Noo Moozik?

I bought the NME (the New Musical Express for the long-handed) for the first time in, maybe, a decade or so, a few weeks ago because it boasted a tribute article about Poly Styrene on the front page. I read the article and put it to one side. On Sunday I thought I may as well look at the rest of the magazine so I leafed through it. I soon realised that I hadn't heard of about 80% of the bands and artists named. I thought I was reasonably up to date but clearly I'm not. I'm now an old fogey and part of the eNeME (as the Pistols sang).

It made me think about how people keep up to date with new music - how do you discover new music?

For me, new music has always been a bit random - hear something on the radio or in a shop or site and think, 'interesting', then track down more. Or maybe enjoy the support acts from gigs - that's how I discovered Blood Red Shoes, Theoretical Girl, Art Brut and Comanechi. I found Sandi Thom from a random search that likened her voice to Buffy Sainte-Marie so I had to listen and then liked. Similarly, I found Alela Diane from a Buffy search that led to Marie Sioux and from Marie to Alela (who are friends). I then went to see Alela at a small club in Kilburn at which I bought the first album and then became a fan. My love for Operator Please comes from accidentally seeing a video of 'Just A Song About Ping Pong' but I can't remember why I watched it. I saw Laura Marling on 'Later... with Jools' before her first album and have followed her ever since. I found the magnificent Dresden Dolls and Amanda Palmer at the Patti Smith curated 'Meltdown' festival on the South Bank.

My latest discovery is Two Door Cinema Club. OK, I may be behind the times since they've received over 14.6 MILLION listens on Last.FM. How can they be that popular and yet I'd never heard of them until Sunday when I found the intriguing name in NME and googled them? Give 'em a listen...