Where’s the original music at the moment? And why can’t I buy it?

I’m currently ploughing through my email Inbox looking for stuff for a new Wyrd Ways Rock Show and I’m finding something rather troubling – there’s a lot of VERY generic stuff being pumped out at the moment. Death Metal and Metalcore are the main culprits for this. Songs with EXACTLY the same structure and interchangeable vocalists are highly prevalent. And yes, breakdowns are cool every now and again… but in the same place in every song?

This is all feeling similiar to when Nu Metal was collapsing in on itself before it’s more recent resurgeance. The death of Grunge, too.

We need some originality, which is why I’m playing the likes of Alt Blk Era and Scene Queen regularly. I’ve also just checked out a song called DTF by somebody called Zand (describes themselves as “ugly pop” – they’re not on Faceache). I’m interested. Kind of like In This Moment, but more electronic.

Found some interesting new stuff? Let me know in the comments here, on the carl_wwrs instagram or on Twitter. If I like it, I’ll put it in the next show (if I can get hold of it).

Something I’m finding more than a little worrying is the preponderance of streaming, especially Spotify, amongst new, emerging artists.  I don’t seem to be able to actually buy mp3s (or even physical media) versions of the songs anywhere, which gets really annoying when I want to play them on the show.  That makes it hard to support them directly too, which is what I’m actually trying to do.  I don’t want to just give them “exposure”.  I also don’t want most of the money I’m spending to go to some faceless suit.  If I’m buying music, the more that goes to the actual artist, the better.

That’s part of the reason I’m subscribing to Ugly Club (formerly Novustory) on Patreon.  Most of the money in the subscription goes directly to the band.  Is this the future?

Obviously I’m also keeping an eye on Bandcamp, but finding interesting new stuff is always easier with recommendations from people who are actually listening to stuff, rather than just algorithms.

Anybody help me out?