Hey all, Happy 2026! Hope everyone has a wonderful great year ahead.
I’m going to take a few days off from blogging to relax, catch up on things, and work out what I’d like to do this year. I will be back on the 13th! See you soon!
This past year kind of felt like a transitional year for me in terms of listening to music. I managed to not obsess over discography completism as much as I had in previous years, for starters. I also dialed back the incessant need to listen to everything, which was also using up all kinds of brainspace and keeping me from actually retaining any of it.
I felt that this was a year of trying out different things instead, so that meant that not every band I liked previously stuck with me this time out. Several albums that got a ton of kudos from bloggers and music sites tended to pass me by. On the other hand, something obscure like Automatic’s Is It Now? or Coral Grief’s Air Between Us connected deeply with me. There were of course the mainstays like Doves and Grandbrothers, whose albums I listen to frequently during writing sessions, that kept me entertained.
None of it was bad, per se. It’s just that I’m in a place where I wanted to change up my tastes and listening habits, that’s all. Perhaps 2026 will be another transitional year in which I find new artists and albums to latch onto, or perhaps something will arrive that will completely blow my mind. Or maybe by chance, it’ll be a year full of stellar releases. We shall see when the time comes!
So without further ado, here’s my list of what I listened to the most, and what stayed with me over the last several months. As always, my favorite album and song of the year are in bold. I’d have created a Spotify playlist for my own best-of-year that sits in my library, but alas said website is on the outs with several friends and music listeners for not properly paying musicians, among other things. Ah well.
Albums
Andy Bell, pinball wanderer
Automatic, Is It Now?
Coral Grief, Air Between Us
Crushed, no scope
Doves, Constellations for the Lonely
GoGo Penguin, Necessary Fictions
Grandbrothers, Elsewhere
Miki Berenyi Trio, Tripla
Motion City Soundtrack, The Same Old Wasted Wonderful World
Packaging, Packaging
Peter Murphy, Silver Shade
Suzzallo, The Quiet Year
The Beatles, Anthology 4
The Hives, The Hives Forever Forever the Hives
The Verve Pipe, Reconciled
Songs
Automatic, “Is It Now?”
The Beatles, “I Am the Walrus [Take 19 – Strings, Bass, Clarinet Overdub]”
Blushing, “So Many”
Bob Moses, “Better Broken”
Bob Mould, “Here We Go Crazy”
Coral Grief, “Starboard”
Doves, “Renegade”
J Mascis, “Breathe”
Packaging, “Running Through the Airport”
Peter Murphy, “Swoon”
Pulp, “Spike Island”
Sparks, “Do Things My Own Way”
SPELLING, “Portrait of My Heart”
The Neighbourhood, “Hula Girl”
The Verve Pipe, “Tattoo”
The Singles 2025 Playlist:
