The thing I see happen most often, with any review site, is the highlight syndrome. I've done it before myself plenty of times. I'm in a hurry, I glance at the highlighted review of a group that I've heard about, check the rating and move on. Like Jewels was saying, there are thousands of bands being reviewed on these websites each year, many of them that get favorable reviews. There's no way I'm ever going to read 1000 reviews per year, so I check the highlights and make the effort to read a few of the reviews that scored highly for lesser known groups. There's nothing wrong with highlighting the artists; if those are the artists people want to see and will generate the sites more ad revenues then that's the way it will be done. It just requies a little effort to read a few more footnote reviews each year to get the most out of these sites.

/ramble

And I still love John in the Morning, mainly cause he has such a great voice for radio. Haven't listened to it in a while.

Going back to college, I've always tried to seek out the best new music (to my ears). For me, the last ten years have just taken me through a shift from Rolling Stone and Spin, which I depended on a lot before internet, to the internet, which is my main source for finding new stuff now. I've never listened to KEXP. I read Pitchfork most days, along with other review sites, some blogs, and this site, of course. I'm far too busy with a family and a full time job to not miss out on something here and there. I'm all right with that.

i guess this thread is as good as any to mention that KEXP has a blog in which they send you an mp3 every day. No talking no bull, just a song they like.

some of it is pretty solid.

You can also request songs on KEXP which i've done often. If you find KEXP and pitchfork stale then avoid them. Why do you care if others enjoy them and use them for information. Not everyone is in a constant search for a great band that no one's ever heard of. When i was 18 i thought like that but now my zeal to have stuff that no one's heard of has passed. KEXP and Pitchfork are two sources that helped my find music i enjoy, i don't see the problem.

I understand that a band with some Merzbow sounds mixed with some MC Hammer shit and some drum and bass shit over it may be out there. If i wanted to get more info about those type of bands i look somewhere else besides KEXP and Pitchfork, however, i tend to like the music they cover so i go there.


I can't own everything.

Hardly ever read Pitchfork anymore. I prefer sites like Tiny Mix Tapes, Indie Workshop, Pop Matters and several others and when I have time look through music blogs. And I have an online radio station built up where things pop up I'd never be able to hear otherwise.

But, oddly enough, some of us actually DON'T have time to spend EVEN MORE of it searching out acts that "don't even have albums." There's too much to absorb now as it is, let alone try to figure out all the rest.

There are several hundred thousand rock bands on this planet, easily. I think if I can find out about 10,000 or so, that's not half-bad. Well, maybe 20,000.

I've been listening to KCSU.

jeff has an awesome power pop show and an also awesome 80's alternative show with all his shows podcast with the full songs.

PM me for his website with said podcasts, since I'm not sure how much the word should be out since he plays the full songs.

Yeah but all you do is check Oink every day or so Dalen. You download the albums you find interesting, have a listen and then if you like them then you post about it. Thats it.

"Ah Forward Russia has leaked, i bet Dalen posts about that in a few days".

more like IM'd releases from record label friends, Oink, Mininova, IT, Soulseek, blogs, band sites, and a good handful of review sites. but yeah, Oink is a fine source for new music, and i find some great stuff on there. and yeah, if i dig it, no matter what it is, i'll post it for others to check out.

also, why exactly does it matter to you where music comes from? is it more "underground" if it's from a bands site, or some random blog?

sorry, but it seems that you're more interested in bands that noone has heard of, instead of being interested in just good music. who the hell cares if it's on Pitchfork, MySpace, some band site, a blog, or fucking Billboard for that matter? why should that even matter to you?

I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned the fact that most people don't have the time to dedicate searching for new bands. I have to work 10 hours a day... so when I get back to the crib... it's a 10 minute check on oink and IT and that's really all I have time for.

My boss listens to KEXP at the job from time to time and I usually read pitchfork once a week. Other than this board, there's no time for me to sleuth any more. But, to your point Pete, KEXP has become tired... they still will give you a few hidden gems a year, but I can't stand their DJs.

not only does pete bitch about reading pitchfork, he doesnt bother reading obner posts either......old news with forward russia

That's my attitude. I don't listen to the radio or buy magazines anymore and very rarely check out websites (only really here and the Rough Trade site) so I don't really care if someone is hyping something or not. My single concern on music is, 'Do I like this?'.

Don't use KEXP or Pitchfork. Main resources I use are like-minded friends (including this board & Colinswood) and sites like metacritic/acclaimedmusic. This approach is arguably less cool, and I don't really give a damn. I am probably missing out on a lot of stuff I would like, and I'm OK with that. As Stop Breathin' said, priorities change. I'm still more knowledgable about current music than 90-95% of the people I know, but that's not really the point for me anymore.

