Another useful way of finding good music is to read interviews with those bands you're really passionate about. You can bet that amongst the artists that inspired the artists you like there'll be something worth checking out. This obviously isn't a new way of going about things, but the net makes it easy to search out interviews/articles on your favourite acts.


Probably in a similar fashion to how any other music fan does?

Can't speak for the others, but the sites i mentioned are anything but 'unmediated',they offer reviews, and presumably have some kind of editorial policy like any other publication.

who said more channels makes it better?

based on what you view you don't sound like you would be interested in the type of tv that would usually be classed as great, such as the wire, sopranos, sheild, breaking bad, boardwalk empire, game of thrones, walking dead, mad men, etc. most of these shows if not all are on cable channels rather than network tv and usually have quite high production values and budgets. there's also some great comedies, but i doubt they will be to your taste based on what you mentioned above

even popular shows that do include new music which aren't CW/VH1/MTV type nonsense probably won't be your type of thing either, such as good wife, scandal, empire, etc. these are all popular network shows where new music is incorporated to market it to prime time mass audiences

the idea of a lack of variety in this day and age is just complete and utter nonsense when there's considerably more variety than ever before, and more options for being able to hear it

i don't remember that. did they have those? what period was this? with it really any cd or just a selection, big or small?

I tried it out in a couple of branches and it played every CD that I tried. Probably the Oxford St/Tottenham Court Road Megastore, plus maybe Oxford or Cheltenham? Mid 2000s I think.

Have to say it made absolutely no difference to whether I bought any CDs or not. I find that the music in record shops distracts me from what I went in to buy. As a consequence I have gone into shops intending to buy one thing and come out with something completely different. In one case, I came out with a weird jazz trumpet/drum'n'bass album I'd never heard of before or since, just because it was playing in Rough Trade.

Every show you've mentioned is American, utterley irrelevant to the UK.

I was listening to this band from Dublin called Tandom Felix from Dublin they sound good.

Is there any variety lacking in music now Yes and most things now are more manufactured.

Taylor Swift and Ed Sherran same old thing one act sounding same after same,

Plus there is no movement like there was before and it all auto tune and studio Magic.

And there is nothing much orginal now or that can tell a tale of good,bad sad and other emotions.

And music stores closing down along with Music venues and lack of style.



http://tandemfelix.bandcamp.com

All commercial radio stations play the same songs.

All music channels play the same videos.

There is a world of amazing music out there, but if you just listen to Radio 1 or watch The Box you'd be led to believe that only 20 songs exist at any one time and they make up the charts.

Radio 1 needs a new John Peel type DJ who is genuinely passionate about music and plays whatever he/she feels regardless of the playlist restrictions.

There should also be a music channel that showcases music from around the world. How many times do you find yourselves flicking through the music channels and they're playing the same video on 3/4 different channels at the same time.

So much variety!!!

I found Tower at Piccadilly Circus good for US import Soul CDs. I remember picking up a lot of James Brown and some Charles Wright, Donny Hathaway etc. at £10.99 which was cheaper than UK releases in the other chains. Good sales too: Japanese import Carmen McRae CDs for £2.99, titles I never saw in HMV or Virgin. Great selection of mags and zines, again many US imports.

The listening posts had a selection of CDs loaded (maybe eight or so) but there were a few different posts. I remember buying Soul Jazz's 'Nu Yorica!' when it came out (1996?) after auditioning so they had music that might not otherwise be heard. My girlfriend picked up an Orchestra Super Mazembe in the same way c. 2001 and I think another guy checked it and bought it after seeing how much she was dancing to it.

Certainly not as versatile as tune sampling on the web but Tower's upstairs Jazz and World Music department was a delight to browse late at night. I thought it was a real shame to see it turn into another useless branch of Virgin in the early 2000's.

bib... erm... you just did! all those programmes you highlight arent on the 4 main terestrial channels that we had by the early 80's. by default - more channels,

i like some of the programmes you list....

of course there are some great tv progs atm, but id suggest not as many, especially on the 4 main terrestrial (ok ok 5 if you want to include the joke station).

some great comedies?... where?... wheres the comedy of the caliber that got people still re-enacting them days/months/years after they were first broadcast? wheres the people talking about modern comedy with the affection they did when remembering the great sketches? wheres todays "dont tell him pike"? or the hundreds of catchphrases to make us still laugh? whos talking about them the same way we all did for monty python? fawlty towers? young ones? blackadder? father ted? fast show?

nah..... youll not convince me theres great comedies around now to the caliber of those mentioned.

but i do think theres a comparison between comedy and (pop) music.... both became popular in the 50's/60's, both evolved through the 70's - 90's , and both appear to have run out of ideas (in respect to discovering new styles) over the last 10 odd years. maybe both art forms have run a parallel existence and have discovered all the new ways in which they can be created.

what complete nonsense. UK channels wouldn't spend millions on the rights to broadcast them if they were irrelevant and UK viewers wouldn't watch them either

american shows have long been relevant and popular in the uk

where do you work? have you never heard anyone at work talking about a tv show they saw that was american? or people talk about it at school, or anywhere else?

