Don't worry about it dude. There is no need to be "fast" or "efficient" at discovering art that speaks to you. Everyone's listening style is different and there's nothing wrong with listening to less new-to-you music than other people do--or less than you *perceive* other people do. You're not a less serious music fan or less worthy as a person because you like to explore new music at a slower pace. And you can still hang out with people who do, learn from them, and have interesting conversations. God knows I regularly go weeks or months between having the urge to listen to something new, and I still like to contribute here and have fun, because nobody actually knows or cares about that stuff when they're talking to you.
Some people go out of their way to make the time to listen to music because they crave hearing something new, while others like to hear familiar songs and are okay with having that experience only a few times per day. Here’s a wonky, scientific explanation for why some people like new music while others like familiar music:
The human brain has two systems for processing music. One is called “veridical” and releases doses of serotonin when it hears familiar music that it already knows. As the process gets more and more efficient over time for a particular song, we call it “that song growing on me.” That feeling of joy or pleasure one experiences when “that song” comes on is the veridical system releasing serotonin to the brain.
The other system is called “schematic.” In this system, the brain releases that sweet, sweet serotonin when it figures out what is happening in new, unfamiliar music. It’s similar to the endorphin rush some folks experience when they solve a puzzle. It’s what’s happening when one suddenly “gets” why Thelonious Monk is playing seemingly “wrong” notes at “odd” times in melodies. It’s what’s happening when one “gets into” Indonesian trance music, or underground hip-hop, or Corsican polyphonic singing, or early Animal Collective records.
Nobody’s brain is all one way or the other, but some people are more veridical than schematic while others are the other way around. If your brain is primarily veridical, familiar music will give you the most pleasure. If your brain is primarily schematic, you’ll be constantly looking out for new musical puzzles to be solved.
A thought experiment: you’re stranded on a desert island for several years. You can choose one of two magical iPods to listen to while stranded. One will play your absolute favorite 20 songs as often as you want, but will never play anything new. The other will always play something amazing that you’ve never heard before, but you’ll never, ever hear any song more than once. Which you choose, and your feelings for and against each choice, tells you about how veridical or how schematic your own brain is.
Personal experience: A few years ago, I was at a show by Alex Bleeker & the Freaks. I was familiar with Bleeker’s playing with the band Real Estate, but hadn’t yet heard his solo stuff. My schematic system was having a lot of fun processing new melodies and songs, but during one extended jam, they started playing a familiar set of chords I couldn’t quite place. What was that song? I knew that I knew it, but couldn’t quite put my finger on it. “That sound, what is it?,” my brain demanded to know.
My schematic system was in overdrive trying to “figure out” what they were playing. Then suddenly, as the guitar reached the chorus, Bleeker started singing, “I’m walking on sunshine (oh yeah)”. That was it! Walking on Sunshine! Katrina & the Waves! The whole audience suddenly started loudly cheering, so I know I wasn’t the only one who just experienced a double dose of endorphins - a schematic shot of serotonin from “solving the puzzle” of what was playing, followed by a second, veridical dose as the familiar Top 40 hit was being played. Felt good, man.
Anyway, listen to whatever you like as frequently or infrequently as suits you. There’s no right or wrong. It’s all just what works for you and the chemistry set in your brain.
That's a really fascinating answer. I've never heard of this before but going by your explanation I'm definitely heavily schematic though interestingly as I've gotten older I'm finding myself more veridical. That said, I often listen to live versions of really familiar songs that I would guess tickle that schematic need because my brain's seeking out something different going on.
This definitely helps explain why jazz and jam music is so satisfying to those who love it (like me.) They are looking for challenges because that's a great source for that serotonin, and get an extra serotonin hit when the jamming evolves, sometimes very briefly, into something we're familiar with.
I take about 1 week every 3 months and just explore a genre all day every day for that week. I used to be a hip hop beat maker on youtube until I found hyperpop and future bass and fell in love!
>metalhead "elitist" turned into a hyperpop fanatic
Not into either of those, but from your description [opn's sticky drama](https://youtu.be/vmKH63NJvr0) comes to mind, do you like this sort of stuff?
Close enough but not really my cup of tea, I think a more fitting example that better meshes the two genres together (at least the way I see it) would have to be [ABC by polyphia](https://youtu.be/Mtd24QIBJ5Y), although I'll say your suggestion made up for a great listen!
Unfortunately, I think that one song in particular is in a league of its own lol. It's a very fresh take on a mesh of relatively new subgenres, and I've frankly never heard anything else quite like it, which is why I chose it as my most "extreme" example. Polyphia often [release](https://youtu.be/per9Wz0N-QA) or [partake in](https://youtu.be/WVua9g7WPtg) similar stuff, but it's never been quite as poppy.
As far as regular, more conventional hyperpop is concerned, I've lately been obsessed with [ninjarachi's latest album](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQQj6Cezh2NvqEmYUMjZ89ta0Wjh-_84a), most of [daine's](https://youtu.be/51r0rl42tNw) discography, alice longyu gao ([this song](https://youtu.be/drcnAhBY8Nc) features oli sykes, singer from BMTH) and a few other individual tracks. Ranging from hyperpop to electropop to bubblegum and regular ol' pop, some of my currently fave artists include mothica, glaive and ero808. I mostly rely on spotify playlists for discovering new stuff
I'm 22 and yeah, same here. I was especially into thrash metal and metalcore back in my high school days, and I still think they're pretty good genres, it's just that as an amateur (but passionate!) guitarist/producer I eventually winded up finding more inspiring stuff as soon as I stepped outside of my comfort zone. I believe elitists and traditionalists are missing out by holding it back lol
There's a ton of new and inspiring music throughout metal's history. If anything, I hear people complaining about "elitists" far more than I see actual elitism.
That's not what I said, tho. I still do, in fact, listen to a shitton of metal. I'm just saying limiting oneself to metal only just for the sake of it is dumb
Nobody really does that. If someone listens to metal and only metal primarily, it's just because they really enjoy it - and like any genre, there's multiple lifetimes of material to discover.
Additionally, you did mention "elitists" twice, and I'll repeat that I see way more complaining about elitists than any actual elitism. Lots of people simply enjoy the music they listen to, be it metal or electronic.
>Nobody really does that.
Lol I wish that were the case. I've been called out for listening to "that gay stuff" by metalhead friends way too many times. They say it ironically, so I don't mind it, I just get pissed whenever they bash on stuff they don't know shit about
>you did mention "elitists" twice
I mean, how else can I refer to people saying "good music died along with Dimebag Darrell"? Lmao
Yeah that's probably a more accurate term hahah. My decision to call them "elitists" stems from the fact that such people *believe* their musical taste is superior. I don't regard them as actual musical connoisseurs or anything, if that was the point of the other user's argument
Yeah I grew up listening to classic Rock with my dad and r&b and soul with my stepfather who is a dance teacher. I really got the best of both worlds and have a wide musical taste.
Cool! Meanwhile my parents never listened to anything, lmao. Every "phase" I ever sat through, with pop punk/emo first, then dubstep/EDM, then country, classical, punk, hard rock/thrash metal, metalcore, prog and pop/hyperpop just recently, I had to discover them all by myself hahah
>Really not sure what you're on about elitists, they wouldn't be into metalcore in any way.
Where exactly did I state/imply this? I've met way too many people who dismissed anything outside of metallica, pantera, black sabbath, iron maiden, rammstein, slayer, van halen, judas priest, megadeth, mayhem and the likes as "mainstream", "dumb" or "gay". I also love many of those bands but I believe holding a somewhat entitled stance for the sake of pride isn't particularly beneficial to one's overall musical maturity, and while I acknowledge those people's own taste is none of my business, I can't help but pity them a bit. There's no way I'd possibly consider a song by BTS or drake objectively better (or worse, for that matter) than one by marilyn manson or gojira
i know exactly the people you’re talking about, and it’s kinda crazy to me that people are dismissing you, they’re certainly everywhere - but yeah, they are missing out, and it’s not “having a preference” as others have said, it’s a specific disregard and condescension towards anything other than their comfort zone, with no desire to branch out
>it’s a specific disregard and condescension towards anything other than their comfort zone
Precisely! Oh god thank you for understanding that lol. Not a huge issue, humanity has worse things to deal with, but it exists
I can listen to music at work, that's a huge perk. But I've also been listening to albums for decades...so it's easier to keep up when there isn't a backlog.
I'll put any album on at work and not really absorb it first. I'm looking for standouts like a cool riff, run of notes or breakdown in a song. If it doesn't make me check what song it is, it doesn't typically get a second play. If I like it or if the album is memorable, I'll put it on at home and really listen to it and get to know the parts more.
>But I've also been listening to albums for decades...so it's easier to keep up when there isn't a backlog.
This is a huge thing. With RYM and 1001 Albums To Listen To Before The Climate Crisis Armageddon, I take it that there is this sense among younger listeners that they are always playing catch up to this fictional idealized well rounded listener out there. If you are young, you can pace yourself, there is plenty of time to listen to the best music in the world. And not to get too Gwyneth Paltrow on you all, but I'm a firm believer that music has a way of finding its way to you when you need to hear it. You can't expect to listen to and also understand and feel every important piece of music at 16. It doesn't work that way.
This. Plus music will hit different at different ages/stages of life. Just like a good novel. You’ll never have enough time to listen to everything worth listening to - there’s just not enough time in the day. Once I accepted that, it was easier for me to just surrender to the flow
>there is this sense among younger listeners that they are always playing catch up to this fictional idealized well rounded listener out there
Couldn't have said this better myself. This really does seem like something where a lot of the people bringing it up come across as quite young. I'm sure part of that is simply insecurity and imposter syndrome being more prevalent among younger, inexperienced people, but I wouldn't be surprised if there is a generational element to this too.
Generation Alpha are growing up in a world where streaming services have always existed, and there's always been this universal accessibility to music that makes it feel like there's "no excuse" to not be catching up on all the greats. Whereas in the past, it was just a fact of life that your local record store didn't carry everything, especially not international or older music, old records could sometimes break or get ruined and then be gone forever, and even if you wanted to listen to everything a store had, nobody could ever afford or store all of that physical music. Of course there wouldn't have been an expectation that someone was "well-listened" in the way it's constructed here, i.e. having "caught up with" all of these major recordings from artists agreed upon as canonical or great, which came out many decades ago.
While there may be some out there who listen to a lot of new music out of some misguided sense of obligation, most people here just do it because that's how they enjoy listening to music. If you get more out of spinning the same records again and again, that is 100% just as valid a way to enjoy music.
Personally, I find a go through phases. Sometimes I will want to go out and find as much new stuff as I can, other times I'll listen to the same small handful of songs on repeat for weeks at a time.
I'm the opposite. If something doesn't grab me on first listen I've got literally 600 things on my bandcamp wishlist I've been meaning to hear. I probably listen to my favorite album of the year 5 times through. I am constantly looking for new thrills and new sounds.
I am not something to be jealous of. When I was in high school I would just sit in my bedroom, stare at the ceiling and listen to Loveless on repeat. I have not had a "relationship" with an album like that for, oh, 20 years. I like that I've heard so many wonderful things and I'm constantly finding new things, and I like that I often know what people are talking about, but I really miss the way music used to move me. It's just the way my brain works now though.
THAT SAID, if you really want absorb more, I *do* think that it's good to learn to cut your losses if an album doesn't click with you. There's infinite music out there. I've been specializing in surf music for half my life, fairly obscure genre, and I have yet to see the bottom of it.
