Finding new music in the age of algorithms
How to find new music without the help of AI.
With algorithms being a fingertip away at all times, it can be tempting to use it to discover new music. Spotify, YouTube, Tiktok are all algorithimic avenues one could use to explore, but as I mentioned in my previous piece, for convenience, you’re paying with authenticity.
Read on why algorithms might not be so great after all
Which then begs the question, how does one find new music authentically when algorithms are practically everywhere? I myself only recently stopped relying on algorithms to find new music, so this was definitely something new for me as well. Turns out, there actually tons of ways to go about it, here’s what I found out.
▸ Music rating/discovery websites
It can be pretty daunting to step into the world of obnoxious music snobs where every aspect of music is broken down and criticized, but once you get over how silly these ratings are and understand music IS subjective, these websites become a great avenue for discovery.
Take Rate Your Music for example - a website made mainly for rating records, allows you to sort albums and releases by genres, release date. Personally I really enjoy the New Music section of RYM since it helps me keep a lookout for new releases that I wouldn’t have paid attention to.
Another website that serves a similar function would be AOTY, personally I’m more of a RYM guy. But AOTY from what I heard ain’t too far off.
Going down a different route, Radio Garden is an online platform that allows you to listen to different radios all over the world. Great to find out what other countries are listening to, but comes with the definite drawback of not knowing what type of music is being played. So if you’re a picky listener, finding a different alternative might be a good idea.
If you’re wanting to delve into a new genre or trying to find a similar artist to the one you already enjoy, I highly recommend Every Noise at Once. Essentially a giant mindmap containing tons of genres, you can select a genre you want to delve into and it will then show you artist that make music or adjacent to that genre.
Also quick shoutout to Last.fm, though I’m pretty sure they utilize algorithms to give you recommendations. I don’t think their intentions are nearly as sinister as Spotify’s and they do give some good stuff time to time.
▸ Magazines
Before everyone had easy access to the internet, magazines used to be a common way for one to discover new stuff. Obviously physical copies of magazines aren’t as popular anymore but a lot these established mags have created their own sites. These are just some online magazines I’ve heard other people mention.
XXL (hip hop)
MixMag (electronic)
Resident Advisor (electronic)
W.I.R.E (experimental)
The Quietus (experimental)
While not exactly being a magazine, a platform I recently started going to is eggs.mu, a platform focused on smaller Japanese indie bands. The website is fully in Japanese, but it’s definitely not hard to navigate through. Personally I think it’s really good for finding smaller, newer, indie bands.
If I’m being honest I only mainly use Pitchfork, Mixmag and Bandcamp daily so I’m not too familiar with magazines so if anyone has a good magazine recommendation do drop it in the comments!
▸ Curators/Blogs
Rather than an organization or a few people giving you recommendations, curators are usually a single person giving their thoughts and opinions on records and albums. They can come in many different mediums, be it through videos on YouTube, Instagram and Tiktok or written blogs. You can think big names like Anthony Fantano.
Personally I really enjoy Derrick Gee’s recommendations and I follow him on Tiktok and YouTube. He’s usually really insightful about the genres he’s speaking about and conducts some cool interviews with artists. Derrick essentially introduced me to the Korean underground hip hop scene with artist recommendations like Kim Ximya and HYPNOSIS THERAPY. He has such a wide coverage of different genres that regardless of what kind of music you’re into, I cannot recommend his channel enough. Links; Youtube, Tiktok
There are also some really good blogs right here on Substack, I particularly enjoy perusing Leap250’s “Listening to Japanese Music” and Alfredopasta’s “omunibasu”. These guys are just kinda locked into the J-pop scene, both underground and mainstream, occasionally delving into the indie scene as well. I especially enjoy their J-music exchange program they do every now and then where they check each other’s recommendations out. (Check out Leap’s other blog here)
I’ve also found Mustafa’s substack to be pretty intriguing as well, specifically his interviews with artists. Having done interviews with relatively big names like Mass of the fermenting dregs, Haru Nemuri but also more underground bands like CHINESE HOODIE and Suichu Spica. His insightful questions that lets you know what bands are trying to convey through their music as well as their creative processes.
