How do you guys listen to the most recent pop culture music?
 

Like the thread says.

I've always been astounded by how people know of new popular culture music (not only pop, but all the hip-hop, rock, etc. too), but by the time I listen to it, e.g. via. radio or MTV/MuchMusic, it's apparently old music.

So, there's bound to be some TFP members who are masters of current music. HOw do you guys and girls listen to what's hot before it becomes hot?

The internet and radio are good tools for that. I take it you're talking about recent boomers on the music scene...indie bands/hip-hop artists n such like The Killers, My Chemical Romance, Kanye West, Atmosphere, etc. Well usually peope talk about em and reccomend em..then people look em up online..usually through a p2p program...in the case of hip-hop they have entire websites dedicated to it and the artists are all over the mixtape circuit. Thats pretty much how people know about em before everyone else. Also some of these guys are home-town heroes and they've been fans all along..stuff like that.

Asta!!

College radio is usually a good place to pick up on new artists a couple months before they hit mtv2 and the likes. Alot of the time, the best place to hear new music is at shows....remember the band that opens for the band your there to see, you might like them and want more. They might get big! I saw Sugarcult when they opend at a Less Than Jake show a couple years ago, i even inadverdantly met the drummer (didnt know who he was). Now theyve gone on to a decent commercial succes.

Between college radio and British radio I pick up on a lot of artists before they hit the big time. I cannot recommend college and public radio enough. :) It's all I listen to.

Word of mouth is my best resource.

I'm on a music message board, and am introduced to a LOT of new (even if its only new to me) music on there.

Good Topic !
 

[ there's mainly two different ways of artists getting mainstream exposure: word-of-mouth, and payola; forgive and correct me if I'm wrong on that]

Besides college radio and message boards [that have been mentioned]

The suggestions here are very good ones, here's some of mine that I use as well:

The radio show, sounds eclectic, is a great source for up & coming artists that have risen in popularity mainly due to word-of-mouth. It's another reason you should donate and listen to NPR !!! Last time I was listening to it, they featured the arcade fire, which is definitely one band that will be on the mainstream radio/mtv2/fuse circuit within a few months.

Another source is pitchfork media, which has album reviews/ music news/info on a diverse selection of artists. A few of them, I witnessed, like kanye west and bright eyes, have risen up to the top.

My other source, which is much more difficult to find, are "va-promo_only_modern_rock_january-2005" CD's. These, pretty much, are a cd of about 15-20 songs, released every month, in the categories of modern rock, urban radio, and top_40. A few weeks later, you'll notice these songs being played like hell, 2 or 3 times a day, at least, on your local radio stations [the ones that owned by radio1/clear channel].
I presume they're given out to the stations and pretty much told [in some way or another] to play them.
They're [the cds] pretty hard to find, imo, usually the only places you can find these at are on newsgroups and IRC channels. If you want more info on these, I might be able to help, just pm me.

Though I don't use this source, I've heard a lot of artists, like phantom planet and rachel yamaguata [sp?], to grow in popularity after being featured on the tv show 'the o.c.' [popular among the mtv/vh1-watching demographic from 16-25]

Plus, another great web radio site is woxy.com - they play some music that's been released or has more of a following in the UK and not yet in the us; as well as indie and eclectic stuff. I recommend woxy enthusiastically. :thumbsup:

Lastly, there's the 'New Music Monthly' by CMJ - College Music Journal, a monthly magazine featuring album reviews and info about up and coming artists - each issue also comes with a cd with a few songs on it. I'm not sure how much subscriptions cost, but my local public library subscribes to it, so I just get it from there, albeit a month or 2 behind.

After reading this thread, how about making another one for us to guess who will be popular in the next say, 6 months ?

College radio eh?

I don't think my college's power source is enough to reach my home radio :P

As a corollary question, when do you guys and girls usually listen to this new music?

www.kexp.org

independent, commercial free radio station based out of Seattle that broadcasts full quality online.
Over the course of a day, you'll hear alot of indie, and a good deal of everything else. I usually listen to the specialty shows that come on after about 6pm.

other than that... just surf surf surf online.. message boards, peer-to-peer programs (especially ones that have chat rooms), top ten lists...

