Could you survive without new music?

[nobody]

OK…its not like you’d starve to death or anything, but it seems lots of folks here are new music junkies. I’d include myself there. I always like to hear something new and exciting and will sift through mountains of what sounds to me like mediocre crap to find something I like. But, lately, I’ve been slacking. Sure, I’ve come across a few new things I’ve gotten into this year, but over the last couple months or more when I have been grabbing music I’ve been grabbing mostly older stuff…jazz mostly. And, the thing is, as much as I do like new music, there are literally thousands and thousands of records from the last 50 or more years that I still haven’t heard, many of which may be just the thing for me. I’m just wondering how long you could go on discovering great new-to-you music without having to ever really listen to a thing released in say the last ten years or more.

Oh yeah…I still can’t stop listening to the new ISAN though.

[Bernd]

Great question sir.

In the short term - yes. In the long term that would be a bit harder. And you're right we have a lot of stuff from the past that is new to us, to discover.
There is no pattern to my new music buying. From nothing for a month or two to almost daily purchases added to the collection.
Discovery of new or appreciation of known music generates two distinct different responses of enjoyment for me.

Peace

Bernd

[kexodusc]

I have too short an attention span to stop seeking new-to-me-music. I suppose there's enough back catalog to keep me occupied for some time, but I can't help but think a part of the enjoyment in music (for me at least) is finding young, new talent and following it as its career takes flight - kind of like watching the new draft pick in sports...
I usually get introduced to new music at live shows, so I'd hate to lose that.

I'm sure I could survive, but I'm also sure I'm better off with new music continuing to emerge. No different than movies I guess - I know where we've been, it's where we're going that I find exciting (and too often disappointing).

[bobsticks]

Without having read the post itself I was ready to quick-reply the following:

" Sure, but not the old stuff!"

Cheers

[Troy]

Like most things it's cyclical. Right now (and for the last year or so) I have lttle need or desire for new music. I am in a phase of (re)discovering the thousands of albums I already own.

Sure, I've bought new music and rcvd copies of stuff and comps etc. but frankly, I' have albums sitting here I bought 3 months ago that I have only played a few times. I listen to music for many hours a day, but don't seem to care about trying anything new at the moment.

[3-LockBox]

Like most things it's cyclical. Right now (and for the last year or so) I have lttle need or desire for new music. I am in a phase of (re)discovering the thousands of albums I already own.

It goes in phases for me too...and I'd survive OK without new music, but I'd hate it.

[Resident Loser]

...that depnds on your definition of "new"...New as in new-ish to me or new as in of the moment...

The only new(er) music (the latter type) I've purchased has been Alison Krauss and Union Station's New Favorite, the LAGQs Guitar Heroes and Bill Frizell's Gone, Just Like A Train...and none of them are particularly new...

Of the former, Paul Galbraith's transcription for eight string guitar of J.S. Bach's Sonatas And Partitas For the Violin (sampled at Border's), Coltrane's Blue Train and Davis' Birth Of The Cool...after borrowing from my local library...semi-new Best of's Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin...and the quite familiar, The Beatles Revolver and the Beach Boys Sounds Of Summer...

There is always some new and interesting reading of a Classical piece...e.g. Fabio Biondi and Europa Gallante's performance of Vivaldi's Four Seasons or Cajun/Zydeco... other interesting genres...Hawiian slack-key guitar and Native American flute music comes to mind...but most new popular/young adult music doesn't speak to me...and when it does, it turns out I've heard it all before, as it keeps saying the same things, albeit in a slightly different way...however, there is a point when re-inventing the wheel becomes tedious...

So there is always old music that is new...for the most part the new music is disposable...

jimHJJ(...and everything old is new again...)

[JoeE SP9]

New music makes life interesting. In the past year or two I was introduced to African Pop, Brazilian Club and Punjabi Rock. They were all new to me and have caused me to buy selections from the artists making this music. The only problem is trying to buy all the music I want. When I add the old and the new together there is too much music and not enough time or money for it all.

[Stone]

It goes in phases for me too...and I'd survive OK without new music, but I'd hate it.

This is the same for me. I think I'm addicted to seeking out, and getting, new music. However, I know I could go without it if I needed to (and have for months at a time), but I wouldn't and didn't like it. It's the thrill of the chase, as Deep Purple would say.

[Swish]

...for at least 3 months, then I would be bouncing off the walls! I need my fix of new music on a regular basis, although I listen to plenty of older stuff throughout the week. Fresh music fills a void for me I suppose, and I can't wait to pop new cds into my player. I just picked up the new Tim O'Shea, former drummer for the defunct Jayhawks, and the new Long Winters cd, and they're both pretty sweet.

Old music will always have it's place, but I get uncomfortable when things are too familiar, like when I hear a cover band or guys at open mic nights playing the same retreads that we all have heard a gazillion times before. Spare me.

Swish

[Dave918]

Hey all, long time no read. Haven't checked in for some time, but this thread caught my eye when I stopped by today and had to respond. This really fits where I'm at right now.

Just a few months ago I was buying new music every few days, 2 - 4 CDs at a time, sometimes more. Couldn't stand to listen to anything more than a couple of times, always had to have something new. Guess what - I burned out. Nothing sounded good, no desire to even sit and listen really. I even headed out exploring other genres, namely jazz, trying re-ignite the fire. While I did pick a lot of great new music and a better appreciation of jazz and vox, the fire continued to barely flicker.

The answer – time. Just in the past week or so my appetite for music has started returning. The desire to listen and appreciate growing day by day. Not going to allow myself to jump back into the new music feeding frenzy again – I have hundreds of disks that barely been heard that need attention, hundreds more with unbroken seals. It will take a long time to get to know these disks and be comfortable enough to start adding new.