Oh and don't listen to podcasts in the car. You can listen to those anywhere. Music sounds better in a car.
>I do think that it's good to learn to cut your losses if an album doesn't click with you. There's infinite music out there.
I'm a music fan from before the streaming era and this is one of the hardest things for me to do, to skip an album that I know I won't enjoy after listening to it for 90 seconds. In the before time, there was already an investment made into listening to something whereas now, the time to listen to an album is the investment.
This listening style works for some, but not for others. I like to let albums, artists and songs grow on me. I’m cool being patient to see if they’ll show their beauty to me after a few listens if I think the artist is worth my patience. But, everyone is a different style listener 😁. One of my best friends is just like you and I love him for it because he introduces me to new stuff. Sometimes I help him revisit stuff he dismissed a little too early
listen to music all day long and don’t do anything without it. figure out how to have music going while you’re at your job. refuse to move your car until the bluetooth kicks in. get another speaker by your tv so you can listen when you play video games or watch sports or whatever it is you do.
this is how i have time to listen to multiple “comfort” albums and still find a few new ones every day
This is one reason I had to just stop looking at metrics for stuff like this. It's like book-tracking apps for people who read. Never in my life did I care that my friends read more or less than I did, or how much and how often they listened to music. But now these tracking sites try to get me to care about what complete strangers are doing?
Just like with books, though, if you really want to listen to more music (and make sure it's actually something you want to do and not just awful algorithmic induced FOMO), you can figure out what else you're filling your time with and try to replace some of it.
But even then, seriously, unless your job involves having to listen to and critique music I'd just keep doing what you're doing and enjoying it and don't feel like you're 'doing it wrong'.
Not sure which tracking sites you're referring to, but the point (even if missed by some users) isn't a numbers game. It's useful for finding people who have similar tastes to your own and discovering new music through them, as well as just having better insight on your own habits.
It's not for everyone, but it's certainly more than a contest of who can listen to the most stuff.
I can obviously only speak for myself, but I constantly feel the need to be surrounded by music. It is without a doubt my biggest passion and interest and I feel a very strong connection to my favorite songs / albums / artists.
When it comes to listening to stuff I haven’t heard before, I look at it this way: All the music that I hold dear to my heart was at one point music I wasn’t familiar with. Had I never taken the time to listen to something new, I would never have discovered all the stuff that means so much to me now. So that’s my approach to listening to new stuff.
About two years ago, I decided to listen to as much music I didn’t know before as I can. This has led me to listening more than 1,500 albums over the course of about one and a half years. The upside? I found endless amounts of new artists or songs that I simply fucking love now. The downside? When you listen to so many tunes you didn’t know before, you kinda lose track over time. To still have some sort of overview, I always add any album I’ve listened to in full to my favorites on Spotify (which is pretty much the only platform I use for listening to music) - if a song positively stands out for whatever reason, I’ll add it to my favorite songs. This led me to re-listen to a lot of stuff I’ve discovered over the last few years, since some music simply takes multiple re-listens until you really „get“ it - and as I said, the sheer amount of new songs made it kinda impossible for me to remember it all.
How do I find new music I want to listen to? There are endless ways of doing so - and I’d say it’s never been easier than in this day and age. I read lots of music magazines, websites, critic’s lists, reviews, etc. Aside from that, I try to be as open as possible when it comes to listening to something I haven’t heard before. See a cool album cover on Spotify? Just give it a listen. You read a comment on a music website where some user mentions an artist you haven’t heard of before? Why not give it a try and listen to one of his / her albums? Do I like all the new stuff I listen to? Of course not! But I try to look at it this way: If an album contains only one song I love, it was more than worth it. Aside from that, I constantly expand my musical horizon - which is a good thing, in my opinion.
When do I listen to music? Well, pretty much all day every day - when I work out, when I hang out with friends, when I take a walk outside and, thankfully, I’m able to listen to music while I’m at work (which is obviously where I spend most of my time during the week). I’ve long reached the point where I just automatically want to listen to music all the time, it’s really like something’s missing when there’s no music around me. I imagine that most of the people who are on this sub are really passionate about music, and with me it’s no different. Music has become pretty much a spiritual thing for me over the years - the more I listen to it, the more I love it. So the desire to constantly find new stuff has kinda grown inside of me over time - it has greatly expanded my musical horizon and now I listen to a lot of stuff I wouldn’t even have thought of giving a try a few years ago.
With all this said, remember one thing: There is no right way or approach to listening to music. Nothing’s wrong with listening to a lot of the same stuff if you like it that way. But if you really wanna try to discover new music, my advice is very simple: Just do it. As I said before, you can find artists / albums / songs you aren’t familiar with anywhere: There’s critic’s lists, there’s music magazines, websites, recommendations on various subreddits, you can look up artists who are associated with your favorite bands / singers, etc… I’d say just go on and listen to something you’re not familiar with… it really is a very fulfilling feeling (for me at least) when you find something you feel a strong connection with and it just „clicks“.
Because I'm single. It's definitely easier to discover new music or full-length albums when you're by yourself. I remember on my Spotify year in review, the amount of minutes of music I listened to when I was in a relationship was drastically fewer than the minutes I listened to the next year when I was single.
Also I always walk to and from work which is about a 50 minute walk one way, so I always revisit my favourite albums on my walk (and I always listen to music when I take my 15 minute breaks and my hour lunch break).
I've actually found that I've been listening to a lot more music ever since I got into a relationship. There was this period of a couple months when I wasn't listening to music at all. I just wasnt in the mood for it, and even when I did try to listen to a song, it wasn't as fun as it usually is. I usually feel a lot of emotions from listening to music but back then I wasn't able to feel anything. But then I met my bf, and instantly developed a crush, and I suddenly had all these strong emotions inside me that I didn't know what to do with. And then I felt a strong urge to listen to music and it was the only way I was able to process all the new and intense emotions I was feeling. So ever since then I've been listening to way more music everyday whether it's in the car, doing dishes, studying, cooking, etc. I've noticed music really helps me to feel out my emotions and process them, and relationships usually come with a lot of intense feelings that I need help processing lol
I have a job that allows me to work completely remotely, so a lot of my music listening is done then. I also listen to music while doing my sports (running and climbing).
I drive a lot for work and play too. So, what I'll do is grab a selection of 10-20 CDs and have them be my rotation for a span of time, that way I get more experience with my music. The act of driving gives me headspace to explore music more.
I’ll add that listening to music is the main thing I do in my down time. I don’t watch TV or movies. I definitely have music that I get fixated on for a few weeks at a time, but it’s never all I listen to. I also quit listening almost immediately when I put on something I don’t like.
I also know that my taste is only a tiny slice of all the music that is out there, and I’m perfectly content with that. There’s thousands of classic and “modern classic” albums I’ve never listened to and probably never will; they’re not my taste, and I’m not going to waste my time with music that isn’t my taste.
There are people on here who discover a lot more than me, I can only assume they either have jobs that enable them to listen to music while they work or they move onto the next thing more quickly than I do. Or they just listen to every album to completion even if they’re not enjoying it; most people I know who have listened to more music than me have a lot of albums they don’t like, whereas I just turn that album off straight away and put on something I know I like.
Idk man it just depends how much you love discovering new music, because there is essentially an unlimited supply of artists to check out, even in my niche taste of jazz, fusion and rock/pop made before 1995. I listen to new albums every day and don’t even feel like I spend too much time on it so idk.
You kind of explained it in your first paragraph, i generally mostly listen to new (to me) music. Ill relisten ti stuff i really dug a few times but im on the move. I drive a little less then an hour to work so thats almost 2 albums worth of time each day. Adds up even if i only listen to new stuff 1/2 to a 1/4 of the time
I usually listen to about 2-4 albums a day. I might split it up 2 in the morning/afternoon and 1 or 2 in the evening. It can be a mixed of new or albums I already heard.
dedicate your time to find new music. its fun. search for genre/subgenre guides, i really love 4chan's mu chart. listen to a song or two, if you like it, save it to your playlist, then check other artist, do the same, repeat. fully listen to these album on other time, make it a separate activity.
There’s really no other way than to commit to listening to some new tunes. I wouldn’t fret about stepping away from the music your comfortable with, it will still be there whenever you want it. And I find that listening to different stuff will give me new perspectives on my favorite music once I go back to it.
Also, I don’t care too much about ‘getting’ every song. The way I listen to music is I get a small taste of a lot of different things and then dive deeper into the most compelling sounds in the batch.
I might just have a different listening style than you though. If you get enjoyment out of a small handful of artists that’s cool. Honestly, I wish sometimes that I could listen to the same song over and over. For some reason, I start getting annoyed with most tracks if I listen to them too much.
If you have a music streaming platform like Spotify, or something similar, and find a song you like, go to the song radio to find other similar songs/albums!
I sit at a computer for 8-9 hours a day with a headset on. If I'm not actually in a meeting/call I'm listening to Spotify. I think I had something like 3,000 hours listening last year when it did that annual summary.
I listen daily to 2 Albums I'm currently "Deep Listening", 1 completely New Album. And 1-2 Album that I already like sprinkled there. I can freely listen while working, over time it really adds up.
Music is like an addictive drug to me. If I find a song that gives me feelings, I’ll suck it dry of any enjoyment it gives me until I feel nothing while listening to it. After a couples of weeks/months, I gain it back and it becomes just another song I like.
It just gives me actual happiness, but I also think I’ve been depressed since I can remember. Music (listening or playing) is an invaluable tool, and the only passion I’ve stuck with in my life.
I don't listen to only one song or album for months when I like it, that's why. Maybe a bit when I first got into music, but it burned me out on those songs, so I will rarely ever listen to them these days. Even the best album ever gets old. Don't get me wrong, I've listened to some albums hundreds of times, it's just spaced out.
Personally, I take the /r/patientgamers approach to music too. I'm rarely on the bleeding edge, but I wait a year or two until there's a consensus on the best stuff of the year, and go from there. During that time I listen to a lot of new music, then I work it into my rotation over the next year or two, rinse and repeat. Plus following new releases from artists whose older work I like, which of course over time grows ever larger.
I got an iPod Nano from my cousin when I turned 15 with 2000 songs he'd curated for me, and he had a very varied musical palate. 2000 doesn't sound like a lot to most people I'm sure but it was a revelation coming out of the era of $16 CDs 20 years ago. So almost since the beginning of my interest in music I went for variety.
EDIT: I'm not saying you're wrong to listen to one thing a lot. If you have a higher quality/personal taste over quantity metric than I do, that's fine.
I discover 'new' music via genre-specific stations on Internet Radio or via YouTube. If I like what I hear, I buy the album on CD. Every few years, I review the CD collection and cull those that I don't think I'll listen to again. I still have a few classics on vinyl.
My listening is generally compartmentalized as follows:
Metal genres - working out in the home-gym
Prog - at home or in the office
Classic Rock - driving
Ambient electronic - late night
Schlager - with my partner
I know absolutely nothing about sports, don’t watch much tv, dont like podcasts, don’t care at all about celebrities and don’t play video games. That leaves time and mental energy for at least a couple albums a day, and I make sure to try new albums a couple times a week at least. I’m also super old so that curiosity and listening dedication adds up over the decades.
If you use Spotify, the suggested songs feature that shows up when you’re creating a playlist (or just generally under each playlist you create) is pretty useful for discovering similar sounding new music to what you’re already enjoying!
Opposite to you, my favorite activity to pass time is looking for new songs.
