How are you exposed to new bands?

Flint the Dwarf · Post by **Flint the Dwarf** » Sun Jun 22, 2003 9:18 pm

I'd win. I'm part of the forum and I've got the whole prog community behind me.

nailz · Post by **nailz** » Sun Jun 22, 2003 9:18 pm

all four of them?

Flint the Dwarf · Post by **Flint the Dwarf** » Sun Jun 22, 2003 9:20 pm

nailz1000 wrote:all four of them?

Shut it. I win.

nailz · Post by **nailz** » Sun Jun 22, 2003 9:21 pm

I'll let you think you won, much like I'd let a mental moron think he's a flying elephant.

ithaqua · Post by **ithaqua** » Sun Jun 22, 2003 10:48 pm

Internet Radio is good. Stations like RantRadio and Digital Gunfire are my favourites, but it depends on what you like.

Label samplers are nice, usually put some of their better stuff on there.

Soundtracks are good - I first heard Stabbing Westward on the "Faculty" soundtrack, and Mortal Kombat introduced me to KMFDM and Type 0 Negative.

Random browsing of the record store can be fun, if risky.

And I do believe some great bands have been mentioned on this forum (the best ones from me!)

SarahtheBoring · Post by **SarahtheBoring** » Mon Jun 23, 2003 12:27 am

Rant incoming.

Uh...I think the entire point of "indie" bands is that nobody random off the street has heard of them, and so asking a public board is pretty much shooting yourself in the foot, 'cause it's not SOOPER SEKRIT anymore.

Personally, I hate the idea that "undiscovered" bands are automatically supreme over anything that has gotten attention, because... frankly, I don't think it's focusing on the right thing. Namely, this little afterthought we like to call the music. But if you'd rather care about a band's popularity... knock yourself out, many fine people have fallen into that paradoxical trap.

I hear about music on the Web these days, or in newspapers/magazines. Occasionally on the radio, though not often. A few years ago I was also exposed to different ranges of music through my housemates, who had different tastes than I.

But if you're looking for superuber1337 1nd13 cr3d, I am so not the person to ask that it's not even funny. As far as I'm concerned, once I hear about it, it's mainstream.

Oh, and by the way? Obscure band does not necessarily equal good AMV, either.

Rant over. 8)

BigshotSpike · Post by **BigshotSpike** » Mon Jun 23, 2003 1:46 am

Internet magazines, web boards, and random searches on WinMX.

That's the only way I found the band Polysics, which sounds like a Japanese Flaming Lips attached with a female vocalist. Stylin'!

Kai Stromler · Post by **Kai Stromler** » Mon Jun 23, 2003 7:55 am

The easiest and best way to learn about good new bands is to go to shows and take whatever they're giving away free at the distro tables. Buy the band's CD if you don't have it, but also nab a labelsampler if they've got 'em. Good CD stores occasionally give such comps away for free; when not, they're often extremely well-priced, like USD 6 for 74 minutes from 15-20 bands.

Another way to go is to hang out on discussion boards for the kind of music you listen to (Blabbermouth for metalheads, don't know where less ferior people go, but most labels have forums these days) and try out whatever people on there are talking up. If you've got a band in your area that's damn good, give back and talk 'em up.

Related is the print option: read zines and webzines and check out the interviews, reviews, and gig reports. Strike up conversations with other fans at live shows, especially if you've only heard a little about the band whose shirt they're wearing.

Most areas have a college radio station or two that plays obscure music; many of them publish their playlists on their websites, so you can go find what the band or song was that you liked, since the DJs don't talk a lot.

If all else fails, mail Tom The Fish and ask him which bands it's criminal that you're not listening to. He's a cool guy, and he 0wnzors us ALL at indier-than-thou.

And, rebutting Sarah's last point, there's a lot to be said for using music from unheard-of bands in AMV. You've got a tabula rasa with respect to your audience; nobody is taking in any preconceptions about the music, so you can shape the ideas in your video however you want. Much like using anime that other people haven't seen.

And because Flint namedropped me, here's 30 bands that you're WRONG for not listening to yet, in completely random order:
Type O Negative (mentioned, but gotta be mentioned again because _Life Is Killing Me_ is gonna be on the short list for Album of the Year)
Borknagar (post-viking post-black epic metal from Norway)
Red House Painters (depressive rock music)
Opeth (plays their instruments 10x better than your favorite band and sounds 10x less pretentious)
Arcana XXII (the best metal band in Namibia, maybe in all of Africa)
Darkest Hour (Swedish-death-influenced hardcore, on Victory)
Haste (_The Mercury Lift_ comes out 7/1. You WILL camp your record store.)
Abigail (total necro Japanese blackthrash)
Agalloch ("oak metal" where "oak metal"=="simply incredible music")
Xentrix (old British thrash -- get out the shovels, it's worth it)
Forest Stream (amazing Russian black/doom metal band)
Atoll Nerat (amazing Russian black/doom metal band)
God's Tower (amazing Russian black/doom metal band)
Rakoth (amazing Russian black/doom metal band)
Butterfly Temple (amazing Russian black/doom metal band)
Ravage (E-Mass local band; the singer probably has a good shot at the vocal slot in Iced Earth)
Cephalic Carnage (mathcore to the TOTAL EXTREME)
Death (if I keep saying GENIUS GENIUS GENIUS eventually someone will listen)
Black Hole (the biggest metal band in Korea. Not hard, but they still rock huge)
Cynic (the day they broke up was a bad day for extreme music -- death metal + jazz = mastery)
Enslaved (post-viking noise metal, too bad they're on a digital-rights-manglement label)
Sigh (Japanese masters of the bizarre)
Finntroll (everyone's favorite polka metal act)
Meridian (Swiss electro-black metal, like Emperor gone insane)
the Blacklight Braille (collaborative neo-improvisational '60s-style jam rock with medieval shadings)
the Thrones (one man, one console, one bass, no peers)
Arch Enemy (Angela Gossow looks like a supermodel and sings like Chris [Cannibal Corpse] Barnes. What's not to love?)
Bethlehem (perpetually overlooked German gothic black metallers)
Rahowa (yeah, their politics are the very definition of stupid, and their early material is even worse than the average skin band, but _Cult of the Holy War_ is just incredible. The ONLY WP album you should ever forgive someone for owning.)
Dark Tranquillity (if you don't own _Damage Done_, guess what? YOU'RE STILL WRONG!)

I could go on, but hey, you get the idea already.

--K

SarahtheBoring · Post by **SarahtheBoring** » Mon Jun 23, 2003 7:37 pm

Oh sure, there are advantages to using unheard-of artists. However, it's not a guaranteed, automatic one-way ticket to ultimate AMV greatness, as if all you have to do is pick an obscure song and you'll immediately have the best video ever made. That's just naive. Nothing in AMVing can be boiled down to one factor like that.

ithaqua · Post by **ithaqua** » Mon Jun 23, 2003 10:23 pm

I'm gonna have to disagree with you on type 0's new album.

While it's good, and people should buy it, it's not their best, much less one of the best of the year. With the exception of "Nettie", none of the songs really jump out as classics, and the humor seems forced at times (the tv song wears off quickly)

Although I did laugh like hell through "I Like Goils". Gay or not, it made me smile.