1. Blushing, “So Many”
2. SPELLING, “Portrait of My Heart”
3. The Hives, “Legalize Living”
4. Steve Queralt, “Lonely Town”
5. Doves, “Renegade”
6. Motion City Soundtrack, “She Is Afraid”
7. HighSchool, “Sony Ericsson”
8. Ashes and Diamonds, “On a Rocka”
9. Peroccupations, “Ill at Ease”
10. Automatic, “Is It Now?”
11. Hannah Jadagu, “Doing Now”
12. Lucy Dacus, “Ankles”
13. Flock of Dimes, “Keep Me In the Dark”
14. The Chameleons UK, “Feels Like the End of the World”
15. Snapped Ankles, “Smart World”
16. SPRINTS, “Descartes”
17. Throwing Muses, “Drugstore Drastic”
18. The Charlatans UK, “We Are Love”
19. Hatchie, “Lose It Again”
20. Heartworms, “Extraordinary Wings”
21. Suzzallo, “River”
22. Bob Moses, “Better Broken”
23. JR Richards, “Alive”
24. Peter Murphy, “Swoon”
25. The Beatles, “Free As a Bird [2025 Mix]”
26. Bob Mould, “Here We Go Crazy”
27. Air, “Cemetary Party”
28. Doves, “Cold Dreaming”
29. Nine Inch Nails, “As Alive As You Need Me to Be”
30. J Mascis, “Breathe”
31. Tortoise, “A Title Comes”
32. Pulp, “Spike Island”
33. Florence + the Machine, “Everybody Scream”
34. Packaging, “Running Through the Airport”
35. Sea Lemon, “Stay”
36. The Neighbourhood, “Hula Girl”
37. Cut Copy, “Belong to You”
38. GoGo Penguin, “Fallowfield Loops”
39. Unbelievable Truth, “You’ve Got It”
40. Brandi Carlile, “Returning to Myself”
41. Mark Pritchard & Thom Yorke, “Back in the Game”
42. Just Mustard, “We Were Just Here”
43. Dead Pioneers, “My Spirit Animal Ate Your Spirit Animal”
44. Steven Wilson, “Perspective”
45. Dropkick Murphys, “Who’ll Stand with Us?”
46. Mogwai, “God Gets You Back”
47. Andy Bell, “I’m in love…”
48. Paul Meany, “Scenic Route”
49. Garbage, “Chinese Fire Horse”
50. above me, “out of body out of mind”
51. David Byrne & Ghost Train Orchestra, “Everybody Laughs”
52. The The, “Unrequited”
53. The Verve Pipe, “Tattoo”
54. Celeste, “Woman of Faces”
55. The London Suede, “Disintegrate”
56. White Lies, “Nothing On Me”
57. Coral Grief, “Starboard”
58. PLOSIVS, “Death Kicks In”
59. The Reds, Pinks & Purples, “The World Doesn’t Need Another Band”
60. Crushed, “starburn”
61. The Hives, “OCDOD”
62. Grandbrothers, “We Collide”
63. The Beatles, “I Am the Walrus [Take 19 – Strings, Bass, Clarinet Overdub]”
64. HAIM, “Down to Be Wrong”
65. Motion City Soundtrack, “Your Days Are Numbered”
66. OK Go, “Love”
67. Too Much Joy, “Song for a Girl Who Has One”
68. Anna von Hausswolff, “The Iconoclast”
69. Nation of Language, “Inept Apollo”
70. Miki Berenyi Trio, “8th Deadly Sin”
71. Automatic, “Mercury”
72. Depeche Mode, “In the End”
73. Massage, “Daffy Duck”
74. Inhaler, “Open Wide”
75. Franz Ferdinand, “Audacious”
76. Bob Moses, “Waiting on the World”
77. Sparks, “Do Things My Own Way”
**
See you next year!
The Q4 wave comes through once more with several excellent releases and reissues, many of which were on repeat here during my writing sessions. It’s been kind of a strange end of the year for me IRL — not exactly in a bad way, but definitely with its ups and downs — so it felt kind of good to be able to come home and focus on not much except the music I love and the writing projects I’m working on.
The Dears, Life Is Beautiful! Life Is Beautiful! Life Is Beautiful!, released 7 November. This band from Quebec is kind of fascinating in that singer Murray Lightburn’s voice used to sound shockingly like Morrissey with a slight headcold. They’re not a band that gets a lot of airplay on the radio (if at all), but they’re definitely one of those bands where if you’re familiar with them, you’re sure to be a fan.
Hatchie, Liquorice, released 7 November. A lot of indie fans were focused on the new and highly hyped Wet Leg album, though I found this one to be a lot more fun and memorable. They’ve always been that sort of bubblegummy indie shoegazey band that hits all the right buttons, and this one does exactly that for me.
White Lies, Night Light, released 7 November. It’s been a couple of years since their last album, and I’m glad they’re back. They’ve got that post-punk sound I love yet takes it in a different direction: a bit goth, a bit electronic, a bit synthpop. This one got a fair bit of play over the last couple of weeks during my writing sessions.
Paul McCartney & Wings, WINGS, released 7 November. Macca drops yet another best-of collection, though this one focuses completely on his tenure with his band Wings, partly to tie in with his new memoir Wings: The Story of a Band On the Run. It’s actually kind of surprising how many hits and stellar album tracks he managed to create in that one decade, even when his critics loved to tear it all down.
The Neighbourhood, (((((ultraSOUND))))), released 14 November. Like their last several records that have gone in odd yet fascinating directions, this one feels like they’d decided to create an album that would have fit nicely during the early heights of 1991 Britpop. It’s one of my favorites of the year.
Doves, So, Here We Are: Best of Doves, released 14 November. This nineteen-track album covers everything from their Lost Souls album to this year’s Constellations for the Lonely, and despite it being an all-killer-no-filler mix, they still managed to forget some of my favorite tracks like “Sea Song” and “Words”! This one’s a perfect collection to start with if you’re just starting out. One of my favorite bands from the HMV years that I’ll always follow.
