Crate digging, a how to guide!

[keithace]

is listening to live sets and podcasts considered digging?

i do alot of it, my ipod always has fresh sets and i make notes of records i like at certain times, find the tracklist and trackdown the track...

[guiltyblade]

is listening to live sets and podcasts considered digging?

i do alot of it, my ipod always has fresh sets and i make notes of records i like at certain times, find the tracklist and trackdown the track...

I absolutely think it is. I download podcast from artist I like, I like to sets from artist that put them up on soundcloud, and I listen to stuff on Sirius. I then go to the sites and figure out the track if not named, or take a picture on my sirius or whatever. I am always ready to write a track down on my phone to remember it.

[djproben]

Listening to the radio is digging now? Pardon me while I go smash my head in with a technics 1200....

[mostapha]

Yeah…part of me thinks that's absolutely ridiculous if it's intentional. I listen to a lot of sets, but it's because I honestly like music and dig the DJ's vibe/taste. If a track sticks out enough, I track it down. But it's not my go-to "how I get tracks."

Now…if I hear someone new or a set is really awesome, I'll discogs everything from it I can find…see if I end up discovering a new label(s)/genre(s)/artist(s)/store(s)/etc. out of it. But the goal is always more of "where can I get stuff that hits people like this hit me" and less "where can I get the tracks to play this exact set."

[photojojo]

I don't have the time to listen to very many mixes because I'm usually digging on a store. If that's how you find tracks though then that's how you dig. Just because I don't do it that way doesn't mean I don't think it's not valid form of finding music.

[keithace]

Listening to the radio is digging now? Pardon me while I go smash my head in with a technics 1200....

not really the radio...my ipod...i load it with live current sets and podcast of producers i like...for example...Shur I Kan has a great podcast...he tells you the names of all the records that he is playing...that's not an okay form of finding new music?

(i'm as old as you Ben...and i come from the school of digging for records on melrose and vinyl fetish over on vermont)

i have no problem listening to Digweed's transitions radio and hearing a track i like, finding it, decide if i like it enough, and then buying it...do i want to sound like Digweed? maybe when i started years and years ago...but no...i'd like to think i have my own sound...

[keithace]

(i also dig for records like a motherfucker on my own...PJJ can atest to this...i dont use sets and podcasts as a main form of finding tracks)

[djproben]

Hehehe ok keithace you can stay on my lawn

Honestly I don't have any problem with how anyone finds music - I dig podcasts too, and I listen to mixes to discover things, as well as read blogs, and I spend hours pointing and clicking myself through beatport, emusic, etc. just like everyone else here. I'm just lamenting what's lost in the experience of going through stacks of old records in the basement of a dusty record shop. It's not for everyone, I guess -- my friends think I'm crazy that whenever I visit another city I feel the need to spend a few hours in the local record stores instead of sightseeing or whatever -- but to me it's a totally different experience than online shopping or research. In fact, digging through record stores is probably not the best way to find new music just from a practical perspective -- it's inefficient, stores are notoriously disorganized, it's far more expensive and you come out with less music (and a lot more bulk) than you do online. It also takes longer and you get dirtier doing it. But that's kind of the point; it's a whole physical experience; whenever I'm in a record store for more than a half hour or so I feel like I'm in another world. It's not just looking for a phat beat; there's a story in every record, in every cover, in every weird organizational decision by the store owner. And of course the thrill of finding some gem that got misfiled or just forgotten in the wrong bin is something you can't replicate online. Or of uncovering a pile of "holy shit!" beneath a pile of "not this again." I recently ran across a stack of *unplayed* James Brown 45s in perfect shape from the early 1970s. They weren't under "James Brown" and they weren't even in "Soul," "Funk" or whatever. They were at the bottom of a box under the 12" record bins that was otherwise full of scratched up 45s from the 70s and 80s of mostly stuff I wouldn't want. Now, I probably have every one of those James Brown songs on my computer already but the thrill this sort of find is impossible to experience on beatport.

[djproben]

PS Remember Aron's Records on Highland? I love Amoeba but still hold a grudge against them for putting Aron's out of business.

[keithace]

and sadly, discovering music like that is almost gone...

i found an old techno record the same way "shapeshifter - flood"...i always stop and flip through records when i am at the swap meet or friends/co workers are giving them away...