Twitter Ate My Favorite Music Blog
June 5, 2013 12:20 PM Subscribe
The music blog We Are Hunted was my go-to for finding new things to listen to. They were recently purchased by Twitter and shut down. Now how do I find out what the kids are listening to these days?
I don't spend a lot of time foraging around the internet to find new bands, but every now and then I like to check in to see what's trending and just hear some random new stuff. We Are Hunted was my absolute favorite blog for this purpose. I also really like a blog called 3Hive for finding new music, but it doesn't update very frequently. Some of the things I liked about We Are Hunted:
-Mostly indie music, but also had some random world music, country, hip-hop et cet in the mix
-Frequently updated
-Good mix of new obscure and mainstream music
-I LOVED that when you heard something you liked you could click on the little box and instantly get tons of information about the musician
I don't spend a lot of time foraging around the internet to find new bands, but every now and then I like to check in to see what's trending and just hear some random new stuff. We Are Hunted was my absolute favorite blog for this purpose. I also really like a blog called 3Hive for finding new music, but it doesn't update very frequently. Some of the things I liked about We Are Hunted:
-Mostly indie music, but also had some random world music, country, hip-hop et cet in the mix
-Frequently updated
-Good mix of new obscure and mainstream music
-I LOVED that when you heard something you liked you could click on the little box and instantly get tons of information about the musician
I have had some good luck over the years skimming through youaintnopicasso.com. Your experience may vary, but it's helped me find some gems.
posted by C'est la D.C. at 12:36 PM on June 5, 2013
posted by C'est la D.C. at 12:36 PM on June 5, 2013
I am so sad about We Are Hunted. Their Spotify app was fantastic.
That said, Spotify, Spotify, Spotify!
While I wait for a substitute, I have gotten into the habit of adding people on Spotify like crazy, creating radio stations based on bands I have just learned about on Spotify (which has a MUCH better radio set up than Pandora), and clicking around related artists on Spotify based on those that I like.
Lots of artists and bloggers have playlists you can subscribe to on Spotify as well - so if you're not using it, you probably should be!
YMMV, I pay for premium, so the non-premium experience might not be as good. I find it's very much worth the money.
posted by pazazygeek at 12:43 PM on June 5, 2013
That said, Spotify, Spotify, Spotify!
While I wait for a substitute, I have gotten into the habit of adding people on Spotify like crazy, creating radio stations based on bands I have just learned about on Spotify (which has a MUCH better radio set up than Pandora), and clicking around related artists on Spotify based on those that I like.
Lots of artists and bloggers have playlists you can subscribe to on Spotify as well - so if you're not using it, you probably should be!
YMMV, I pay for premium, so the non-premium experience might not be as good. I find it's very much worth the money.
posted by pazazygeek at 12:43 PM on June 5, 2013
I used to subscribe to the Fingertips Music email list. They are also a blog. Every week they'd email me links to three new free legal MP3 downloads, usually somewhere on or near the indie spectrum. Here's their spiel:
posted by pont at 1:21 PM on June 5, 2013
Fingertips is a web site that scours the internet looking for the best free and legal MP3s. Each week, three songs are reviewed in detail. Since 2003, Fingertips has been seeking out 21st-century music with heart and spirit, grounded in one sort of rock'n'roll lineage or another but with feet planted solidly in the here and now.I loved it, and had to unsubscribe because -- even at a mere three songs a week -- I didn't have time to keep up. (I am a slow listener, and then I would always follow up on the bands, get more tracks, find related bands, etc.) The reviews were also great for giving me some context for the songs and a glimpse of the broader musical landscape (which I do not keep up with at all).
posted by pont at 1:21 PM on June 5, 2013
I have in the past been fond of Dingus mainly because it focuses on tracks available via Bandcamp - a great site for making sure that your money goes straight to the artists.
posted by komara at 1:43 PM on June 5, 2013
posted by komara at 1:43 PM on June 5, 2013
Best answer: Maybe try hypem? The most popular on the front page is usually populated by remixes but there's a button up top there to filter those out.
posted by youandiandaflame at 2:51 PM on June 5, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by youandiandaflame at 2:51 PM on June 5, 2013 [1 favorite]
I use to visit Aquarium Drunkard quite regularly. Good mix of new and old stuff, and their tastes seemed to jibe with mine. (Now I'm all about Gatorade commercials.)
posted by Bron at 5:46 PM on June 5, 2013
posted by Bron at 5:46 PM on June 5, 2013
Best answer: Seconding @youandiandaflame with The Hype Machine, or hypem. The default genre for this site is electronic (majorly mixes), but you can filter by your taste (indie, rock, singer-songerwriter included, among others). You can also follow a particular artist, which pushes all of his/her new releases to your feed. One of the best features is the Time Machine, which allows you to navigate back to any month (starting in 2007) and view the most popular tracks (a combination of most favorited by users, and most blogged in the music internet-verse). Other features include tracks from album premiers, radio shows, and popular on Twitter. Finally, you can follow your favorite music blogs, which auto-feeds their selections into your homepage. Highly recommend!
posted by goblue_est1817 at 6:05 AM on June 6, 2013
posted by goblue_est1817 at 6:05 AM on June 6, 2013
The The Quietus is pretty good. Bit pretentious in places, but the reviews are normally spot on.
Or agree perfectly with my own personal tastes....
posted by fatfrank at 6:51 AM on June 6, 2013
Or agree perfectly with my own personal tastes....
posted by fatfrank at 6:51 AM on June 6, 2013
My go-to site for new music is Cokemachineglow. It reviews new albums, so it's not a music blog per se (and it reviews them relatively infrequently, one every few days). They try to reject considerations of "trendiness," so it's not the best place to find out about water cooler bands, but the albums they do choose to review always expands my perspectives. Not only are they choosy in what they review, when the writers do find an album they love, they really love it, and CMG has some of the best writing on music I have ever found.
Also, being such a small site allows them to get pretty damn snarky. In a good way.
posted by facehugger at 12:34 PM on June 6, 2013
Also, being such a small site allows them to get pretty damn snarky. In a good way.
posted by facehugger at 12:34 PM on June 6, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
In the place of We Are Hunted, I've been using Any Decent Music a lot lately. The format isn't as good as WAH, but it's still a pretty good way to find new, good music.
I've also been using Pitchfork more too, which is also not as good, but okay.
posted by Lutoslawski at 12:32 PM on June 5, 2013 [1 favorite]