Tears for Fears, Songs from the Big Chair 40th Anniversary, released 14 November. I can’t believe it’s been forty years since my favorite album of my pre-college-radio years came out! I wore out the cassette of this back in the day, of course. A great album always worth owning.
Celeste, Woman of Faces, released 14 November. I hadn’t heard she had a new album out until the day it dropped, and it’s a good thing I caught on because this one is a banger, just like her previous album Not Your Muse. She’s got that sultry-jazzy voice similar to Adele and her tracks are just beautiful.
The Beatles, Anthology 4 / Anthology Collection, released 21 November. I know, I know…most of the musos made a bit noise about this box set, because a) they already have Volumes 1 through 3, and b) most of the new tracks on 4 were already available on previous recent Special Edition box sets. Still, they filtered it all through Peter Jackson’s MAL mixers and it sounds surprisingly fresh and clear. Still worth picking up, in my opinion!
Prince & the Revolution, Around the World in a Day Deluxe Edition, released 21 November. While this one doesn’t measure up to his recent mind-blowing box sets for Purple Rain and Sign of the Times and only contains the remastered album, remixes and b-sides (sorry, no unreleased jams and gems this time out), it still sounds great for what it meant to be: Prince’s about-face away from vertiginous stardom and a fascinating experiment into psychedelia and deep funk. I loved this album back in the day and it’s great to hear it again.
GIFT, Illuminator Deluxe, released 21 November. Sure, the original came out last year and was my top favorite album of 2024, I couldn’t pass up a deluxe reissue that adds a few new tracks and a few intriguing remixes. I still highly recommend this record, it’s that freaking good. They’ve also been hinting that there may be a new album coming out next year…
PLOSIVS, YELL AT CLOUD, released 28 November. Now this is the kind of noisy punk I like — it’s like Wire’s current iteration playing Pink Flag (only with much longer songs!), full of punchy guitars and relentless energy. It’s a super fun album to listen to while burning off stress.
**
More to come… December’s best-of list will arrive on Thursday (yes, on Christmas Day), and my best-of-year list will be up and running next Tuesday on the 30th! See you then!
October provided us with another great month of releases, especially in the final week! Quite a few reissues and a few pleasant surprises.
The Monkees, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd Super Deluxe Edition, released 2 October. This has to be my favorite Monkees album, to be honest. While Headquarters was the first record where they were allowed more creative and musical input, this one took it one step further. It’s kind of like their Revolver, full of well known tracks like “Words” and “Pleasant Valley Sunday” but also fascinating deep cuts like “Daily Nightly”. This edition includes several single versions, b-sides and outtakes.
Oasis, (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? 30th Anniversary Deluxe, released 3 October. Sure, this one’s already included in the Complete Studio Album Collection that dropped back in August, but this one’s a standalone remaster of their breakthrough album that features several unplugged versions. Also of note is an updated reshoot of the iconic cover, looking down Berwick Street in Soho, London.
Taylor Swift, The Life of a Showgirl, released 3 October. I’m no Swiftie by any stretch, but I’ve come to really appreciate her music over the last few years. I’m quite taken by her style of songwriting, which takes the best of catchy chart pop and gives it a slightly oddball twist.
Massage, Coaster, released 10 October. I was quite taken by this band, most likely because they sound just like the Britpop of the early 90s before it expanded into a multi-headed monster. Shades of jangle pop and hints of Ride dreampop.
Packaging, Packaging, released 10 October. This is definitely near the top of my list of albums of the year for me, especially with the single “Running Through the Airport” which is also in my list of top songs. It’s got that indie moodiness with a twist of synthpop and motorik to make it just that much more otherworldly. An amazing record worth checking out.
Bob Moses, BLINK, released 17 October. This band is still on my list of “I will download anything they release” groups, as they continue to deliver their excellent brand of ambient dance pop. This one got a lot of play during my writing sessions!
Hannah Jadagu, Describe, released 24 October. A discovery thanks to KEXP, she kind of reminds me of the current wave of quiet yet quirky indie rock like Jay Som and Japanese Breakfast. A nice relaxing listen.
Brandi Carlile, Returning to Myself, released 24 October. I’d known about her for a while but only got into her after reading her Broken Horses memoir some years ago, and I’ve been a big fan ever since. She’s definitely in that Indigo Girls style of folky-countrified alternative, and she can wail just as much as she can rock. A stellar songwriter.
Tortoise, Touch, released 24 October. I was so excited to hear this band had finally reconvened after several years to drop a new album! They pick up right where they left off with moody jazz-tinged instrumental indie rock. Highly recommended.
