Where To Go

Sources for new music today are, to say the least, amorphous. You can look at 28 of your favorite albums, and you’ll have a different story for how you found each one. A radio hit leads to a career long love affair, a song played at a high school dance leads to an entire album of nostalgic redolence, a friend has music playing at his/her dinner party which catches your ear… And there are businesses that specialize in marketing new media. iTunes has free downloads, Billboard tells you what is selling, everyone has a top 10 list: innumerable sources for exciting new media exist. So where do people get the dense selection of mp3s that make the shuffle feature on their iPods so exciting? Anywhere. And everwhere. But none of these sources are full-proof. I guarantee you that the majority of music you hear from these sources will either be not your style, or not very good. So the question is not where to find new music, but whom can we trust to help us find good new music; music that will change us; music that we’ll love.
Living in Los Angeles, we should have first crack at some awesome talent. And maybe we do, but here’s the thing- the music industry in LA is saturated. Not with horrible music, or with exceptional talent- it’s just saturated. The scene is replete with new artists who may or may not be talented, booking, playing, and promoting their shows every night of the week. And venturing out to these shows should be an excellent way to go find fresh young talent, like it is in San Francisco or Nashville. But heaven knows an evening out in Los Angeles is a commitment. At $10 for parking, $10 for cover, and $7 for a freaking Heineken, an already risky endeavor becomes an expensive one to boot. On top of this, seeing it live isn’t exactly the best way to introduce yourself to new music. I mean it’s difficult to really tell the difference between a subtly artistic performance and a boring one, if you don’t first know the music you’re hearing. (An acoustic performance from the front man a rock band can be really exciting in context of his career, but if the songs weren’t already known in their fully produced, guitar-shredding glory, that same performance may look entirely lackluster.) And, there are no guarantees that the CDs these new artists are pushing will bear any resemblance to their performance. (I’ve played full band shows with only an acoustic CD to sell, and the other way around.) So on top of the afore mentioned $27, you spend another ten on a CD that you may or may not enjoy. I don’t know statistics, but I’m pretty sure all these variables decrease the chances of a successful venture exponentially.
Now I’m not telling you not go see new music live. As an unknown musician, I know very well that the success of my live show depends on adventurers who go out and do just what I’ve described. Plus, there is an electric feeling in the discovery of something new- sitting as one of 13 people in a small, dirty Hollywood club, looking up on stage at someone you’re sure will be the next [fill in generic pop idol here.] But let’s be honest, for most of us, music is a backdrop for our lives; it deserves thoughtful consideration, but not continual time, effort, and money. So, the average music listener is still left listening to the radio for his/her daily pop fodder. This is a problem.
Now in spite of all this, amazingly, there are burgeoning underground music scenes in this city. Los Angeles is putting out some of the best artists this country has seen in a while, (Sara Bareilles and Katy Perry to name a few,) and hungry for good music, many of these artists have created communities in their own microclimates. In The South Bay and Orange County, Chris Karn, Brett Bixby, Molly Jenson and crew have a established a viable community of artists who share shows, produce and play on each other’s albums, and most importantly, support each other. The Valley sports Colbie Caillet, Justin Young, Tim Fagan, and Ernie Halter, among others, and most of these are on tour together, enjoying the success of Colbie’s recent album. There are communities germinating on the West Side of LA as well, and as far south as San Diego.
This is good new music- so how do we, as listeners, get our ears on it? How do we, a culture on the splitting edges of communication technology, allow this type of media to exist without our knowledge? We don’t have to, if we know where to look.
Television is one of the most consistent sources for good new music. Why? New music is way cheaper than the hits are. Way cheaper. This is a happy fact for blossoming young artists, and listeners looking for new music. Shows like Grey’s Anatomy, Scrubs, or even Boston Legal… Watch and enjoy your favorite shows, and listen carefully; you’ll find music you never knew you’d fall in love with.
TuneJar.com is an excellent place for new music. Why? First of all, they aren’t trying to sell tickets. TuneJar is industry professionals giving their time to support music they love. That’s it. Everything you’ll hear on TuneJar has been critically reviewed by an Industry Pro, leaving you with music devoid of sales pitches, but sifted through the ears of talented and discerning people. Sign me up.
Pandora.com is a brilliant concept. Here’s a radio station that tailors it’s to playlist to your taste. Type in a band you like, and up pops a playlist of artists and songs along the same vein. You don’t even have to try to find new music you’ll like- Pandora’s done the bulk of the work for you.
The Hotel Café is actually my reason for writing this article. First of all, it’s a great place to look for artists on the rise. The Hotel Café Tour boasts artists like Ingrid Michaelson, Greg Laswell, Sara Bareilles, Meiko, and Josh Radin. Their low profile Hollywood venue has held secret shows by John Mayer and Ben Harper, and regular guess spots include Rocco Deluca and Switchfoot’s Jon Foreman. Needing new music? Browse their calendar and click on a few links. Among singer/songwriters, the place is legendary. And the best part? It’s not saturated. The status symbol it has become for musicians makes for a long waiting-to-play list at Hotel Café, and that leaves the owner, who does much of the booking himself, with the luxury of choosing good music for his club.
There’s always Myspace and your friends’ playlists, but these are all excellent places to find good new music.

