Music Taste
I think it’s interesting that people always talk about taste in music. The language we use to talk about music mirrors the way we describe preferences about clothes, friends, etc. Weirdly enough, when we talk about something that actually involves tasting, we talk about more than just taste. With food, it isn’t just taste that matters, there’s texture and consistency and presentation and ambiance and so much more. Reducing it to just taste is nearly criminal. No one ever eats chips just because they taste good. It’s the crunch, the oil on your fingers -- the combination leaves us with an empty Cape Code bag and a stomach full of regret. However, I think similar nuances exist that shape how we listen to music that aren’t always talked about.
My first memories of listening to music involved an Indian channel that exclusively showed music videos, creating an experience that went beyond just the aural. In fact, this channel was often on in the background, so sometimes it felt like it was just a part of life rather than something that necessarily needed rapt attention. Later on, I remember listening to a cassette tape of Smash Mouth’s All Star Hits that my brother got from India that we would listen to religiously. Later on, we had CD players to rotate through our 3 Linkin Park CDs over and over again. After that, we went through the phases of the iPod Mini, the iPod Video, and the iPod Touch. For the longest time, music was so limited, in that we would have a certain amount of music that we could listen to and it would become a part of us. The question of the time was “What’s on your iPod?”
A few years later, streaming found its way. Suddenly, music wasn’t so small. Each and every person had access to nearly all of the music created in the last 60 years or so. Whereas listening to music before would’ve required a commitment of a download or a buy, now anyone could listen to any song without any second thought. Why would I listen to the same 100 songs when I had this playlist of every pop song of the 70s, 80s, and 90s at my fingertips?
As someone discovering music independently for the first time when streaming came about, this was a godsend. I could finally learn who this Kanye West dude was, and explore all the hype around Jay Z. I was able to discover a wide variety of music. However, just like before, I would find certain tracks that I would keep coming back to over and over again. The main difference was now those tracks would be different from one month to the next. Instead of cultivating my favorite music for years, I am now constantly in motion, one genre one month and another the next.
All that being said, I don’t know if this is better or worse than before. I may have a shallower knowledge and connection with most of my music, but I feel knowledgeable about a lot of different types of music. The tradeoff is that it’s harder for me to connect with any music like I did with those Linkin Park CDs. I think about my friend who tends to be a little behind on new music, opting to slowly let it enter his rotation over time, and I wonder if maybe that’s a better path or at least a more mindful one.
Drops of the Week
where I *drop* recommendations of cool things this week
Album
Phrenology by The Roots - I’m trying to listen to more “old” music and listening to this album, I remembered why The Roots are one of the greatest hip-hop groups of all time.
Longread
“Everything Easy is Hard Again” by Frank Chimero - interesting article about the progression of web technologies over the years and the increasing complexity of it all. This is probably a pretty niche thing to share, but I liked it a lot.
Short Film
“Happy Valentine’s Day” - gorgeous short film, incredible use of CG in a way that felt natural and filled with emotion.
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:~)
Love,
Nikhil