New-new music, or just new acts in the same genres that you liked in your early 20s?
My brother and I, less than two years apart in age, when we were 18 years old listened to the same music, power metal, mostly. By now, some three decades later he have veered off in a direction of high BPM while I am deep in folk metal land sometimes leaving metal behind. Where does folk metal end and where does (neo)folk rock start? I do not know and I couldn't care less if I tried. I simply enjoy https://youtu.be/mQWmryiIcxY a lot without trying to label it.
It's a little sad too because the internet unlocked so much "bedroom producer" potential from the entire world where before you had to be musically trained or get a lot more lucky. There's actually a talent explosion right now.
Both here and in the article there's a conflation of "new music" with "contemporary mainstream popular" which seems invalid. Is the Billboard Hot 100 any more or less innovative in 2024 than it was in 2004, or 1974? I think that most "mainstream" music is precisely "a slight riff on stuff [written] a long time ago." You have to go outside of the mainstream to find music and artists that are experimenting with novel sounds, just like you did in decades past.
As you say, there's been an explosion of independent creativity, thanks to the Internet. There's no reason for anyone who is interested in music to listen to the same old mainstream dreck.
Yes, amazingly less so. Less innovative and less diverse music styles.