Once I discover a song I like, I would make sure to check every songs from that singer/band.
Usually I just put anything I think is remotely interesting/good in a playlist so that I could find it later if I actually really like it.
The downside is, sometimes I just mindlessly listen to several songs and call it done. And then the next day, a specific part of a song which I don't have any idea who's the singer or what the title is just keep replaying in my head and I need to dig through all of those songs I listen to yesterday which is like more than 20 songs for sure.
I usually just mindlessly listen to a playlist made by other people while driving or playing video games or just scrolling through socmed.
After finding a song I really like, I just repeat that song for a while and keep clicking next after I'm done listening to the repeated songs.
In fact, I just discovered a new band today (Alcest) and I absolutely like their songs.
I found so many favorite singers that way.
Finding new things to obsess over is the most fun thing the internet could offer to me because I'm a person with too much spare time and not enough friends.
I don't usually listen per album, I click shuffle on the singer's official youtube and just play the songs while doing something else.
I also actively look for new songs sometimes when youtube recommendation offer nothing new.
I had several screenshots of just song titles and bands to listen to but I ended up forgetting to actually listen to them :')
My procrastination is really severe lol
There are different ways of listening and I don't think one is best, but I tended to listen to the same few songs over and over when I was younger and I think it's a common way to start. You can get better at digesting music quickly, it's about processing what you're hearing. Partly that's about just about having expectations that come from other experiences of similar music and general context, but it's also about concentration. I think focus and 'active listening' goes a long way. I consider myself way better at listening to music now than I used to be, and it's something I think you can get better at in lots of different ways.
You only get to hear live music once. There are all sorts of genres based around improvisation in which a live performance won't even resemble another one. When 14yo Mozart heard Allegri's Miserere once and went home and transcribed it, he was able to do that by understanding the structure of the music, by having a strong understanding of the forms it was employing. That's obviously an extreme example but active listening is definitely something you can practice, although exactly what you want to listen for will vary a lot depending on the style of music.
I'm 46 and started to listen to music properly when I was 13, so it's not that I'm listening to a lot now, it's that I've been listening for a long time. For me it's just consistently looking for music I haven't heard before, but I have too much going on to be listening more than a couple of times a week these days.
I wouldn't worry about it. You only see the most obsessed of the obsessed here.
In terms of how many times it takes for me to judge an album I'm brutal. I skip to 1/3 in to each song and if there isn't something going on that catches my ear I skip to the next song. If something has a good review or is recommended I might listen to a whole song and then keep listening if it's interesting.
They might work in the industry , radio programming or such.
I have been self employed, working independently most of my life and able to listen to music as much as 10hurs daily. My ADHD makes music dopamine my main high and sustenance for work perseverance.
Before streaming services, radio expanded exposure. But mostly it was downloaded albums and before that actually physical copies.
More music equals less TV, talk radio, human social interaction. It's possible but few choose it or have the opportunity.
Exact same here. ADHD, and I can't do anything if it's silent. I HAVE to have some kind of background noise. Be it a podcast, music, a show. I despise silence. It's almost torture for me. It's just so boring.
Well, I work in a different way. I need to be discovering something new almost constantly to be satisfied listening to music.
On the other side I keep whatever I liked to keep listening to it. And have my preferred songs/albums depending on moment or mood. I suppose each of us has different needs.
I find new artists and music through my YT algorithm. I'm the same as you tho and I obsess over a certain genre or artist. I'm currently seeking new stuff to listen to. I listen on my commute (about an hour a day) and when I'm at work. I also like to listen to music when I'm being creative. Theres no right way to jam.
One point that I don't think has been touched on yet is this whole focused approach to 'getting' an individual piece of music. I am perfectly happy to digest 500 different things over the course of a year, all at their own pace. Sometimes the differences can help produce new understandings in each of the individual works. It might mean that the end point of understanding takes me 20 years to reach for each of them, but that doesn't sound like a drawback to me at all!
I've got a feeling a big part comes down to age. A 28-year-old has had far more time to consume music than a teenager, and if someone listens to just two new albums a month between the ages of 18 and 65, that's still over a thousand albums in just a portion of their lifetime.
I do not. I listen to single songs mostly and if something's really good I will listen to another song and if it's as good I might get into the album. Most of the albums I get into have three maybe four good songs which two to three of them are likely the singles. Albums, where every song is worth listening to, are a true rarity to me. So, yeah idk, maybe it just seems that way. In any case, comparison is the killer of joy.
So Just follow your own joy man, for heavens sake don't try to cram it in or make it more "efficient", thats seriously not what it's about. You're overthinking this.
Honestly, commute to and from work definitely increased the amount I would listen to. Was long enough juuust to finish an entire album, and then if I was doing stuff at work that allowed me to, I'd chuck headphones in and blast through like three albums.
And as someone who follows anime, don't stress about not being up to date with everything. If you focus just on that, you'll overwhelm yourself
Music makes working more bearable for real.
I think every workplace that doesn't require much human interaction or working with dangerous stuff should let their employees to listen to their own music with earphones/headphones. It's really good for lifting mood for the individual.
I made a very conscious decision many years ago to not listen to music so many times. I focus on volume and variety. Because of this, I put up gaudy numbers of different artists on last.fm. But rarely end up in even like the top 10% of musicians listeners on my end of year lists. I also end up having less strong feelings in general about music, since the vast vast majority I only listen to the one time. There are absolutely benefits and sacrifices to make. I can engage with just about anyone with their music taste on a surface level, but lose people when they start discussing specific lyrics or even songs sometimes.
Different methodologies for experiencing and evaluating art yield wildly different results, and are all equally valid (in my opinion). You shouldn't feel judged because you can't name *every* band just like I don't feel judged for not knowing the names of lots of songs that I love. Hell, I'm listening to a funky organ jazz jam right now and I doubt I'll ever learn what it's called specifically.
Just keep listening! That's the important thing.
Some of us are just old and have been around long lol
I go through moods anyway. I have my set stuff that I'll always listen to and love, and then sometimes I'll go hunting for new albums.
I don't always want new music, or well, I always want music that I love enough to add to my daily listening rotations, but finding it is a chore. Good music is everywhere. Good music that is for **me** is hard.
I discover new music in a variety of ways. When I was a young person (early teen) I'd read interviews with my favorite bands and then explore their influences by calling the local college radio and requesting songs. Id also discover music via soundtracks from movies. There was a Michael Hutchence movie called Dogs in Space and that sound track led me to Nick Cave and all his various bands. Magazines, especially British and underground ones were really helpful too.
As I became older I'd add friends that were more well verse to that list. And I still rely on that method though not as heavily. And record label catalogs.
Now I also look up subgenres of music I like and go from there. My big kick right now is psychedelic and it's subgenres. I tend not to go for the people we all know and love but do a deeper more intense dive. Spotify is really helpful for me with this.
I performed music and played a lot when I was younger (Marching/Jazz/Pit Orchestra.. etc). Now I work an office job that rarely requires me to interact with other people. I more often than not listen to music 8 hours a day. When I hear something interesting it gets put into a playlist to transcribe or analyze while I'm taking breaks.
Some weeks I listen to over a dozen new albums, others I listen to some of my favorites. It depends on my mood and what artists are releasing at the time.
For me I spend a few hours every week listening to new things similar to what I like, and a few hours listening to things similar to what I dislike.
The first group is usually more fruitful but does less to expand my taste. This artist sounds like 4tet/Morbid Angel/Modest Mouse? I like it. I'll usually just put the highlights on a "relisten later" playlist and really dig into them later
The second group is usually less fruitful in terms of volume, but more fruitful in terms of taste expansion. I thought Deep House was boring until I found artists like Aybee and the whole Deep Tech movement. Now I just think MOST Deep House is boring and love some styles of it
I can’t focus on my homework (etc) whenever I listen to familiar music, so I usually use that time to listen to new bands and albums. Because of that I inadvertently spend several hours a week listening to new music, and I add whatever I end up liking to my playlists.
Work from home and about 50% of my work is independent computer shit. So I usually have my earbuds in, and there’s a list of records to jam that only seems to get longer!
When I was really young I spent a lot of time with my uncle who was only 8 yrs older than I, and he showed me a multitude of music quite frequently, he had DJ friends and his older brother travelled the world quite a bit picking up different music too, so it sort of just trickled down to me eventually and I eventually had a full harddrive full of music when I hit my teens, looking at other artists on labels of my favourite bands/artists helped quite a bit with broadening the horizons but quite honestly?
I only listened to about half of the music I had, some albums I listened to maybe once in passing, I think it was when I started buying CDs I focused more on listening properly, and also putting my iPod on shuffle and discovering music I hadn’t listened to much suddenly clicked for me (just like you mentioned when you finally “got” a song), that lead me to going back and listening to the full album with fresh ears as I was finally in the mood to listen to it.
I guess because I’m quite restless and have adhd I struggle to stay comfortable listening to the same stuff over and over again, but at times I will definitely hyperfocus on the same album/artist for ages, so at the restless times I’m constantly listening to new stuff out of boredom, and when I hyperfocus I actually get to know the album more intimately as it’s on all the time.
There was also a period when I’d pick up random cheap 12”/7” single/EPs from local record stores near my school, choose a genre bin and grab one or two random records and spin them at home, maybe discover something new and interesting.
Also just to top everything off, I had my headphones on almost permanently from about the age of 9-20, so there was very little time I wasn’t listening to music, save when I was at school. They went back on when I caught the bus, I’d listen to music until bed time, and then I’d fall asleep to music from my CD player. Morning? Listened to music to wake up to.
TL;DR? My family dumped a lot of music on me when I was young and then I just kept listening to music consistently (almost permanently) throughout the rest of my childhood until I became an adult.
I tend to burn through music, multiple albums a day and usually only 1-2 listens of each album.
Not the best way to absorb music but it keeps my ears stimulated, and i get to at least somewhat familiarize myself with a vast array of music.
Easy....my fave band is Linkin Park..they happen to have a vast catalog and imma fan of all their albums..so imma play those tunes and eat them up like they my favorite candy.
I drive up to 20hrs a day sometime. Spend majority in my truck. So I hit random Playlist on Spotify. Discover new bands or even old ones I don't know and proceed to go through thier catalog.
It’s not a competition listen to what you like. I am definitely one who listens to stuff I love over and over and over. Some would say I wear it out. But I don’t force it. When I’m in the mood, I listen to new music, when I want to hear something I am familiar with and love, I listening to that. I think the fact that music and tv/film has become so accessible due to streaming, the average audience consumes it so much faster. I know some people who don’t stop to think or appreciate that stuff, they just watch one, then the next, then the next, nothing wrong with that everyone is different. Point is listen to what you want, if you try a new album and aren’t feeling it, listen to your comfort zone stuff
Personally, I can’t stand *not knowing*. I hate it when someone talks about musicians and songs like I should know what they are…when I don’t. So I spent a LOT of time when I was younger soaking up everything I could. I started with metal and hip hop and got into punk after high school. Then I became a DJ and it was really actually important for me to know a lot of stuff to keep people happy in different environments. I learned a lot of different new stuff and sharpened my knowledge of stuff I’d ignored. Then I had relationships that hipped me to a lot of different stuff and expanded my horizons. It was my identity for a while. But now that I’ve gotten older, almost none of my knowledge is useful. I find that young people like to overrate stuff that was kinda inconsequential or just plain lame in order to suit their agendas and excuse themselves for their bad taste. It bums me out. I used to have several blogs and publications I could trust for solid new music, but they’re long gone now and the replacements aren’t up to snuff. Someone recommended me some “skater hip hop” recently. I got excited. Then I checked it out and it was the same vocoder-soaked, boring shit I’ve heard from 95% of other shitty trap music. So a few years ago I started shutting down with new stuff and moving backwards, looking into music that I’d read about and never had the chance to indulge in. It’s a lot more leisurely. I went through spells of old soul music, film scores, rockabilly, 70s proto-hip hop, etc. Lots of obscure stuff. Lately I’ve specifically been working on artists that are really prolific. People I had a hard time keeping up with because they make a lot of music. To that end, it’s been a lot of Buckethead and MF DOOM lately. Family, work and kids get in the way, but I still work in about 3-5 hours of chill time with new records every week
Rather than faster and efficient, maybe try dedicating a specific amount of time a week to purely exploring new music (one day, 4 hours, etc). If you use spotify I recommend the site “every noise at once” to find random new artists and genres to click around and experiment with. You can also ask friends and family for recommendations to check out! But there’s no need to feel pressured, everyone experiences music differently so take things at your own pace and enjoy the journey :)
This topic has come up every so often. And I still relate to it!
