How do you guys sift through music on sites like soundcloud and bandcamp and find a project you want to listen to? I just get overwhelmed at the amount of music on these sites. Also, are there music blogs that focus on this topic and sift through these sites, finding obscure projects that they think people should listen to? Thanks for reading.
Also try browsing through certain recommendations from other users and reviewers such as Fantano, there might be gold.
Best way to find music is by going to the top albums of a specific genre on RYM or focusing on a critic you trust. Scaruffi is an especially good source for obscure records.
My best friends are Discogs recommendations, /mu/ sharethreads, and the people I can consistently trust with their taste on this site or RYM. Last.fm recommendations aren’t too bad either.
Really like a release? Check out what label its on and dig through its catalogue as well as await new material from it. And in that case, find labels that cater to specific genres to better satisfy your own tastes. Some examples that I actively follow:
Erstwhile - experimental, musique concrete
Music From Memory - “lost gem” archival releases
L.I.E.S. - industrial techno
Lobster Theremin - outsider house
Haord - zolo
Also only discovered this recently, but getting into V/A compilations are super quick ways to expand your taste.
I don’t trust Fantano too much these days, but he does review a lot of projects I wouldn’t have known about without him, so I’ll definitely keep an eye out.
Never heard of this guy, but it seems really interesting. Will definitely check out rateyourmusic as well.
I’ve never really payed attention to labels so I’ll keep an eye out for that. I always see the V/A compilations pop up in people’s feeds but have never really checked one out so I’ll try one of those out as well.
There are a few recommendations from that melon head that are particularly good, and again, he might introduce some people to different projects (like you said) that they maybe wouldn’t know about. Still though, he’s not the most reliable reviewer out there (there isn’t a reviewer that is 100% reliable as well) but he’s still great.
Oh, and I forgot to recommend the channel deep cuts. He always introduces new albums to me with his essentials videos.
Only a fraction of the new releases can be found on AOTY. Check out http://everynoise.com/spotify_new_albums.html for an extensive list.
I’d say follow the influence line. If you really like a specific artist, go listen to the artists that they are influenced by and vice versa.