Finding new music on my doormat.

I know it will sound silly, but I do love it when I come home to the latest edition of one of my music magazine subscriptions waiting for me on the door mat.  I know, more often than not, that I will soon be discovering some great new music to enhance my life and the anticipation is almost palpable.

In no time at all I will have ripped off the plastic covering and I will usually jump straight to the back pages to find out what gigs are coming up and what numbers I have to ring to secure my seat.  I’ll then go to the new albums section and check what’s coming out from artists I already know and that may have slipped under my radar.  Then its time to flick to the front of the magazine to read it from cover to cover.

I love reading interviews from established artists I already enjoy and like the extra insight you get from hearing their thoughts on a variety of topics.  Sometimes it also increases my appreciation of their music as well.  One notable example of this recently was a interview with PJ Harvey in Q Magazine in which I loved her no nonsense attitude to the music industry and her integrity to her craft shone through on every line.  Next time I played one of her albums I enjoyed it all the more with her interview answers still ringing in my mind.  On very rare occasions I have respected an artist less from what I’ve read and whilst it doesn’t detract from my enjoyment of their music, sometimes their views will come to mind as I listen to their albums.

But, I think one of my main pleasures is discovering new artists that are only just starting out and whose albums I can buy and integrate into my music collection. Nothing beats that first listen of a new musical talent and to be able to read about them early on only adds to the enjoyment.  You always take a risk buying an album from an unknown artist, but the rewards far outweigh the risks and despite buying some rather dubious albums over the years based on magazine articles, on balance I have found far more great bands than bad.

Some magazines I subscribe to love compiling music lists.  ‘Top 250 albums of the last decade’, ‘Top 100 albums that changed the world’ and other lists in a similar vein and normally I enjoy reading through these and comparing which albums I have in my collection and also finding new albums I may want to consider.  Sometimes these lists are printed too frequently and they get rather boring to plough through, but generally they make for entertaining reading.  It is also interesting to see if I agree or not with the selections made and inevitably next month there will be a slew of readers letters berating the editor for the choices and any omissions (ironically many of these music lists are made up from readers polls anyway). 

The extra bonus of sample CD’s  are a joy as well.  It’s all very well reading about a bands sound and influences, but to actually hear them at the same time as reading the article makes for a more rounded experience and may be the deciding factor on whether I buy their album or not.  I will sometimes check out a new bands sound on YouTube, but I love getting a sample disc never the less.

When I find a new magazine waiting for me when I get in from a long day at work I know that inside it’s pages could be the next new band to make my insides tingle with ecstasy or to make my emotions soar and that is worth the cover price alone.  To additionally read about artists I already love and find out about upcoming concerts makes that initial anticipation I feel completely justified