Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes!

Change seems to be the theme of this October. And no, I’m not primarily referring to the trees outside my front porch, or anything else weather related. Even without the obvious, I seem to be surrounded by change: At work in last couple of weeks, I have said goodbye to two fantastic co-workers, and today was my boss’s last day. At home this month, two of my three housemates are moving out, and two new yet-unknown people will be taking their places. Along with my two housemates leaving, so has and will several pieces of furniture, which should add to the general feeling of change in my environment. On top of this, I am facing my final year at grad school with a fairly consistent hum of uncertainty about what comes next, reminding me that much more change is yet ahead.

And the change most worth talking about here: I am starting a blog. It terrifies me to think of making random thoughts so public, but maybe I need to own up to the things that come out of my mouth and brain.

I’ll try not to overwhelm you too much, focus my thoughts to a specific topic, namely, records. Not necessarily of the vinyl variety, but collections by artists of songs also known as albums. Since becoming an avid fan and user of iTunes earlier this decade, I have become aware of how my listening of music has dramatically shifted. When I like a band or artist it is no longer an automatic that I would go purchase an album since I could just go online and legally download the singles I like for $0.99 each. While I used to primarily hear songs either on the radio or in the context of their album, I’m now more likely to hear them in a new context of my own created playlists or a “party shuffle”. The mixtape has nearly replaced the original album.

So in short, I’m going to rebel against this shift, and intentionally stick with albums for a while. As much as possible I’ll be listening to whole records and writing about what I notice. I realize that some would say the album is a dying art and that I am living in the past. Could be. But even if the album is on it’s way out, I would like to spend some significant time with it before it’s dying breath.

Welcome to the space where I will write about my experience of record listening in an attempt to think more clearly about how and why we listen to music at all. I’ll do my best to not critique too much, but simply supply a narrative that may or may not persuade you to listen to albums along with me.


Peace,

Danice