Music Links

a distorted image of an iPod music player

I ditched Spotify a few years ago and started downloading music again. I mostly listen while I'm at my computer, but I also use a refurbished iPod. I've found that listening to music this way has made me a more attentive listener because I'm not distracted by my phone, and I've started to lean more into hunting for new music again. Here I've compiled a list of different places I go to to discover more artists. If you have any recommendations, I'd love to hear them!

how i find new music:

  • Last.fm - probably my biggest influence when it comes to finding new stuff, i like checking out what other people are listening to! When you're a user on this site, it shows your "compatibility" with other users. It's cool to see what someone who likes a ton of stuff you like might be into, but also - fun to investigate the playlists of people you barely have any shared taste with. sometimes. lol! (Also, if you like you can check out my last.fm account here)
  • Discogs - another big one for me, i use this site almost daily to comb through entire discographies and they have an extensive collection of human curated lists to go through as well.
  • Bandcamp Daily - more lists! i love lists! also, bandcamp is the primary way i buy music from artists.
  • MRR - music reviews and playlists, mostly punk.
  • The Counterforce Reviews - even more hardcore punk, they only talk about stuff that isn't on major labels/ony available on streaming.
  • A Cellarful Of Noise - A UK based radio show that features "New punky fuzz and old bouncy junk".
  • WXPN Radio - a local radio station, all kinds of stuff on here.
  • KWSX Radio - i just found out about this one, their website is so cool! their site isn't mobile-friendly yet but you should still be able to access the music player if you aren't using a computer.
  • my good friend Aaron (of WORLD GONE MAD DISTRO, who put out one of my band's releases ^_^ ) reminded me of another great way to find new music: keep up with labels and distros! if you really like one artist, you might wanna see who their labelmates are, or maybe the distro has a BUNCH of cool stuff you might be into.
  • on that note ^^ - shout out to Abandon Everything Records too!
  • RECORD STORES!! going and physically picking stuff out on a whim is the BEST! these days, most record stores have online shops or sell through ebay/discogs too.
  • Beautiful World Syndicate in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • Princeton Record Exchange in Princeton, New Jersey
  • Vinyl Conflict in Richmond, Virginia
  • Sorry State Records in Raleigh North Carolina
  • something i used to do when i was a kid looking at tape inserts/CD booklets - check and see if the band/artist thanks or shouts out other artists! i remember vividly being really into Nirvana's Incesticide and reading a note from Kurt Cobain in the CD booklet (click to enlarge):



    and because of this, i wanted to know who all of these people he mentioned were. Shonen Knife and Mazzy Star became favorites of mine eventually, all because Kurt mentioned them here!

By the way, if you're curious about where I got my iPod: Elite Obsolete Electronics! They have all kinds of models available and even fancy upgraded ones.