Sterns off Tottenham Court road was another great place to find world music, particularly African. Sadly it's online-only now.

http://www.britishrecordshoparchive.org/sterns.html

wrong again. have a read back. you are reading one thing and yet again interpreting something in your brain that's not been said


you prove my point


again this is just a pointless statement. i've not mentioned any quantity, so how could you suggest not as many?

and most people in the uk have had far more than 4 or 5 channels for the last 10+ years with freeview, and going back over 20 years for those who subscribed to sky or cable/virgin

there's a tv section of the forum, have a look in there and see how popular some shows are. tv shows are as subjective as anything else, what you might not like others will like. of course there's piles of cheaply made reality tv crap, but there are a load of quality scripted dramas and comedies, to which few if any will like all of them, just like music, but some shows will appeal to some and other shows will appeal to others, but there are many great popular shows with widespread appeal such as some of those i mentioned, and that's just a tiny sample of shows


have a look in the tv forums for some suggestions. it will depend on your sense of humour, be it curb your enthusiasm, californication, workaholics, modern family, parks and recreation, the last man on earth, man seeking woman, the goldbergs, etc


on tv. just because you might not see folk re-enact comedy doesn't mean the comedy isn't of the same or higher caliber. you seem to again be referring to a past time when there were less channels, less things to watch so more people say the same thing, whereas today there is a much wider choice and wider variety of all sorts of things from music to tv, with different things for different tastes, so people will often watch different things

perhaps in this day and age people know that re-enacting comedy is sad, lame, boring and bloody annoying. some idiot at work repeating a phrase they heard on tv is usually the opposite of funny, and with forums and social media people are more aware of annoying things and less likely to do them as they know they are mocked behind their backs


all over the place, just like the past, but of course time needs to pass for current things to become nostalgic. again, look at the tv forums to see what people are saying about todays shows. there's probably more talk about todays shows than ever before as there are more options to do so, and the ability to discuss shows with people from across the world, whereas in person in the past if you liked a show but didn't know others who did, your conversation would be limited


look in the tv forums. modern comedy usually doesn't rely on a catch phrase that dates and annoys quickly. who wants to watch whats basically a repeat of the same sketch changed slightly each week with the same catchphrase? dave or uk gold is the channel for you if that's what you like. if you like old stuff, there's plenty of variety over decades, and plenty avenues from tv channels to netflix and youtube and dvd and vhs to view it. pretty similar to music, if you don't like new music there are plenty avenues to listen to old music instead


you say that as if i would care


music and comedy have been popular long before the 50s and 60s and are more popular today than ever, and certainly haven't ran out of ideas. there's an absolutely huge potential for even greater variety in music than there is today, and i see the roots of that change today, just like i saw the roots of todays variety back in the early 80s and onwards. there's more new styles around today than ever before

Well that was a complete waste of time. Im not going to get drawn in to another of your little games. Needless to say i disagree with everything you said and the points i made stand.

There's loads of great TV / comedy around these days...

You just have to search it out, that's all.

This concept really seems to have confused some of the older posters of the forum.

With reference to the finding of new music you do have the shows of Marc Riley who has sessions from new, mainly non-mainstream artists.

For an eclectic show you have the wonderful show from Tom Ravenscroft. I am listening to his Friday night show on iPlayer I have, in the first half hour, listened to two good records from two artists I hadn't heard of so far - Sweatson Klank and Ata Kak. Both good records which would cause me to investigate more. Tom can go from traditional indie to African music in an heartbeat.

There is also music sites/magazines and Spotify.

Last FM and Spotify are fantastic for finding new music. They will recommend artists based on what you play. They may not always get it but most of the time they do. It is thanks to them that I have been introduced to the likes of Fossil collective, Matthew and the Atlas. Stu Larson and The Lone Bellow.

I tried Last FM once and couldn't figure how to tell it what music I played. Particularly since I play music on vinyl. I remember in the early days of those services you could simply type in the name of an artist and they would show a sort of mood chart with other artists you might like sort-of orbiting around the one you typed. Do they still do that?

Yes but most of my recommendations have come from what I have played. There is a button on your profile for recommendations which lists them. You can scrobble from most of the major players like iTunes, windows media player as well as streaming services like Spotify. You could copy your vinyl to your computer and play it through iTunes and then it would know what you are playing.

Seriously? We can put a man on the moon (probably) but we can't find a way for music discovery services to figure out what records we play on our turntables?

You can add music to your last FM profile manually. How do you expect last FM to know what you are playing on your turntable?

That's what I was asking! I got bored with Last FM very quickly because I couldn't see any way to make it work for me.

search it out?.... good comedy?... surely by definition if its good it would be known, talked about, copied, become part of the whole psyche of our nation in the same way those exampled comedies i mentioned are.

unlike music, comedy is easier to quantify...it either makes you laugh or it doesnt. how can a comedy be truely 'great' if it only has a niche market?

i do not believe we are in a golden age of EITHER music or tv. theres no evidence to support this at all.

Yeah yeah, we get the message.

Yeah, i've always liked Last.fm. It's particularly useful for keeping up to date on gigs that are happening in your locality.