HighSchool, HighSchool, released 31 October. If I were in high school and followed through with The Flying Bohemians in this day and age (and with the ability to record), this is totally what we would sound like.
Too Much Joy, Son of Sam I Am (Tommy’s Version), released 31 October. After far too many years, the rights to TMJ’s breakthrough album finally reverted to the band, and they wasted no time in giving it a proper reissue with a great sounding remaster and several extra tracks. It’s good stupid and clever fun and remains one of my favorite albums of 1990.
The Charlatans, We Are Love, released 31 October. Their first album of new songs since 2017’s Different Days, it’s worth the wait for this band that’s been around since the late 80s as one of the early Britpop mainstays.
*
Whew, that’s a lot! More to come…
As expected, September had an avalanche of new releases, several of which I’d been waiting on for quite some time. A lot of long-standing bands with new records, a lot of excellent reissues, and some new discoveries that got significant play here in the office. Enjoy!
Suede, Antidepressants, released 5 September. It’s great to see this band still going strong after all these years. Singer Brett Anderson’s voice may have dropped significantly and lost that squeaky wail, but he can still belt it out.
Saint Etienne, International, released 5 September. This long-standing UK band has finally chosen to take the REM route and split amicably, and this is their last release. There’s no melancholy or wistfulness here, just another light and wonderful album of pop gems.
Ivy, Traces of You, released 5 September. These were unreleased tracks from their run between 1995 and 2012, and left behind after Adam Schlesinger sadly passed away from COVID in 2020. His fellow bandmates Andy Chase and Dominique Durand chose to reconvene and finish them off in his honor. It’s a lovely record that picks up right where they left off.
The Chameleons, Arctic Moon, released 12 September. After several years away, the band reformed in 2021 and toured for a few years before recording their first new album in twenty-four years. They’re still a fantastic post-punk band worth checking out.
David Bowie, I Can’t Give Everything Away (2002-2016) box set, released 12 September. The sixth and final box set that captures nearly every recorded release from the icon, this one stretches from his contemplative Reality up to his final release Blackstar, and also contains b-sides, rarities, duets, and several live cuts. This is the era when I finally started listening to Bowie a lot closer than I had in the past and really began to appreciate his endless creativity.
Nation of Language, Dance Called Memory, released 19 September. This trio continues to defy description with their quirky mixture of brittle post-punk, meandering synthpop and moody lyrics. KEXP played this one quite a bit.
Motion City Soundtrack, The Same Old Wasted Wonderful World, released 19 September. Their first new album in ten years, they’d been touring for the last few years (we saw them twice in Berkeley, once before the COVID lockdown and once after its end), they still remain those oddball emo rockers going through self-therapy with high-level nerdy lyrics and bouncy melodies. Well worth the wait.
Grandbrothers, Elsewhere, released 26 September. As expected, this keeps on getting played here in the office during my writing sessions. I’ve always loved their quirky mix of jazz and electronics — every sound, including the percussion, is played on (or in) one grand piano and processed through a mixer. It’s a wonderful album and one of my favorites of the year.
Automatic, Is It Now?, released 26 September. I did not expect to latch onto this album as quickly and completely as I did, but I just love their old-school post-punk sound, and the title track has been an earworm all autumn. One of my favorite albums of the year.
Crushed, no scope, released 26 September. I didn’t quite resonate with their previous album even though it had a few memorable tracks on it, but this one they knocked out of the park, and it’s become another big favorite of mine.
Unbelievable Truth, Rich Inner Life, released 26 September. A and I heard the above track when driving home one day and we both thought they sounded like mid-era Radiohead… only to find out the lead singer is Thom Yorke’s brother! The rest of the album is just as great, just twitchy enough to grant the comparison but unique enough to stand on its own.
Hooverphonic, The Magnificent Tree Live with Strings, released 26 September. Twenty-five years after its initial release, one of my favorite bands releases a live revisit of the fan favorite.
Air, The Virgin Suicides Redux, released 26 September. Meanwhile, the French duo reissues their soundtrack to the Sofia Coppola film filled with desperately haunting instrumentals that caught my attention back in the waning days of my stay at HMV and remains one of my favorite albums of the year 2000.
*
More to come…
My plan for 2025, as you recall, was to get myself out of the collector/completist mindset (or at least tone it down considerably) so I could then connect with the music in my library on a more personal level. I’d like to think that this worked out for the most part, as I did find myself returning to a lot of albums and songs as the year went on. There are still some albums that aren’t getting as much play as I’d hoped, but I’d kind of expected that to happen.
