music discovery after algorithms
I went to a show I didn't think I would like and it helped with the kind of existential despair that has been thick everywhere for months. A friend said a local band was playing a show by his house and we went.
It was the most intense fan energy I have seen at a daytime park show in my life. During Turnstile's 19-song set the audience members were allowed to run across the stage and backflip into the crowd, even during more slow psychedelic songs. Hundreds of people were jumping. I saw it live and I still keep watching videos of it because just seeing people fling their bodies into crowds is so fantastic to watch. I was never one to trust other people or my own body enough for that. Some of the songs were great, and the more traditional hardcore songs gave me some nostalgia.
After that, on my first few driving errands after I moved to this city, I fiddled with the dial until I found a community-supported FM radio station with great music and dorky but professional-enough DJs announcing bands, songs, albums, and labels. Humans. Who picked the music.
A zoomer friend (I'm in my late thirties) showed me his tape collection this past summer at an artist residency. Gen Z is super into the thrill of collecting tapes at thrift stores and taking a chance on the mystery. I remember the early days of the Pandora years I was doing the same with vinyl to get a break from those quainter algorithmic suggestion machines. My love for Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass is genuine and half the early-00's vinyl collectors had Whipped Cream for the cover alone.
I am feeling the pull for that old kind of music discovery again. In addition to getting bored by Spotify algorithms, I have also become pretty worried talking to my music industry peers. Opportunities are directly related to follower counts, not necessarily to skills. Algorithms mostly reward current artists who play to those algorithms across platforms - ex: your IG follower count or TikTok sound use can lead you to be picked up by a label that promotes you on Spotify. None of that has anything to do with whether or not the music will be actually good, just that it was decent enough to sell along with aggressive social media marketing.
So! Here's some human-curated listening from me:
- Eiafuawn - Birds in the Ground (2006) (album) // A haunting and beautiful 37-minute album that covers some of the quiet angst that's in the ether almost 20 years later
- TAGABOW/Greg Mendez/Sun Organ - Krillin (2024) (single) // another song that encapsulates that "something's wrong" feeling in a way that's really resonant. Greg Mendez is great in his own right.
- Dorothy Ashby - Afro-Harping (1968) (album) // sometimes the vibes need elevation and this album has been great for when I want to feel like an adult with taste
- Death Cab for Cutie - You Can Play These Songs with Chords (1997)(album) // You know what? It holds up. I think a general moodiness is the theme here.