"I don't love anything at first listen" syndrom

Personally, I blindly get albums that looks like it might interest me. If it interest me, I'll keep, but if not, trash it goes.

Sometimes I hear something, fall in love with it and then it turns transparent after a while and I get sick of even recalling it. Sometimes I hear something I quite like and after more listening, it grows on me more or I notice things in it that I didn't hear before. Every now and then I hear something that radiates pure musical brilliance and I am instantly and eternally in love with it. Music does a lot of different things for me, so there are also a lot of different things I can like about it.

 

In regards to how I find music, I simply keep my ears open. There is no limit to how much music I can listen to, so I simply go by any means available to find new sounds, or more of what I know and love.

 

One very productive way of finding new music for me is via my last.fm account. If you see an obvious correlation of certain music you like in someone's library, they probably listen to a lot of stuff that you will like. Sift through their library and see what you can find, maybe even drop them a 'hey, can you recommend me more music that sounds like x?' message. Last.fm is often viewed as a place for elitists and hipsters, but I think it's underrated for people that really love music and make a hobby of listening to it and discovering more of it.

 

One 'golden rule' I keep is to never give anything less than a fair chance. If someone recommends you something or if a name pops up to listen to, don't pass it up because it's of a genre you look down upon. As I said in the thread discussing 'overrated / boring' genres, correlation does not mean causation and you will be surprised by how many invisible doors can be opened for you by listening to one or two pieces of music that you would normally refuse to give a chance.

 

 

 

 

I usually love stuff that has replay value. So it would make sense that it doesn't fully hit me the first time.

 

The way I look for music is to figure out a genre I haven't explored yet and then find someone who knows a lot about that kind of music and pick their brain. I don't try to tell them what I want, I just tell them to "gimme the good stuff". Then I take their suggestions, chase them down and digest the music, trying to understand why they think it's so great. Once I've done that, I go back to them and talk about what I've heard. Usually, that sends me right back to hear things I missed.

i feel ya, dude.

 

i don't love anything on first listen either.

and, coupled with that, i don't have much time for absorbing new records and letting them grow on me.

 

so, as the years pass, i find myself asking:

"is music getting worse, or am i just getting older?"

 

c'est la vie.

 

 

Do you really want an answer to that question?!

 

why not? 

truth is, it's a little bit of both.

 

age? can be seen as a good thing.

music getting worse? not so much. 

 

 

+1

 

There are exceptions of course.  Painted Hill's "Morning Light" bore itself right into my brain when I heard it on KEXP - sat in my car for 10 minutes after it ended to see if they'd say who/what it was but ended up having to look it up on their online playlist.  That CD has held my interest pretty well.

 

But for the most part the albums I really love took a few listens to start to appreciate (Bitches Brew and King Crimson's "Red" being great examples). 

If I do like something on first listen, it does not stand the test of time and fades out of fashion quickly.  The complex pieces stand the test of time.  Pink Floyd the wall is a perfect example.  When it first came out it was not viewed as the masterpiece it is and I still listen to it 30 years later 

How do you know that some group that you find decent will become your favorite one? You don't. Liking something the very first time you hear it is not better or worse than liking something after a few listens. It depends on your state of mind at the time, the genres you prefer at the moment, your maturity, etc.

How do you search for new music? There are a million alternatives, literally. Online magazines, indie websites, blogs, irc chat. Google your gavorite genres or bands and you'll find something.

Same position as the op. As my gear got better music didn't stand out like it did on worse gear. I remember finding one song from a band on a pair of sony mdr xd200s and i was hooked on the song. I feel that the more revealing higher quality gear ruins about 80% of modern music because music nowadays is poorly recorded. Sad when there is so much variety of music today.

I agree, even if something is real good it has to sound good too on our gear.....

This. It's not a rule, but such is the case more often than not. Stuff that I end up liking/loving the first time end up getting boring and old much much faster than records that "grew on me." So don't sweat not liking a lot of things initially.

As far as new music goes, I almost exclusively use rateyourmusic.com for that purpose. They have an incredibly comprehensive and searchable album chart that goes well with my taste and a decent genre classification system that enables me to explore any genre I feel like. The forums are pretty cool too. Much more music talk than on here.

I find music primarily through Spotify. I have various playlists dependent on genre and when in the mood I'll use these to link to other artists and I will give them another listen to.

The music that takes many listens to like (or appreciate) always has the longest staying power as well.