I love KEXP. Great radio station. I listen to them a lot when I'm sitting at my computer or when I'm visiting my parents who live in Seattle :P

i just went to kexp, the quality is great and the selection doesnt seem to be half bad either, good find !

Hey, I went to that tour too! Saw them in Pontiac, Michigan. Great show, both bands are really awesome. I hope the singer from Sugarcult's ears are doing better... they cancelled a show I was going to go to a year or two ago because he has some ear problems.

Usually we listen to it when we hear about it and have enough time on our hands to check it out. I also like to watch Subterranean..many of the artists on there have been on there for a while then just skyrocket..like The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and such. I watch the show..write names down, I get a reccomendation..I write the name down..then when i have time I look it up. If I like it I purchase the album. Saw My Morning Jacket on Subterranean, thought they were really good...checked em out online, and now their CD is coming in the mail.

Also for underground Hiphop I haven't found a better website than www.undergroundhiphop.com.

Asta!!

I usually go with word of mouth and then listen to a few of their songs to see if I like them.

I guess I kinda cheat on this stuff, as I work in a DJ shop and get next month's radio singles this month, but if you're looking for more underground stuff that will emerge pretty soon, it might be a good idea to start following music blogs. Most of the music blogs will have links to other blogs, so starting with a few, you can easily build a network of a couple hundred that drop stuff you like. Some of my favorites are:
http://aurgasm.us/
http://www.cocaineblunts.com
http://www.sixeyes.blogspot.com/
http://www.tangmonkey.com/blogs/music/
http://www.fluxblog.org/

go nuts!

Along with college radio and public radio, satelite radio is an excellent way to hear stuff from bands about to bust onto the scene. Whether it be rock, hip-hop, whatever, you can find it there. Since I mainly listen to rock and have XM, I pick up on stuff on Squizz. I heard Mudvayne's new single "Determined" about a month before it hit MTV/MTV2. Plus you get to hear obscure stuff that MTV and Clear Channel will never put in their loop from bands like Static-X, gODHEAD, Hed PE, Lacuna Coil, etc.

kexp and kcrw are pretty good sources, although kcrw may have more of the artists that will be big in a few months. look at the old sounds eclectic mix cds...norah jones, flaming lips, beck, damien rice, etc. most of these artists are more popular now than when they first appeared on the show. when the mix cds finally come out and it's like "david grey, huh, well everyone knows him now." still, nic harcourt has a decent taste in music that doesn't gain national attention...although sometimes it gets a bit yuppy-ish.

kexp (morning show at least) has a bit more indie cred, perhaps. a year ago they were playing the walkmen, tv on the radio, and snow patrol pretty heavily.

you might even be able to find the next big thing by checking pollstar to see who is playing in certain venues. ny, chicago, and la all have venues where up-and-comers play before they are popular nationwide. or look through the lists of performers at the big summer festivals, paying special attention to the unknowns.

i don't know about other cities, but los angeles has a number of underground bands going for that "polished mainstream sound." if you can bear to listen to it, some of these guys will probably be famous soon.

It seems like a lot of inner-city radio stations seem to have a step up on the more rural radio stations....by inner-city I mean cities such as Chicago and St. Louis....It kind of sucks....for those people that don't live in or close to large cities that is

It seems alot of folks that live farther away from urban culture get alot of country stations. No joking....im Milwaukee we have like 2 country stations, but an hour outside u get like 8. No shock really tho, seems like the farther from the city you go, more folks like country, thus more stations i guess.

My methods:

1) MTV-U, which is a really annoying channel that they play on TVs in college cafeterias, rec centers, and pretty much any place students spend their time on campus. It seems that it's a testing-ground for music before it goes "big."

2) Listen to the radio right before rush hour. Stations tend to play new cuts during this time (or at least they do here in Lexington). It also seems that new singles get played on "specialty" radio stations (like an alternative rock station or a rap station) before they get played on your typical pop station.

3) Openers at shows. For example, Story of the Year opened up for Linkin Park's Meteora tour, and later that year they had some "hits."