Discover New Music

Greetings everyone! This is my first posting on the PSPA blog and I hope not the last! I was wondering what to write and then decided that I would love to share with PSPA members the joys of discovering new music. Music has always been a passion of mine from the time i was a little boy still holding onto my dads trousers and it only takes a few bars of classic songs such as "Take Me Home Country Roads" by John Denver, "Ticket to Ride" by the Beatles and "Staying Alive" by the Bee Gees to transport me back to Sundays at home sitting on the floor of the living room playing while the radio plays in the background and my dad sits in his Pagoda singlet and shorts reading the newspapers. I was lucky to have parents who both loved music and we spent many a car trip singing along to songs and laughing when we forgot the lyrics and my dad would then make up all kinds of ridiculous lyrics.

Nevertheless, when i subsequently reached my teens, I rummaged through my parents record collection and to my dismay instead of finding such classic rock acts like Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, the Stones, Led Zep, Cream or The Doors found only Abba, Lobo, Jim Reeves and the Bee Gees! When i quizzed my parents on how they could have missed out on the golden generation of rock n roll in the 60's and 70's, their only reply was that it was a tad too loud for them and that they preferred ballads and sentimental love songs. This was when i first realised the diverse catalog of music out there and the divergence in individual tastes and preferences. I cant say I was much impressed by the albums i found in my parents drawer but I have found some shocking musical choices in my own drawers when i rummaged through them recently. Anyone remember, Modern Talking? Tommy Page? Debbie Gibson? Yes, i owned their albums! Shocking but true! Nevertheless, you need to sort the wheat from the chaff and its precisely musical experimentation like this which allows you to grow and discover new types of music.

What do i currently listen to? I honestly would find it quite hard to tell you as I dont just specifically listen to a particular genre of music. I LOVE music. Full stop. Thus, on any given day, you may find me listening to blues, fado, opera, honky tonk, grindcore, trash, be bop, folk, samba, jazz, hard house, dancehall, reggaeton, neo soul, emo and indie chamber pop. After drifting along listening to "music for the masses" hitherto known as chart music for most of my teen years, i had an epiphany aged 19 when i studied in England. All of a sudden, my world was opened to a whole new world of music thanks to interactions with students from around the world. From France, i discovered Edith Piaf, Charles Azzanavour and MC Solaar. From Brazil, Caetano Veloso, Elis Regina and Carlos Antonio Jobim. As it was the mid 90's I was also introduced to the new wave of Brit rock such as Oasis, Ocean Colour Scene, Manic Street Preachers and the Divine Comedy. As my induction into new forms of music began, so did my rapaciousness for learning and discovering more about the music i was introduced to.

The internet has also informed my taste in music. The information age fueled my appetite for new hitherto unknown music and artistes. As it became easier to find music online, my database of music naturally increased exponentially. Initially, tools such as yahoo launchcast and msn music were utilised. Later, more and more websites appeared and some of the websites i frequently utilise in my unquenchable thirst for music are allmusic.com, rolling stone, pitchfork to name a few. One of the most amazing applications i had used was pandora, which was an internet based radio station which would recommend music to you based on the criteria you selected, on ratings that you gave songs and of course by listening to lots and lots of music. Unfortunately, pandora has since closed its subscription to listeners based outside the United States until further notice. Thankfully, I have recently stumbled upon something similar to pandora although it is less discerning, namely Last.fm. If you are interested in learning more, do click on the links provided. All i have to say is that music and the discovery of music is like a ride that is easy to get on but immeasurably harder to get off! But you wont ever regret it.