[dpatters]

I’ve been in this hobby for over 40 years. The choices in equipment from high end to budget have never been greater. If you can’t find new and innovative music in this digital era. Shame on you.

[rollo]

The article is seven years old.

There hasn’t been a better time in history to get your hifi fix in all budget ranges. Elac, Kef Wireless, Kii. All evolving to meet the needs of the younger generation. It’s not over yet!

   Geez in the past seven years I have not seen a decline in attendance at Audio Shows. It was the economy [7] years ago when no one had extra money. Until the Pandemic Audio sales were up.


charles

[WGH]

If you can’t find new and innovative music in this digital era. Shame on you.

This is a golden age for exciting, challenging and fun new music.

I have been listening to KXCI Community Radio since November 22, 1983. The station began with a three-week soundscape called the 'Big Broadcast'. This was a journey in sound from earth's creation (ocean waves for a week) through the first forms of life, to primitive music, to the present with just about all the genres, ending on December 5 with a live concert at the studios. The 'Big Broadcast' served two purposes: the engineers needed 3 weeks to adjust and test the transmitters and it was an organic evolution into a new advanced radio life form. Real DJ's playing real music, each show has personality and is unique, 24 hours a day. And no commercials!

They are the last DJ's, they play what they want to play.

Look at playlists, listen to entire music mix shows anytime, explore, stream live. Find your favorites. A million times better than Tidal to discover new artists.

https://kxci.org/

This Tuesday Morning Music Mix was excellent, next Tuesday will be completely different.

Mavis Staples All In It Together
All In It Together - Single Anti/Epitaph 2020

10:03 AM   
Pixies - La La Love You
Doolittle 4AD 1989

10:06 AM   
The Rolling Stones - Mother's Little Helper
Aftermath (UK) ABKCO Music & Records, Inc. 2013

10:09 AM   
Karen O & Danger Mouse - Turn the Light
Lux Prima BMG Rights Management (US) LLC 2018

10:12 AM   
Patti Smith - Smells Like Teen Spirit
Outside Society (Remastered) Arista/Legacy 2011

10:20 AM   
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Bike Lane
Sparkle Hard Matador 2018

10:23 AM   
U2 - Like a Song...
War UMC (Universal Music Catalogue) 2008

10:28 AM   
R.E.M. - Crush with Eyeliner
Monster Concord Records 2014

10:34 AM   
Mikey King - Full Moon over the Razor Wire
Return from Overwhelm Art Attack 2020

10:42 AM   
Bob Marley & The Wailers - 400 Years
Catch a Fire Universal-Island Records Ltd. 2001

10:45 AM   
Desert Sessions - If You Run
Vols. 11 & 12 Matador 2019

10:49 AM   
The Messthetics - Better Wings
Anthropocosmic Nest Dischord Records 2019

10:54 AM   
Jimmy Cliff - Guns of Brixton
The KCRW Session (Live) Jimmy Cliff - Rebirth(KCRW) 2013

10:56 AM   
PJ Harvey - Victory
Dry Too Pure 1992

11:01 AM   
Alejandro Escovedo - Castanets
A Man Under the Influence Bloodshot Records 2001

11:04 AM   
Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals - Shine
Call It What It Is Stax 2016

11:08 AM   
Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros - Johnny Appleseed
Global a Go-Go BMG Rights Management (US) LLC 2001

11:12 AM   
Pretenders - My City Was Gone
Learning to Crawl Rhino/Warner Records 1984

11:18 AM   
The Psychedelic Furs - Love My Way
Forever Now Columbia 1984

11:21 AM   
Earth, Wind & Fire - That's the Way of the World
That's the Way of the World Columbia 1975

11:29 AM   
The War On Drugs - Under the Pressure
Lost in the Dream Secretly Canadian 2014

11:35 AM   
Spoon - Believing Is Art
Girls Can Tell Merge Records 2001

11:39 AM   
John Lee Hooker - The Motor City Is Burning
The Best of John Lee Hooker 1965 to 1974 Geffen* 1992

11:42 AM   
Los Salvajes - Todo Negro (Paint It, Black)
Los Salvajes Soundbox 2017

11:47 AM   
The Jam - That's Entertainment
Snap Polydor Records 2006

11:50 AM   
Future Islands - Shadows (feat. Debbie Harry)
The Far Field 4AD 2017

Too tame? Click on "Music' on the main page and check out 'Search and Rescue' on Saturdays 4:00am - 6:00am, you can listen to past shows anytime.

KXCI also has a couple of all vinyl shows - explore and have fun!

