For a while I was listening to a podcast that reviewed an album every week, and for the last year I've committed myself to setting aside the time to listen to things along with them. The podcast has ended, but I dont want to loose the habit.
I found that spending an hour every week listening to something new really revived me. I was giving genres second chances, expanding my library in a way I hadn't since my early college days. Learning to love music all over again.
Basically, it doesn't matter if its an indie band you're sure I've never heard of, or one of the most popular musicians in current pop culture, I want to know what you're listening to. Don't apologize for liking it, dont assume I know it already. I'm gonna add it to a list and when I get to a week where I dont know what to listen to next, I'm just gonna slap my headphones on and mash play and see what happens.
If all you wanna do is drop a band in the comments, thanks. I'm gonna recommend some albums after the cut and ramble about my music feelings, if you're into that.
Between stuff on youtube like Amoeba's what's in my bag, and just like the general access people have to curated playlists and streaming, I feel like talking to people about music is way less stressful I've previously found it to be. I used to keep an insanely tight lip about what was in my headphones. As a socially anxious person, every time I opened my mouth about what I was listening to, and I got an off hand comment about it being dorky, not black enough, too popular, too weird, or whatever, I took acute psychic damage. Once I got away from school and realized that people are assholes, I still had built up this instinct to not express enjoying specific music. It has taken me a long time to unlearn.
Over time I've realized that never talking to people about music limited my ability to expose myself to new things. Hearing what people enjoy about their favorite song or band instantly makes me curious about it. Go to youtube video on any song and read a comment where someone pours their heart out about why they love it. Someone used to listen to it in the car and it saved their life when times where tough, or someone used to scream-sing it with their sister and hearing it reminds them of them. It doesn't matter what song it is, someone loves it and feels it in their heart when they listen to it. I want to spend my life listening to music and discovering it was someone's favorite song, I want to find out that I have hundreds of favorite albums.
Anyway, as an offering, these are some of my favorite albums I've either learned about this year, or revisited this year.
I love this album so so much. One of the first albums I got on CD and realized that I didn't even begin to know how to share it with people or how to talk bout it. I've been singing "Robot Sings" to myself in the shower since I was a teen. It rules.
Service Merchandise by Previous Industries
Open Mike Eagle is great, and I've been listening to his music for a long time now. This new band is such a nice fusion of all of these lyricists talents. I got to see them live, here in Austin, and the show was magic.
I have no idea how this came across my dash, it might have been one of those times when the Spotify algo actually hit for me. When I hit my third listen I ran to buy this on bandcamp,
St. Peter Blind is a vibe and a half.
Amen is a sick track, just love a delicious beat sometimes, and this whole album delivers for me.
Good News For People Who Love Bad News by Modest Mouse
While my favorite modest mouse album is We were dead before the ship even sank, this is the album that introduced me to the band, and Ocean Breathes Salty is still one of my all time favorite songs. They recently did an anniversary release of this album and it made me feel so old, but also made me wonder how many of the bands that were absolutely ubiquitous for me in high school are still relevant with teens today? Are there gen Z kids into modest mouse, or is it music for old people? I'll probably never know.
I could go on and on, but I'll stop here for now! Please share a band with me.
