Songs, streaming and all things music.

[Ozzzy189]

I have recently discovered the joys of a family Spotify account. The amount of artists at my fingertips has ensured that my nas drive and bubble DS next have remained untouched for weeks.
At first I was concerned about the difference in quality between my 1411 kbps 16/44 flac files on my nas and the same tracks streamed in 1411 pcm, but I've tried and I'm pretty sure I can't tell any discernable difference. Happy days in that respect then.
This moves me to the main point of the thread.
New music.
What artists and tracks have you recently discovered via streaming, the Internet or from recommendations of friends?
As I type this I'm enjoying the latest Ed Alleyne Johnson album, 'pluto'. It's truly fabulous and a nice progression in variety from his previous works.
I'm now listening to a much wider variety of artists with more diversity than I thought possible. This is a good thing.
Chris Abbot is one artist who's produced real music versions of old 8-bit Commodore 64 tunes and some like Rob Hubbard's 'thalamuzik' are fabulous. Who'd have thought I'd be able to find an artist like that easily, readily available to play onto my hifi without trawling amazon and not have to pay a decent lump of cash because of it's rarity?
Henri Jameson is another artist I'd never heard of yet have thoroughly enjoyed.
One of the greatest things is hearing new/rare/remixed/unreleased versions of songs you love and this another nice surprise and benefit from Spotify.
So those are my good points and the point of this thread, I want you guys to suggest some artists for me to listen to.
The worry about all this and where its going is this: Physical media.
I see and hear about shops closing, and I visited a market stall selling second hand cd's in Louth recently. What stopped me buying a dozen or so was I really had no need to. I was sure I'd find all I wanted via streaming. The artist won't make anything from second hand sales but maybe a tiny bit from streaming. However it's pretty much stopping me from buying anything new anymore and that's bad.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I await your recommendations and responses to streaming and Spotify etc eagerly.
Regards
Ozzzy.

[Charlie1]

Glad you've been having fun. I agree the depth of music is fantastic.

I've been dipping in and out of these anniversary releases the past year or so. This week I was listening to the 25th anniversary of REM's 'Automatic for the People' but there are loads of big selling albums that offer this, often including all the b-sides, live tracks and outtakes. I think you need to be a fan of the original album though. No doubt you've already found some examples yourself.

On the other hand, another forum member recently mentioned that he really doesn't like the reissues - he finds them very digital sounding. Sometimes an earlier version is still offered but not always.

I go in fits and starts with new music and try to get vinyl. Quite enjoying 'My Woman' by Angel Oslen at the moment but not sure it's your cuppa tea:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzG_Mkzvypw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_2fN9Nt2h4

I will check out Chris Abott as I was a C64 owner.

[Ozzzy189]

I seeked out the original issue of zoolook by Jean Michel Jarre as I'm not usually a fan of the modern remasters. Search for 'Martin Galway' too, his stuff is really good.
Thanks for the recommendation, I'll check it out.

[tokenbrit]

I typed up a longer winded reply but didn't save the draft and lost it...
In essence it was that for all the choice & convenience of streaming, we seem to be getting away from the human element of music - present company excepted, of course. I'll pass on any commentary regarding musicality of streaming vs local vs CD, or anything about file formats. My reply was more about discovery, which used to be through friends, family, radio, and decent record stores. I don't just worry about media sales & the viability of good local stores; I also lament the passing of decent radio DJs such as John Peel. Maybe I'm lazy & liked that an expert presented & promoted new music, new bands, and new genres, but I enjoyed the musical quality & diversity... I know 'if you liked that then try this' streaming algorithms can point you towards new stuff, and have high hopes for Roon, but I miss the human interaction of sharing music & the enjoyment of it, and find myself listening in less & less depth with streaming music as a background rather than the focus of a listening session that involves changing LPs or even CDs.
There, told you I'd lost it ;)

[beck]

Tokenbrit, you just hit it on the nail every time you post something! :-) Music is all about human interaction and we need other people to show their love for something to get into it ourselves.
A vise man stated that with free information (music in this case) for all (on the internet) something else would be lacking: ATTENTION.
We cannot find the peace and calm to digest new impressions for all the noise that is present all the time. We can find anything on the internet but does it bring us any lasting human experience?

[Ozzzy189]

Great posts but at least we can share our discoveries here and with our family and friends too. Like Charlie1 has, I want to people to recommend me stuff too!

[beck]

Great posts but at least we can share our discoveries here and with our family and friends too. Like Charlie1 has, I want to people to recommend me stuff too!

You are right and I was not trying to sabotage this tread. I can read that you like instrumental music so maybe you could try Mike Oldfields Amarok. It is one piece and one hour long with many shifts (shock effects). It has a more modern sound than his old records.

[ThomasOK]

I just picked up the second album by Rhiannon Giddens and it is stunning. It is basically an American roots music album with bluesy and folk sounds combined with some with more modern feel. Rhiannon plays fiddle and banjo and has a powerful, emotional, evocative voice. The album is well recorded and has some potent bass here and there. I like it a lot and I am getting the first album too. More info about her here:
http://www.rhiannongiddens.com/#

[Ozzzy189]

Cheers guys.
Mike oldfield added and will listen to that toninght and i'll check out Rhi too.
Great stuff.

[matthias]

Visited with my family a concert of Avishai Cohen Quartett last sunday.
They played music from the last two ECM records:

https://www.ecmrecords.com/artists/1435 ... hai-cohen-

Superb!

Matt

[sunbeamgls]

Most of the hifi forums have a "listening to right now" thread and I find that a great way to find new music to try - I even like some of it! ;)

For more general background listening I find Radio Paradise and (for those who have access) BBC 6Music as the 2 stations that have curated, eclectic playlists, based on the quality of the music, not so much the genre. 6Music is more in the rock/folk/indie arena whereas Radio Paradise knows no bounds, with classical making a showing now and then.

These 2 stations allow me to then go and find the artist on Tidal and explore their material. Stuff I really like I'll then go and purchase as a disc or download. If only there were more hours in the day!

[Ozzzy189]

Hi Neil. Yes I was surprised that there wasn't, or didn't appear to be such a thread on this'll forum. Hopefully people will share things they like here. I like radio paradise, it's a nice diverse station. I don't have tidal and probably won't be adding any more streaming subscriptions to my household just yet. They're all much of a muchness.

[maffe]

Most of the hifi forums have a "listening to right now" thread and I find that a great way to find new music to try - I even like some of!

Agree!
Most new (and old) music I found last 3 years have been in those kind of threads :)
Just back home from a secondhand store and found a small thingy I wanted, problem was that it was less then their lowest pay with card limit. So I took a look in the record crates...
12 records later I’m home listening :P

[beck]

This is a performance I stumbled upon. I do not know anything about them and it is normally not my kind of music but wow can they play:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zitOhu48uSY

[Charlie1]

That was good - tx

[Ozzzy189]

They occasionally play them on planet Rock and i've always liked their sound. Another one added to Spotify. Thanks!

[Peter Lanky]

I have to say that I've never discovered anything new directly from streaming services such as Spotify, though I do use if frequently to 'audition' artists and songs that I have heard of elsewhere, with a view to buying the CD second hand on Amazon, hopefully for a nominal sum.

Most new music I have discovered has been done by doing searches such as 'free mp3' which has generally led to sites which showcase a couple of songs from unsigned artists as an introduction to their music, but having done that in many cases I can't find anything else, probably because they never signed up in the end.

However, I can recommend 3 artists that I've discovered by 'accident' by various means in the last few years, and now have a comprehensive range of their music.

Loreena McKennitt - Canadian singer and musician. A mix of Celtic and Middle Eastern themes. Huge vocal range.
Alquimia - Mexican female singer and musician. Mix of styles but includes Celtic and Latin (not to be confused with Latin pop group with same name)
Kaipa - Swedish progressive rock. Been around since the 1970s, but reinvented around 15 years ago. Great if you like really long tracks.

I do listen to Planet Rock but it sometimes drives me mad with it's repetition, and plugging of it's guest celebrity presenters. I can't say I've ever found anyone new from listening.

[Ozzzy189]

Hannah Miller of moulettes fame, really quite beautiful to listen to. You may also like her band, it's probably worth looking her and moulettes up on Spotify, it's hard to categorise.