[dB Cooper]

FYI: don't ever trust media's opinion on things. They have agendas behind it. I lost count on how many "this food is good"/"this food is bad" or "this car is good"/"this car is bad" or "this city is good"/"this city is bad" articles I see on a daily basis.

I don't believe for a second that this guy has ever been to an audio shop

Of course he hasn't, because, for the most part, there aren't any for him to to go to. There used to be about five or six in my hometown, and the owner of one of the two remaining ones (two if you expand your search radius to a half hour drive) told me that he couldn't survive off two channel audio; it's HT that keeps the wolves away and a sizable portion of that market only wants the explosions to sound cool. The point of the article is that the entry point to the hobby- the 'dorm system' that gets people interested in their youth- basically doesn't exist anymore, and the fact that there are a few thousand old men (many of whom did get their start that way) willing to come to a show with the willingness to consider spending the cost of a BMW on a system doesn't mean there's an abundance of new listeners to sustain the market. The shows exist because there is almost no other way to see, hear, and touch the equipment. His point is that young people aren't interested in high-quality audio, which agrees with my own observations. If that sounds like a recipe for a robust future to you, I guess I would say Okaaaaay...

[dB Cooper]

I’ve been in this hobby for over 40 years. The choices in equipment from high end to budget have never been greater.

Well, where is it then?!? You certainly won't find it at audio shows. There was one exhibitor at the last CAF show I attended, Tenacious Sound, that was listed as having a $3200 system and a $5k system. I went to that room on several occasions over the weekend. On none of those occasions were the advertised budget systems connected and playing. The rest of the show was the usual $60K rooms (my calculation of the mean value of the system prices, not including the cabling which added several $K in many rooms). I know people in the age group the article talks about who are interested in audio, and I have gotten them to come to shows- but not to come back.The 'sticker shock' is just way too severe, and there is no budget gear at the shows, and  as I said before, almost no retail presence for quality audioeither.

If you can’t find new and innovative music in this digital era. Shame on you.

I actually agree with this statement, but music is a completely different conversation. Tidal's and Apple's home pages show you what their target hipster demographic listens to, not suggestions based on your listening history (Apple's is actually OK; Tidal's is not listener-responsive at all.) It's there but requires you to drill down further manually. That's not hard but how about not making me wade through an entire page of hip hop or pop to get there?

These days my ways to discover new music are mainly (in no particular order) :

• The Audiophile' stations out of Greece (Audiophile Jazz, Audiophile Classical etc) 320K mp3 which is tolerable. What I find there I save in Tidal if I want to revisit it with lossless SQ.
• The 'What Jazz Album...' thread right here on AC;
• Apple Radio (as with the 'Audiophile' stations mentioned, there is something of an SQ hit, but WTF
• The Idagio lossless classical service has very good curation and recommendations

I used to find new music at the friendly neighborhood record shop from employees that knew me and what I liked  but those are all gone too

[dpatters]

Well, where is it then?!? You certainly won't find it at audio shows. There was one exhibitor at the last CAF show I attended, Tenacious Sound, that was listed as having a $3200 system and a $5k system. I went to that room on several occasions over the weekend. On none of those occasions were the advertised budget systems connected and playing. The rest of the show was the usual $60K rooms (my calculation of the mean value of the system prices, not including the cabling which added several $K in many rooms). I know people in the age group the article talks about who are interested in audio, and I have gotten them to come to shows- but not to come back.The 'sticker shock' is just way too severe, and there is no budget gear at the shows, and  as I said before, almost no retail presence for quality audioeither.

Pick up a Music Direct catalog. How about PS Audio Sprout and some Elac speakers for example. Stream through phone or tablet less than 1k.

[Letitroll98]

I don't think hi end audio is dying so much as changing radically.  The change centers on internet availability.  Brick and mortar as well as audio shows are stuck searching for a few millionaires looking for impressive home theater installations.  Everyone else is buying from Amazon.  Record labels aren't selling physical media, Pandora and Spotify for the masses and Tidal, Qobuz for audiophiles dominate music releases.  I doubt the actual numbers of audiophiles are changing, just where you find them is.

[WGH]

I doubt the actual numbers of audiophiles are changing, just where you find them is.

If you define audiophiles as people who love music instead of owning a lot of expensive stuff then AVS Forum has millions of audiophiles.

The Klipsch owners thread has 3,934,425 views,
Paradigm - 3,794,628 views,
B&W - 3,108,132 views
Dynaudio - 4,384,121 views
Energy - 4,517,658 views
etc.

[Elizabeth]

Yes, three people visited those forums on average 1.5 million times each... 

[WGH]

Yes, three people visited those forums on average 1.5 million times each... 