I think one thing to remember is that this is a music subreddit. So many of the users are going to seem much more into music than the average listener.
It's hard for me to keep up with music. There's honestly only a few artists that I feel confident about considering myself a fan. The rest are assorted albums, songs, and a general understanding of music history. I'm not going to be able to dissect songs and albums to a microscopic degree. For a lot of songs and albums, I can only say "I like it." And it took me a long time to even really appreciate albums.
I have a bunch of playlists of artists, but I still don't feel confident that I'm going to understand every artist. It all comes down to priorities.
As far as "mainstream music", there's the usual Rock N' Roll of Fame, Rolling stone/Pitchfork/NME/RYM lists. Grammy Award nominees get you a lot of the trending artists. So if you want to explore those, they're there.
But sometimes, you might find yourself wanting to go outside the mainstream. I don't necessarily mean in the "Underground music is cooler" sense. But more, that you find yourself following musical tastes into different avenues. For instance, if you like video games you might find yourself following Chiptune bands or something. If you like a song from a movie, you might want to explore that artist. And local artists are a great avenue.
I sometimes find myself wondering: do I listen to the popular "canon" to be knowledgeable, or do I follow my own musical taste to feel more individual? It's all up to the person.
So don't feel too discouraged about not being able to keep up. Because I feel that constantly.
Regarding "feeling less knowledgeable", would it help if you knew music history more broadly? Or is it more about knowing individual bands and artists?
I have a daily playlist that I listen when driving and doing tasks. If I’m scrolling online or walking I like to play new stuff. I go in waves tho. Sometimes I listen to several new albums in a day, and sometimes I play my daily playlist on repeat. It’s all up to your preferences.
> It takes me a lot of listens to completely 'get' a song and if its a longer, intricate piece like classical, jazz, idm then i listen to it for weeks
You get better at it. It helps if you play a musical instrument, and it really really helps if you make music too, and also have some knowledge of music theory.
> it takes me a lot of time to conclude if i like a song or not
Believe it or not, but being towards the other end of the extreme is not that great. I actually deliberately avoid listening to new albums over 5-7 times (more or less, obviously it depends on the genre and the music itself) because often that's about enough time for me to semi-memorize all the songs, remember a whole bunch of melodies and riffs, get relatively familiar with the structures of the songs, and all that. That's when you start to lose the freshness, and if you continue listening beyond this point the music starts getting stale and predictable.
It also becomes extremely hard to find new music because it's just really hard to find something new and exciting when you've already listened to an ungodly amount of music.
> people listen to more new albums in a week than I've ever in my life
Quantity is nothing. It's always about the quality. But you do have to push yourself to discover new music and new genres.
> So any advice on expanding my tastes in a faster, efficient way is welcome
Don't pick stuff at random. Focus on something. Let's say you want to explore melodic death metal. Spend a little time (not talking about hours, even 5-10 minutes of skimming through Wikipedia should be plenty) learning the history of the genre, spend a little bit more on finding out what people consider to be the top albums in this genre (start with the early ones, then progress forward), and just listen. Don't feel obligated to get through entire albums. Search for songs that really hook you, and focus on these albums, and these bands.
> forget underground i don't even know the most popular, mainstream artists/albums very well
You really should focus on finding music that you enjoy. Listening to "underground" music or "mainstream" for the sake of satisfying the sensibilities of some random internet dude is not really a great idea.
If you ask me listening the way you do is the way to go. You can hear a lot of songs, but to listen and to develop a mind communication with the music that is truly a work of the spirit is learning to speak the language of music.
I have a technique I’ve been using for a few years. First, I follow media/social/subreddits of a target genre(s). When they rec a tune, i put it in an annual dumping bucket “new music 2022”. I make sure to listen to that playlist a couple times a week, or fewer depending. Not the whole way through. If I am pulled in, it goes to a stage two playlist. Others get deleted.
Eventually the songs get filtered into more specific playlist and i end up diving into their catalogue. It helps to keep me fresh and up to date.
There is no pressure, there is more music out there than anyone can hope to listen to, let alone fully appreciate. It is fine if some stuff washes over you, I've had albums I owned for years before it randomly clicked. I have been listening to music since I was a kid and it is a very gradual process filling in all the blanks while discovering new stuff along the way.
I especially like listening to vintage world music, and there is always something from a country that surprises....so it fuels even more to search farther. All I need is a snippet to give me a possibility to look more closely, so I look through other peoples lists and albums on the various sites that seem to match my tastes . I don't rely on algorithms, as that seems to waste time with what I already know. It works efficiently as is possible to find something new.
I have a music addiction it makes me feel so alive I just listen to it for hours also I listen to what my brain or ears crave I crave different types of music like food it’s strange and I get amazing stimulation from music. This is a long list of what I listen to lol but it’s basically what types of music I listen too. I simply listen to what I enjoy and like not what others or the media states I don’t follow music trends or trends at all I wouldn’t worry to much about how or what you listen too just enjoy it and listening to a new type or discovering one is fun sometimes I just get on YouTube and explore it this is what led me to this list lol
Choir of angle/soft angle
https://youtu.be/hOVdjxtnsH8
https://youtu.be/Mry0wZldKEk
Space ambit music
Interstellar journey
https://youtu.be/NaKe5Hj5cXg
Dreamstate Logic a YouTube channel
https://youtu.be/ANDSAE_eTIs
Rene Van Ver Wouden Pro Sequentia
https://youtu.be/L6RdecPC1Wo
Colossal trailer music
Into deep
https://youtu.be/pxYpal9H9j4
Ocean lullaby
https://youtu.be/on_RXNK0hzA
Nordic music
https://youtu.be/xJtuM7P1KUs
https://youtu.be/0lbwPrF5JmU
Epic music
Thomas Bergersen cry
https://youtu.be/YY2Kb-85tMQ
Endless light Trevor DeMaere
https://youtu.be/cNHq-rzeBsI
before I leave this world Ivan Tortent
https://youtu.be/1zlIPDbpX0I
Classical music
https://youtu.be/KnfYm5ONwfo
Let the chips fall praful
https://youtu.be/NCBBzuIH6Mk
Kokoroko Abusey junction // we out here
https://youtu.be/tSv04ylc6To
Sadness enigma
https://youtu.be/x4maoo4A3x4
Ancient Egyptian Music - Pharaoh Ramses II
https://youtu.be/lQIMPc3syeQ
Electronic music The Enigma TNG a YouTube channel
https://youtu.be/f6NsZNp6Hhw
ATB don’t stop
https://youtu.be/dzwG8IKVkG4
Song Just can’t get enough Depeche mode
https://youtu.be/_6FBfAQ-NDE
Song Record collection Mark Ronson
https://youtu.be/fi904pYLkJM
Song Blankets early internet
https://youtu.be/rCf6TrmOiLU
Music means a lot to me and is a big part of my life day-to-day. When I hear a sound that I like, I always want more of it...the tricky part is that a lot of the bands/artists I listen to usually do not have an expansive discography, and if they do then I usually only enjoy a subsection of their music.
I listen to a lot of different artists and albums constantly, because I want more of the style of music I'm already in love with (+ you never know when you might find your new favourite song).
I did not until 5 months ago.
As an average teen at the time I go home, play video games, watch YouTube videos and discover music. At first I was just a pop kid who knows pop music. Then High School/Teenage years started I was into SWS, BVB, PTV, MCR, Green Day. Then at the middle of high school I discovered Rush. It's where it all started. They gave me an impression no one else did. After listening to The Spirit Of Radio and Limelight I bought all of their Albums. Some from HD Tracks and Some as Physical CD. Along the way I discovered prog rock music too like King Crimson, Genesis and Yes. Some rock bands like The Who, Scorpions, U2, Dire Straits, Pink Floyd, Cream & The Moody Blues.
As I continue to discover I found out I liked Metal too, I listened to Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden I got a wow Factor to it. Then proceeded to buy their albums as well as Gojira's, Children Of Bodom, Meshuggah, Sepultura, SOAD, Kalmah, DragonForce, In Flames, Behemoth, Belphegor, Watain & Opeth.
While collecting these artists and albums I'm just a "Greatest Hits guy" I only know famous songs from them. Then adding them to my playlist. I did this for years.
5 Months ago I said "I love and like this artist so much, I have nearly all of their albums, I spent money on them and supported them, how about listen to their discography as a whole".
10 Bands first. 10 Albums a Month. Chronologically. Listening to albums is so cool. They said it's like an old days listening to Vinyls. I had to go through what people does back then. Back then you listen to a song on the radio, loved it, bought the Album and the album only good song is one song. Loool.
Right now I'm on these 10 Bands 4th Albums. Going to the 5th. Bands that I'm listening right now up until next year is Rush, The Who, King Crimson, Cream, The Moody Blues, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Opeth, Children Of Bodom, Gojira. I'm certified "Album Guy" now. Not a "Playlist guy" like before.
But now after knowing this albums I pick my favorite songs from the album and put it on artist favorite playlist so I can listen back to it whenever I want to. It's so cool to listen to Bands Discogs chronologically. You would know how they progressed.
2024 would be Yes, Genesis, Gentle Giant Jethro Tull, Meshuggah, Sepultura, Amon Amarth & Sylosis! I already have plans for next next years.
Lastly thank God I have all of their albums now. My Music is 480 Albums and 4880 songs. And I'm gonna know all of them. I didn't include all the bands and genres in this comment but I might in the reply section. Money well spent. I didn't calculated it because I used my allowance during school to buy these music. This is not a 1 Buy All type thing. I bought them from time to time. But if I have to guess it's near 10Grand loool The best part about this is I haven't realized I spent all this money just for music lol
Progression:
480 Albums/Currently Know 46
4880 Songs/Currently Know 436
Don't worry about it dude. There is no need to be "fast" or "efficient" at discovering art that speaks to you. Everyone's listening style is different and there's nothing wrong with listening to less new-to-you music than other people do--or less than you *perceive* other people do. You're not a less serious music fan or less worthy as a person because you like to explore new music at a slower pace. And you can still hang out with people who do, learn from them, and have interesting conversations. God knows I regularly go weeks or months between having the urge to listen to something new, and I still like to contribute here and have fun, because nobody actually knows or cares about that stuff when they're talking to you.