BINGO

"My single concern on music is, 'Do I like this?'."

i see your point, but i consider it the lesser of two evils, if it's an evil at all. i'd rather see an artist struggling to stay in the game with some talent (like say wrens or cyhsy, etc.) on an indie be hyped by the small circle of influence of the pitchforks and kexp's of the world than no talent ass clowns on major labels with big $s by hyped by the clearchannels and rolling stones of the world.

i don't think the "pfm/kexp"-type of sites influence me much. i use sites like kexp and kcrw (maybe once a month) just to listen to a different playlist than what's on my rio/pc. i use sites like pfm, tinymixtapes & cmg to find out what new releases are and to make sure i didn't miss anything; their reviews are sometimes insightful but are not the final say for me. this all helps me find out about music. i make my own opinion after a proper listen+.

yes, these sites have the ability to guide a subsection of music listeners, "the indie mainstream", into a certain subset of indie music. but if you've fractured off from the herd of the pop juggarnaut to try something different, than you should be starting from a more indepedent mode of thinking in the first place and be less susceptible to this "indie mainstream" which really isn't a bad thing anyway.

While one can always bitch about the gatekeeper effect, I find, as many others have, that your argument against pitchfork and kexp reeks of pretension. No gatekeeper is perfect, and if you don't like them then avoid them.
However, I would avoid trashing them. The fact that places like KEXP and Pitchfork have become popular and that people can use them to find 'common ground' bands is in my mind incredibly beneficial to 'indy' music, both in my country and in yours. Think of it as an umbrella affect: positive hype by either of these places can help 'indy' bands move a lot of records, and inspire a lot of people to check out shows for these bands. While you might dislike some of the recipients of said hype (for example, i can't stand CYHSY!), the fact that people are buying records off the corporate radar and going to shows creates a trickle down effect (god i hate that term) that also benefits everyone else in the scene: new bands get a chance to be heard by lots of people at 'event' type shows that otherwise wouldn't have existed, people in a record store to buy a hyped release are exposed to other records (often by the staff) that they get into and check out (this is also helping keep record stores in business), and people whose current musical tastes we might consider lame sometimes get their first taste of a larger musical world that we've already had the luxury to step into. Eventually, this does two things: it allows people like us to be 'music snobs' should we choose to be, and it also creates more scene and consequently more bands.

Don't be a hater: KEXP and Pitchfork are good for us whether we like them or not.

It is good to have powerful alternative voices, especially when they have the best intentions. Their intentions are why we give them so much credibility.

I too find KEXP and Pitchfork stale, but it doesn't bother me in the slightest that many many others find it an invaluable tool in discovering new music.

In an attempt to steer this conversation in a constructive direction, I will take this opportunity to mention websites I have found useful in discovering new music.

www.dustedmagazine.com- This is hands down the best music writing on the web in my opinion.
www.othermusic.com-One of the two best indie music stores with great recommendations every week.
http://aquariusrecords.org-the other amazing indie retailer. They have a lot more reviews each week but sometimes tend to hyp stuff I just can't get behind. Nonetheless they've turned me on to some great stuff.
www.myspace.com-Totally obvious, but I've found lots of interesting stuff by bands without records just by searching the influence lists for obscure bands I like. I'm finding more and more european and south american stuff lately which is kind of cool.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents. As you were...

others: www.metacritic.com/music = links to many different music review sites

www.ampcamp.com = reviews, mp3 samples, decent prices ($1 shipping)

Obner is my gatekeeper and I find it to be a pretty good source.

Kexp & PF are what they are, another source of music information and opinion. There is always a greatest common denominator for music no matter what type it is, and PF taps into that. After all is said and done they are businesses and have a profit motive. Hipness is a business in itself as long as people are willing to buy into it.

I hope that made a semblance of sense.

I listen to KEXP every day. Living in Seattle it's more convenient having the radio broadcast. I never expected to find anything decent on the radio as music is concerned until I discovered KEXP. Sure not every song is some band so cutting edge that nobody has heard of them. They play music that I haven't heard before, bands that are totally new to me that I end up liking. I don't keep up on new bands as much as most on this board. What I like aside from new bands is that it's a station that I can put on and hear good music in my car, on my radio, or on my computer. If every song was something I had never heard before I wouldn't listen, familiarity is good.

I'm sure Pitchfork reviews bands that aren't on everyones radar. My friends Auburn Lull have been reviewed by Pitchfork, favorably but I would consider them to be fairly unknown by most.

i am so busy/tired I dont even go to kexp or pitchfork most of the time - even worse - i listen to this board.