Music

I'm always trying to listen to more music and in 2025 I set a goal to listen to 50 artists/albums. I say artists OR albums, because getting the creative gist of a project might mean listening to just one great and unique album-- or it could mean spending some serious time with that specific artist through multiple units of creative output.

And It's not just to cross them off my list. I hate the idea of listening to many many albums, but not being able to remember any of it. I want to commit things to memory. Even if I don't enjoy a particular album or artist, I want to make sure I truly sunk my teeth into the creative meat to give it a fair shot. To that end, I also hope to write a little summary of each.

I'm nervous because I've set goals like this before and never got far. Sometimes, it feels like the more Iwring my hands about documentation and making sure I've heard EVERY SINGLE GREAT ALBUM OF ALL TIMEI end up sucking all the joy out of the process. There are also many albums that I've hated at first, but grown to love after 2-3 listens. That's the tricky thing with trying to get the full experience. I put myself on a timetable, but you never know how long it will take to digest any given work.

So I guess I should view this experience as a way to dip my toes in the water, bookmark things that catch my eye, then come back at another time. More emphasis on this being a lifelong process, less emphasis on "catching up" to an imaginary audience of music snobs evaluating every choice.