Given that I was still finding steady ground in which to make this change, the first couple of months of 2025 did go by in a bit of a blur. Some albums I listened to occasionally, some I tried out after hearing a single on KEXP, but it took me a few listens to latch on until I got used to this change in listening habit.
So without further ado…
Franz Ferdinand, The Human Fear, released 10 January. Good to see this band still going strong after several years and a few member changes, and while they’ve mellowed a bit, they’re still enjoyable.
tunng, Love You All Over Again, released 24 January. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a release from this band, and it was a pleasant return. They’re not quite folk but not quite indie either, just kind of off in their own little quirky universe, and they’re always a fun listen.
Mogwai, The Bad Fire, released 24 January. I keep expecting this band to be blisteringly loud like, say, Caspian and other post-rock bands — and they do, occasionally — but for the most part they’ve embraced their mellower and more atmospheric sounds, which fits well with their movie score works.
J Mascis, “Breathe” single, released 30 January. I was quite excited by this one, considering one of my favorite formerly-local musicians (the Dinosaur Jr singer, still a Pioneer Valley local as far as I know) covering one of my favorite Cure b-sides.
above me, above me EP, released 31 January. Slumberland Records has been brilliant over the last few years in releasing wonderful albums by local Bay Area bands, many of them coming from my own neighborhood! This one in particular caught my attention with its video and its several locations I was familiar with. [For instance, that first shot is taken on Lake Street and turning onto 17th Avenue heading south to California. A and I would walk this bit all the time after work, especially during the pandemic.]
Heartworms, Glutton for Punishment, released 7 February. This is another good example of a band I forget that I like! I posted about them last month after hearing “Jacked” on KEXP and dug out her debut album to listen to again. I really love how she manages to perfectly channel the 80s-90s goth and post-punk I grew up listening to back in the day!
Inhaler, Open Wide, released 7 February. Elijah Hewson really does sound like his dad Bono these days, doesn’t he? And the band is sounding more like the 90s-era U2 but with decidedly less bombast. Still, I’ve grown to really like their stuff and still pop this one on now and again.
Doves, Constellations for the Lonely, released 28 February. This here is probably the first Favorite Album of the Year for me. I mean, I’ve always loved this band, even though their releases have been rather sporadic over the last several years (partly due to lead singer Jimi Goodwin’s health), but this second return since 2020’s The Universal Want hit it out of the park. It’s got the atmospheric moodiness of their first two records Lost Souls and The Last Broadcast, and starting the record with the breathtaking “Renegade” captured my attention immediately. And yes, it became quite the favorite writing session soundtrack for me. I highly recommend this one!
Andy Bell, pinball wanderer, released 28 February. The Ride lead singer’s latest record was not what I expected at all, to be honest, and that’s a good thing. Quite unlike the stronger and noisier sounds of his main band, this solo work sounds surprisingly like he’d chosen to be inspired by unexpected bands like Boards of Canada. It’s more sedate and heavier on the electronics, even while retaining his signature melodic style. This was another frequent writing session soundtrack this year.
**
Coming up: Favorites from March and April!
I am of course working today (our store only closes on Christmas Day), but thankfully it will be a morning shift, and will most likely entail a few regulars coming in having forgotten cranberries or extra cream or something. Then there’s Black Friday tomorrow, which usually isn’t too bad.
In the meantime, I’m going to take it easy and enjoy the day and the food. See you next week!
Alas, I did not have the time, nor the inclination, to make any mixtapes this year. I’m pretty sure I’ll still do my year-end playlist/mix, but other than that, I just never got around to it. But that’s okay! This isn’t the first time I’ve gone through a musical dry spell. Between 2006 and 2011, I only made eight mixes in total — two of them were for someone else, and the last was when I’d decided to resurrect the year-end mix.
The main reason for not making one? Well, I’d hinted at it late last year when I’d wanted to spend more time listening the albums I downloaded rather than focusing on the discography completism spiral I’d fallen into over the last couple of years. I felt too disconnected from the music in my own library and wanted to change that. So over the course of 2025, I gave my favorites some more repeat listens. Got to know them a bit better. Found a few singles and deep cuts that caught my attention. Not to mention revisited a lot of my favorite albums from recent years, with the occasional deep dive into an oldie but goodie. And I replayed a lot of albums during my writing sessions!
