A few years ago, in an article where I suggested there might be too much whiskey (I stand by that!), I compared the whiskey glut to the issues that writer Bas Gasmeyer had with Spotify’s Release Radar. For that algorithmic and personalized playlist, Gasmeyer was encountering “The Moby Problem.” As he noted at the time — admittedly, it was 2017 — that new Moby remixes kept showing up on his Release Radar every single week. It was ruining the discovery aspect of the playlist, which was supposed to highlight new songs from artists you like as well as similar artists.
I, too, was having that issue with Release Radar. Somehow, a New Jersey band called Modern Chemistry kept showing up in my weekly playlist, even though I found their punk-emo rather mid (sorry!). Between that and not really discovering new artists, I eventually moved on to human-curated playlists and other methods of discovering new songs and bands.
Six months ago, I randomly tried Release Radar again. And I found it to be a revelation.
I bring this up because, in the past few weeks, Spotify has been hyping up its Discover Weekly playlist (which turned 10 in late June) with new features. This particular playlist now offers controls that let you choose/filter a weekly 30-song personalized playlist into one of five different genres. “With more than 100 billion tracks streamed, Discover Weekly is the playlist that makes Mondays something to look forward to, connecting listeners with their next favorite artists or songs,” notes the Spotify press release. “Every week, the playlist ignites over 56 million new artist discoveries, with 77% coming from emerging artists.”
Still, I find Discover Weekly’s mix of new songs and deep cuts by artists I like to be disjointed, often surfacing older tracks that I’m fine not bringing back into my headphones time. And I’ve never really bought into Spotify’s other playlist revelation, the AI DJ — that “radio”-style feature (with an AI-generated voice based on Spotify’s Head of Cultural Partnerships Xavier “X” Jernigan) creeps me out after a few listens.
We Tried Spotify’s New DJ Feature, an AI-Crafted Radio Station with Commentary
It’s essentially your favorites in a playlist with a chatty AI-generated disc jockeyInstead, I’ve been thoroughly embracing Release Radar, as it’s now continuing to surface great artists and songs I’ve never heard of, many with under 5,000 monthly listens. Given that my taste is pretty much punk and emo stuff I listened to from 1995-2007, a few veteran bands outside those genres (The Avalanches, in particular) and a smattering of new albums by artists I’ve loved for a while (that new Turnstile has been on repeat), I wasn’t sure if Release Radar would help me find anything new.
Thankfully, the playlist helped me uncover dozens of younger artists who fit into my musical wheelhouse. Misfits-y horror punk? Tooth Gore (38.8K monthly listeners) it is. Theatric pop with punk and ska undertones? Hello, Cheap City (1,897 monthly listeners). Something that’s almost Weezer? That’d be mode.’s insanely catchy “Peach Ring Gummy.” A punk band seemingly obsessed with The Simpsons? I’ve listened to “Nobody Likes Milhouse” by So I Says to Mabel multiple times (which is good, because they have only 541 monthly listeners).
I’ve also heard good new songs by larger acts in Release Radar (recently, that’d include the Dropkick Murphys, Muse, Drain, Arm’s Length and, yes, Turnstile). Some glitches still appear: there’s a classical music piece from a compilation by an artist called Placebo that is definitely not from the British rock band — that one showed up three weeks in a row, even when I’d “hide” the track. And uncovering all these new bands means going to their Spotify artist page and finding out they have…well, nothing. No bio, often just a link to a Facebook bio.
But that last issue is on the bands. If you have a particular genre you like and a willingness to look beyond A- (or even B- or C-level) artists, you’ll find a lot of great new underground music on Release Radar. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna do a deep dive into a recent playlist fave: songs from angsty indie-rockers Shred Flintstone (6,214 monthly listeners).
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