freshening up
I just did a crazy thing.
I’d been feeling like my music collection was getting stale. I’d been noticing myself repeatedly skipping some stuff, and I was just generally feeling like I was hearing some of the same things over and over again. I threw together a “recently skipped” smart playlist (last skipped in the last 10 weeks, then sort mostly by the ‘skips’ and ‘plays’ column. That was a good start. But it wasn’t enough.
I went on Twitter and asked for music recommendations. One link per follower, to a place where I could buy an album they love. And I would buy it, no questions asked. As people made suggestions, a few things evolved: I was only willing to spend about $100 on this for now, and if someone made a suggestion I already owned, I’d put it back in rotation if it was out of rotation, and they’d get another chance to tell me a particular album to go buy.
Normally a music recommendation thread like this just turns into a bunch of names. And then I start making decisions, and having to make choices. I didn’t want that. I just wanted some new music. I figured that anyone who follows me must obviously have impeccable taste, so this sounded like a good plan.
I now have some Zappa. Some cello music. Cowboy Mouth. A movie soundtrack. A Russian goth band. Various kinds of electronic music. And I feel good about this. Maybe some of this will quickly get taken out of rotation. Maybe some of it will become new favorites to explore more work by. I don’t know. But I feel like this is a definite strike against that musical maiaise that afflicts grown-ups where all they ever listen to what they did in high school.
I’ve spent what I’m going to spend for today, but if you want to add in your suggestion then go reply to this tweet with a link to where I can buy something you love. I’ll flip a coin and let Eris decide if I buy it. If they keep rolling in over the next few days I’ll start rolling a d4 or d6 instead. Because new input is good.
(Now that I think about it, this whole thing may have been in part a reaction to last week’s trip to Critical NW, the Washington burn. We ended up next to a tent full of people blaring bro-pop hits of the 90s.)
Originally published at Egypt Urnash. You can comment here or there.