 

[Douger]

Why would anyone give CNN credit for knowing anything about anything??...

[rcag_ils]

You're all missing the point, it's not the equipment, it's the music. I grew up in the 60's/70's, and I quit buying LPs/CDs  in the mid 80's when the music all went to shit. There was absolutely no new good band through the 90's, 2000's, 2010's. Can anyone name 10 new good band from today that are worth listening to? With today's so-called music, we don't need high-end system to play that shit, just an IPhone will do. When our generation dies off, the small remaining high-end audio market will be no more.

PS. there are always a few young odd balls try to tell you how much they like classic rock and they've been listening to them since they were kids because their parents or grandparents listened to them, but it's not the same, they've never lived it.

[jseymour]

I agree that the best music (overall) was before the mid 80’s, but if one stopped there you missed (in no order) Blur, Khruangbin, Nada Surf, M83, The New Pornographers, The Beths, Black Keys, Thee Oh Sees, Sloan, Tragically Hip just to give you 10.  I can add more. Sorry, but if you truly love music you don't stop listening to new music.  Yes, the returns are less than they used to be, but the wins are still there.  LIsten to the latest Beths or Khruangbin.

[rcag_ils]

Jseymour, I love music and I stopped where I stopped. The 10 that you mentioned, I've never heard of them, I don't care to, I don't know what they play, and I don't think I miss much.

[sebrof]

Jseymour, I love music and I stopped where I stopped. The 10 that you mentioned, I've never heard of them, I don't care to, I don't know what they play, and I don't think I miss much.

Well....maybe you wouldn't say there's no good new music if you listened to some new music
Even if new music doesn't float your boat there is soooo much existing music that is flat out fantastic it ain't funny. No way to explore it all but streaming services do a pretty good job of expanding by playing similar music to what you request (and many have free versions).
My Opinion - If someone says they've heard all the good music there is to hear they just ain't trying.

FWIW I've only heard of a couple he's mentioned.

[Saturn94]

Well....maybe you wouldn't say there's no good new music if you listened to some new music
Even if new music doesn't float your boat there is soooo much existing music that is flat out fantastic it ain't funny. No way to explore it all but streaming services do a pretty good job of expanding by playing similar music to what you request (and many have free versions).
My Opinion - If someone says they've heard all the good music there is to hear they just ain't trying.

FWIW I've only heard of a couple he's mentioned.

+1 

[Tyson]

+1 

+2

[charmerci]

I agree that the best music (overall) was before the mid 80’s, but if one stopped there you missed (in no order) Blur, Khruangbin, Nada Surf, M83, The New Pornographers, The Beths, Black Keys, Thee Oh Sees, Sloan, Tragically Hip just to give you 10.

Listened to some. Blur - too much repetitive bass lines and drums, Khruangbin - pretty good, about half of the five songs are pretty good - some potential there. Nada Surf and M83, it's OK but nothing special. The Beths - nah. Banal.

I listen to more of those suggestions later.
Something really happened in the 80's - overall the quality of the popular music just went down. Almost all my "new" music is discovering album tracks of the music before 1980, more or less.

[Jon L]

What I've learned over the years is to leave alone someone's political views and musical tastes.

Shot of what I'm listening to now...


Playlist1 by drjlo2, on Flickr

[WGH]

I've never heard of them, I don't care to, I don't know what they play, and I don't think I miss much.

What are your favorite bands? Somehow you have forgotten that at one time in your life you never heard of them either. What happened? When did you get old, cranky and set in your ways?

You want new but familiar music? There is plenty to choose from. Thanks Jon L

And I would add that most of these are demo quality.

Lana Del Ray
Dead Can Dance
Chip Taylor
David Crosby - Hear If You Listen
Bruce Cockburn - Crowing Ignites
Cat Power - Wanderer
Anthony Wilson - Songs and Photographs
Bruce Springsteen - Western Stars
Aoife O'Donovan - Fossils
Neil Young - Homegrown
Laura Marling
Lucinda Williams - Good Souls Better Angels
Kate Havnevik - Melankton
John Moreland - LP5
J.J. Cale - Stay Around
Jenny Lewis - On the Line
Sarah Jarosz
Sara Watkins
Thievery Corporation
Ry Cooder - The Prodigal Son
Yello
The War on Drugs
Rory Block - A Women's Soul, a Tribute to Bessie Smith
The Rides - Pierced Arrow
Van Morrison - Three Chords and the Truth
Sara Bareilles
Rosanne Cash
Bill Frisell - Epistrophy
Doug MacLeod - Break the Chain
Daft Punk
Lake Street Dive
Melody Gardot
Rose City Band - Summerlong