Sanctimony, thy name is Fastidious Mixtape Maker
I'm an insufferable music snob in this one but there's a payoff.
Here's something: Spotify just informed me that I spent 2023 inadvertently taking a deep dive into eighties New Wave and singer-songwriters from the sixties forward. It was less about discovery for me this year, decidedly keyed to seeking rest in comfort and musicality. There's very little punk and no Delta blues in the compilation of most-listened songs they made me as a year-end happy; an unusual outcome. No Bowie? You're fucking kidding me.
I have a personal rule of not repeating an artist on a playlist. If I ever do that, it's to make a point or close a loop. (Or to signal you that I’ve been detained against my will and my kidnappers didn’t think to put me up in a snotty suite with a bathtub built for accidentally drowning drunk girls, one deep enough to slip under the surface and think about life for a minute but without all the tedium and effort of locating and shlepping to the pool.) But mostly this whole repeats thing is where my music snobbery emerges: that practice is weaksauce and the sign of a lazy mind. There's so much music out there wanting to be included, no matter your narrative or theme. A startling amount of it is sheer genius.
Really. A song is a human-driven miracle. Music-makers are sacred and anointed, no matter the church of their belonging.
Stack artists like cordwood when you make a mixtape/playlist, friends.
I know Spotify’s fun little gift to me is called a playlist, but it really just serves as a count of which songs I gave the most love to in 2023. It’s a data set first and a musical adventure as an afterthought. That means my No Repeats, Chump rule doesn't really apply here. But I'll wear it like an itchy sweater anyway. At least, until I forget myself in the music as I work and make and feel my way through my insides while I listen.
Music: the great unifier of peoples and people's insides.
If you've ever wanted a playlist that includes Supertramp, Kermit the Frog, Arrested Development, and Patterson Hood built for you, your dreams have been realized.
In closing, a taunt: I listened to 166 genres this year. Top that, honkytonk.