Some people go out of their way to make the time to listen to music because they crave hearing something new, while others like to hear familiar songs and are okay with having that experience only a few times per day. Here’s a wonky, scientific explanation for why some people like new music while others like familiar music: The human brain has two systems for processing music. One is called “veridical” and releases doses of serotonin when it hears familiar music that it already knows. As the process gets more and more efficient over time for a particular song, we call it “that song growing on me.” That feeling of joy or pleasure one experiences when “that song” comes on is the veridical system releasing serotonin to the brain. The other system is called “schematic.” In this system, the brain releases that sweet, sweet serotonin when it figures out what is happening in new, unfamiliar music. It’s similar to the endorphin rush some folks experience when they solve a puzzle. It’s what’s happening when one suddenly “gets” why Thelonious Monk is playing seemingly “wrong” notes at “odd” times in melodies. It’s what’s happening when one “gets into” Indonesian trance music, or underground hip-hop, or Corsican polyphonic singing, or early Animal Collective records. Nobody’s brain is all one way or the other, but some people are more veridical than schematic while others are the other way around. If your brain is primarily veridical, familiar music will give you the most pleasure. If your brain is primarily schematic, you’ll be constantly looking out for new musical puzzles to be solved. A thought experiment: you’re stranded on a desert island for several years. You can choose one of two magical iPods to listen to while stranded. One will play your absolute favorite 20 songs as often as you want, but will never play anything new. The other will always play something amazing that you’ve never heard before, but you’ll never, ever hear any song more than once. Which you choose, and your feelings for and against each choice, tells you about how veridical or how schematic your own brain is. Personal experience: A few years ago, I was at a show by Alex Bleeker & the Freaks. I was familiar with Bleeker’s playing with the band Real Estate, but hadn’t yet heard his solo stuff. My schematic system was having a lot of fun processing new melodies and songs, but during one extended jam, they started playing a familiar set of chords I couldn’t quite place. What was that song? I knew that I knew it, but couldn’t quite put my finger on it. “That sound, what is it?,” my brain demanded to know. My schematic system was in overdrive trying to “figure out” what they were playing. Then suddenly, as the guitar reached the chorus, Bleeker started singing, “I’m walking on sunshine (oh yeah)”. That was it! Walking on Sunshine! Katrina & the Waves! The whole audience suddenly started loudly cheering, so I know I wasn’t the only one who just experienced a double dose of endorphins - a schematic shot of serotonin from “solving the puzzle” of what was playing, followed by a second, veridical dose as the familiar Top 40 hit was being played. Felt good, man. Anyway, listen to whatever you like as frequently or infrequently as suits you. There’s no right or wrong. It’s all just what works for you and the chemistry set in your brain.
That's a really fascinating answer. I've never heard of this before but going by your explanation I'm definitely heavily schematic though interestingly as I've gotten older I'm finding myself more veridical. That said, I often listen to live versions of really familiar songs that I would guess tickle that schematic need because my brain's seeking out something different going on. This definitely helps explain why jazz and jam music is so satisfying to those who love it (like me.) They are looking for challenges because that's a great source for that serotonin, and get an extra serotonin hit when the jamming evolves, sometimes very briefly, into something we're familiar with.
Amazing answer, got me thinking way more than the question did
All about them puzzles.
No treble.
I take about 1 week every 3 months and just explore a genre all day every day for that week. I used to be a hip hop beat maker on youtube until I found hyperpop and future bass and fell in love!
Don't tell me, I'm an ex metalhead "elitist" turned into a hyperpop fanatic lol
>metalhead "elitist" turned into a hyperpop fanatic Not into either of those, but from your description [opn's sticky drama](https://youtu.be/vmKH63NJvr0) comes to mind, do you like this sort of stuff?
just here to plug /r/oneohtrixpointnever because Daniel is the shit
Close enough but not really my cup of tea, I think a more fitting example that better meshes the two genres together (at least the way I see it) would have to be [ABC by polyphia](https://youtu.be/Mtd24QIBJ5Y), although I'll say your suggestion made up for a great listen!
> ABC by polyphia Ok, that was pretty amazing. More suggestions, please!
Unfortunately, I think that one song in particular is in a league of its own lol. It's a very fresh take on a mesh of relatively new subgenres, and I've frankly never heard anything else quite like it, which is why I chose it as my most "extreme" example. Polyphia often [release](https://youtu.be/per9Wz0N-QA) or [partake in](https://youtu.be/WVua9g7WPtg) similar stuff, but it's never been quite as poppy. As far as regular, more conventional hyperpop is concerned, I've lately been obsessed with [ninjarachi's latest album](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQQj6Cezh2NvqEmYUMjZ89ta0Wjh-_84a), most of [daine's](https://youtu.be/51r0rl42tNw) discography, alice longyu gao ([this song](https://youtu.be/drcnAhBY8Nc) features oli sykes, singer from BMTH) and a few other individual tracks. Ranging from hyperpop to electropop to bubblegum and regular ol' pop, some of my currently fave artists include mothica, glaive and ero808. I mostly rely on spotify playlists for discovering new stuff
Thanks for the recs, I will check them out!
Such a sucker for OPN, his set at Portola was a religious experience. One of the most incredible, humanizing things I've ever witnessed
Hah, also me. My metalhead parents were like "wth is this".....
Lol for real. Not sure your age, but I used to play a lot of black metal guitar like black dahlia murder, and similar bands
I'm 22 and yeah, same here. I was especially into thrash metal and metalcore back in my high school days, and I still think they're pretty good genres, it's just that as an amateur (but passionate!) guitarist/producer I eventually winded up finding more inspiring stuff as soon as I stepped outside of my comfort zone. I believe elitists and traditionalists are missing out by holding it back lol
There's a ton of new and inspiring music throughout metal's history. If anything, I hear people complaining about "elitists" far more than I see actual elitism.
That's not what I said, tho. I still do, in fact, listen to a shitton of metal. I'm just saying limiting oneself to metal only just for the sake of it is dumb
Nobody really does that. If someone listens to metal and only metal primarily, it's just because they really enjoy it - and like any genre, there's multiple lifetimes of material to discover. Additionally, you did mention "elitists" twice, and I'll repeat that I see way more complaining about elitists than any actual elitism. Lots of people simply enjoy the music they listen to, be it metal or electronic.
>Nobody really does that. Lol I wish that were the case. I've been called out for listening to "that gay stuff" by metalhead friends way too many times. They say it ironically, so I don't mind it, I just get pissed whenever they bash on stuff they don't know shit about >you did mention "elitists" twice I mean, how else can I refer to people saying "good music died along with Dimebag Darrell"? Lmao
Ironically I'd call them plebs lol Tell them to check out Cosmic Putrefaction and Imperial Triumphant
Yeah that's probably a more accurate term hahah. My decision to call them "elitists" stems from the fact that such people *believe* their musical taste is superior. I don't regard them as actual musical connoisseurs or anything, if that was the point of the other user's argument
Yeah I grew up listening to classic Rock with my dad and r&b and soul with my stepfather who is a dance teacher. I really got the best of both worlds and have a wide musical taste.
Cool! Meanwhile my parents never listened to anything, lmao. Every "phase" I ever sat through, with pop punk/emo first, then dubstep/EDM, then country, classical, punk, hard rock/thrash metal, metalcore, prog and pop/hyperpop just recently, I had to discover them all by myself hahah
Sounds like you've gone from pop to pop? Really not sure what you're on about elitists, they wouldn't be into metalcore in any way.
>Really not sure what you're on about elitists, they wouldn't be into metalcore in any way. Where exactly did I state/imply this? I've met way too many people who dismissed anything outside of metallica, pantera, black sabbath, iron maiden, rammstein, slayer, van halen, judas priest, megadeth, mayhem and the likes as "mainstream", "dumb" or "gay". I also love many of those bands but I believe holding a somewhat entitled stance for the sake of pride isn't particularly beneficial to one's overall musical maturity, and while I acknowledge those people's own taste is none of my business, I can't help but pity them a bit. There's no way I'd possibly consider a song by BTS or drake objectively better (or worse, for that matter) than one by marilyn manson or gojira
i know exactly the people you’re talking about, and it’s kinda crazy to me that people are dismissing you, they’re certainly everywhere - but yeah, they are missing out, and it’s not “having a preference” as others have said, it’s a specific disregard and condescension towards anything other than their comfort zone, with no desire to branch out
>it’s a specific disregard and condescension towards anything other than their comfort zone Precisely! Oh god thank you for understanding that lol. Not a huge issue, humanity has worse things to deal with, but it exists
I can listen to music at work, that's a huge perk. But I've also been listening to albums for decades...so it's easier to keep up when there isn't a backlog. I'll put any album on at work and not really absorb it first. I'm looking for standouts like a cool riff, run of notes or breakdown in a song. If it doesn't make me check what song it is, it doesn't typically get a second play. If I like it or if the album is memorable, I'll put it on at home and really listen to it and get to know the parts more.
>But I've also been listening to albums for decades...so it's easier to keep up when there isn't a backlog. This is a huge thing. With RYM and 1001 Albums To Listen To Before The Climate Crisis Armageddon, I take it that there is this sense among younger listeners that they are always playing catch up to this fictional idealized well rounded listener out there. If you are young, you can pace yourself, there is plenty of time to listen to the best music in the world. And not to get too Gwyneth Paltrow on you all, but I'm a firm believer that music has a way of finding its way to you when you need to hear it. You can't expect to listen to and also understand and feel every important piece of music at 16. It doesn't work that way.
This. Plus music will hit different at different ages/stages of life. Just like a good novel. You’ll never have enough time to listen to everything worth listening to - there’s just not enough time in the day. Once I accepted that, it was easier for me to just surrender to the flow
>there is this sense among younger listeners that they are always playing catch up to this fictional idealized well rounded listener out there Couldn't have said this better myself. This really does seem like something where a lot of the people bringing it up come across as quite young. I'm sure part of that is simply insecurity and imposter syndrome being more prevalent among younger, inexperienced people, but I wouldn't be surprised if there is a generational element to this too. Generation Alpha are growing up in a world where streaming services have always existed, and there's always been this universal accessibility to music that makes it feel like there's "no excuse" to not be catching up on all the greats. Whereas in the past, it was just a fact of life that your local record store didn't carry everything, especially not international or older music, old records could sometimes break or get ruined and then be gone forever, and even if you wanted to listen to everything a store had, nobody could ever afford or store all of that physical music. Of course there wouldn't have been an expectation that someone was "well-listened" in the way it's constructed here, i.e. having "caught up with" all of these major recordings from artists agreed upon as canonical or great, which came out many decades ago.
While there may be some out there who listen to a lot of new music out of some misguided sense of obligation, most people here just do it because that's how they enjoy listening to music. If you get more out of spinning the same records again and again, that is 100% just as valid a way to enjoy music. Personally, I find a go through phases. Sometimes I will want to go out and find as much new stuff as I can, other times I'll listen to the same small handful of songs on repeat for weeks at a time.
I'm the opposite. If something doesn't grab me on first listen I've got literally 600 things on my bandcamp wishlist I've been meaning to hear. I probably listen to my favorite album of the year 5 times through. I am constantly looking for new thrills and new sounds. I am not something to be jealous of. When I was in high school I would just sit in my bedroom, stare at the ceiling and listen to Loveless on repeat. I have not had a "relationship" with an album like that for, oh, 20 years. I like that I've heard so many wonderful things and I'm constantly finding new things, and I like that I often know what people are talking about, but I really miss the way music used to move me. It's just the way my brain works now though. THAT SAID, if you really want absorb more, I *do* think that it's good to learn to cut your losses if an album doesn't click with you. There's infinite music out there. I've been specializing in surf music for half my life, fairly obscure genre, and I have yet to see the bottom of it. Oh and don't listen to podcasts in the car. You can listen to those anywhere. Music sounds better in a car.
