The Struggle To Find Good New Music

Why has it become so hard to find good new music recently?

I don’t want to be one of those middle-aged blokes who drone on about how music was better in my day – just 2-3 years ago there was plenty of music to excite me. Why am I unable to find good new music now?

It’s not for the lack of effort.

On an average week I guess I consume 100+ tracks that I’ve never listened to before on YouTube (mostly). These are found mostly from combing DJ set lists, a few radio shows by the likes of Hessle Audio – DJs that I know to play more edgy stuff, and then some looking at tracks by artists who’s other tracks I’ve liked, or sometimes looking at other tracks on a record label where I’ve liked a track.

Yet I’m getting diminishing returns – especially on newly released music. And there are decreasing amounts of older gems I’m still to discover.

I don’t use Spotify or rely on algorithms, so it isn’t that to blame.

Is It The Music’s Fault?

Have producers stopped making good music? Probably not, but if you listen to some of the crap that Mixmag, Resident Advisor or other taste makers promote, then you might wonder this. Especially if you are a middle-aged bloke.

Is there too much music being produced nowadays? Almost certainly with circa 40m tracks uploaded to streaming services in 2023, but surely the really good music would still be found? Good music should still rise to the top.

Is it because there is little money in selling music – so if you are a producer you might as well put all your effort into DJing/live shows? Possibly.

Have music producers just run out of new ways to combine basslines, beats and melodies to excite me? Very possibly. For example, ro-minimal has kind of been done to death, and was proven so a few years ago when they were doing edits of Sugababes, Madonna or whatever.

Offbeat techno had a moment of being super exciting a couple of years ago, but there isn’t much new being released that has taken me in the last year or so.

Techno itself has got harder over the last year, but not necessarily more enjoyable in a track basis. At least not to me.

Is It The Me’s Fault?

Perhaps it is me.

Maybe it’s not even bad that I’ve run out of new things to listen to, as there is so much old music I love, and so much to re-discover – even if I feel like I’ve also run out of old music to newly discover.

Maybe I’ve heard it all.

I’ve had all the new genres during my life – acid house, jungle, trance, techno, dubstep, all the many creative off-shoots of house/techno such as tech-house, minimal techno, etc.

Maybe there is simply nothing new that will ever excite me. Is this something in our brains? As we get older we are less receptive to new ideas? Sounds like a thing, and maybe it has caught me up…but on the flip side what are these new ideas I’m missing?

So I’m not sure that is true either.

What Is The Answer?

I don’t know what the answer is, but it is a thing – I am discovering far less music that excites me.

It could even be because I don’t go clubbing any more, and therefore I don’t get teased with music I won’t find out the name of for months.

I think there was only one track released in 2023 that I added to my Discogs wishlist. Yeah, a remix by Ricardo Villalobos. A 40 minute remix.

But otherwise everything I discovered and loved last year, was from an earlier year – if not an earlier decade. And that was much less than previous years.

If you know why I cannot find good music, send your answer on a tatty vinyl sleeve.