RS's top 100 and how they should be ranked and all, when I haven't even heard of most of them.

I want to listen to all of them, but want to be able to appreciate them at the same time. Seem like it'll take forever...

well, I've got a good 50 years to buckle down. maybe it'll be easier after med school
haha

I usually give something a listen to twice, unless it really doesn't agree with me. However I do not delete anything I download now, I just make sure to never actively put it on. I backup everything I've got onto a 500 GB external harddrive, slowly I'm creating an achieve.

I have a really OCD thing about having single songs or less than 3/4 of an albums songs. I either have to delete what i have or get the rest of the album

it starts with the flick of a switch... to the vaporizer. as it heats up, i meditate to remove any thoughts from my mind. as i take my first puff of the delicious ganja, i turn on the stereo. while i listen to each track i take notes as to anything that seems relevant at the time, thoughts it evokes, favorites, the works. when the album ends i spend ten minutes in silence reflecting on the moment....







alright thats in an ideal world. i usually just put that **** on and try and finish the whole album without getting interrupted.

I like to give an album a few listens before I judge it, if it's a little hard to get into then I'll throw it on in the background while I'm browsing the internet and let it soak into my subconscious. After a while certain songs or even just hooks will stand out and I listen to them specifically and let my appreciation spread from there.

But if after 3 or 4 listens nothing has appealed to me then I'll delete it. generally even if an album is a grower I'll recognise the quality, even if I don't exactly feel compelled to listen. I can always re-download stuff if I want to give it another shot.

I go to music sites (like this one) and check out what bands other people like or recommend and then I use Bearshare or YouTube to listen to some of the songs. I've found a lot of threads here with some good recommendations and I am always happy to give any bands a chance.

I personally think that 2 listens should give me an idea on whether I like an album. Not immediately but even if it's a more difficult listen hopefully a certain passage or hook will make me go back to it.

Often its months before i start appreciating an album. I tend to use reviews as an indicator as to whether i'll like it or not but by no means do they make up my mind for me.

I always give albums four chances to start with. If after four listens, my opinion of it hasn't changed, I move on. If I notice myself liking it more with each listen, then I'll give it however many listens I need to to fully get it.

That's my criteria.

Sometimes a new album makes an instant impact on me, but that's only very rarely. Most of the time I download it, listen to it once or twice end-to-end, think 'oh, that's a good album', spend a few days listening to my favourites and leaving the new album alone, then get back to it and appreciate it even more.

Another way is to put on a new album while playing online pool, tetris or whatever. Helps to get into new music if you do that for some reason or other.

It takes a while for me to fully integrate an album into my regular listening habits. Occasionally I'll really like an album on first listen (as was the case for Histoire de Melody Nelson) but usually I have to come back to it a few times before it really seeps in.

I'll download it , listen to it once with a feeling of total apathy , ignore it for about 6 months and then when everybody starts raving about it I say I think it's shit

I think that the real issue lies in the fact that there is more music being produced all the time now with the affordable recording technology that it seems to put bands at a disadvantage because they have to satisfy their audience with the limited space they have. I love the fact that more and more music is being produced. But all music isn't quality music. The airwaves are being saturated with terrible top 40s artists (for the most part), and the internet is spreading just as much bad music as it is good. Listeners just don't have the time always to really dig deep into full albums anymore since there are so many options out there. I'm trying to give everything a shot, but there are times when I just can't find interest early enough to appreciate the music.

We've certainly seen ample evidence of this being your M.O.

I'm only really talking about those dullard flavour of the month indie bands beloved by certain blogs & other sites , not proper music obviously.

Green Day is to 2004 what Death Cab for Cutie is to 2009 ?
That?........Yeah.

I don't even notice the reviews anymore, guess I stopped going to the wrong blogs.

Come to think of it I haven't listened to an indie record in ages. Wonder why that could be.

I only find out about them here. it's not like scouring blogs for rubbish bands.

Narrow Stairs was still a decent album, they are just getting so god damn popular. I just hope their popularity now brings more people to listen to their older works.

i just see if i like the music, either instrumentally or through the singer/solo artist

i usually like albums that don't sound the same each song, or don't get too boring

i have gotten into albums long times after i'd gotten them, too. i remember hating Living Colour's album Vivid when i bought it, but i listen to them now and i really enjoy it. you never know when you'll start liking something

Usually I'll listen to one album (per new artist which I decide to listen to) and if it interests me, I'll listen again maybe get another album. If not, I'll wait a long long time before I give it a second chance.

For the most part I don't dismiss albums. It may be mediocre or average, but I don't think I've heard what I would call a bad album in a long long time.

Yeah, and Its really not their fault that they no longer sound original swimming in a sea of their own followers.

Happens too often my friend, far too often.

You really are just an annoying spammer trying to get links up ain't ya? :p:

Correction..

He WAS an annoying spammer.

If only urban was female he would be plugegd all year round ,

If I was female I'd get nothing done because of spending all day checking my own tits out.

Yeah I tend to pass judgement pretty quickly when I am just browsing and following links through iTunes. They get 30 seconds if they're lucky.

If a band comes with a recommendation then I will listen to a few songs properly before deciding whether they suck.

The previews/samples on the mp3 download sites have been a godsend. I always know from a 20 second listen to each of 3-4 songs whether I want to buy an album or whether I'm likely to have any interest in the band.

For me if it's a legendary band first I'll start with the greatest hits, just to get a rough idea of the songs people consider to be the greatest. If I decide to explore further then I'll listen to their more famous albums (or more ground breaking ones, depending on the band) then I'll slowly wind my way through all of their albums.

yeah I only need to hear 1 or 2 songs to decided if I like or not an not even the hole song


and I do judge bands without even hearing a lick of there music for Ex Trivium I pretty much know what there going to bring every album they put out without even hearing them

Which Hole song? "Violet"?

I don't get how people can judge a song only based on the first 30 seconds. There may be parts of the song that you end up really liking later on in the song but you'll never know because you foolishly turned the song off.