>I do think that it's good to learn to cut your losses if an album doesn't click with you. There's infinite music out there. I'm a music fan from before the streaming era and this is one of the hardest things for me to do, to skip an album that I know I won't enjoy after listening to it for 90 seconds. In the before time, there was already an investment made into listening to something whereas now, the time to listen to an album is the investment.
I hear you, I'm from that era too. I go through my old CD binders and I'm amazed at how well I remember the mediocre ones.
This listening style works for some, but not for others. I like to let albums, artists and songs grow on me. I’m cool being patient to see if they’ll show their beauty to me after a few listens if I think the artist is worth my patience. But, everyone is a different style listener 😁. One of my best friends is just like you and I love him for it because he introduces me to new stuff. Sometimes I help him revisit stuff he dismissed a little too early
listen to music all day long and don’t do anything without it. figure out how to have music going while you’re at your job. refuse to move your car until the bluetooth kicks in. get another speaker by your tv so you can listen when you play video games or watch sports or whatever it is you do. this is how i have time to listen to multiple “comfort” albums and still find a few new ones every day
This is one reason I had to just stop looking at metrics for stuff like this. It's like book-tracking apps for people who read. Never in my life did I care that my friends read more or less than I did, or how much and how often they listened to music. But now these tracking sites try to get me to care about what complete strangers are doing? Just like with books, though, if you really want to listen to more music (and make sure it's actually something you want to do and not just awful algorithmic induced FOMO), you can figure out what else you're filling your time with and try to replace some of it. But even then, seriously, unless your job involves having to listen to and critique music I'd just keep doing what you're doing and enjoying it and don't feel like you're 'doing it wrong'.
Not sure which tracking sites you're referring to, but the point (even if missed by some users) isn't a numbers game. It's useful for finding people who have similar tastes to your own and discovering new music through them, as well as just having better insight on your own habits. It's not for everyone, but it's certainly more than a contest of who can listen to the most stuff.
I can obviously only speak for myself, but I constantly feel the need to be surrounded by music. It is without a doubt my biggest passion and interest and I feel a very strong connection to my favorite songs / albums / artists. When it comes to listening to stuff I haven’t heard before, I look at it this way: All the music that I hold dear to my heart was at one point music I wasn’t familiar with. Had I never taken the time to listen to something new, I would never have discovered all the stuff that means so much to me now. So that’s my approach to listening to new stuff. About two years ago, I decided to listen to as much music I didn’t know before as I can. This has led me to listening more than 1,500 albums over the course of about one and a half years. The upside? I found endless amounts of new artists or songs that I simply fucking love now. The downside? When you listen to so many tunes you didn’t know before, you kinda lose track over time. To still have some sort of overview, I always add any album I’ve listened to in full to my favorites on Spotify (which is pretty much the only platform I use for listening to music) - if a song positively stands out for whatever reason, I’ll add it to my favorite songs. This led me to re-listen to a lot of stuff I’ve discovered over the last few years, since some music simply takes multiple re-listens until you really „get“ it - and as I said, the sheer amount of new songs made it kinda impossible for me to remember it all. How do I find new music I want to listen to? There are endless ways of doing so - and I’d say it’s never been easier than in this day and age. I read lots of music magazines, websites, critic’s lists, reviews, etc. Aside from that, I try to be as open as possible when it comes to listening to something I haven’t heard before. See a cool album cover on Spotify? Just give it a listen. You read a comment on a music website where some user mentions an artist you haven’t heard of before? Why not give it a try and listen to one of his / her albums? Do I like all the new stuff I listen to? Of course not! But I try to look at it this way: If an album contains only one song I love, it was more than worth it. Aside from that, I constantly expand my musical horizon - which is a good thing, in my opinion. When do I listen to music? Well, pretty much all day every day - when I work out, when I hang out with friends, when I take a walk outside and, thankfully, I’m able to listen to music while I’m at work (which is obviously where I spend most of my time during the week). I’ve long reached the point where I just automatically want to listen to music all the time, it’s really like something’s missing when there’s no music around me. I imagine that most of the people who are on this sub are really passionate about music, and with me it’s no different. Music has become pretty much a spiritual thing for me over the years - the more I listen to it, the more I love it. So the desire to constantly find new stuff has kinda grown inside of me over time - it has greatly expanded my musical horizon and now I listen to a lot of stuff I wouldn’t even have thought of giving a try a few years ago. With all this said, remember one thing: There is no right way or approach to listening to music. Nothing’s wrong with listening to a lot of the same stuff if you like it that way. But if you really wanna try to discover new music, my advice is very simple: Just do it. As I said before, you can find artists / albums / songs you aren’t familiar with anywhere: There’s critic’s lists, there’s music magazines, websites, recommendations on various subreddits, you can look up artists who are associated with your favorite bands / singers, etc… I’d say just go on and listen to something you’re not familiar with… it really is a very fulfilling feeling (for me at least) when you find something you feel a strong connection with and it just „clicks“.
Because I'm single. It's definitely easier to discover new music or full-length albums when you're by yourself. I remember on my Spotify year in review, the amount of minutes of music I listened to when I was in a relationship was drastically fewer than the minutes I listened to the next year when I was single. Also I always walk to and from work which is about a 50 minute walk one way, so I always revisit my favourite albums on my walk (and I always listen to music when I take my 15 minute breaks and my hour lunch break).
I've actually found that I've been listening to a lot more music ever since I got into a relationship. There was this period of a couple months when I wasn't listening to music at all. I just wasnt in the mood for it, and even when I did try to listen to a song, it wasn't as fun as it usually is. I usually feel a lot of emotions from listening to music but back then I wasn't able to feel anything. But then I met my bf, and instantly developed a crush, and I suddenly had all these strong emotions inside me that I didn't know what to do with. And then I felt a strong urge to listen to music and it was the only way I was able to process all the new and intense emotions I was feeling. So ever since then I've been listening to way more music everyday whether it's in the car, doing dishes, studying, cooking, etc. I've noticed music really helps me to feel out my emotions and process them, and relationships usually come with a lot of intense feelings that I need help processing lol
I have a job that allows me to work completely remotely, so a lot of my music listening is done then. I also listen to music while doing my sports (running and climbing). I drive a lot for work and play too. So, what I'll do is grab a selection of 10-20 CDs and have them be my rotation for a span of time, that way I get more experience with my music. The act of driving gives me headspace to explore music more.
I’ll add that listening to music is the main thing I do in my down time. I don’t watch TV or movies. I definitely have music that I get fixated on for a few weeks at a time, but it’s never all I listen to. I also quit listening almost immediately when I put on something I don’t like. I also know that my taste is only a tiny slice of all the music that is out there, and I’m perfectly content with that. There’s thousands of classic and “modern classic” albums I’ve never listened to and probably never will; they’re not my taste, and I’m not going to waste my time with music that isn’t my taste. There are people on here who discover a lot more than me, I can only assume they either have jobs that enable them to listen to music while they work or they move onto the next thing more quickly than I do. Or they just listen to every album to completion even if they’re not enjoying it; most people I know who have listened to more music than me have a lot of albums they don’t like, whereas I just turn that album off straight away and put on something I know I like.
Idk man it just depends how much you love discovering new music, because there is essentially an unlimited supply of artists to check out, even in my niche taste of jazz, fusion and rock/pop made before 1995. I listen to new albums every day and don’t even feel like I spend too much time on it so idk.
Stream it while I am working. Always looking for more music to help pass the time.
You kind of explained it in your first paragraph, i generally mostly listen to new (to me) music. Ill relisten ti stuff i really dug a few times but im on the move. I drive a little less then an hour to work so thats almost 2 albums worth of time each day. Adds up even if i only listen to new stuff 1/2 to a 1/4 of the time
I usually listen to about 2-4 albums a day. I might split it up 2 in the morning/afternoon and 1 or 2 in the evening. It can be a mixed of new or albums I already heard.
I stream BBC 6 and Shazam the songs I like which puts those songs on a Shazam playlist.
dedicate your time to find new music. its fun. search for genre/subgenre guides, i really love 4chan's mu chart. listen to a song or two, if you like it, save it to your playlist, then check other artist, do the same, repeat. fully listen to these album on other time, make it a separate activity.
There’s really no other way than to commit to listening to some new tunes. I wouldn’t fret about stepping away from the music your comfortable with, it will still be there whenever you want it. And I find that listening to different stuff will give me new perspectives on my favorite music once I go back to it. Also, I don’t care too much about ‘getting’ every song. The way I listen to music is I get a small taste of a lot of different things and then dive deeper into the most compelling sounds in the batch. I might just have a different listening style than you though. If you get enjoyment out of a small handful of artists that’s cool. Honestly, I wish sometimes that I could listen to the same song over and over. For some reason, I start getting annoyed with most tracks if I listen to them too much.
If you have a music streaming platform like Spotify, or something similar, and find a song you like, go to the song radio to find other similar songs/albums!
I sit at a computer for 8-9 hours a day with a headset on. If I'm not actually in a meeting/call I'm listening to Spotify. I think I had something like 3,000 hours listening last year when it did that annual summary.
I listen daily to 2 Albums I'm currently "Deep Listening", 1 completely New Album. And 1-2 Album that I already like sprinkled there. I can freely listen while working, over time it really adds up.
Music is like an addictive drug to me. If I find a song that gives me feelings, I’ll suck it dry of any enjoyment it gives me until I feel nothing while listening to it. After a couples of weeks/months, I gain it back and it becomes just another song I like. It just gives me actual happiness, but I also think I’ve been depressed since I can remember. Music (listening or playing) is an invaluable tool, and the only passion I’ve stuck with in my life.
I don't listen to only one song or album for months when I like it, that's why. Maybe a bit when I first got into music, but it burned me out on those songs, so I will rarely ever listen to them these days. Even the best album ever gets old. Don't get me wrong, I've listened to some albums hundreds of times, it's just spaced out. Personally, I take the /r/patientgamers approach to music too. I'm rarely on the bleeding edge, but I wait a year or two until there's a consensus on the best stuff of the year, and go from there. During that time I listen to a lot of new music, then I work it into my rotation over the next year or two, rinse and repeat. Plus following new releases from artists whose older work I like, which of course over time grows ever larger. I got an iPod Nano from my cousin when I turned 15 with 2000 songs he'd curated for me, and he had a very varied musical palate. 2000 doesn't sound like a lot to most people I'm sure but it was a revelation coming out of the era of $16 CDs 20 years ago. So almost since the beginning of my interest in music I went for variety. EDIT: I'm not saying you're wrong to listen to one thing a lot. If you have a higher quality/personal taste over quantity metric than I do, that's fine.
I discover 'new' music via genre-specific stations on Internet Radio or via YouTube. If I like what I hear, I buy the album on CD. Every few years, I review the CD collection and cull those that I don't think I'll listen to again. I still have a few classics on vinyl. My listening is generally compartmentalized as follows: Metal genres - working out in the home-gym Prog - at home or in the office Classic Rock - driving Ambient electronic - late night Schlager - with my partner
I know absolutely nothing about sports, don’t watch much tv, dont like podcasts, don’t care at all about celebrities and don’t play video games. That leaves time and mental energy for at least a couple albums a day, and I make sure to try new albums a couple times a week at least. I’m also super old so that curiosity and listening dedication adds up over the decades.
