One of my daily rituals while I'm having my morning coffee at the studio is to listen to most all of the "new releases" of music on YouTube. I even occasionally find some new artist or group that stands out from the crowd enough for me to listen all the way through their noodlins. However more often I am once again struck by how similar the artists and bands sound...especially female vocalists. On some mornings I quite literally hear what I'd swear was the exact same song, with the exact same self referential lyrics, sung by the exact same singer five or six times in a row. That's with so called Pop music. So called Country is even worse...by far. I've really, really tried to learn to, if not like, at least appreciate Rap and such. And occasionally I might hear a clever turn of phrase...if I've actually understood it correctly. I mostly can't understand a word of it which is just as well because although I have tried to appreciate it...I just can't. Most of what I can understand is just verbal, mysoginistic porn and totally laughable self cheering. It used to depress me. But then I remembered the state of so called civilization today and chided myself with, "what the heck do you expect you nimrod?"

yorolpal
However more often I am once again struck by how similar the artists and bands sound...especially female vocalists. 

I've been wanting to say this for ages but couldn't work out whether it was sexist or not 
 
More so than male vocalists, I find myself truly amazed by how similar and generic a lot of mainstream female vocalists sound these days. It's like they go out of their way to shape their voices to create exactly the same sound. I hear a lot of female singer/songwriters with acoustic guitar type stuff when I'm waiting in line at Starbucks or CVS, and I genuinely can't distinguish one from another. It's that same "cute girl next door" voice with the garden variety flourishes and ornamentation, a sort of shrink-wrapped American-Idol-With-A-Touch-Of-Country style that has virtually no variation. 
 
Where are the Joni Mitchells, the Kate Bushes, the Bjorks and the Janis Joplins? You rarely hear female vocalists with such distinctive and instantly recognizable voices any more. 

bapu
James (sharke) my mate Jaymes says you have to go look for them.
 
I cannae be arsed, so when you find please report back. K?

As the kidz used to say..whatever. Enjoy finding new music, or complain about no-one throwing it at your ears, it's all a matter of choice.
 
 

Much music today is programmed rather than written.  Using predetermined beats, samples, and repetition which does not need any real ear for melody.  It could be just a trend, it could be the new permanent face of music for decades to come.  It will just take an artist with real talent to bring acoustic and melodic writing back into style.

I actually rely on this forum (and a couple of others) to bring good new (or new to me) stuff to my attention.  I also sometimes use so-called "related" search results in YouBoob or this interesting music map which attempts to show how close an artist is to another in the context of "if you like the artist you entered, here are some that you may also like - the closer the more likely."  
 
http://www.music-map.com/
 
 
 

West Coasters think Charo plays a mean Flamenco guitar.

herky-jerky is a new genre., yerolpal. 
 
Craig:  haha..I love charo!  She's actually really good!  And I shouldn't be so harsh.. ... a couple of really decent players have moved to the area to up the competition. There's also a great lutanist that just moved to the area.