The Fun of Finding New-to-You Music

Music has always been a big part of my life. I don’t play an instrument like my husband or kiddo, but I’ve always been a big fan. This love was planted early by my mom. She taught aerobics in the 80s as her second job, and I can remember sitting with her and her stack of 45s (records), trying to find just the right songs for her routines.

As I developed my own taste, I shifted into listening to my favorite radio stations, painstakingly waiting for my favorite songs to come on so I could hit Record, and making mixtapes for my Walkman. (Yes, kids, this is how we had to do it, lol.) Eventually, technology advanced and I moved to filling up fat CD binders that I could organize and lovingly flip through. I still have two of those binders even though I have no CD player. I can’t seem to part with them.

Of course, now we have streaming and almost every song we could want at our fingertips, but I find that having the ability to make endless personalized playlists means I’m not exposed as much to music I don’t already know. And I don’t necessarily mean “new” songs but “new to me” songs. I end up making playlists of my favorite songs and listening on repeat (and my master playlist is 80 hours long, so I don’t even have to repeat every often.)

But the fun of discovery and hearing a new song on the radio is lost. This is a bummer in general but also, it’s been shown that listening to music, particularly new-to-us music, is really good for our brains. In addition, I find music really inspiring for my writing. There are some songs that the first time I hear them, I think “I could write a story from that.” Music hits me in a different place than other types of inspiration.

So, I’ve started to make an effort to find new-to-me music. How? Here are some fun ways I’ve found:

1. Watching music competition shows like The Voice and American Idol

   I’ve always loved these types of shows, so that’s nothing new. However, I’ve realized that these shows have been a solid source of new music discoveries for me too. The first time I heard one of my (now) very favorite songs, Sara Bareilles’ “She Used to Be Mine”, was on one of these shows.

2. Books About Music

   There’s a book for everything, right? A few years ago I bought 1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die and 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die for the kidlet (who loves music and plays guitar and drums.) Even though he’s 16 now, we still read an entry from one of these together each night. Digging into why a song or album is important makes you want to go and listen to them. And from that article I linked to above, I discovered someone actually created a Random Album Generator based on the book, so you can play with that even if you don’t have the book!

3. Best of Lists

   This is similar to the books but easier to get your hands on. Right now I’m working my way through Rolling Stones’ 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. I’m working backward and am at number 489 (listening to that as I type this in fact!). But this has been such a fun exercise so far. I listen to each album from start to finish, not on shuffle, listening to it as it was intended since songs were put in a certain order for a reason. (I’ve blogged before about The Joy of Listening to an Album All the Way Through.)

   And because I’m sticking to the order of the list, I get quite a variety, going from Shakira to Boys II Men to The Ronettes. My brain is definitely getting some exercise! (Although, let’s be honest, I knew every song on that Boys II Men album by heart, lol. Not all of these are new-to-me.)

There are of course other ways to find new music. Going to concerts and getting there in time for the opening bands, asking friends for recs, listening to a radio station, letting the Spotify algorithms guide you, etc. But the ones above have been the most convenient and enjoyable for me.

It doesn’t really matter how you get there, but if you want to change things up from the same old same old of your tried-and-true playlists, maybe give some of these options a shot.

I’d love to hear if you ever search out new music or how you find new things to listen to. Give me your own tips. Or share the best new-to-you song you’ve discovered lately!

Gex X Style Meditation: The Joy of Listening to an Album All the Way Through

I try not to start conversations with things like “When I was a kid, we…” or “Back in the day, I…” too often (though my kid may disagree) because it makes me feel old and, really, who wants to listen to people preach about “the way things used to be”? However, as someone who was born at the tail end of the Gen X generation and who is part of the last group to come of age before the internet and digital took over, sometimes I’m hit with how things have changed and some of the little (and big) things we’ve lost.

I was in the car the other day and an Alanis Morissette song came on. When it was done, I immediately started singing the next song on the Jagged Little Pill album. Why? Because in high school I listened to that CD over and over and OVER again (sorry, Mom), and I listened to it from start to finish. So the songs don’t just exist as separate entities to me but as one complete body of work. (My car, like most others, only held one CD or cassette at a time, so I would have to choose what I was listening to for that car ride and go with it.)

