My guess is that most people find new pop the same way I do: you hear about things from friends, you find a few critics you trust, and you keep your ears open.

But each of these approaches puts you in a room of a certain size. Your friends might have great taste, but they can only, in the end, recommend what they like. Noel Murray, one of the sharpest critics around, can only recommend what he likes. Pandora, the Web radio service that suggests songs and artists based on your input, is a neat bit of technical wizardry, but it’ll only steer you toward things that are already at least somewhat familiar.

And no matter what you do, you, the listener, are still at the center of all this: your friends, your trusted critics. How do you step outside yourself?

…

So my vote goes to the Hype Machine randomizer, if you’re a music fan trying to get out of your own way. Short of printing out the Allmusic database and throwing darts at it, I can’t really think of a better way to go about exploring new fiefdoms of pop. You should still talk to friends and read your critics and do everything else you’d normally do—after all, using the Hype Machine puts you in a room too. But in this case, it’s a room where the walls and ceiling are so far away that sometimes it’s possible to believe you’re outside.