The other reason for not making one is because I just hadn’t had time or the ability to listen to them other than at my desk. There’s also the fact that we’d recently moved and
So, will I be making more of said mixtapes in 2026? We shall see. I’m not going to confirm or deny at this point. If I’m in the mood for it, I’ll do it. If I do, I might try revisiting the style of my oldest mixes by allowing older songs, something I haven’t done in ages. [A lot of my most recent non-writing-soundtrack mixes usually stick to newish releases from the last few months.]
Either way, the point isn’t just to make the mixes, but to enjoy the tunes I put on them. And I think I’m finally on the way back to that point.
It’s funny that I remember this song quite well by the time 1995 rolled around. I’d hoped, back in 1991, that I would be better off and in better emotional shape by then, but alas…
It’s been thirty years since I’d moved out of Boston, and I still think about that from time to time. It was one of the rare moments in my life where I’d said “fuck it, I give up” so utterly completely. But even then I knew that it was the best decision in order to fix a terrible situation. Thankfully I’d been able to transfer my job to a different theater, even though I knew I probably wouldn’t be there for long. I just needed some kind of anchor so I wasn’t completely unmoored. I allowed myself the entirety of September to get all the anger and defeat out of my system before I started fixing my situation.
But in a way, being unmoored to that extent wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. I knew I had to change a lot of things in my life. Grow up some. Deal with some personal shit that I’d been avoiding for years. Think about who I was, who I hung out with, and what I wanted and needed to change. Living with the family from ’95 onwards certainly had its own ups and downs, but it remained that steady platform I could build something new on. It gave me time and breathing room in order to do better.
Fast forward thirty years, and here I am, twenty years married and owning our own home. I’m still a writer — one who’s self-released seven books, with another one on the way and hopefully many more in the future. I still have a stupidly large music collection that is still expanding (though thankfully taking up much less space these days). Life still has its ups and downs, but for the most part I’m doing okay.
Was it worth staying there for a full decade? Definitely. I probably could have moved on earlier if I’d planned better and saved more. Sure, I still made a few dumbass decisions here and there, but doesn’t everyone?
Shocking revelation: I haven’t made a mixtape since the year-end collection back in December.
To be honest, part of it was due to prepping and packing and moving and unpacking and banking and settling in and everything else that goes along with buying a home while still juggling the Day Job. I put my mixtapes (and in effect, this blog) aside for a little bit while I got my life back in order once more.
I’d been tempted multiple times, but I just didn’t have the time or the inclination. Similar to my putting aside the journaling and the word counting and the whiteboard schedule, I felt it was time to properly step away for a bit to recharge. Aside from the book-centric mixes I’d been creating for my writing, I hadn’t been listening to the ones I’d made over the last couple of years, and that started to annoy me. They’re good mixes, they’re just not getting played, and that’s because I needed the brainspace.
We’ve been living here for at least three months now, and that itch to make mixtapes is returning. Sometimes I think about where and when I’d actually listen to them, considering I can’t really do that at my Day Job, and my commute is a seven-minute, sixteen-block drive. Days off and during writing sessions, then. And it occurs to me — that kind of thinking is exactly what’s turning me away from it instead of towards it. Mixtape listening isn’t about setting aside a specific time to put in that latest volume of Walk in Silence or Untitled or Re:Defined. One of the main reasons I chose to disconnect from mixtape-making was the same reason I’d stopped the whiteboard schedule: I was making myself too regimented, and that was taking all the fun and the spontaneity out of it.
As expected, the time away has given me time to connect (or reconnect) a bit closer to my music library, especially now that I’ve managed to back away from the mad frenzy of discography completism and obsessive listening to KEXP (which I still do, just to a lesser degree). I’m relearning how to just enjoy the music I hear, and I’m glad about that. I’m feeling a lot more connected in the right ways once again.
Interestingly, the outcome of this is that making any mixtapes now feels a bit like when I started making them in earnest back in May-June of 1988. I’d made a ton of mixes before that of course — what I refer to as my ‘radio tapes’ era for obvious reasons — but I hadn’t made any personal sourced-from-records/tapes mixes before, at least none made with any seriousness, up until that point. Those original first mixtapes were not about making seasonal mixes at all — they were about collecting my favorite songs at the time, songs I didn’t have in my collection that I could borrow from others, and most of all, they were mixes I could enjoy at any time.
And I think I’m finally getting to that point once again, for the first time in years.
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