And it hit me in that moment in the car that I couldn’t remember the last time I’d done that—listened to one album all the way through. Or even one artist for multiple songs in a row. Like most everyone else, my music is now digital and I have my Spotify on shuffle, so I just listen to what comes up on that playlist. That’s convenient and fine, but in that moment in the car, I realized that something was also lost in that process.

An album tells a story. Artists think about which order songs should go in, and there’s a reason why they put one in front of another. There’s a reason why they opened with song A and closed with Song Z. (There were even sometimes hidden tracks tucked behind that last song if you didn’t stop playing the album when the last song was over.) With the new digital format, most of us are cherry-picking the songs we want. The hits. The songs that aren’t necessarily radio-friendly or ones that have less mass appeal get lost in the shuffle. Some of my favorite songs ever were songs that weren’t the ones released on the radio. And now I’m probably missing out on some great songs by artists I like.

So this week, I’ve made a point to go into my Spotify and choose an artist/band I enjoy and just hit play on one of their albums. Then, I let it go from start to finish without skipping around or shuffling. I’ve discovered some great new songs by artists/bands I love, and it’s felt…calming and almost meditative—even if it’s loud rock music. There’s something extra satisfying about the focus of it all. One artist/band, one album in time, one complete journey. I’m really digging it.

So, let me say in my best old lady voice, “Back in my day, we listened to the whole damn thing, and you should give that a try, too.” ;)

My favorite full album listen this week: A War on Everything by The Glorious Sons . (And if you haven’t discovered The Glorious Sons yet, you’re welcome.)

Do you ever do this—listen to an album all the way through? What have been some of your favorite listens?

The Songs I Never Get Tired of.... #ListifyLife

This week's #ListifyLife challenge is Songs I Never Get Tired Of. This one was both really easy and really hard. Really easy because I can think of so many. But really hard because I wanted to fit them all on one page and needed to trim my list.

So here's what I ended up with. It's a bit eclectic, but that goes for my music taste in general. :)

That's my list. I'd love to hear what some of your songs are. My criteria for including them was "If this comes on, I can't forward the song or change the channel."

What songs would make your list?

New Music Page: The Loving on the Edge Playlists

At the Marilyn Manson concert in Vegas

So I've been wanting to do this for a while, but knew it was going to be a bit of a project and needed to wait until I had some time to dedicate to it. Finally, this weekend I was able to put it together. 

Music has always been a big part of my life and it definitely plays a big role in my writing. I can't write in silence, so I listen to a wide variety of songs while I'm writing. But there are particular ones that stand out in my mind has linked to certain stories or characters or scenes. So I've put together playlists for my series so far, including:

• Songs that inspired stories or scenes
• Character Anthems
• The Dark and Sexy Stuff (i.e. what I imagine playing in the background of the smexy scenes. These are not your typical romance songs because who wants to get flogged to Celine Dion? Though, now that I think about it, that could make for a funny scene.)
• The Romantic Stuff (the Happily Ever After anthems)

So I hope you'll check out the list.

And in the comments, I'd love to hear what songs are intrinsically tied to one of your stories or characters. 

Made of Win Monday: The Concert Rush

Photo by Incase (click pic for link)So hubs and I have an addiction. For most couples, a romantic evening would entail a nice quiet dinner and maybe a movie out. Now, I can appreciate that kind of night like anyone else. But my ideal romantic evening is heading out to a crowded, dark place and screaming at strangers with thousands of our newest friends. In other words, a concert. : )

(If you want to see who I've seen live, I've made a Pinterest board. I realized as I was putting it together that I think I may be nearing 100 concerts. No, I don't have a problem, not at all. *cough*) 

I was introduced to concerts at a pretty young age. My parents have always been music lovers and started taking me along when I was about ten. I also dragged them to a few New Kids on the Block concerts before that. : ) But as soon as I started going, I was hooked.

There's something about that rush of shared excitement. How often do you get to be somewhere with thousands of people who are all happy and having fun at the same time? In a world where we exist amongst so much day to day grumpiness, it's a huge rush to be in the middle of all that positive energy, singing your favorite songs with others who love them as much as you do.

That rush is made of pure win, y'all.

So are you a concert person? What's the best concert you've ever been to? The worse? Who is on your bucket list of bands/singers you want to see?