Society of Sound

[th00ht]

Now that after more than a year B&W Society of Sound is no more I'm lost. Where do I get good music suggestions or downloads?

[Grumpy Bob]

Now that after more than a year B&W Society of Sound is no more I'm lost. Where do I get good music suggestions or downloads?

I subscribe to a couple of magazines (one more classic rock, the other more cutting edge avant-garde), I follow some websites, I see reviews online. I buy from a variety of sources: Qobuz, 7digital, Bandcamp for example; physical copy is usually vinyl, generally bought via Norman Records in Leeds or Bandcamp, both by mail order. I audition with Spotify.

Plus I see suggestions here!

Robert

[Apesbrain]

For classical, I always start at eclassical.com. "Daily Deal" is often fun, and around $5.

[RonM]

I think you have to hunt out your own sources, depending on your taste in music. It's good to have several, to get perspective.

For me, with a predilection for Folk and "Roots" music, I subscribe to a couple of periodicals and monitor some websites. Specifically, Penguin Eggs in Canada (which has a pretty broad international coverage of folk), and No Depression, in the US, which is more American Roots oriented. The hard copy of No Depression is great, but music reviews are really only on the website. I also keep my eye out for other print sources, newspapers and magazines.

It's harder for jazz, at least for me. I try to follow artists I'm particularly interested in (e.g. Maria Schneider) through their websites or other online activity, and look for reviews and discussions in publications (precious few these days). It's hard to stay tuned to newly emerging artists.

Classical is also hard. I don't subscribe to classical periodicals, but try to follow discussions in publications. Yesterday I was reading about the Montreal Symphony and their special recording location, and do believe I'll follow that up.

I also listen to a few music blogs. For instance, Steve Dawson's "Music Makers and Soul Shakers" is a series of interviews with musicians, producers, engineers, etc, and these invariably involve discussions of artists and music, leading me to investigate. My favorite new-to-me recordings of the last few years have come from this source (jazz saxophonist Charles Lloyd and his recent set of records with various jazz and roots musicians in particular).

These days, it doesn't seem we get fed possibilities through the regular media quite so much, so it takes a bit of searching and attention. Which is good -- we can find our own niche(s), at the same time we expand our horizons.

R.