How I find obscure artists.
Hi! Considering this blog is dedicated to finding obscure artists and appreciating the unappreciated, I thought it only logical to share how I find them in the first place.
Typically finding obscure involves either in person searching and online searching.
In Person
Thrift Stores - CD section most often as Vinyl is often very generic in thrift stores, often only having the old greats or instrumental renditions, CDs usually being more plentiful and predisposed to limited releases from independent artists as CD releases are cheaper.
Local Shows - Local bands are always playing! Go to one! Or just find a listing and look them up, such a fun way to find local talent and if their Spotify or SoundCloud isn't bad you can have a fun time at a show in a small venue; nothing matches the personal feel of a small show, believe it or not, often much better than huge artists' high budjet venues.
Online
Streaming Service Rabbit Hole - If you listen to music on a streaming service, chances are you're listening to an artist, hence you should be able to navigate through recomendations and connections to find other artists not dissimilar from where you started. This either constitutes moving through 'Similar to Artist' lists/sections, and stratify from one artist to the next until you find someone you haven't heard of before, the other requiring a look at the credits of your artist's projects. No matter how popular an artist is, they have worked with a guitarist or producer or any other music making professional who has a solo career second fiddle to their popular colleague, or another artist they've worked with and digging further into rabbit hole of lesser and lesser known artists.
Google Searchs and Articles - Probably the most hit and miss/circumstantial method though that's not to say it doesn't work. Simply asking google, and finding articles on your artist, can lead to reviewers and journalists who have also talked of other artists you don't know of. For example, through researching the band Xiu Xiu I found an article on a band called Bunkbed, Bunkbed only having 271 monthly listeners on spotify as of writing (I recommend their song 'Substance Abuse' first :)).
List will be added to as I progress.