My music taste is incredibly varied (from hip hop and rock to world music and jazz and back), and I spend a significant amount of my day listening to something. If I’m walking on campus, working on homework or driving somewhere, I probably have an album playing in the background. I am always looking for new bands and records I haven’t listened to yet, and use both news outlets and record stores to find them.
I also use one of my favorite websites, Birp.fm.
Once a month, the beautiful people at Birp.fm make up a 100+ track playlist of up-and-coming indie acts. The playlists come out at the beginning of every month, and they also frequently upload single tracks.
For the most part, the artists are relatively obscure — now. If you go back far enough into the archives, they featured bands like Bon Iver, The National, MGMT and The Shins on their earliest playlists. I’ve also found some of my favorite artists through Birp.fm, like Parquet Courts, The Derevolutions and HAIM.
I end up downloading the entire file, sampling each track, and keeping the ones I like. It gives me something new to listen to, and it keeps me at the cutting edge of the indie music scene. I don’t waste any money, and if I end up disliking a song after a few plays, I don’t feel remorse for moving it to my digital trash bin. It’s a win-win-win-win.
And for that, Birp.fm gets a giant gold star.
How do you find new music? Any recommendations for me? Let me know in the comments.
Zoë Lance. 