I've just "discovered" a new band for myself.  They're called Metric.(www.ilovemetric.com)  I know, I know.  I'm late.  I'm always late.  You say you've been reading about them in the weeklies and indie rags for months.  Well, before I elucidate on the problem at hand, let me first extol their virtues:  Really great songs.  Great vocalist.  Really great lyrics (check out I.O.U.).  Great musicianship and sounds.  It sounds like new music to me. [organic electronic music?-ed.]  I haven't heard anything quite like it.  If I was really pressed and had to draw comparisons to explain to someone who hadn't heard them before, I might say:  "They sound like Blondie's band and Kid A with a sassy Sarah Harmer singing lyrics she read from Leonard Cohen with 3D glasses on ... "... but I digress.   Notice I'm only talking about music here.  I don't know what they look like.  I don't know whether their "look" fits into my active lifestyle, whether it matches the clothes I wear or the people I hang out with.  I've only heard the music and I love it.

 

... which brings us to the problem I spoke of before:  Who do you trust to turn you onto great new music?  The reason I was late turning onto them is that I kept hearing how great they were through sources I don't trust.  Sources like the fashion magazines (NOW in Toronto et al), and other sources that tend to favour fashion-sense and correct political positioning over anything to do with music.  This is a big problem.  All I read about was how sexy the lead singer is!!  I purposely avoid bands I hear about through those sources because 99 times out of 100 it's terrible music.  Luckily I happened to hear them on a commercial radio station while I was in my automobile ...  which brings me to my next point:  commercial radio: same story only from a different angle right?  99 times out of a 100 it's terrible music- it's just you get to hear how terrible it is in real time.   

So where do you go for great new music?  Well I was hoping someone would tell me.  I have this theory y'know ... here goes...bear with me here:  The 1950s and early 60s was the era of the hit single in rock music right? AM Radio.  As the 60s wore on, music became increasingly corporate as big business came to understand that there was money to be made and therefore radio playlists shrunk, and music as a whole suffered.  The natural of course of things was that new technology brought us FM Radio and that became the wild west ... anything goes right?  The early days of FM brought us "Album Oriented Rock" like all the big 70s rock favourites: Pink Floyd, Zeppelin, Bowie etc. ... Now whether or not you like that music, you must concede that overall this was good for music. The restraints of the "hit single" came off, and the biggest bands in the world were now bands that didn't even release singles--artistically they weren't beholden to release a song that was under 3 minutes long and that was peppy and upbeat.  Now I was just a kid in this heyday, but I'm lead to believe that in this era people trusted some FM disc jockeys to turn them onto the hottest new shit out there ... stuff that wasn't getting the big corporate push on AM radio. So my theory goes that this is the point that we're at NOW right?   

We're coming out of an era where corporate music rules most media and playlists are tiny and if you wanna find great new music you gotta find it yourself, but you must be careful 'cause the indie mags and weeklies are just as bad, if not worse than the big corporate outlets.  They're just pushing different shit for different target markets right? ...and the worst part about print is that you can't actually hear the music. 

So where does that leave us? Internet Radio.  Should it not be the FM radio of the 2000s?  I'm thinking there should be people popping up all over the place with great taste to turn my ass onto the great new music that they seek out.  I'm thinking big and small here:  some guy down the street with a snazzy computer and great taste who creates his own playlist from his own CD collection; some collective of tech-heads who run a slick site from their stash of mp3s ... all the way up the chain ...  Is this happening?  I thought it was, but whenever I ask someone, music lovers included, they just stare at me blankly.  Is this not going on?

Anyway, if you got through all that, I sincerely thank you for your patronage.  All I ask is that those among you who've got some internet radio portal that you go to for great new music, to please let me know.  I need to hear some.

"Old world underground, where are you now?" ~Metric

rob