More Muc Than You Can Handle

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

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:

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)