featured image
Enlarge image

A year you can listen to

#braindump

2024 was great…until it wasn’t.

Actually that’s an oversimplification that discredits the good, which outweighed the bad by a huge amount. Really. I’m lucky, grateful, and happy. But I write this now with RSV that also ripped through my family over the holidays.

Typically I try to summarize the year in a blog post full of photos and insights. And while that’d be easy to do I’d rather try something different. This year is about making a few small changes. Maybe even a big change. H*ck, I’m using an actual clicky mouse (magic mouse from 2009) instead of a trackpad to write this. And a magic keyboard that my wife spilled wine on in 2017 and was out of commission until, well, now I guess (works great and I did nothing to repair it). Moral of the story…sometimes the wine mess just cleans itself up.

So the “recap” post is different how? Well each January I make a Spotify playlist that’s a catchall for the year. Songs I hear for the first time (discover, shazam, word of mouth, etc) and songs I used to love 10/20 years ago and forgot all about. I just made one for 2025, which brings me to what I’m about to share with everyone (something I’ve NEVER done before)…my playlist from last year.

There’s no shame. For instance, I had never heard that particular Abba song and I must have listened to it 50 times last year, I love it that much. Same for Chrome Sparks, an artist that was unknown to me and I now crave more of.

I know a lot of people who don’t search for new music after a certain age. They just listen to the things they know and love. Which I get. No shame in that, either, really (looking at you, sis). I try to do both, though. I play through OK Computer and then look up an artist I shazam’d in my car.

My favorite thing about these playlists (I’ve been doing this since 2016) is that listening to it in order by “date added” perfectly walks me through my year in chronological order. I remember specifically listening to E.VAX’s Chillin Island album on repeat for a bit, and now I know that started on March 14. And a month ago I added a Björk song that I remember burning to a mix CD 20 years ago.

These playlists are wild, and I love that. Give this one a listen and maybe you’ll find something or someone you love too. *note, this embed here caps out at 100 songs, but there are 185 total, so click thru!