Also huge shoutout to omichive7 on Instagram, their page focuses heavily on the Japanese and Korean underground rock/punk scene. Though most of their content is written in Korean, I’ve found some banging bands through their page.
Sure consuming content put out by other people may not be as convenient as putting on Spotify’s AI generated playlists. But discovering music through these curator definitely feels a lot more authentic and personal because you can just tell that these people are doing it for the love of the game.
▸ Find out the producers behind your favourite artists.
Behind every successful artist, is usually a really talented producer. Just like singers and bands, producers have their signature style and genres. Take Japanese electronic producer Yasutaka Nakata as an example, that addictive house beat, autotuned vocals and ear-candy synths can be found in almost all his work. So if you liked Perfume, it’s quite likely you might enjoy other Nakata projects like Capsule, Ami Suzuki or MEG.
You can do so by looking up the credits on an album or song, which you can then search the producer’s name on a site like discogs.
These are seriously goldmines and you can just spend hours going through a producer’s work, kinda goes to show how underappreciated producers are.
▸ Radios!
Specifically for me, NTS radio! Can’t tell you how much I’ve been enjoying NTS Radio, they have so much content available ranging from ambient animal noise to korean hyperpop mixes.
What I’ve been banging the most recently on NTS is their artists mixes where different artists collates a mix for you to listen to. It’s just so sick seeing what artists are being inspired by and what they’re listening to, I guess it’s quite similar Pitchfork’s Perfect 10. But instead of talking about why they like it, their taste is shown in a compiled mix, which to me is wayyy cooler.
There are probably a lot of great radios out there, I just haven’t had the time to discover it yet. But if you want to get started with music discovery but don’t have the time to read blogs or find new music yourself, NTS is a GREAT place to start.
▸ Ask for recommendations from real people.
These can be anyone from your friends or some rando on Reddit, getting recommendations from real people is always interesting. What I can say about asking for recommendations is that it really opens you up to music that you would never imagine you’d be interested in. So join communities, join servers and ask real people for real recommendations.
And if your ego doesn’t allow you to ask for recommendations, stalk people’s playlist!! Stalking people’s playlist is honestly such a fun past time for me, while a lot of the time I spend judging their taste, sometimes you can find some real gems. If you’re doing it for the sake of discovery, it’s better to choose someone who you think has a similar or at least adjacent taste in music as you.
▸ Research
Before you come at me and say “Yotsu are you dumb? Why would I want to spend time researching, I just want to listen and enjoy music!” I get that, but researching where and who your favourite artists are drawing inspiration from is a great way to expand your taste.
Watching interviews and really understanding which parts of a genre, which time period, who inspired them really allows you to delve into that particular scene. If you can’t be arsed to do all that, sometimes artists have their own personal playlists which you can check out.
Now I can’t assure you that any of these methods will work out for you and they will almost surely be more time-consuming than relying on algorithms. What I can promise is that you’ll find yourself interacting and enjoying music a lot more, because discovering a new artist by digging through the internet definitely feels a lot more satisfying compared to an algorithm throwing you a random artist. Though I have to reiterate, you don’t have to abandon the algorithms, however diversifying how you consume music can make the whole process a whole lot more interesting.
When digging for new music, make sure you don’t get lost in the sauce, pick just one method or a few at max and stick with it for a while. If you overwhelm yourself with the possibilities, you could burn yourself out and the whole process will just feel like a chore. If that ever happens, take a step back, go back and listen to the stuff you already love.
I’m still a total amateur in music, I have no music theory knowledge whatnot and I only recently got into music a few years back. Regardless, I hope this piece was informative and happy discovering!
Thanks4reading.
Appreciate the shoutout, Yotsu!
One other way I tend to stumble across new bands and artists these days is through SNS, mainly X. Something worth noting is that, while the platform’s kind of fallen out of favor in the West (lol), it's still very active in Japan. In particular, Japanese indie bands and artists still use it pretty heavily to promote their work. As a result, just by following a handful of indie acts, I’ll regularly get posts from similar-level bands/artists showing up on my feed. It’s still driven by the algorithm, sure, but it feels more... organic than commercial, relying more on mutual follows and shared audiences than straight-up being commercially-driven.