OT: Good music blog?

Submitted by Magnus on

I'm a bit of a music junkie, but over the last year or two, I've lost a little bit of touch with new bands and music.  I used to have a subscription to both Magnet and Spin magazines, but Magnet went into a bit of a funk and I lost interest in Spin.  Does anyone have any good suggestions for music blogs? 

Here are a few albums I've been listening to lately:

"The Second Law" - Muse
Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band
"Break It Yourself" - Andrew Bird
"The Second Gleam" - Avett Brothers
"Buried in Your Black Heart" - Burden Brothers
"Only by the Night" - Kings of Leon

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BlueInWisconsin

January 20th, 2013 at 2:50 PM ^

Uncut magazine from the UK. Expensive to subscribe to ($10 per issue) but each one has a great sampler. That's how I've been finding new music lately. They do have a website but last I checked most content wasn't online.

Joined: 03/27/2009

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WolverinesSteelBones

January 20th, 2013 at 3:23 PM ^

The OP and I share similar music tastes, I think you'd really like bands like:

The Sea and Cake

Sam Prekop

The Kingsbury Manx

Elliott Smith

Built to Spill

Toadies 

Nada Surf

PInback

 

 - - - -Some are no-brainers (Toadies) and some are obscure (Kingsbury Manx)

Just youtube "Pageant Square" by Kingsbury Manx, and if you don't like that, I have nothing left to say.

 

Joined: 01/17/2011

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Danwillhor

January 20th, 2013 at 4:56 PM ^

Best blogs have been mentioned so some bands you may like (sure you know many or most): Family of the Year, The Antlers, Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens, WU LYF, Horse Feathers, Beirut, Beach House, Daughter, Deerhunter, Fleet Foxes, Fucked Up, Girls, Iron & Wine, Iron Horse, Jose Gonzalez, Julian Casablancas/Strokes, Kurt Vile, Mates of State, Middle East, Andrew Jackson Jihad, Onager, Radical Face, Rural Alberta Advantage, Tallest Man on Earth, Washed Out, The Walkmen, Willis Earl Beal, Wilco, etc

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lbpeley

January 20th, 2013 at 8:03 PM ^

from Michael Bolton. I celebrate his entire library. Milli Vanilli has some new stuff out that is breathtaking. Otherwise it's all Rick Astley for this reporter.

Joined: 01/29/2009

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Magnus

January 22nd, 2013 at 8:13 AM ^

I coached a kid named Michael Bolton one time. I had a very difficult time not making jokes about his name on a daily basis.

He had glasses, though, so I channeled my jokes toward calling him "Four Eyes" and knocking them off his head.  I feel like that was a step in a positive direction.  Changing the world, one kid at a time...

Joined: 07/17/2008

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HighKnees

January 21st, 2013 at 2:04 AM ^

Two good blogs that haven't been mentioned yet: the music ninja and pretty much amazing. Both skew toward the indie side of things and both cover some stuff that I don't care for (electronica, etc.). But both are way ahead of the pack in terms of finding new bands. Definitely worth scrolling through every so often.

Joined: 08/04/2008

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chatster

January 21st, 2013 at 3:30 AM ^

Old-time music junkie with eclectic tastes that stem from college radio days when record company reps would bring stacks of vinyl for us to test on our listeners.

Many thanks to all for tips on learning about new music from sources other than Pandora, Spotify, TV commercials, movie soundtracks and the NPR Soundcheck podcast.  Amazon offers free downloads of performers they label as "Rising Stars." From that, I recently discovered the band Bootstraps.  Link for Amazon's free downloads for "Rising Stars":  http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=dm_bb_risingstars?ie=UTF8&docId=1000862831&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=left-1&pf_rd_r=0H7VS5W4EREYMQ7N1Z64&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1469228362&pf_rd_i=163856011

Magnus, from your suggestions in the OP, you might like Bootstraps. Amazon currently offers their song Fortyfive for free. WARNING: The video for the song on YouTube may induce car sickness.  Link for YouTube clip:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJns6xMmpN8   Also, if you like the mandolin/banjo/fiddle bluegrass sound, an offbeat song that I found by accident and like is Best Love by Steve Martin and The Steep Canyon Rangers with Paul McCartney as guest vocalist.  Link for YouTube clip:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtSsAWVfHDU

Thanks for the reminder about The Avett Brothers. For those unfamiliar with them, there’s a good introduction to their acoustic sound on YouTube - Tiny Desk Concert for NPR Music.  Link for YouTube clip:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abQRt6p8T7g 

And from out of left field, for those who'd like some sports-themed music (and waiting for the day when pitchers and catchers reprot for Spring Training), consider The Baseball Project with R.E.M.'s Peter Buck and MIke Mills, Scott McCaughey (The Young Fresh Fellows, The Minus 5) and Steve Wynn (Dream Syndicate founder still playing with several groups), and his wife, drummer Linda Pitmon.  Link to their April 2012 concert at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2quVTufuqPo 

 

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UESWolverine

January 21st, 2013 at 11:27 AM ^

you really have to check them all out in order get a comprehenisive scope but here are a few I didn't see listed:

http://neongoldrecords.blogspot.com

http://wearehunted.com/a/#/emerging/

I'm pretty hardcore about keeping up with modern music and the reality is that when a new song drops from any noteworthy artist, most of the music blogs/sites with post links almost immmediately.

Here's a link to my Top 150 songs of 2012:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTIGaDN5NnnKAQX0DZbNeqeRze1G2z_i3

I would've done a Spotify list, but a lot of my favorite tracks from this year weren't available on Spotify.

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