[Applerill]

But once again, what does “new music” mean?

[Tap]

My trick is that I don't care about producing an informed opinion about the stuff people are talking about. I heard over 600 releases from 2020 last year, but I don't think I heard the vast majority of what found success with people. Everything I heard had value to me, even if it wasn't amazing, because it had some connection to the musical universes that interest me. I wasn't looking for 5 star islands, I built archipelagos.

[RoundTheBend]

[RoundTheBend]

[Tap]

I thought that question was sort of about the following divisions

1) new-to-me music, the desire to find new music from whatever time period. as people get older, even this appears to be a struggle. many people just like to stick with what they know, but I think a person is staying young at heart if they're finding new experiences, regardless of what year the music came from. we gotta have some people keeping an eye on the contemporary music, since that sustains music going forward into the future, and also all these discoveries of older music wouldn't really be possible if someone weren't paying attention to them in their original time. But it's not something everybody has to be doing.

2) "technically" new music, the sort of thing that may have come out in the current year but nothing would really have stopped it from coming out decades ago. or maybe also the sort of thing that is totally in a listeners wheelhouse, something that doesn't demand anything from them that they haven't been asked a million times already. this category could probably result in contentious debate.

3) genuinely new music, the sort of thing that couldn't have really happened earlier, or something that forces the listener to grapple with making sense of what they're hearing in a way that they haven't previously.

in a way, you could have someone who seeks out new musical experiences from previous years that challenges themselves, and someone who seeks out familiar musical experiences from the current years, and the person who is technically more devoted to contemporary musical experiences is experiencing less "newness" than someone who sticks with the past.

the topic there can get complicated for sure! I don't think there's really any wrong answers here, like it's fine to be focused on personal growth or to be focused on the perpetuation of a tradition or to even be some corny old person dressed in ed hardy clothes (or whatever the modern equivalent would be) so long as you're happy.

[RoundTheBend]

oh maybe you are right. I mean that's how I answered too (multi-faceted meanings).

[Romanelli]

It's rather quaint to see that y'all think that "pushing 30" makes you elder statesmen here...
_________________
I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history

[RoundTheBend]

[Fischman]

There's more ways to learn about new music than ever before. This internet thing alone screams "no excuses."

For the last decade or so, I've had another great source; my kids. Now 21, 24, and 26, they have kept me in touch with a good number of newer artists across a variety of genres.

For my part, my obsession with jazz has also kept me in touch with new music. There are so many new directions and fresh ideas coming out of the genre, there's never a shortage of new discovery to be had there.

[CharlieBarley]

I suppose I could easily spend 2021 catching up on all the albums I missed in 2020.
And I am not even kidding!
I have been too busy listening to albums in the Overall Chart. Some of them are new or new-ish.
Still to hear the Fiona Apple one but I am on it!
This week....