For those who love finding new music but often have no idea where to begin to find stuff they like, check out Vinyl Garden’s tips for stumbling across your new fave artists and tracks. You might even earn some indie cred along the way by staying ahead of the punches.

1. Start with Spotify or Pandora

As a general rule, I like to think of Spotify as the ultimate resource if you know exactly who you want to listen to, whereas Pandora is best if you know what style or genre you want to go for but want to stumble across new artists. That said, Spotify also has some excellent playlists you can follow by genre, mood, or music influencers, so you can certainly stumble across new music if you look in the right places. But if you can’t decide… why not have both?

2. Use Hype Machine

Connect through Facebook to Hype Machine or create your own account, and discover amazing new music as it’s released, and through what’s trending. If like me you love discovering local Australian music, you can set your feed to what’s being blogged in Australia for all the local updates (hopefully one day you’ll see Vinyl Garden in there!). Another tip I highly recommend is becoming HypeM friends with people you know have very similar music taste to you – you’ll get all the songs they’ve ‘loved’ in your feed, and they might pleasantly surprise you sometimes!

3. Check in regularly with your favourite music blogs

Ok so maybe this was just shameless self-promotion, but once you find a music blog you really like it is worth connecting on Facebook and checking in from time to time…there will always be some hidden gems that you might have missed! Plus it’s kinda like keeping in touch with an old beloved friend…right? Check out some suggestions from us.

4. Find a radio station you love, listen often

It may seem the most obvious tip, but the key really is listening often. In Sydney, my personal favourite stations are Triple J and FBi Radio. I find that once I get into the habit of listening to them, it really keeps me up to date with what is popular currently and I can filter through what I like and don’t like. Plus, it gives you something to do getting ready in the morning or on the drive to work!

5. Always, always watch the support act at gigs 

I cannot recommend this enough. Since I started reviewing gigs for The BRAG, I started going to support acts as a courtesy for the review, but have now started doing it as a favour to myself. Why? Because support acts are usually supporting the band you love for a reason – they’re bloody good. And even if they’re not your cup of tea, you’re exposing yourself to something new and different. Plus, do you know how much indie cred you get when you meet bands BEFORE they get big? A lot. It’s a lot.

That’s it! If you do all of these, you’ll be a music gun in no time. Comment below if you have any more you think I’ve missed!

By Erin Rooney

PS: Thought I’d leave you with my weekly listening. I can’t get enough of Sufjan Stevens‘ new album Carrie & Lowell – it’s about his estranged mother who recently passed away, including things he wished he’d told her and memories. I’ve been loving storytelling albums like this one (such as the new album from Gang of Youths). Please enjoy my favourite song off the album, “Dying With Dignity”: