End on End

I’m quite possibly working on Crucial Tracks the app… a music journal that basically combines Crucial Tracks, blogging, and my song-a-day playlist project.

You will be able to post one song per day with a little (or a lot of) detail on why you picked the song. Additional features:

• Public profile with RSS feed
• Additional publishing to mastodon, Bluesky, and probably micro.blog
• Creation of an Apple Music playlist from your song selections
• Crucial Tracks interview prompts for days you need help coming up with something
• Private entries

Will be a web app, so no OS lock-in.

Open to feature ideas and feedback!

I was tagged for this challenge and you know I like to write about music, so here we go:

What are five of your favorite albums?

I currently have over 4,600 albums saved to my library, so this is going to be hard. There are too many favorites to ever limit to five, without leaving something really good off the list… but here are the five I think shows both who I am and albums everyone should listen to:

• Fugazi - In on the Kill Taker (1993) - Listen
• Sharon Van Etten - Are We There (2014) - Listen
• Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People (2002) - Listen
• Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight (2008) - Listen
• A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory (1991) - Listen

What are five of your favorite songs?

I’m going to go with the five most influential songs in my life - elementary school through college (see Crucial Tracks 001 for more)

• “It’s Tricky” by Run-DMC — off Raising Hell (1986)
• “Cult of Personality” by Living Colour — off Vivid (1988)
• “Smells Like Teen Spirit“ by Nirvana — off Nevermind (1991)
• “Omission” by Quicksand — off Slip (1993)
• “Truckers Atlas” by Modest Mouse — off The Lonesome Crowded West (1997)

Favorite instrument(s)?

• Guitar
• Bass
• Drums

These three can make up everything I like, from rock to hip hop…folk and jazz and everything in between.

What song or album are you currently listening to?

My current obsession (for this week) is Bambi by Anxious. (Listen)

From one of my latest Crucial Tracks posts:

It’s everything I like about the (emo) genre, combining the best parts of bands like Fiddlehead, Samiam, Jimmy Eat World, and many other late 90s/early 2000s emo bands. There are a bunch of bands that have tried and are trying to replicate that era and Anxious just does it better than all of them. And to top it off, they are a great live band.

Do you listen to the radio? If so, how often?

Not really, only occasionally in the car driving kids around… usually when they have friends in the car. Sometimes sports talk radio too. (Go Bills!) Usually Apple Music, though.

How often do you listen to music?

Daily! I work from home so there’s a good chance music is playing during the day.

How often do you discover music? And how do you discover music?

Weekly for Crucial Tracks. Each week I seem to find a group or individual that is new to me. I think 1/5 of the releases in my Best of 2024 list on Album Whale were new in that sense last year.

As far as how, I’m working on a post for Crucial Tracks that details all that, since I know I’m far from normal. 😄 I will be sure to share, once that’s done.

What’s a song or album that you enjoy that you wish had more recognition?

I think about underrated bands all the time…and how a lot of them would be huge, if they were new to the world today.

I’m not sure this band would be huge, but I think their second album is severely underrated: Knocking the Skill Level by Garden Variety

It has disappeared from streaming, so I’m hoping that means there is a re-issue coming soon. For now you can hear it on YouTube:

What’s your favorite song of all time?

Another tough one. Right now, I will go with “I Love You But I’m Lost” by Sharon Van Etten. It’s beautiful and hit me at the right time in my life.

You read the answers by the shadows on the wall // We could be great // Drive myself crazy with mistakes // You know I’m better every day // Tell me there’s something I can change // Recall I know what a sanctuary is // Help me deserve you sing me praise // You love me, but you’ll change

Has your taste in music evolved over the years?

I’m definitely open to more, like I really got into alt folk (and even alt country) last year and enjoy that a ton now. I don’t think I will ever not like hip hop and hardcore adjacent groups, but as I get older and “force” myself to listen to more new music for Crucial Tracks, I think I am opening up to more styles and sounds that I definitely wouldn’t have liked when I was younger. What’s that quote? “When you are young, you know what you hate, and when you are old, you know what you love.”

Turns out, I really love music.

(And be sure to check out Crucial Tracks!)