Go to a record store, pick at random a few from the 'news' section, listen and repeat until you have a few you reckon go together. Then buy them, research the artists involved on Discogs, go see them play. Do this weekly for a few years.
Those guys behind the counter started kinda like that as did any DJ worth his/her salt, and honestly I don't think there's a better way of music discovery. Having something physically there, staring at you reminding you that you forked out cash for it, something you come back to again and again forms an authentic experience that can only be replicated in part by digital.
Check out stores like Hardwax, Space Hall, Kristina records, Naminohana, honest jons or whatever is local to you. Look up the event listings in Resident Advisor and grep the artist names. Actually leave the house. :)
Also, have you actually gone into record stores and previewed records before buying them? I may purchase this record player[1] as a way to check out records at the store, but I wasn't sure if this was a thing store owners typically allow. Any insight?
Believe it or not but you don't HAVE to buy anything, you can sit there for hours and if nothing catches your attention leave empty handed. The handytrax are cool but more for big garage sales where they don't provide decks and I'd be wary of a record store that doesn't have record players.
Those guys behind the counter started kinda like that as did any DJ worth his/her salt, and honestly I don't think there's a better way of music discovery. Having something physically there, staring at you reminding you that you forked out cash for it, something you come back to again and again forms an authentic experience that can only be replicated in part by digital.
Check out stores like Hardwax, Space Hall, Kristina records, Naminohana, honest jons or whatever is local to you. Look up the event listings in Resident Advisor and grep the artist names. Actually leave the house. :)