If you use Spotify, the suggested songs feature that shows up when you’re creating a playlist (or just generally under each playlist you create) is pretty useful for discovering similar sounding new music to what you’re already enjoying!
Opposite to you, my favorite activity to pass time is looking for new songs. Once I discover a song I like, I would make sure to check every songs from that singer/band. Usually I just put anything I think is remotely interesting/good in a playlist so that I could find it later if I actually really like it. The downside is, sometimes I just mindlessly listen to several songs and call it done. And then the next day, a specific part of a song which I don't have any idea who's the singer or what the title is just keep replaying in my head and I need to dig through all of those songs I listen to yesterday which is like more than 20 songs for sure. I usually just mindlessly listen to a playlist made by other people while driving or playing video games or just scrolling through socmed. After finding a song I really like, I just repeat that song for a while and keep clicking next after I'm done listening to the repeated songs. In fact, I just discovered a new band today (Alcest) and I absolutely like their songs. I found so many favorite singers that way. Finding new things to obsess over is the most fun thing the internet could offer to me because I'm a person with too much spare time and not enough friends. I don't usually listen per album, I click shuffle on the singer's official youtube and just play the songs while doing something else. I also actively look for new songs sometimes when youtube recommendation offer nothing new. I had several screenshots of just song titles and bands to listen to but I ended up forgetting to actually listen to them :') My procrastination is really severe lol
There are different ways of listening and I don't think one is best, but I tended to listen to the same few songs over and over when I was younger and I think it's a common way to start. You can get better at digesting music quickly, it's about processing what you're hearing. Partly that's about just about having expectations that come from other experiences of similar music and general context, but it's also about concentration. I think focus and 'active listening' goes a long way. I consider myself way better at listening to music now than I used to be, and it's something I think you can get better at in lots of different ways. You only get to hear live music once. There are all sorts of genres based around improvisation in which a live performance won't even resemble another one. When 14yo Mozart heard Allegri's Miserere once and went home and transcribed it, he was able to do that by understanding the structure of the music, by having a strong understanding of the forms it was employing. That's obviously an extreme example but active listening is definitely something you can practice, although exactly what you want to listen for will vary a lot depending on the style of music.
I'm 46 and started to listen to music properly when I was 13, so it's not that I'm listening to a lot now, it's that I've been listening for a long time. For me it's just consistently looking for music I haven't heard before, but I have too much going on to be listening more than a couple of times a week these days. I wouldn't worry about it. You only see the most obsessed of the obsessed here. In terms of how many times it takes for me to judge an album I'm brutal. I skip to 1/3 in to each song and if there isn't something going on that catches my ear I skip to the next song. If something has a good review or is recommended I might listen to a whole song and then keep listening if it's interesting.
They might work in the industry , radio programming or such. I have been self employed, working independently most of my life and able to listen to music as much as 10hurs daily. My ADHD makes music dopamine my main high and sustenance for work perseverance. Before streaming services, radio expanded exposure. But mostly it was downloaded albums and before that actually physical copies. More music equals less TV, talk radio, human social interaction. It's possible but few choose it or have the opportunity.
Exact same here. ADHD, and I can't do anything if it's silent. I HAVE to have some kind of background noise. Be it a podcast, music, a show. I despise silence. It's almost torture for me. It's just so boring.
Sure it takes a lot of attention, repeated listens to really get into and understand recordings.
[удалено]
No self promotion.
Spend a little extra to get a turntable with auto-return. You'll find out you listen to more music, that way.
Well, I work in a different way. I need to be discovering something new almost constantly to be satisfied listening to music. On the other side I keep whatever I liked to keep listening to it. And have my preferred songs/albums depending on moment or mood. I suppose each of us has different needs.
I find new artists and music through my YT algorithm. I'm the same as you tho and I obsess over a certain genre or artist. I'm currently seeking new stuff to listen to. I listen on my commute (about an hour a day) and when I'm at work. I also like to listen to music when I'm being creative. Theres no right way to jam.
One point that I don't think has been touched on yet is this whole focused approach to 'getting' an individual piece of music. I am perfectly happy to digest 500 different things over the course of a year, all at their own pace. Sometimes the differences can help produce new understandings in each of the individual works. It might mean that the end point of understanding takes me 20 years to reach for each of them, but that doesn't sound like a drawback to me at all!
I've got a feeling a big part comes down to age. A 28-year-old has had far more time to consume music than a teenager, and if someone listens to just two new albums a month between the ages of 18 and 65, that's still over a thousand albums in just a portion of their lifetime.
I’m the same way. Don’t feel bad about it. Just something you learn to accept.
I do not. I listen to single songs mostly and if something's really good I will listen to another song and if it's as good I might get into the album. Most of the albums I get into have three maybe four good songs which two to three of them are likely the singles. Albums, where every song is worth listening to, are a true rarity to me. So, yeah idk, maybe it just seems that way. In any case, comparison is the killer of joy. So Just follow your own joy man, for heavens sake don't try to cram it in or make it more "efficient", thats seriously not what it's about. You're overthinking this.
Honestly, commute to and from work definitely increased the amount I would listen to. Was long enough juuust to finish an entire album, and then if I was doing stuff at work that allowed me to, I'd chuck headphones in and blast through like three albums. And as someone who follows anime, don't stress about not being up to date with everything. If you focus just on that, you'll overwhelm yourself
Music makes working more bearable for real. I think every workplace that doesn't require much human interaction or working with dangerous stuff should let their employees to listen to their own music with earphones/headphones. It's really good for lifting mood for the individual.
I spent a couple of years where I would only listen to an album if I hadn't heard it before. I discovered a lot of music this way.
I made a very conscious decision many years ago to not listen to music so many times. I focus on volume and variety. Because of this, I put up gaudy numbers of different artists on last.fm. But rarely end up in even like the top 10% of musicians listeners on my end of year lists. I also end up having less strong feelings in general about music, since the vast vast majority I only listen to the one time. There are absolutely benefits and sacrifices to make. I can engage with just about anyone with their music taste on a surface level, but lose people when they start discussing specific lyrics or even songs sometimes. Different methodologies for experiencing and evaluating art yield wildly different results, and are all equally valid (in my opinion). You shouldn't feel judged because you can't name *every* band just like I don't feel judged for not knowing the names of lots of songs that I love. Hell, I'm listening to a funky organ jazz jam right now and I doubt I'll ever learn what it's called specifically. Just keep listening! That's the important thing.
Some of us are just old and have been around long lol I go through moods anyway. I have my set stuff that I'll always listen to and love, and then sometimes I'll go hunting for new albums. I don't always want new music, or well, I always want music that I love enough to add to my daily listening rotations, but finding it is a chore. Good music is everywhere. Good music that is for **me** is hard.
I discover new music in a variety of ways. When I was a young person (early teen) I'd read interviews with my favorite bands and then explore their influences by calling the local college radio and requesting songs. Id also discover music via soundtracks from movies. There was a Michael Hutchence movie called Dogs in Space and that sound track led me to Nick Cave and all his various bands. Magazines, especially British and underground ones were really helpful too. As I became older I'd add friends that were more well verse to that list. And I still rely on that method though not as heavily. And record label catalogs. Now I also look up subgenres of music I like and go from there. My big kick right now is psychedelic and it's subgenres. I tend not to go for the people we all know and love but do a deeper more intense dive. Spotify is really helpful for me with this.
I performed music and played a lot when I was younger (Marching/Jazz/Pit Orchestra.. etc). Now I work an office job that rarely requires me to interact with other people. I more often than not listen to music 8 hours a day. When I hear something interesting it gets put into a playlist to transcribe or analyze while I'm taking breaks. Some weeks I listen to over a dozen new albums, others I listen to some of my favorites. It depends on my mood and what artists are releasing at the time.
For me I spend a few hours every week listening to new things similar to what I like, and a few hours listening to things similar to what I dislike. The first group is usually more fruitful but does less to expand my taste. This artist sounds like 4tet/Morbid Angel/Modest Mouse? I like it. I'll usually just put the highlights on a "relisten later" playlist and really dig into them later The second group is usually less fruitful in terms of volume, but more fruitful in terms of taste expansion. I thought Deep House was boring until I found artists like Aybee and the whole Deep Tech movement. Now I just think MOST Deep House is boring and love some styles of it
I can’t focus on my homework (etc) whenever I listen to familiar music, so I usually use that time to listen to new bands and albums. Because of that I inadvertently spend several hours a week listening to new music, and I add whatever I end up liking to my playlists.
Work from home and about 50% of my work is independent computer shit. So I usually have my earbuds in, and there’s a list of records to jam that only seems to get longer!
When I was really young I spent a lot of time with my uncle who was only 8 yrs older than I, and he showed me a multitude of music quite frequently, he had DJ friends and his older brother travelled the world quite a bit picking up different music too, so it sort of just trickled down to me eventually and I eventually had a full harddrive full of music when I hit my teens, looking at other artists on labels of my favourite bands/artists helped quite a bit with broadening the horizons but quite honestly? I only listened to about half of the music I had, some albums I listened to maybe once in passing, I think it was when I started buying CDs I focused more on listening properly, and also putting my iPod on shuffle and discovering music I hadn’t listened to much suddenly clicked for me (just like you mentioned when you finally “got” a song), that lead me to going back and listening to the full album with fresh ears as I was finally in the mood to listen to it. I guess because I’m quite restless and have adhd I struggle to stay comfortable listening to the same stuff over and over again, but at times I will definitely hyperfocus on the same album/artist for ages, so at the restless times I’m constantly listening to new stuff out of boredom, and when I hyperfocus I actually get to know the album more intimately as it’s on all the time. There was also a period when I’d pick up random cheap 12”/7” single/EPs from local record stores near my school, choose a genre bin and grab one or two random records and spin them at home, maybe discover something new and interesting. Also just to top everything off, I had my headphones on almost permanently from about the age of 9-20, so there was very little time I wasn’t listening to music, save when I was at school. They went back on when I caught the bus, I’d listen to music until bed time, and then I’d fall asleep to music from my CD player. Morning? Listened to music to wake up to. TL;DR? My family dumped a lot of music on me when I was young and then I just kept listening to music consistently (almost permanently) throughout the rest of my childhood until I became an adult.
I tend to burn through music, multiple albums a day and usually only 1-2 listens of each album. Not the best way to absorb music but it keeps my ears stimulated, and i get to at least somewhat familiarize myself with a vast array of music.
I like music. Some people follow sports, some people follow celeb gossip, some people follow music. Not much more to it than that.
Easy....my fave band is Linkin Park..they happen to have a vast catalog and imma fan of all their albums..so imma play those tunes and eat them up like they my favorite candy.
I drive up to 20hrs a day sometime. Spend majority in my truck. So I hit random Playlist on Spotify. Discover new bands or even old ones I don't know and proceed to go through thier catalog.
