What Does a Year of Music Listening Look Like?
Last January, I made the decision to write down every album I would listen to throughout the year. I wanted to be more mindful of my music consumption, but not as diligent as doing a “one-album-per-day” thing like some people do. I wanted to see what a year in the life of a music listener looked like. Most of all, I wanted to remember what I was listening to during the first full year of my newborn son’s life.
Memory is a funny thing. It gets a bit hazier and a bit less trustworthy as the years go by. You can learn a lot by writing things down. Even when I was younger, I always found I would retain a lot more information if I forced myself to scribble it down. I’m only 35, but as more things vie for my attention, the less I remember every little thing.
At first, it felt strange to jot down the albums in my Notes app. It felt clinical, like filling out a medical questionnaire or a baseball scoresheet. But I kept thinking: if I didn’t write this stuff down, then would those memories wouldn’t exist? How could you experience something and forget about it the next moment?
Keeping track of my listening habits made me a more diligent and attentive listener. I learned a lot about myself, in that it turns out I didn’t listen to as much as music as I would’ve thought (or liked). This could be due to a number of things, but mostly, I blame the baby.
You see, babies are wonderous, beautiful, temperamental and helpless creatures, the latter of which being most crucial because believe it or not - despite millions of years of evolution - we still have to, you know, take care of human babies. With a new baby comes stress, responsibilities, sleepless nights, poop, Ms. Rachel, doctors appointments, more stress, and most of all, poop. It was hard to find time, especially at the beginning of the year, to really listen to and appreciate a new album. Pre-baby, my favorite ways to listen to an album were as follows (in order):
in the car
while cooking
having a drink
sitting outside
sitting outside at night
sitting on the couch
running
travelling
getting hit by a bus
working
I did A LOT less of these things in 2024, which might explain why my album count was less than I would’ve hoped. But looking at the list below, some months were better than others, and even just reading the album names can trigger certain memories associated with them. Looking back at my little list of albums, a few things occurred to me:
I listened to 156 albums, not counting repeated listens of “The Wheels on the Bus” (that would certainly bring the number towards the thousands)
I listened to DIIV’s Live at Murmrr Theatre and Sea Lemon’s Stop at Nothing EP while bouncing around in the kitchen trying to get my son to sleep. Shoegaze-adjacent music is surprisingly effective at this.
I took the boy out for an unseasonably (or at this point, seasonably) warm February stroller ride and put Eliza Hardy Jones’s Pickpocket the ol’ earbuds. I do not recommend doing this if you have a fear of crying in public.
I oddly listened to a lot of Future Islands, although I did interview them for SPIN early last year so that might explain it
Never listen to an album while waiting at the DMV. I did that with Restorations’ record, and it was not fun. On a similar note, I do not recommend listening to a new album while stuck in never-ending traffic.
But I HIGHLY recommend driving to the beach and putting on Passage Du Desir. Actually, I recommend doing anything with that record on. Even the DMV couldn’t kill that one.
I do not remember these albums, and can only fear I made them up in a sleep deprived haze: Worlds greatest dad - Better Luck Next Time, David Nance - David Nance & Mowed Sound, Harrison Gordon - The Yuppies Are Winning. Sorry to these albums.
Again, there were a lot of repeated listens I did not bother writing down (I must’ve listened to Romance by the lovable lads from Dublin Fontaines DC 1000 times), and perhaps I could’ve held more space for a few albums I only listened to once. That’s really the only problem I had with this exercise: is one listen really enough to appreciate a record? Is it fair to the artist to notch one listen in the ol’ belt and move on? Probably not, but not everything is worth waiting for.
At any rate, it’s a new year, and it’ll be interesting to look back this time next year (should the internet still exist) at how my listening habits evolve or remain. I’m not sure how many years I’ll continue to write it down every time I listen to an album, but for now, I’m enjoying the practice. I want to be a more diligent listener. I also want to get better at engaging with music or bands I know nothing about. Last year I needed more comfort food, but maybe this year I’ll try more strange cuisine. At the very least, maybe my son will enjoy listening to something other than Ms. Rachel. Yes, that would be a major relief because OMG if I have to hear “I’m So Happy” one more time I may eyes and ears may start bleeding simultaneously nice.
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2024 Albums
January
Drive By Truckers - The Dirty South
Jason Isbell - Southeastern (live)
Golden Apples - bananasugarfire
Aerosmith - Aerosmith
Joe Cocker - Joe Cocker!
