At this point in a year, I customarily provide my Top 10 albums thus far, but over the past six months, despite thinking I might have enjoyed some twenty musical offerings by now, my listening has been paltry. Eight albums, barely one a month!
I did hear amazing stuff. Virga I from the prodigious talent of Eluvium was the highlight, but it’s a niche taste, long-form ambience that reminded me of Klaus Schultz from the 70s! Matt Berninger’s Serpentine Prison ear-wormed me for weeks with its poetic, lilting songs. And who could resist the indie folk-pop magic of Swallowing the Sun by Steve Robinson? But none of the other five albums ranked over 7/10.
It’s not that I don’t long to be blown away by a diet of superb modern music. The problem has been long brewing and it is twofold. Firstly, background listening seems to annoy me during this phase of life and dedicated loungeroom listening is history. Secondly, I have not lucked upon an efficient, enjoyable means of garnering and triaging new rock music. The result is that listening is not part of my life in the way that reading and watching is, and, even more relevant, what I hear is mostly old-person shit that is, at best, tired.
No solution readily pops up. But I’m not ready to retire my ears (even though all my friends have done so) and I’ll attempt to address the issue over the coming months.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/p02nrw8y
This is where I find my a lot of new (and old) music to add to my Spotify playlists. Might not be your thing, but worth a try.
Thanks, looks fab.