Find new music!

You know how annoying it is when you listen to the radio and every day they play that same slightly out of date song, you know, the one that was popular 5-8 years ago, and it’s an OK song and maybe you liked it a lot when you first heard it, but now you’re thinking maybe it would be nice to hear some of your other favorite songs from that year, or some of that artist’s more popular work, but no, the radio station has only paid for the rights to play that song, and play it they will, over and over and over again until that song that used to make you tap your feet and belt out the chorus when you were alone in the car now makes you just want to tear your hair out.

That’s how I feel about a lot of songs that dancers perform to. I have a list of songs that I never want to see anyone dance to again. Adir Adirim by Balkan Beat Box. The Bassnectar remix of Beats Antique’s Roustabout. Natacha Atlas’s version of I Put a Spell on You. All of these songs are great on their own merit, and beautiful dances have been performed to them, and I’m sure that somewhere out there is a dancer that can do amazing new things with them that give the song new life, but as soon as I hear the opening notes of any of the songs on my list, I just shut down.

Then there’s the songs that I’m not completely fed up with, but that I still see being overused. Depending on my mood, I’ll either be happy to hear an old favorite and see what someone is doing with it, or I’ll be a little bored of it and the dancer will really have to work to get me excited. This category is full of older Beats Antique songs, all the Helm stuff that ATS troupes love to use, and those Egyptian songs that I don’t know the names of but seem to hear every time I go to an Egyptian-heavy show.

So anyway, what I’m saying is that we dancers really need to be better about actively looking for new music. I include myself in this. I’ve been dancing to the Kid Beyond version of Wandering Star for 2.5 years, after all. I’m in desperate need of something new to inspire me so I can bring fresh material to my upcoming shows. So here’s some of the ways that I like to find music:

1. Use Pandora or Songza. Pandora is nice because it gives you recommendations similar to what you already like, but sometimes it feels like my station basically just plays the Beats Antique and Niyaz songs I already have and doesn’t give me much new stuff. Songza has playlists curated by DJs, including lots of world music. I also heard that Google has a new music thingie, but what I heard about it didn’t impress me so I haven’t checked it out yet.

2. Have you ever purchased music on Amazon? If so, go have a look at their recommendations for you. The nice thing about living in the future is that you can easily listen to samples to get an idea of whether an album is something you might want to dance to. Also Amazon sometimes has music on sale for cheap, which is good when you’re on a budget, and so much of it is available digitally for that instant gratification.

3. Don’t forget to “like” all of your favorite bands on Facebook, because then you’ll know when their new albums come out and sometimes they’ll release songs for free as teasers, or have special remixes or other goodies available.

4. Get on the mailing list for bands you like and labels and stores that carry the sort of music that you like. It’s a good way to discover new bands within your preferred genres and to know when they’re having a big sale or when bands on their label are on tour in your area.

5. You know that one song you really like from that Bellydance Superstars compilation CD? Chances are that artist has entire albums of other songs you might also really like.

6. Go to live shows! Go see the bands you like, and chances are their opening act will also be something you’ll like. Go see bands you’ve never heard of who seem like they might be interesting. Go catch a DJ set at a local club. The more music you expose yourself to, the more likely it is you’ll hear something that inspires you.

7. Hear something you like in a class or workshop? Ask the teacher what it is, then go find something else by that artist or within that genre.

8. Ok, I’m just going to go ahead and say this: stop having music-sharing parties with your dance friends. Not only are you depriving the musicians of their money, but then everyone in your local community has all the exact same music, instead of everyone going out and buying something different, and then you all end up dancing to the same stuff all the time. Stop it! By all means, share recommendations, but that’s as far as it should go.

9. Recruit someone to help you. Do you have a friend with incredible musical taste? Tell them to let you know whenever they hear a cool new band or song. My husband listens to music all day while he works, and he’s always sending me something he thinks I might like to dance to. Some of it doesn’t work for me, and some of it becomes my new favorite thing that I dance to all the time. The nice thing about getting recommendations from someone else is that they probably listen to different genres than you do and lurk in different corners of the internet, so they’ll find things you never would have found. Just make sure that they won’t take it personally when you actually don’t like some of their ideas.

10. Occasionally go back through your old music. I think Mahin recommended this in a Daily Belly Dance Quickie? Anyway, sometimes music that made you go “meh” two years ago might suddenly jump out at you as amazing. Or you might find that you bought an album for one song you loved and then forgot to listen to the rest of it. I had Poison Berries on my iPod for years before one day realizing that it would be awesome to dress up as a faerie and dance to it.

This post is really long, so come back tomorrow for more opinions about music!