How do you decide on new music to buy?

1) Reviews in various publications
2) Browsing in local record store, where they allow you to listen before you buy

I would recommend you go to www.knba.org and stream the radio station. They play eclectic and amazing stuff below the "radar" of commercial schlock. They also feature David Dye's World Cafe which I would recommend to anybody checking out new artists. I have been introduced to some fabulous artists such as Patti Griffith, Eliza Glickenstyn, Willy Porter, Anders Osborne, and Greg Brown just to name a very few. They also played David Gray like four years ago before he exploded with "white ladder". Happy Listening

I use many of the techniques noted above, but the last several months, I've been exchanging "sampler" CDRs w/ other A'Gon members and have really come up with some great new artists-- well, new to me. These include Allison Moorer, Alison Krauss, and Jacintha. Other A'gon members have gottem me started on Shirley Horn, Diana Krall and some I can't think of.

I mostly HATE to read music reviews unless they are very specific about the type of music they are taliking about. So often, the reviewer gets into some kind of $(*)%#@*(^%$# deep rooted-emotional-psychoanalysis of the singer/group, and in general write for themselves or other reviewers in a manner that leaves me wondering what the hell they said, or even what type of music they are talking about. Sorry, pet peeve of mine. Craig.

Notice how no one mentions conventional radio. (Now, maybe instead of 'radio', we should just call it 'ClearChannel'.)

A decent number of my finds came from an AP 'best 100 albums of the 90s' article/thing, including My Bloody Valentine's fantastic 'Loveless'. And often I will note what some artist i already like enjoys.

Radio is definitely not the venue of choice - there is way too many ways to listen to music (new or familiar) without putting up with commercials.

I'm somewhat limited in that I have very few acquaintances who actually actively participate in music - hence, very little sharing of "finds". I do occassionally follow up on titles mentioned by reviewers and have found some good stuff that way.

One way I do NOT try out new music is the end-of-the-aisle highlight CD's with all the exciting description. Usually it's tied to a listening station, but I'd say that less than 10% of these highlighted CDs I've ever purchased have proven satisfactory.

I like the suggestion (and realize that I use it to an extent myself) of paying close attention to certain labels. This not only often leads to interesting new music, but often recording quality is somewhat consistent from one release to another. -Kirk