I am SO sorry I left this message sitting here for…over a month because I am lazy and bad at blogging. Honestly the reason I let this whole blog go fallow for months at a time is I sometimes have trouble answering the question of where to find new filk myself D:
…but I do at least have some advice. One of the most popular online platforms for filk is Bandcamp, though unfortunately the “filk” tag there seems to be split between actual filk and people using the word either as a nonsense sound or as not English. Poke around in the filk tag, or the “geek” and “nerd” tags for a while and you’ll at least find something. There’s some on Soundcloud, too, but the organization is, if anything, worse.
There’s a bunch on YouTube as well – mostly older releases (lots of Leslie Fish) and live recordings from cons, which are always worth looking at, even if the sound quality is usually lousy.
A handful of filkers have personal websites, but usually the only way to find out about those is for someone to tell you, unfortunately.
And the best way to find people who can tell you is to go somewhere where the filk is LIVE! I highly recommend any filk convention, but unless you get lucky that’ll involve a bit of travelling – there’s a list of them here. There are also plenty of cons-at-which-filk-happens. Stay away from newer cons, and anything specializing in comics or anime. You want the (usually small) sci-fi and fantasy conventions that have been around since at least the 80′s (or Dragoncon, which has everything). Check out the official musical guests (most cons, old and new, have music of some kind) – and see if you can find any info about after-hours room parties. That’s when the good shit happens.
There are a decent number of people who host regular filk circles in their homes, but again, they can be infuriatingly well-hidden. I know there are regular events in southern California and Minnesota, so they’ve got to happen other places. If you find one, don’t worry about not knowing anyone there; they’re all a bunch of old nerds who will be delighted and a little baffled to see new people.
Good places to keep an eye on for filk news and new music are the Facebook pages “Filker” and “F is for Filker”. They’re closed groups just to cut down on spam, but just send the admins a message saying you’re interested in getting involved with the community and they’ll be happy to let you in. If you make a post in either of those asking “are there any filk things happening soon near [x-place]” I’m sure you’ll get something!
RIGHT, NOW TIME FOR RECOMMENDATIONS!
Based on your interests, I think you should definitely start by checking out old Heather Alexander recordings, especially of Mercedes Lackey songs – start with the “Magic, Moondust, and Melancholy” album; it’s all on YouTube.
SJ Tucker is probably also up your alley, as might be Cheshire Moon and Leslie Hudson
Beth Kinderman is one of my personal favorites who I don’t think is nearly well-known enough
That should keep you busy for a while, but I invite anyone to add more recommendations and/or advice!! Because honestly I need it too.