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Music discovery algorithms don't have to be AI slop. Some of them used to work effectively peer to peer based on likes.
You like songs, as does everyone else. The algorithm compares the songs you liked to what other people liked, finds people who liked a high percentage of the things you did, and recommends you other songs that they liked, and vice versa. Basically "Many people who liked [song you like] also liked [song you maybe haven't heard]".
I can recommend Listenbrainz as a recommendation service.
I said "via algorithms and AI slop", two seperate ways of finding music, "AI slop" meaning Spotify-style playlist nonsense.
Also, algorithms create feedback loops, where popular things get recommended more, even among specific niches.
True. But even that can be tackled in recommendation algorithms (or attempted). The main issue I see is that the companies that produce them don't have their goals aligned with yours and rerank results to benefit their bottom line. That said, I've gotten much better recommendations for books, music and games from people online and friends than from any such system. Worst case the recommendation is not great and that is still an opportunity to talk to the person who recommended it.
Sadly once you like one song that's been on the radio once, it starts spiralling into other songs (often good even) you know from the radio and 0 other songs. With things that kind of come in sets (like "songs that played often on X channel in the 90s") it becomes quickly a game of complete the set rather than discovering new music you'd also like.
this is my annoyance too
Everything a computer does may as well be magic to 99.9% of people.
Youtube's algo has been pretty good at giving me artist/song recommendations... admittwdly after over a decade of liking and subscribing to a ton of bands on the platform. Brought me IDLES and Viagra Boys first LPs before anyone else, and just this week turned me on to Vancouver band PISS. They're fucking raw, take heed of the lead's warning before they start.
Don't forget music blogs and reviewers (which may technically fall under "randos"). In this age of bland algorithmic recommendations, going back to reading articles and reviews written by someone with similar musical tastes has once again become my favorite way to discover new music.
Oh yeah, I bet that's a good way too! I've never considered that before tbh. Maybe I'll look into it.
music discovery via the internet archive tags
edit because i saw people posting reccomendations: (some random polish 90s punk) https://archive.org/details/Apatia_Odejdz-Lub-Zostan/
My experience has generally been that any song recommendations by the algorithm are completely wrong. Even when I build the playlist with a certain vibe and then request suggestions from the algorithm, it will go into left field and pick the most awful choices to fill out the list.
You would think that, with all this data they are keen to collect, they would have some level of understanding of vibes. Not direct understanding, obviously, but I would have thought them capable of cross-referencing various listening profiles to suggest better music.
It's legit one of the things I could see AI actually being good at and used ethically for. I guess the fact that it's not used for better taste profiling is a small mercy, considering the technology would be used for more nefarious stuff elsewhere if it was any good.
A prime example: the song "The Hoodin' of Miss Fannie Deberry" by Kenny Rogers is decidedly different from the rest of his catalog. No matter how hard I try to get Spotify to find songs with similar vibes, I can't escape Kenny Rogers and general country tunes. It's maddening.
Any given song radio will trap you in a decade of music/genre, and pay no attention to the vibe of a song.
It has gotten slightly better recently with making custom playlists for me, but once my hyper-focus changes, I'm sure it will be out of sync with me again. Frontier Psychiatrist Radio slaps, but I'm still trapped in the '90s-'00s.
This has also been my experience (hence the meme). I've taken to finding music via human recommendations, as well as finding music that is related to another artist (for example, songs featuring another artist, or recommendations from artist, like their inspirations and stuff).
Another thing I've taken to is listening to artists' entire discographies, which has been really great for me so far.
Oh, and internet radios are cool. Especially really niche and indie ones.
That was largely my experience as well. Things like last.FM or listen brains would tend to give more relevant results at first. It certainly didn't happen overnight or even soon. But the algorithm through YouTube music has gotten really good for me. I have a wide listing range but all of it still pretty niche and eclectic.
But I'm not going to lie that took it a few years to be able to do. I don't know if they just improved their algorithm in that time. Or if my listening habits have helped it. But I'm pretty happy with the recommendations and things it brings up. The thing I try not to do as a rule of thumb. Is to thumbs down or down vote something. I have found that on tracks I don't like if I skip them early and often. It picks up on the fact.
Again this may have changed I remember Pandora back in the early 2010s. Up voting the stuff I liked, downvoting the stuff I didn't. It definitely got to a very narrow feedback loop with extremely poor discovery.
I mostly use bandcamp tags, which works better than you'd expect.
Anyway, you should check out Carcosa.
Carcosa... The King in Yellow?
Well, the Canadian metal band, who probably named themselves after the book.
Discovery, by Daft Punk (☞ﾟヮﾟ)☞
If someone don't know, it's an album name, alternatively known with music-video movie "Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem", basically a music-video for whole album, bit anime.
oooo I absolutely adore discovery but didn't know about the movie, that sounds awesome!
Wikipedia rabbitholing is my preferred method. Start on an article about a band or genre you like, then just glance through for influences and subgenres etc., read those articles to find new band names, give 'em a quick listen on whatever platform you use (usually just YouTube for me), and continue the process as needed i.e. if you don't like what you hear for a given artist, just keep clicking till you find the next one. It sounds like it'd take forever this way, but I've found new bands I love within about 10 minutes of clicking, and this is consistently the case. Algorithms have never, ever recommended me anything I actually liked, and this is true for music, games, TV shows and whatever else. They just don't work on any meaningful level.
Seeing who's playing with bands you like can be an inspiration. That's how I found Slothrust, years ago.
Ok online randos, recommend something like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HYHdkEYdQE Please
is different, but maybe it will hit for you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Soy4jGPHr3g&list=RDSoy4jGPHr3g&start_radio=1
though, if you like the instrumentals in what you posted you might like Fake Type. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs_AuDacuWw
last edit:
https://open.spotify.com/album/0nw2WMM6g8LsE0LzbXN03L This album gets close but I lean more for swing.
This is the way.
Neil Cicierega's Mouth Albums are all fire.
Triple-Q makes some real solid bangers.
I just listened to Mouth Moods this morning, it still slaps!
Three things ive been listening too.
• Dragon Mouth by DustMoth (fusking love dustmoth)
• Vestiges of Verumex Visidrome by Gnome
• Area 52 by Rodrigo Y Gabriela
Recent metal album I picked up on Bandcamp Friday: Cairiss - Wilderness
I do occasionally hear metal but this is the first of this subgenre I‘ve listened to. Really enjoyed it though, so I‘m open to recommendations
Friends?
Skylight (2012? mayb 2013) by AtomA
It's time for me to recommend some songs I like:
Heaven Pierce Her - War Without Reason (from Ultrakill, instrumental)
Sidney Gish - Impostor Syndrome
Tally Hall - Ruler of Everything
Miracle Musical - Time Machine
Lemon Demon - Lifetime Achievement Award
Jamie Paige & OK Glass - BIRDBRAIN
I too prefer human music.
I have all my tv shows curated for me via tunblr gifsets
Taking this moment to plug HEALTH for all the trans alt girlies. Thank me later 💜
If you like funky Argentine funky indie pop? Bandalos Chinos are the dogs bollocks
I know it wasn't exactly hard to predict any of it, but I still think it's notable that this song came out months before names like Marimar Martinez, Renee Good, Alex Pretti, Ruben Ray Martinez, and others were in the news - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehAciON3IdE
Music discovery galaxy brain: asking Siri to play [first random phrase that pops into your head]