The Process

UPDATE -- I totally forgot to include Podcasting in my original post. I've given Kate & Cliff a shout before for Prerelease and for Cliff's new 'cast Thrift Store Vinyl, but they really belong in the list below, so I'll put them between #2 and #3.

So, I've been on a pretty serious music kick after the faint show tuesday night at Sokol. Like Sonali says, it's the start to the fall concert season. We've got some pretty amazing acts coming through, including:  Aqualung, Built to Spill, Sleater-Kinney, Pretty Girls Make Graves, The Decemberists, John Vanderslice, Atmosphere, Of Montreal, Sage Francis, and Sufjan Stevens. If only I could get my hands on his records. They're still having trouble getting the disc at my favorite Omaha record store.

Regardless, I'm back in love with music & checking out all sorts of things right now. I was thinking I'd explain my process, since not everyone cruises the interweb as much as me.

1) Listen to the internet radio. I recommend 3wk, KEXP [out of Seattle], and Indie Pop Rocks! [on SomaFM]. 3wk will give you artist/song information in iTunes, and all three stations have a log of recent songs on their respective websites, and 3wk even has a download section. I'm also a fan of KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic, for their willingness to play indie rock, reggae, classic bowie, or whatever. Their live sets are also pretty great.

2) You can also start at an mp3 site, like my friend David's site largeheartedboy, fluxblog, or teaching the indie kids to dance again. [Or new today, Benn loxo du taccu - an African music mp3 blog.]

2.5) [Thanks to Brendan, Apologies to K/C] If you haven't already, check out podcasting, which is all the rage. Just ask Kate & Cliff, who do Prerelease and Solid State: Thrift Store Vinyl. You can find both shows and others on Odeo. There's also plenty of other sites [like Mashup of the Week] & the new built-in Podcast section of iTunes 4.9. You don't need an iPod to check them out. You can download them to your computer. It's kinda like underground radio for the interweb.

3) You can check out music review sites like Tiny Mix Tapes, or the pundits at Pitchfork. Take it all with a grain of salt. It's just opinion, after all. Some of it is just entertaining, and some of it is  really overblown.

4) So, a song or band has grabbed you, or at the very least, peaked your interest. You can check out Epitonic to find out a little more about the band, and maybe grab either the song on mp3 [if you heard it on the radio] or another song or two, if you liked what you heard. There's also Insound, which is organized a little differently, but allows you to cruise mp3s and also buy the CD pretty cheap from them, at a price close to what the indie labels charge to sell it themselves, and usually cheaper than Amazon. Usually.

4b) [Amended] There's also emusic, who allow you to buy mp3s that are DRM-free. That means they'll play on your computer, ipod, or any other mp3 player. I believe that both Max and Lindsy have tried it out, and liked it enough to subscribe.

5) So now you've got some new music, you'll probably want to make yourself a little mix and try it out on your favorite mp3 player, or in your car. iTunes is still my weapon of choice when it comes to music management/cd burning.

Like Rob Fleming in High Fidelity, I think there's an art to making a mixtape. [That's the book, not the movie, tho that was good, too.] But if it's just new music, throw it on a mix and see what happens.

While I hear a lot of music at work, I don't really listen to it until I'm in my car, or otherwise able to give it more attention. Sometimes it takes years for me to really hear an album, or a lyric. Then again, like with most art, you generally don't hear a lyric or have the line of a poem jump out at you until you are ready. After all, we re-read ourselves every time we go back through a book.

Comments

[Max]

Cool post! For as much time as I spend online, I really don't know where to find new and good music at all. Your technique is unstoppable.

Now if we could just get you to post these little gems more frequently... :)

[Brendan]

Check out prerelease. Podcast from our friend Clifton. Down south.

[Ben]

Crap, I totally meant to give Cliff & Kate shouts for Prerelease. I'll have to edit original post to include them & Podcasting.

[Christian Thom]

I just wanted to say that Drastic could soon become my new favorite record store as well. I went in there right before The Faint show to say 'hi' to Mike and was really impressed. It's bigger, cleaner, and cooler. Who knew?