It's sort of grown slowly but steadily for me...I mean I started with a few bands I had heard at friend's places or heard good things about. Then I went to thei

It's sort of grown slowly but steadily for me...I mean I started with a few bands I had heard at friend's places or heard good things about. Then I went to their live shows, where I liked some of the openers, or read some review where they were compared to some other band, who I then got into, etc. There's always pitchfork, the standard-bearer for pretentious reviews, although I find their music taste to be in general somewhat close to mine. Metacritic is likewise useful. I hear last.fm is useful to people as well, although somehow I've never really gone there much. As far as specific recommendations, I'm afraid I'm not big on most classic music, nor on pop in general, so I'm not going to be useful to you. Incidentally, do you feel this way about film, or art, or literature as well? That it's gone downhill? Or is it just music?