Music of 2023
Music has been a big part of my life since at least 1990. It was a great bonding moment with my oldest brother as we both got into They Might Be Giants - Flood at the same time (and independently). He got me into going to concerts, and indie music.
My joy and participation in music has been a constant and I’ve always enjoyed sharing my experiences and discoveries. This is my attempt at turning what is usually an e-mail to a few friends into a blog post.
The Return of Concerts
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With the pandemic restrictions behind, it was great to see the return of concerts to Berlin. There are several concerts per day and there were many events I had to decline. Still, I managed to make it out to the following gigs:
- 24.03.2023 The Handsome Family at Privatclub
- 05.04.2023 Moon Hooch at Urban Spree
- 07.04.2023 Aldous Harding at Admiralpalast
- 18.04.2023 Houses of Worship at undisclosed venue
- 23.04.2023 Altin Gün at Columbiahalle
- 29.04.2023 Dry Cleaning at Festsaal Kreuzberg
- 23.05.2023 The Lemon Twigs at Frannz Club
- 04.06.2023 The Beths at Frannz Club
- 06.06.2023 Ghost at Velodrom
- 11.06.2023 Melvins at Metropol
- 14.06.2023 The War on Drugs at Zitadelle Spandau
- 15.08.2023 King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard at E-Werk
- 24.09.2023 NoSo at Berghain Kantine
- 26.10.2023 King Krule at Columbiahalle
- 11.10.2023 Grails at Roadrunners Rock & Motor Club
- 18.10.2023 Tangerine Dream at Admiralspalast
- 29.10.2023 Kvelertak at Hole 44
- 09.11.2023 Richard Dawson at Berghain Kantine
- 24.11.2023 GoGo Penguin at Huxleys Neue Welt
- 09.12.2023 Great Lake Swimmers at Lark
- 12.12.2023 The Rural Alberta Advantage at Privatclub
Ghost and Tangerine Dream feel like the highlights to me. Something about these shows felt really special. Regardless, there wasn’t a bad show in this list. All were enjoyable and many were attended by friends as well (half I went to alone). It’s also interesting to see I didn’t go to any venue more than twice.
Music Discovery
Over time I’ve found a sustainable way of discovering new music without feeling too overwhelmed. The All Songs Considered podcast has been a great source of music curation that I’ve followed since 2016. Over the year I add noteworthy songs to a playlist on YouTube. Over the last few days I’ve narrowed these picks down to something that can be listened to in a session. My pick for 2023 have a nostalgic tone for me. As well as a tilt towards female vocalists.
Here’s the playlist. I tried to organise it in a way that makes for an enjoyable musical journey.
Below is a reference to which episode I learnt about the track. I do this because the podcasts give great commentary on the background of the artist, album, and song.
- Hayden Pedigo (check out his tinydesk), Rắn Cạp Đuôi source
- Sissoko Segal Parisien Peirani source
- Rodrigo y Gabriela source
- Whitehorse (cannot find source episode)
- boygenius, Nilkas Paschburg & lùisa, Miss Grit source
- Big Thief, Squirrel Flower, Saya Gray source
- This Is The Kit, Grandbrothers source
- Mitski, Meurtrieres source
- Kate Davis, Haffmilch, Rozi Plain source
- Speedy Ortiz, Laura Wolf source
- MIIRRORS source
- Fatoumata Diawara source
- Daughter source
- Little Moon source
- Marina Herlop source
- Lankum source
Summary
This was fun to write and I find the exercise of citing the source of the song enjoyable. Let me know if you would like me to retroactively do similar posts going back a few years.
This post took 3 pomodoros (about the length of the playlist)