Alli's Articles
INTERVIEWS, REVIEWS, CULTURE PIECES, MUSICAL RAMBLINGS.
While scrolling what always seems to be the endless row of Instagram stories back in late December, I came across an array of New Year's Resolutions presented before me. There were the usual, the never-lasting "I WILL WORK OUT" screaming at you in bold letters, "being more positive" that ends when school starts, and, my personal favorite, the "posting less on social media." I was going to do that one, but look where I am now.
Looking past all these mediocre promises for 2019, I found a certain number of people with an interesting concept in mind, but each worded differently. Basically, a bunch of my followers wanted to listen to more music! This included discovering more artists, listening out of their comfort zone, and even experiencing more concerts. I decided to take a on certain adaptation one of my friends posted, which read "listen to 100 albums in one year." When I first thought about it, I was nervous I wasn't going to be able to finish it. Now, at the time I'm writing this in mid-February, I've listened to 15 albums in full. I have to say, this challenge has helped a lot regarding my attention span. Sometimes, I find it hard to listen to complete albums, just because my personality is one where I'm all over the place at once. I'll get the urge to listen to something else as soon as I try to sit down and listen to one thing. Doing this helped stop this urge, and also found me better ways to occupy the time listening to this album, such as painting, reading, or just reflecting. The Criteria I Made For Myself: - At least 100. No less. If you want to, do more! - You couldn't have listened to the album in full before. It's okay if you've heard some songs off it, but for me, the whole point is to discover something different. (It's more fun listening to an album completely out of your favorite genre, though.) - The album doesn't have to be new, it could be anything you've always wanted to listen to, but never got the chance. - Listen to it in ORDER and NO SKIPPING SONGS or TAKING BREAKS! - Keep a log in your notes with the name of the album, the artist, and the date listened. - Even if you're not a huge fan of the whole thing, listen to it anyway to try to take away at least ONE thing from it. Here's my list so far, as of Feb 18th:
The first album that I listened to came pretty easily to me, since Puzzle, Fletcher Shears of The Garden fame's solo act, released his newest album X-Hail, was released on January 4th. There were times where I wanted to click off and do something else (nothing to do with the album itself, just because of how easily distracted I get), but I stayed in one place, didn't go on my phone, sat and fully expereinced the album. I'm really glad I did that, because the "zero-distraction" policy I implemented on myself allowed me to hear things I haven't picked up in the singles that were released before. This little challenge also inspired me to listen to some "classic" or "essential" albums that everyone loves, but I never got to listen to. I really couldn't believe I never fully heard some of the stuff I've decided to take on. I finally understood what all the hype was about Weezer's sophomore sad-boy release Pinkerton, which, inevitably, caused me to turn into a sad-girl. I always heard about how sad "Butterfly" made people, but I was not ready for THAT. I also listened to the album that single-handedly curated the beginnings of French electro-house, Air's Moon Safari. I really enjoyed and appreciated it, and found myself appreciating bands like Phoenix and Daft Punk more immediately after finishing. I tried to stay in the present as well, as I listened to Golden Hour by Kacey Musgraves after it won Best Album at the Grammy's. I feel like all of this new discovery is slowly helping me to become more literate in the language of iconic music, as well as a better analyzer and reviewer. As I discover more albums that are important to our entire culture as a whole, I have more things to compare and contrast to in future articles. It's perfectly fine to exclusively listen to the genre you enjoy the most, but if you try to review things with only that experience in mind, your reviews could seem restricted at times. That's how I feel sometimes, to be honest. I'm constantly on a mission to open my mindset when it comes to all types of music, and to give educated and honest reviews that will make sense and that the people who read them could agree with and trust. I'm excited to keep on doing this! And if you were inspired to do this after reading it, I hope you're excited about it, too! Happy exploring!
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