Loads

whatever Pitchfork tells me.

seriously, i think i just keep my ear to the computer and sample mp3s then go buy the album if i dig it. i def. take recommendations for classic albums(stones, jimmy cliff, etc.) and diffrent styles of music that i should be checking out.

i never listen to anything at all: i believe this is called OBJECTIVITY

Because of the sheer quantity, these days I have to be absolutely ruthless in what I choose to listen to. I tend now to only follow up on bands when I get a strong recommendation from a trusted source.

...or if they're being hyped by the NME so I can buy their "debut" single and sell it on eBay for 60 pounds a month later (The Music, The Coral etc)

It's actually a constant paranoia of mine that I'm *not* hearing the best music. It's that very paranoia that was responsible for me buying almost every "indie" single released for the last four years. Let me tell you, very very little of it was the best music.

I give myself to the record collections of trusted radio stations and club DJs. Or I am at the whim of whatever band happens to be coming through town. Speaking of which - Mission of Burma? Good?

My greatest filter is what's in the record shop. I don't have that much money and so I could never hope to get all the stuff that I'm interested in hearing. I just flick through the racks until I find something that jogs my memory and I remember hearing a track, reading a promising review or having something recommended to me. I've never been able to do the mail-order thing as I love the aforementioned selection, taking it up to the till in my sweaty hands and then home for either exultation or disappointment. Making a clinical decision and having the thing delivered to my door is just so dull.

I'm not, however, confident that I'm listening to the best music, and neither would I want to be. There's so much stuff out there to hear (one day I WILL explore Classical, Jazz and Soul). It's the hope of discovering my next musical epiphany that keeps me buying records.

Mission Of Burma = rather good

I'm never confident that I'm listening to the "best" music out there because most of the best music is probably not even being recorded, let alone distributed en masse. I do manage to listen to a bunch of stuff that I quite enjoy, though.

One problem with the question is the assumption that music is that easily pigeonholed into "best" and "worst". (I think there was another thread recently that delved into just that concept.) Besides, my tastes change depending on my mood, other events in my life and other external and internal factors that can't necessarily be quantified. Anyone who is confident that they're hearing the best music available is probably deluding themselves or approaching the answer to the question in a really solipsistic fashion. I can only answer this question: am I listening to music that I really enjoy, or am I feeling let down, and how can I improve this ratio?

Though I should put on the disclaimer that I'm pretty sure that's not what you meant by the question, Tom.

I listen to the charts and what ilm sez that strikes me. MoB = ASTOUNDING!

Tracer, do you EVEN have to ask? You nincompoop. Buy Vs. RIGHT NOW. Or, actually, I might be willing to part with my super-terrific Rykodisc compilation of MoB greatness.

I decide what to hear by what some indie-minded webstores (Insound, Aquarius) say & what some indie-minded websites (the 'Fork, the Splendid) have to report. Mailing lists (& this fine bastion of taste & discretion) also play a HUGE part.

That's a tough one. The way I did it not too long ago was I had a core group of bands that I really liked, and I then got anything similar or related to them. (I think it was Spacemen 3, David Bowie, VU, and John Zorn) From them I branched out for example: Bowie -> Neu -> Kraftwerk -> Stockhausen -> Varese. But as well I would be discovering new music from other ways such as taking recommendations, college radio, research. I generally try to not let reviews tell me what to get, because critics are often wrong. I also do not assume that any genre of music is bad. There can be great and bad music of any style. I also buy many things from dollar bins. Many of many favorite albums i've come across by mistake.

I think of it as a continuing journey moving deeper, and deeper in, and some of the best music I am yet to find. Some new music I get just completely knocks me down with how differently good it is from other stuff.

A. Nairn has given a wonderful answer I will claim as my own, though my own initial core of bands was very fragmented at the start (hurrah for a magpie musical childhood).

how confident are you that you're hearing the best music?

I'm happy. It's usually a good sign. :-)

Mission of Burma reunion shows = absolutely terrific. A couple of friends said that Saturday night's show was the best rock show they'd EVER seen. I wouldn't go quite that far, but I'll still totally wave the flag for them & encourage anyone who has the chance to see them in Boston or Camber Sands to do it.

Burma records--I'd say start with the _Signals, Calls & Marches_ reissue with that incredible "Academy Fight Song"/"Max Ernst" single appended.

I usually triangulate with Forced Exposure reviews (which are often just press releases), Aquarius reviews, Wire reviews, online word-of- mouth (the blogs, ILM, Pitchfork), and samplers. I guess that's more like hexagulate. Those vectors lead me to good purchases about 90% of the time.

Getting a fair number of free CDs probably makes popping open something new a bit less exciting than it once was (it can be overwhelming, how much is coming in), but if the music is good, then the thrill is as great as ever.

I enjoy record shopping most when I'm looking at used stuff. That acts as a nice filter, and there is the excitement from not knowing what I'll find & getting a bargain. Buying new I might as well do online.

I actually do get sad about all the great music I'm missing, and I'm not at all confident that I come across the best.

BTW, all 3 of the Rykodisc MoB reissues are available at reasonable prices via MoB.com. The EP Douglas recommends is the more accessible MoB, but Vs. has proven to be more rewarding in the long run (to these ears, at least). As if there's anything wrong w/ the EP.

As with Jim, I am sometimes fueled by paranoia. This paranoia is sated (vaguely) by asking folks (such as yourselves) for some pointers in areas I know jack about, along with various shopping sprees of "Imelda Marcos' shoe budget" proportions. There comes a point, though, when this paranoia exhausts you (or bankrupts you) (or spacially overwhelms you), and it becomes blatantly clear that there's little chance of hearing EVERYTHING that's "good". And that's OK.

My inability, at times, to clearly express why I like what I like, though, often makes me wonder if I'm listening to the right stuff. (This is a comment that'd probably be best sent to another thread, I think.)

Or to put it another way, how confident are you that you're hearing the best music?
No, otherwise I wouldn't be buying more records. But that doesn't make me unhappy. I enjoy listening to my old records, just as much as learning about new music. It used to be different though. Obsessed with finding the best out there. My decisions are not set in stone. So in the recordshop I mostly end up buying something random as well as things which are on my (mental) list.

I don't really notice the amount of records that are out there. Choice always seems pretty limited in the local shops. Am I hearing the best music? Don't know. I'm sure I'll always stumble across something that I really like, that opens new doors etc.

I generally buy stuff based on it being compared to what I like. But with Dance I'm always pretty lost, and though I go out enough and hear songs that I love, I never know what they are. That's something I've always meant to start a thread about, asking how people here on ILM know so much about dance. It's really the one hit wonders or remixes I'm talking about I suppose. Maybe you're all DJs or something.

I'm pretty confident I like what I'm hearing but maybe there's a whole world of music out there that I'd like and I'm missing. I try and ask ILM about things I think I'd like. But often, moreso before I found ILM, I get my fingers burnt by just buying something and it's not something I'd like.

So in summary, I don't know for sure, but I can only do my best.