How does that change things?

OK, so now we know where to find good new music; here’s the rub. With so many venues allowing music to be made in all shapes and sizes, the paradigm is changing. Most of our favorite artists are no longer going to be on Billboard’s Top 40, not going to sell out arenas or play free concerts in Central Park, and, sadly for guys like me, they will probably not be ridiculously rich or famous. Most of our favorite artists, upon their success, will become cult heroes. They’re fan bases will likely be localized to the city of their living, and when they tour nationally, it’ll often be in smaller club venues. I called it a rub, but it’s actually a fantastic boon for music fans. Going to a John Mayer concert, and then talking to him afterward, is not a likely occurrence. But you’ve a great shot at seeing an intimate and moving performance by Butterfly Boucher, (Nashville,) and then telling her how much you enjoyed it, to her sincere appreciation and thanks. That’s a paradigm I can live with.
On top of this, if this new world order really takes hold, I believe the “sophomore slump” will effectively disappear. For the last 25 years, it seems that after an artist’s debut album, the measure of their success is precisely inversely correlated to the quality of their sophomore effort. Death Cab For Cutie is an interesting study in this. After 5 simmering albums of their unique brand of nerd-rock, they exploded with the record Plans. An insightful, lyrical endeavor into the meaning of death and relationships, Plans was a well-timed follow up to the underground hit Transatlantacism. It was a one-two punch- everyone new Death Cab by then, and everyone loved them. This, I believe, was a major cause for the utter failure of their recent release, Narrow Stairs. The new album is almost devoid of sensible pop melody, of which front man Ben Gibbard was previously champion. With the exception of some interesting guitar lines, the musicianship on this album is forced, the songs are immemorable, and worst of all, you can actually hear a haughty swagger in Ben’s voice. Our beloved nerdy songster got full of himself, and now the band will have to whether this storm on the back of their previous releases. The sophomore slump strikes again. However, during the slow and steady climb of their career, each next album released was increasingly intelligent and artful. Their mathematic approach became a signature and catching style, perfecting itself in the methodical respiration of Transatlantacism and Plans. Where was the sophomore slump then? I suggest that it’s the sort of overnight stardom that insights this phenomenon. I suggest that, as the local and underground music scenes we’ve discussed take hold over the pop-package deals we’ve grown to loathe, the “slump” will be a thing of the past. Artists will be forced to live and breath on the same plane as every working man in the country, and this will hopefully allow for a more effective and meaningful artist/beholder relationship. We can leave the tabloid soap-stories for actors, thankfully, and let our artists be sifting filters of beauty and love and passion and rejection and frustration, and happiness… (not that actors can’t be artists too, they’re just a little different brand.)
Don’t get me wrong: there will always be pop stars and rock stars, and even brilliant artists who make it huge. And knowing this will keep young artists like me working, trying, hoping, writing. But I’ll say that the success of an artist is never measured in CD or ticket sales. Ever. And as frustratingly saturated as the industry has become, the shifting paradigms of the music market are leading to changes that will ultimately, I believe, be the savior of pop music as a viable art form. Please visit TuneJar and Pandora and Hotel Café; please go out a see new music; spend money and time and effort, painting your backdrop with careful intention and willful precision. But know that as you do, you’re creating sources for new media; you are the very thing enacting the change.