
There was a time when such discoveries happened more often, when Indie was really independent, and you could always find hidden gems on the playlists of John Peel, Andy Kershaw or the Evening Session. Now it seems every new band is preceded by a whirlwind of hype and marketing. Even the apparently word-of-mouth rise of the Arctic Monkeys via Myspace has since been revealed as a piece of expert marketing by the record label - seizing the opportunity of Web 2.0 some way in advance of the rest of the music industry.
I don't have a lot of time to listen to the radio or read the music press on a regular basis, so my own opportunities for coming across something new are a little diminished these days. However, it does mean I can avoid a lot of the background noise surrounding new bands and make my own decisions about what I like. Over the last few years, Later...with Jools Holland has proved invaluable in introducing me to some great new stuff. Last year, on the same edition of the show Hard-Fi had their first TV appearance (several months before their Stars of CCTV album was released), along with Arcade Fire. Both performances were storming and made me a devoted fan. Later... is back on BBC2 next Friday, 3rd November for what will hopefully be a decent run of programmes, after the last couple of runs which have been a bit short. Muse are on the first show, and after they wiped the floor with everyone else at Reading in the summer that should be one not to miss.
