album of the month
cuz the cream always
rises to the top
I’m a music maker, a journalist, an audio producer. I’ve been hosting a podcast about independent musicians for what seems like forever. I receive dozens of new music submissions and press releases each week and I never complain. I listen to all of it (eventually). I check in to my regular nerd sites weekly to make sure I’m caught up on all the new stuff, maybe to read a couple of features or reviews. I regularly ask for recommendations from friends, bandmates, and respected colleagues.
I lost all my physical product — two thousand records and about twice as many compact discs — in a flood over a decade ago. A death in the family. Mother Nature spared the mp3’s. And so a digital music library was everything, and thus carefully curated. All the album artwork and the metadata as it should be: meticulously arranged. A few years ago, I started buying records again. They are organized by their level of greatness. My audiophile OCD remains strong. Everything in its right place.
I don’t pay for a subscription service, lest I get lazy and push music to the background. Sure, I’m often doing other stuff while I dive in… but once a tune catches my ear, I’ll bookmark it and return to give it the attention it deserves.
I frequent record stores and tiny clubs, an endless quest for the next musical lightning bolt. A musical Ben Franklin, an archaeologist. Spotify and YouTube my tools to dig deeper, Bandcamp and Soundcloud avenues to support the cause.
I’m a fan, a contributor. Obsessed since childhood. My favorite bands are Nine Inch Nails, Radiohead, Beastie Boys, Depeche Mode and The Beatles. But I have 7000 favorite bands. Most music sent my way these days is… not great. But I listen to so much — and still enjoy so many artists that have already swept me off my feet — that I’m never less than satiated. I used to be a critic, but I’ve realized that the better move is to listen to everything with an open mind, then shine a light on the music that I love.
That’s where album of the month comes in. A place for me to toss some flowers to a single collection of new music that I kept revisiting all month. My podcast and this playlist do the rest.
There’s so much noise, so little commerce. Repeated listens are hard to come by even if they offer little to line artists’ pockets. Repeated listens often lead to a purchase, then maybe a concert ticket, a trip to the merch booth, a new vinyl record added to a new and growing collection. It’s a vital first step. These are the albums that have kept my attention, that I can’t stop listening to. Lord knows it ain’t easy.
Support the locals,
Ron
