So this year, I'm going to rebuild my relationship to music. I don't know what exactly that'll look like, but I'm gonna start with listening to something. So here's the thread of what I'm listening to in 2024.
In 2011, when I was at the CCC, I'd listen to Bandcamp's most recent uploads. I'd have time on a computer scheduled once a week, and I'd download the most recent 10 albums from Bandcamp to a Sansa Clip+. This was before bandcamp became the defacto platform that actually pays musicians. The vibe was that you'd toss stuff on bandcamp if you were a self-published, basement artist, maybe with dreams of running a record label where yr highschool friends from band class were the exclusive musicians. I love the DIY-punk perspective, but there's also a focus here away from the "industry," even outside the small, niche labels like M'Lady. It wasn't until 2014 when bandcamp would provide services for labels to facilitate digital releases. Bandcamp evolved to be an essential part of the music industry. In 2012, it was wild to read David Byrne mention bandcamp when he first published How Music Works. And now the platform is a toy for finance, as we see with them trading hands, having mass layoffs, and the usual stamping out union efforts.
Anyway, someone made a Twitter bot (@RandomAlbum that every way would post a random album uploaded to bandcamp. The bot doesn't work anymore (R.I.P.) but there's a webpage. https://random-album.com/. Maybe I should migrate all my own dead bots to a standalone page...
Today's random album took me to Komposa's Grass is Greener EP from 2016. So that's what I listened to.
https://purposemusicuk.bandcamp.com/album/komposa-grass-is-greener-ep
My first impressions with new music isn't typically very involved. I'm not out here writing a thoughtful review of the rhythm and melody, not researching some local scene, the history of a certain sound. But I dig it. I've listened to this a couple times since it's only an EP. But I think it'll provide a good baseline for the start of the year. I'll come back to listening to Komposa again.