Tyler Childers - Country Squire
Linda Ronstadt - Greatest Hits II
The Beatles - A Hard Days Night (soundtrack version)
Rod Stewart - Never A Dull Moment
Matt Wilde - Hello World
DIIV - Live at Murmrr Theatre
Sea Lemon - Stop at Nothing EP
Against Me - Transgender Dysphoria Blues
Finnogun’s Wake - Stay Young EP*
Future Islands - People Who Aren’t There Anymore*
Father John Misty - Pure Comedy
Footballhead - Overthinking Everything*
February
Liquid Mike - Paul Bunyan’s Sling Shot*
The Menzingers - Some of It Was True
Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit - Weathervanes
The War on Drugs - LIVE DRUGS
Bill Evans - Trio 64
The Tallest Man On Earth - The Wild Hunt
Tyler Childers - Rustin’ in the Rain
Future Islands - Singles
Ducks Ltd - Harm’s Way*
Beatles - Beatles 65
Fontaines DC - Dogrel
Father John Misty - Live at Third Man Records
Hurry - Don’t Look Back
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
Waylon Jennings - Dreaming My Dreams
Sarah Jarosz - Polaroid Lovers*
Sturgill Simpson - Sound & Fury
David Nance - David Nance & Mowed Sound*
Father John Misty - I Love You Honeybear
Father John Misty - Fear Fun
Tyler Childers - Live on Red Barn Radio I & II
Eliza Hardy Jones - Pickpocket*
Phil Collins - No Jacket Required
Cloud Nothings - Final Summer*
March
Mannequin Pussy - I Got Heaven*
Sheer Mag - Playing Favorites*
Future Islands - The Far Field
Waxahatchee - Saint Cloud
UV-TV - Always Something
Glitterer - Rationale*
Fontaines DC - Live at Kilmainham Gaol
The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream
Neil Young - Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Waxahatchee - Tigers Blood*
Webbed Wing - Vol. III*
Nirvana - MTV Unplugged
April
Cloud Nothings - Here and Nowhere Else
Restorations - Restorations*
Lo Moon - I Wish You Way More Than Luck*
The Shins - Port of Morrow
The Beatles - Rubber Soul
Hop Along - Bark Your Head Off, Dog
Father John Misty - God’s Favorite Customer
Bruce Hornsby & the Range - Scenes from the Southside
Rosali - Bite Down*
Antenna - Antenna EP*
Sturgill Simpson - A Sailor’s Guide to Earth
Paul McCartney - McCartney
May
Kings of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak
The Strokes - Room on Fire
The Jayhawks - Rainy Day Music
The Menzingers - Some Of It Was True
Sturgill Simpson - Metamodern Sounds in Country Music
The Killers - Hot Fuss
Waylon Jennings - Honky Tonk Heroes
Sylvan Esso - Sylvan Esso
Shellac - To All Trains*
DIIV - Frog In Boiling Water*
June
Coldplay - X&Y
Bruce Springsteen - Born in the USA
The Beatles - Yesterday and Today
Good Looks - Lived Here for a While*
Charlie Hall - Invisible Ink
Charli xcx - brat*
Harrison Gordon - The Yuppies Are Winning
Been Stellar - Scream From New York, NY*
Royal Headache - Live in America*
Guided By Voices - Strut of Kings*
Alvvays - Alvvays
July
Zach Bryan - The Great American Bar Scene*
White Reaper - The World’s Best American Band
MJ Lenderman - Live and Loose
The Killers - Imploding the Mirage
The Rolling Stones - Tattoo You
The Doobie Brothers - Best of the Doobie Brothers
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Endless Rooms
Johnny Blue Skies / Sturgill Simpson - Passage Du Desir*
Romero - Turn It On
Wild Pink - Dulling the Horns*
Los Campesinos! - All Hell*
August
Jack White - No Name*
Japandroids - Fate & Alcohol*
Oso Oso - life till bones*
Rick White and the Sadies - s/t*
Spoon - They Want My Soul
Wishy - Triple Seven*
Fontaines DC - Romance*
Cymbals Eat Guitars - LOSE
Oasis - Don’t Believe the Truth
September
MJ Lenderman - Manning Fireworks*
Pearl Jam - Let’s Play Two
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - Flight b741*
The War on Drugs - Live Drugs Again*
Bad Moves - Wearing Out the Refrain*
Worlds greatest dad - Better Luck Next Time*
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Long After Dark
Jamie XX - In Waves*
Trace Mountains - Into the Burning Blue*
SPICE - SPICE
The Hotelier - Goodness
October
Father John Misty - Fear Fun
Fleet Foxes - Shore
Dum Dum Girls - Only in Dreams
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Days of Abandon
Wild Pink - A Billion Little Lights
Wunderhorse - Midas*
The Beths - Future Me Hates Me
Sturgill Simpson - High Top Mountain
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - Live from the Ryman Vol. 2*
The Tubs - Dead Meat
The Tubs - Names EP
Japandroids - Near to the Wild Heart of Life
Japandroids - Celebration Rock
Run the Jewels - RTJ2
High Vis - Guided Tour*
Fontaines DC - Skinty Fia
Sam Cooke - One Night Stand
Otis Redding - Otis Blue
2nd Grade - Scheduled Explosions*
Genesis - Genesis
Deafheaven - New Bermuda
November
The Beatles - Let It Be… Naked
Genesis - A Trick of the Tail
Chick Corea - Now He Sings, Now He Sobs
The Avett Brothers - I and Love and You
Riley! - Keep Your Cool
Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
CHVRCHES - Every Open Eye
Father John Misty - Mahashmashana*
Kendrick Lamar - GNX*
December
Fontaines DC - A Hero’s Death
Vince Guaraldi Trio - A Charlie Brown Christmas
Lauren Watkins - The Heartbroken Record*
Peter Gabriel - So
The Replacements - Pleased to Meet Me
The Menzingers - After the Party
Eric Church - Soul
The Philly Specials - A Philly Special Christmas
Jason Isbell - Southeastern Demos