Mcbaise — and discovering new music

[Stephen Fortner]

A good friend's almost-16-year-old turned him on to this and he passed it along to me. Steely Dan meets vaporwave. French artist plays nearly all the instruments AND does the animations as in this video. (NSFW because animated nudity but also animated synths. Turn on the subtitles.) I dig it and I hope you do to. His entire catalog is worth checking out.

 

 

More broadly, it makes me think about discovering new music as I get older. Mcbaise, for example, is right up my alley, the kind of thing I find incredibly hip. I would not know about it if it weren’t for a 16-year-old. (Admittedly this guy is special. He discovered Vulfpeck on his own at, like, ten.) It’s proof that there’s really cool stuff out there and that no, not all current music in the pop landscape sucks. But how do you find it without having the immersion of a young music enthusiast who goes to shows all the time?

 

I’m lucky to still get a lot of press releases and be in touch with publicists. The “similar artists” and “if you like this you might like that” algorithms of streaming platforms are OK. If something is on an indie label I might check out other artists on that label. (Mcbaise is part of a stable of artists called Dirty Melody and it's all pretty cool.) I still listen to my local college radio station. But unless something really makes waves in the muso community (e.g. Snarky Puppy) I’m liable to miss it. That’s a shame, because I feel so much joy when I discover something new and cool.

 

How do you discover new music that you like?

[marino]

Ha ha, thanks, very cool and fun - a great way to start the day (it's early morning here). The music is not 100% my cup of tea, but it's very well done, and the video is so amusing in a cool way.

About coming to know new music, I sometimes ask my students about what they are listening to; if I count the collective classes, I have almost 200 students. 85% of the time, I don't like the music that they suggest... but that's another story. Sometimes, I make nice discoveries. 😉

[Joe P]

Very cool!  Now I'm hankering for raviolis...🙂  Thanks for posting Stephen.

[allan_evett]

There's something very satisfying about experiencing this, reminiscent of when I was introduced to "The Point", by Harry Nilsson. 

 

Carlo, I also ask my students about new music.  That's been very helpful for making discoveries as well.