We Are So Back.

I love music.

I know everyone says that, but I genuinely mean it. Discovering new bands to listen to is probably my favorite thing on earth. Like before Shazam, I would sit in my car and wait until a radio DJ announced the name of a song I liked. I would make myself memorize lyrics until I could get to a computer to Google it. I would find one new song I liked and then immediately illegally download the band’s entire discography based on it. I spend a lot of time clicking through “similar artists” on Spotify. I make sure to get to shows early to see openers.

In today’s day and age, it’s starting to feel like The Algorithm controls everything. If you like a tweet, all you see in your feed is tweet related to that topic. If you hover on a TikTok for too long, you get nothing but similar videos. If you google a product, all you see is adds for it. There’s no escaping it. The Algorithm keeps nudging and pushing us in directions all throughout the day EVEN IF WE DON’T WANT IT TO! Spotify’s algorithm has been especially abysmal this year. All it does is suggest familiar favorites. It rarely mixes in any new music and when it does its from bands that are made to exploit The Algorithm. Spotify used to be a great way to uncover new bands but now its just a cesspool that tries to keep you locked in a prison of music it knows you already like. I fucking hate it.

The Algorithm made it so hard for me to find anything new and decent to listen. I got so frustrated that I almost preferred silence. That was not okay with me! Time is meant to be decorated with sound! I needed to find a way to get myself out of this funk and to combat The Algorithm, or at least confuse it.

Someone on Twitter had posted that they were making an effort to listen to more new music by seeking out a new album to listen to every day. They were doing it the old-fashioned way by asking others for suggestions or just looking around Spotify/the Internet as a personal record shop. I though that idea was amazing. What a great way to explore genres you love as well as journey into new ones! What a way to break free of The Algorithm’s grasp! After some pondering, I decided that this seemed like the right way to reignite my love of music. And I want to share this with you all.

It is now my mission to try to listen to a new album every week. And by new, I mean an album that is new to me. One I've never heard before. It doesn't matter the year or genre. Whenever I listen to one, I will send out a short review about it. Every review will include the date of release, length of the album, and my favorite song on it (or favorite songs because I’m indecisive!). I am so excited about this! Thanks for coming along for the ride!

Author’s Note: In case you aren’t familiar with some general music terms I wanted to get some definitions out of the way since I will be referring to them moving forward:

LP ­– Long Play. This refers to a full-length body of work, features between 7-29 tracks and has a running time of roughly 35-60 mins.

EP – Extended Play. This refers to a half-length body of work, features between 4-6 tracks and has a running time of roughly 15-22 mins (but can be up to 30 minutes).

Single – This refers to a release containing one to three songs that are under 10 minutes each