by Kai Stromler » Mon Jun 23, 2003 7:55 am
The easiest and best way to learn about good new bands is to go to shows and take whatever they're giving away free at the distro tables. Buy the band's CD if you don't have it, but also nab a labelsampler if they've got 'em. Good CD stores occasionally give such comps away for free; when not, they're often extremely well-priced, like USD 6 for 74 minutes from 15-20 bands.
Another way to go is to hang out on discussion boards for the kind of music you listen to (Blabbermouth for metalheads, don't know where less ferior people go, but most labels have forums these days) and try out whatever people on there are talking up. If you've got a band in your area that's damn good, give back and talk 'em up.
Related is the print option: read zines and webzines and check out the interviews, reviews, and gig reports. Strike up conversations with other fans at live shows, especially if you've only heard a little about the band whose shirt they're wearing.
Most areas have a college radio station or two that plays obscure music; many of them publish their playlists on their websites, so you can go find what the band or song was that you liked, since the DJs don't talk a lot.
If all else fails, mail Tom The Fish and ask him which bands it's criminal that you're not listening to. He's a cool guy, and he 0wnzors us ALL at indier-than-thou.
And, rebutting Sarah's last point, there's a lot to be said for using music from unheard-of bands in AMV. You've got a tabula rasa with respect to your audience; nobody is taking in any preconceptions about the music, so you can shape the ideas in your video however you want. Much like using anime that other people haven't seen.
And because Flint namedropped me, here's 30 bands that you're WRONG for not listening to yet, in completely random order:
Type O Negative (mentioned, but gotta be mentioned again because _Life Is Killing Me_ is gonna be on the short list for Album of the Year)
Borknagar (post-viking post-black epic metal from Norway)
Red House Painters (depressive rock music)
Opeth (plays their instruments 10x better than your favorite band and sounds 10x less pretentious)
Arcana XXII (the best metal band in Namibia, maybe in all of Africa)
Darkest Hour (Swedish-death-influenced hardcore, on Victory)
Haste (_The Mercury Lift_ comes out 7/1. You WILL camp your record store.)
Abigail (total necro Japanese blackthrash)
Agalloch ("oak metal" where "oak metal"=="simply incredible music")
Xentrix (old British thrash -- get out the shovels, it's worth it)
Forest Stream (amazing Russian black/doom metal band)
Atoll Nerat (amazing Russian black/doom metal band)
God's Tower (amazing Russian black/doom metal band)
Rakoth (amazing Russian black/doom metal band)
Butterfly Temple (amazing Russian black/doom metal band)
Ravage (E-Mass local band; the singer probably has a good shot at the vocal slot in Iced Earth)
Cephalic Carnage (mathcore to the TOTAL EXTREME)
Death (if I keep saying GENIUS GENIUS GENIUS eventually someone will listen)
Black Hole (the biggest metal band in Korea. Not hard, but they still rock huge)
Cynic (the day they broke up was a bad day for extreme music -- death metal + jazz = mastery)
Enslaved (post-viking noise metal, too bad they're on a digital-rights-manglement label)
Sigh (Japanese masters of the bizarre)
Finntroll (everyone's favorite polka metal act)
Meridian (Swiss electro-black metal, like Emperor gone insane)
the Blacklight Braille (collaborative neo-improvisational '60s-style jam rock with medieval shadings)
the Thrones (one man, one console, one bass, no peers)
Arch Enemy (Angela Gossow looks like a supermodel and sings like Chris [Cannibal Corpse] Barnes. What's not to love?)
Bethlehem (perpetually overlooked German gothic black metallers)
Rahowa (yeah, their politics are the very definition of stupid, and their early material is even worse than the average skin band, but _Cult of the Holy War_ is just incredible. The ONLY WP album you should ever forgive someone for owning.)
Dark Tranquillity (if you don't own _Damage Done_, guess what? YOU'RE STILL WRONG!)
I could go on, but hey, you get the idea already.
--K