When I was younger finding new music that I liked seemed easier. Commercial and college radio introduced me to all kinds of stuff that I still love. These days I can't stand to listen to radio. Commercial radio is completely worthless except for the occasional late night set when they play more songs than commercials and they don't play the same 5 songs. College radio still plays bits of brilliance, but I can't structure my life around their schedules. In these days of everything on demand I have lost patience for the broadcast model of shows only being available in realtime. There are some internet radio stations that manage to be more consistently listenable, thus alleviating my frustration with the realtime nature, however it's a rare surprise to hear something new that I love which jumps out with a unique personality. With net radio I end up listening to audible techno wallpaper.
Maybe because it is suspiciously similar to a lot of the early '80s new wave that I still love, the whole Electroclash thing has buoyed my feelings about music over the past year or so. In New York it was apparently the trend of the minute about two years ago, but it seems to be largely under the radar otherwise.
I do occasionally find new stuff surfing around on the net. Going through 20somethings' blogs and profiles is a good way to find out what's cool. I think that is how I picked up on Ladytron - easily the best band for me of the past year.
I was just reminded of Heavy.com from reading through this blog, which is interesting in its own right.
There was a point to this... oh yeah... on Heavy.com they've got a bunch of cool videos including one for Client. You can also go to Client's web site and pick up a few free MP3s or watch more video. While they aren't going to replace Ladytron for me, I was very happy to find them.
Which reminds me...
About two months ago I was in NYC and while in a painfully trendy boutique in the East Village (I wish I could remember the name) I heard something that I instantly knew I had to have. I asked the guy behind the counter what it was and without a word or much in the way of facial movements he acknowledges my question and hands me the CD case. I guess in his eyes I was either too old or too obviously not a city resident to even talk to. The band turned out to be Electronicat and the CD was 21st Century Toy. Fortunately I wrote it down because I didn't quite remember the name right. I ended up ordering it used through Amazon. Not quite instant gratification, but I was happy. It's a fantastic, quirky CD.
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