-dave

[bobsticks]

Hey Dave, good to have you back onboard!

[-Jar-]

I think I'd do ok for a while.

I could spend years catching up on Jazz.

I could spend a year or two getting to know classical music that I've missed.

I could spend a lot of time catching up on old punk rock.

I could spend a few years each just listening to the Stones and the Beatles.

I'd do ok.. except I really want to hear what the Arcade Fire does next...

-jar

[audiobill]

New music keeps me young.

It breathes new life into each and every week. There are times where I abandon it & go for the old familiar (i.e., Stones, Tull, Browne, Joplin); yet, these times are almost always abandoned again for the new Comets on Fire or the new Yo La Tengo or (my most recent newest group CSS - Cansei de ser Sexy 2006).

Lately, I've been mostly on a new binge. This usually happens if I'm back from a long vacation & I haven't had exposure to the latest in new music. Must say there is some amazing new talent out there:

Love Arcade (the kid is only 19 and he plays all the f'n instruments)
The Guild League (Aussies already know about them, but hey better late to the party)
Hot Chip
The Little Ones
Tokyo Police Club
Voxtrot
The Damnwells
and the Silversun Pickups
(not to mention the latest arrivals from Tom Petty and Six Organs of Admittance)

So, as you can see....... I'm addicted to new music.

Can't wait for Bob Dylan's upcoming release "Modern Times".
What about you??

audiobill

NP., Bob Dylan's "Desire" (my all-time favourite Dylan album)

[Dusty Chalk]

Heck yeah -- I can quit any time I want. Wouldn't want to, but I can (and probably should -- it would probably increase my own output).

[ForeverAutumn]

If you had asked me that question before I found this place, I probably would have answered "yes". But that was because my outlet for finding new music was, primarily, the radio and most everything new sucked IMO. So I listened to a lot of old prog and classic rock over and over and over again. Man, was I bored!

But then I found my way here and discovered a whole new world of new music on the internet that didn't suck (well, some of it still does). And now I don't think that I could live without new music. I get by for a few months at a time, but eventually I get bored and I'm just dying to find that new gem.

There's nothing like the excitement of removing the cellophane from a brand new CD and popping it into the player for that first, anticipated, spin.

[Stone]

CSS - Cansei de ser Sexy 2006).

My interest is piqued about this one from the little I've read about it. Is it a dance/electronica thing, or something else?

[nobody]

electro dance rock kinda stuff what I've heard...pretty good actually...i'd like to hear more

[Davey]

Not so much anymore, but it does come and go. In kind of a rediscovery phase for the past coupla years as evidenced by my recent post about Manitoba and Bark Psychosis, but still discovering some new stuff along the way. Doesn't seem like I've hardly bought anything this year, but I just looked at my list and it still shows about 10 used and 13 new this year, so not quite the slacker I thought. Still, quite a bit below the pace of a few years ago

[Swish]

If you had asked me that question before I found this place, I probably would have answered "yes". But that was because the music I listened to was primarily prog and classic rock and most everything sucked.

But then I found my way here and discovered a whole new world of new music from Swish that was awesome and I could not live without. I get by for a few months at a time, but eventually I get bored and I'm just dying to find a new gem from Swish.

Well said.

Swish

[ForeverAutumn]

But then I found my way here and discovered a whole new world of new music from Swish that was awesome and I could not live without. I get by for a few months at a time, but eventually I get bored and I'm just dying to find a new gem from Swish.

Well said.

Swish

I'm gonna take the fun out of this for you by agreeing with you. You have been responsible for introducing me to several bands that are now staples in my listening diet. The Shins, The Honeydogs, and Ray LaMontagne are three that immediately come to mind.

But what have you done for me lately?

[audiobill]

My interest is piqued about this one from the little I've read about it. Is it a dance/electronica thing, or something else?

electro dance rock kinda stuff what I've heard...pretty good actually...i'd like to hear more - What Nobody said.

They also have a riot girrrl thing happening. Love it!! I defy anyone to try not to move when CSS is playing -- completely toe tapping fun.

[Rock&Roll Ninja]

There is enough material already released that you could probably listen to something new every day for the rest of your life if the entire music-recording industry shut down tomorrow.

You probably wont be a big fan of most of it, but there is alot out there.

[Woochifer]

Very intriguing question! My immediate reaction is no, because I've always tried to keep an ear out for new and interesting music. Considering how many of my friends have one by one narrowed down the scope of their music horizons into a generational jukebox where the music they listen to is in a perpetual time warp of their teenage years, I've been trying to avoid falling into that trap. To me, there's nothing sadder than listening to the same Beatles albums over and over, while griping about how the old music is better than the new music when someone hasn't tried anything profoundly new in decades.

But, considering how much new music is driven by the youth market, I'm increasingly distanced from that market. And it's not just the top 40 stuff, which I've not followed since I was in grade school.

Nowadays, the "new" music that I follow is within limited genres that have now been around for a while such as electronica and house music. The music itself is new, but the developmental lineage goes back a ways. So, even with a steady flow of new music coming out, there's a lot within these genres that I have yet to discover, and that catalog grows longer every year that these genres remain viable. I mean, I'm buying a lot of so-called nujazz, but it's basically an outgrowth of acid jazz, for which major gaps in my collection (and listening) still exist.

I think the big issue with music in general right now is that there's been nothing new to really turn the industry upside down in quite a while. Nothing on the scale of hip-hop and "alternative" going mainstream in the late-80s and early-90s. It's easier to "keep up" when the musical vocabulary has only been getting cosmetic touch ups as of late.

So, I guess that while my immediate answer was "no" I think that as the list of music that I need to go back to grows longer, and nothing that revolutionizes the musical landscape comes along, I might be more inclined to say "yes" at some point down the road.