I keep telling myself “enough of these music recommendation posts, no one is truly that interested and they all have spotify or apple or youtube algorithms to recommend them music now and not many people are used to going out of their way to check things out.”
And while many people say “I like all kinds of music”, the fact is that they usually like all kinds of music that they’ve been exposed to multiple times, and not only is the music I listen to full of acquired tastes, but half my audience here is also from places where the internet wasn’t as widely accessible in 2005 when I really started to expand my knowledge of music so we were exposed to a very different musical environment.
At that time algorithms weren’t a thing, but p2p downloading was, and it was done on the brand new super high speed internet (internet2, meant only for universities) that was free for students.
I got a harddrive full of 1000 albums from various genres im each decade 1960-2000 from my roommate. Sometimes I’d listen randomly and sometimes I’d choose a name I recognized but have never heard, or maybe I had just heard a single.
I downloaded a collection of Pitchforks top 100 albums of 2005 and 2004…and every year back to 95.
Access to music was so easy.
Now it’s even easier! So easy that people just seem to leave it up to the platforms to decide what they like. Don’t get me wrong, I use spotify to find recommendations too, but I also intentionally go out of my comfort zone at times.
Back then and now as well, I often listen to something just to understand it. If i don’t like it at all I won’t spend long with it, but if I like even the bass or the chorus or the production or the lyrics, just a single thing, I will try to listen to it again, and maybe a few times
In the most recent case of Kate Bush and Judee Still, I knew I liked a single song of each so I put up with a few songs I didnt like and listened to two albums each (Judee Still only has two), revisting the songs I liked the most on both. And once there were 3 I liked I tried listening to the album again and another 2 or 3 had grown on me.
Sometimes the whole album grows on me, sometimes it doesn’t, but I always give it at least two tries when I have the time, at least if there isn’t anything else I am more eager to check out.
I only really revist music that I love thoguh, so maybe a 7.5 out of 10 and above.
In the last two years, some of the new (for me) music I listened to the most was 福禄寿 or Floruit Show (now known as DOUDOU) from China (a fusion of tradition and modern genres but self written) and Oni no Migiude from Japan (prog rock or psychedelic rock), two all female groups which isn’t that important but I think is kind of cool because neither plays into it as a way to pander to audiences.
Before that I spent a lot of time of time exploring Chinese folk, Mongolian throat singing and electronic and hip hop from Ghana Uganda and South Africa.
I listen slowly now, maybe 1-4 artists a month on focus, But back in the day when I had more time to listen to music and fewer distractions, my band of the year was more like a band of the week. I heard new music almost every day and I hardly revisted a good 70% of that music.
I think part of me was subconsciously having an argument with Bob Dylan in my head for 15 years. I heard him say there’s less good music now and I wanted to prove him wrong.
Now I’m done arguing with Dylan. I proved him wrong conclusivley, though he will never know.
So I started to put together a list of my favorite songs from any album I remember getting into, some of which I was very into and more of which I realy liked a song or two. And as I probably should have guessed, since my taste is even more diverse now, I enjoy a lot of it more than I did back then.
I also included some classic music or popular songs that I enjoyed even if I wasn’t a big fan:
Here’s an example of the music from the list
Cake, Yes, Stone Temple pilots, Feist, Wilco, Cibo Matto, 2pac, Imogen Heap, Lauryn Hill, Glassjaw, Get Up Kids, Sunny Day Real Estate, Weezer, Boyz 2 Men, M83, Beck, Nick Drake, My Bloody Valentine, Gogol Bordello, Animal Collective, Iron and Wine, Dillenger Escape Plan, Air, and on and on.
Usually when revisiting my college days I only listen to Blonde Redhead , Tom Waits and Of Montreal because they stood out the most, I guess you could say they had the largest amount of songs I liked.
There are also people I meant to check out since back then that I still haven’t: Fugazi, Mogwai, Sonic Youth, Jesus and Mary Chain, Souhxie and the Banshees…
So I’m making another list of those as I dig deeper into some of the old stuff I did like.
Some early surprises:
I enjoy Stone Temple Pilots now more than I would have imagined. They always got thrown in the grunge basket but some of their tracks remind me more of Cake or the Dandy Warhols, more like art pop or indie pop, and the blues and country influence is undeniable:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mdVvfPgmfVJF-BU57RmuspkhTzQhQHguI&si=ka8l81_hNmBV-rsu
The intro! What a gentle piece of musoc, almost like a soundtrack in a TV drama, but well written, so far from my image of them, followed by Pop’s Love Suicide, which has something very 80’s about it but also fits their image which is 100% 90’s alt rock and grunge. “And So I know” was the bog surprise for me. This was a track I used to skip cause I loved the bangers and catchy hooks but this song had more emotional depth and requires more patience.
Next up, Cake!
Cake was a band that I had no idea was famous or good until my roommate turned me on to them, but just barey. I heard one song on Beavis and Butthead and thought it was kind of funny previous to that. I didn’t realize just how catchy thisr songs were and maybe if you hear them often they get old quick, but after 20 years, more please!
And I don’t even think I need to mention Lauryn Hill, what a damn prodigy. I didn’t even realize she played guitar until today. Not many people had such a strong presence on stage, and such a powerful voice both rapping and singing. Beauty and Power all in one:
I know I am cheating by sharing first tracks whoch are usually some of the best on an abum, but that’s cause I am still re-familiarizing myself with this music.
She was one that I respected but I was more in a rock mode when I heard her so I never went deep into the one solo album she had at the time. I’s heard her album at parties and in friends cars mostly. Fugees next week maybe.
And lastly Nick Drake!
I always loved the vibe but wasn’t that into the songs, other than Pink Moon, although I gave that whole album a chance. Yesterday I listened to Five Leaves Left for the first time in 20 years and found River Man stood out a lot for me now,
His untimely death remind me that I need yo add Elliott Smith and Jeff Buckley to the list, two old favorites.
So why am I doing this
I want a way to share all the songs I loved or was influenced by with my partner who grew up in a different culture and hadn’t heard 98% of my favorite music.
I may have a shop someday and it’ll be nice to share some of these old songs witb customers, whether we share the same experience with that music or not.
I want a way to remind myself of what I used to listen to cause there is so much music I forget after I stopped using CDs.
I am trying to uncover my past a bit to understand myself better and this opens up old cupboards so I can discover new things about myself.
it’s fun to find new connections and understandings and new ways to appreciate old things. I feel like I am starting to understand more about how music and music scenes have evolved over the past 30 years through this exploration.
Ok, I’m off to go listen to some Fugees and Badu and then maybe check out some post rock after that.
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And if you are curious in what all these influences led to, here is my work:
