VC after graduation…

That could be true - but this was specifically referring to the volume levels in recorded music, rather than variability in melody or composition.

I’m not quite sure, tbh.

I mostly listen to pop music or pop-adjacent, which is like the ultra-processed food of music. Highly compressed and generally lacking much dynamism.

I assume there is plenty of interesting dynamism outside of the pop charts and Spotify mixes, but unless I’m listening to live versions or really raw artists, I generally don’t experience them.

Weird analogy, but it feels similar to the way old music differed to new music.

Old music had more variation in volume - volume rises and falls to add nuance to the piece. New music is produced differently and has a more “flat” sound due to everything being louder and variation being reduced by compression.

Seems like some parallels to other forms of media.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war

Does anyone have suggestions for good recommendation engines for new music discovery?

Since I’ve switched from Spotify to Apple Music, Apple’s recommendations are lousy and I miss discovering new artists and songs. Several of my cult favorites were Spotify suggestions I never would have found otherwise.

Are there any good recommendation engines, or people mostly just use Spotify for that?

I’d be sad if I had to switch back to Spotify but it is what it is.