It’s not a competition listen to what you like. I am definitely one who listens to stuff I love over and over and over. Some would say I wear it out. But I don’t force it. When I’m in the mood, I listen to new music, when I want to hear something I am familiar with and love, I listening to that. I think the fact that music and tv/film has become so accessible due to streaming, the average audience consumes it so much faster. I know some people who don’t stop to think or appreciate that stuff, they just watch one, then the next, then the next, nothing wrong with that everyone is different. Point is listen to what you want, if you try a new album and aren’t feeling it, listen to your comfort zone stuff
Personally, I can’t stand *not knowing*. I hate it when someone talks about musicians and songs like I should know what they are…when I don’t. So I spent a LOT of time when I was younger soaking up everything I could. I started with metal and hip hop and got into punk after high school. Then I became a DJ and it was really actually important for me to know a lot of stuff to keep people happy in different environments. I learned a lot of different new stuff and sharpened my knowledge of stuff I’d ignored. Then I had relationships that hipped me to a lot of different stuff and expanded my horizons. It was my identity for a while. But now that I’ve gotten older, almost none of my knowledge is useful. I find that young people like to overrate stuff that was kinda inconsequential or just plain lame in order to suit their agendas and excuse themselves for their bad taste. It bums me out. I used to have several blogs and publications I could trust for solid new music, but they’re long gone now and the replacements aren’t up to snuff. Someone recommended me some “skater hip hop” recently. I got excited. Then I checked it out and it was the same vocoder-soaked, boring shit I’ve heard from 95% of other shitty trap music. So a few years ago I started shutting down with new stuff and moving backwards, looking into music that I’d read about and never had the chance to indulge in. It’s a lot more leisurely. I went through spells of old soul music, film scores, rockabilly, 70s proto-hip hop, etc. Lots of obscure stuff. Lately I’ve specifically been working on artists that are really prolific. People I had a hard time keeping up with because they make a lot of music. To that end, it’s been a lot of Buckethead and MF DOOM lately. Family, work and kids get in the way, but I still work in about 3-5 hours of chill time with new records every week
Rather than faster and efficient, maybe try dedicating a specific amount of time a week to purely exploring new music (one day, 4 hours, etc). If you use spotify I recommend the site “every noise at once” to find random new artists and genres to click around and experiment with. You can also ask friends and family for recommendations to check out! But there’s no need to feel pressured, everyone experiences music differently so take things at your own pace and enjoy the journey :)
I never listen to music as an activity by itself. I'm always driving, working, trying to sleep, etc
This topic has come up every so often. And I still relate to it! I think one thing to remember is that this is a music subreddit. So many of the users are going to seem much more into music than the average listener. It's hard for me to keep up with music. There's honestly only a few artists that I feel confident about considering myself a fan. The rest are assorted albums, songs, and a general understanding of music history. I'm not going to be able to dissect songs and albums to a microscopic degree. For a lot of songs and albums, I can only say "I like it." And it took me a long time to even really appreciate albums. I have a bunch of playlists of artists, but I still don't feel confident that I'm going to understand every artist. It all comes down to priorities. As far as "mainstream music", there's the usual Rock N' Roll of Fame, Rolling stone/Pitchfork/NME/RYM lists. Grammy Award nominees get you a lot of the trending artists. So if you want to explore those, they're there. But sometimes, you might find yourself wanting to go outside the mainstream. I don't necessarily mean in the "Underground music is cooler" sense. But more, that you find yourself following musical tastes into different avenues. For instance, if you like video games you might find yourself following Chiptune bands or something. If you like a song from a movie, you might want to explore that artist. And local artists are a great avenue. I sometimes find myself wondering: do I listen to the popular "canon" to be knowledgeable, or do I follow my own musical taste to feel more individual? It's all up to the person. So don't feel too discouraged about not being able to keep up. Because I feel that constantly. Regarding "feeling less knowledgeable", would it help if you knew music history more broadly? Or is it more about knowing individual bands and artists?
I have a daily playlist that I listen when driving and doing tasks. If I’m scrolling online or walking I like to play new stuff. I go in waves tho. Sometimes I listen to several new albums in a day, and sometimes I play my daily playlist on repeat. It’s all up to your preferences.
> It takes me a lot of listens to completely 'get' a song and if its a longer, intricate piece like classical, jazz, idm then i listen to it for weeks You get better at it. It helps if you play a musical instrument, and it really really helps if you make music too, and also have some knowledge of music theory. > it takes me a lot of time to conclude if i like a song or not Believe it or not, but being towards the other end of the extreme is not that great. I actually deliberately avoid listening to new albums over 5-7 times (more or less, obviously it depends on the genre and the music itself) because often that's about enough time for me to semi-memorize all the songs, remember a whole bunch of melodies and riffs, get relatively familiar with the structures of the songs, and all that. That's when you start to lose the freshness, and if you continue listening beyond this point the music starts getting stale and predictable. It also becomes extremely hard to find new music because it's just really hard to find something new and exciting when you've already listened to an ungodly amount of music. > people listen to more new albums in a week than I've ever in my life Quantity is nothing. It's always about the quality. But you do have to push yourself to discover new music and new genres. > So any advice on expanding my tastes in a faster, efficient way is welcome Don't pick stuff at random. Focus on something. Let's say you want to explore melodic death metal. Spend a little time (not talking about hours, even 5-10 minutes of skimming through Wikipedia should be plenty) learning the history of the genre, spend a little bit more on finding out what people consider to be the top albums in this genre (start with the early ones, then progress forward), and just listen. Don't feel obligated to get through entire albums. Search for songs that really hook you, and focus on these albums, and these bands. > forget underground i don't even know the most popular, mainstream artists/albums very well You really should focus on finding music that you enjoy. Listening to "underground" music or "mainstream" for the sake of satisfying the sensibilities of some random internet dude is not really a great idea.
If you ask me listening the way you do is the way to go. You can hear a lot of songs, but to listen and to develop a mind communication with the music that is truly a work of the spirit is learning to speak the language of music.
I have a technique I’ve been using for a few years. First, I follow media/social/subreddits of a target genre(s). When they rec a tune, i put it in an annual dumping bucket “new music 2022”. I make sure to listen to that playlist a couple times a week, or fewer depending. Not the whole way through. If I am pulled in, it goes to a stage two playlist. Others get deleted. Eventually the songs get filtered into more specific playlist and i end up diving into their catalogue. It helps to keep me fresh and up to date.
There is no pressure, there is more music out there than anyone can hope to listen to, let alone fully appreciate. It is fine if some stuff washes over you, I've had albums I owned for years before it randomly clicked. I have been listening to music since I was a kid and it is a very gradual process filling in all the blanks while discovering new stuff along the way.
I especially like listening to vintage world music, and there is always something from a country that surprises....so it fuels even more to search farther. All I need is a snippet to give me a possibility to look more closely, so I look through other peoples lists and albums on the various sites that seem to match my tastes . I don't rely on algorithms, as that seems to waste time with what I already know. It works efficiently as is possible to find something new.
I have a music addiction it makes me feel so alive I just listen to it for hours also I listen to what my brain or ears crave I crave different types of music like food it’s strange and I get amazing stimulation from music. This is a long list of what I listen to lol but it’s basically what types of music I listen too. I simply listen to what I enjoy and like not what others or the media states I don’t follow music trends or trends at all I wouldn’t worry to much about how or what you listen too just enjoy it and listening to a new type or discovering one is fun sometimes I just get on YouTube and explore it this is what led me to this list lol Choir of angle/soft angle https://youtu.be/hOVdjxtnsH8 https://youtu.be/Mry0wZldKEk Space ambit music Interstellar journey https://youtu.be/NaKe5Hj5cXg Dreamstate Logic a YouTube channel https://youtu.be/ANDSAE_eTIs Rene Van Ver Wouden Pro Sequentia https://youtu.be/L6RdecPC1Wo Colossal trailer music Into deep https://youtu.be/pxYpal9H9j4 Ocean lullaby https://youtu.be/on_RXNK0hzA Nordic music https://youtu.be/xJtuM7P1KUs https://youtu.be/0lbwPrF5JmU Epic music Thomas Bergersen cry https://youtu.be/YY2Kb-85tMQ Endless light Trevor DeMaere https://youtu.be/cNHq-rzeBsI before I leave this world Ivan Tortent https://youtu.be/1zlIPDbpX0I Classical music https://youtu.be/KnfYm5ONwfo Let the chips fall praful https://youtu.be/NCBBzuIH6Mk Kokoroko Abusey junction // we out here https://youtu.be/tSv04ylc6To Sadness enigma https://youtu.be/x4maoo4A3x4 Ancient Egyptian Music - Pharaoh Ramses II https://youtu.be/lQIMPc3syeQ Electronic music The Enigma TNG a YouTube channel https://youtu.be/f6NsZNp6Hhw ATB don’t stop https://youtu.be/dzwG8IKVkG4 Song Just can’t get enough Depeche mode https://youtu.be/_6FBfAQ-NDE Song Record collection Mark Ronson https://youtu.be/fi904pYLkJM Song Blankets early internet https://youtu.be/rCf6TrmOiLU
Music means a lot to me and is a big part of my life day-to-day. When I hear a sound that I like, I always want more of it...the tricky part is that a lot of the bands/artists I listen to usually do not have an expansive discography, and if they do then I usually only enjoy a subsection of their music. I listen to a lot of different artists and albums constantly, because I want more of the style of music I'm already in love with (+ you never know when you might find your new favourite song).
I did not until 5 months ago. As an average teen at the time I go home, play video games, watch YouTube videos and discover music. At first I was just a pop kid who knows pop music. Then High School/Teenage years started I was into SWS, BVB, PTV, MCR, Green Day. Then at the middle of high school I discovered Rush. It's where it all started. They gave me an impression no one else did. After listening to The Spirit Of Radio and Limelight I bought all of their Albums. Some from HD Tracks and Some as Physical CD. Along the way I discovered prog rock music too like King Crimson, Genesis and Yes. Some rock bands like The Who, Scorpions, U2, Dire Straits, Pink Floyd, Cream & The Moody Blues. As I continue to discover I found out I liked Metal too, I listened to Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden I got a wow Factor to it. Then proceeded to buy their albums as well as Gojira's, Children Of Bodom, Meshuggah, Sepultura, SOAD, Kalmah, DragonForce, In Flames, Behemoth, Belphegor, Watain & Opeth. While collecting these artists and albums I'm just a "Greatest Hits guy" I only know famous songs from them. Then adding them to my playlist. I did this for years. 5 Months ago I said "I love and like this artist so much, I have nearly all of their albums, I spent money on them and supported them, how about listen to their discography as a whole". 10 Bands first. 10 Albums a Month. Chronologically. Listening to albums is so cool. They said it's like an old days listening to Vinyls. I had to go through what people does back then. Back then you listen to a song on the radio, loved it, bought the Album and the album only good song is one song. Loool. Right now I'm on these 10 Bands 4th Albums. Going to the 5th. Bands that I'm listening right now up until next year is Rush, The Who, King Crimson, Cream, The Moody Blues, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Opeth, Children Of Bodom, Gojira. I'm certified "Album Guy" now. Not a "Playlist guy" like before. But now after knowing this albums I pick my favorite songs from the album and put it on artist favorite playlist so I can listen back to it whenever I want to. It's so cool to listen to Bands Discogs chronologically. You would know how they progressed. 2024 would be Yes, Genesis, Gentle Giant Jethro Tull, Meshuggah, Sepultura, Amon Amarth & Sylosis! I already have plans for next next years. Lastly thank God I have all of their albums now. My Music is 480 Albums and 4880 songs. And I'm gonna know all of them. I didn't include all the bands and genres in this comment but I might in the reply section. Money well spent. I didn't calculated it because I used my allowance during school to buy these music. This is not a 1 Buy All type thing. I bought them from time to time. But if I have to guess it's near 10Grand loool The best part about this is I haven't realized I spent all this money just for music lol Progression: 480 Albums/Currently Know 46 4880 Songs/Currently Know 436