Breaking the beat
12/05 2022
Some few weeks ago I took a few hours of my evening and setup FreshRSS (with the aid of a bottle of red wine), adding all the various news-sources and blogs I've manually followed throughout the years. As the weeks progressed I came to the habit of whenever I encountered a new blog which had RSS enabled I then also added it to my RSS reader. And with that another realization gradually arose: my previous (and perhaps also current) reliance on different algorithms for the content which I consumed. Because, as the amount of algorithm-free articles increased (RSS is as unfiltered as they come) my awareness of them when I saw them did as well.
This is hardly surprising, and it produced in my nothing more than a shrug as if I just found another way to express my dissatisfaction with the current state of some parts of the technological sphere. But, then something surprising happened: on HN I stumbled upon this blog post about leaving Spotify in favor of Bandcamp (and other more "analog" sources). Now, I don't necessarily agree with most of the points made in that article. First of all, I'm not an audiophile and I personally don't hear any difference between low and high end gear that makes me go: "This is totally worth spending 350$ on!" I like music, and I like to listen to music, but that is pretty much it. Give me my $10 basic white earbuds and leave me be, please. Secondly, I don't see the allure of buying some new device for just my music when I have a perfectly functioning smartphone in my pocket. I think I'll just use that. So, I don't agree with those two points, but what do I agree about? Well, I think the idea of listening to albums, instead of playlists, is a great one. But more than anything else, what I really liked was the discovery of Bandcamp Daily, a blog which Bandcamp themselves run. It is a blog in the format of manually curated album recommendations, articles about forgotten artists from a forgotten time, and so on. It's great, and if you have an RSS reader I can't but recommend adding them to it.
In any case, here are some albums that I've found in my brief tenure perusing Bandcamp and other various non-algorithmic sources:
Melissa Carper - Ramblin' Soul
Fantastic album that at times sounds like "Dolly Parton mixed with Nina Simone" according to my Dad. While the Nina Simone might be a bit out there I think I see what he means during 'Aint a Day Goes By'.
Moritz Moszkowski - Piano Concerto in E Major, Op.59
I actually found this, not on Bandcamp, but through another blog I found on HN (link) today. I've always enjoyed classical music but hated looking for it. I know what I want: Claire de Lune, but something a little more 'exciting'. Yeah, that's what this sounds like.
Bonny Light Horseman - Rolling Golden Holy
Always been a fan of Hadestown, but didn't have a clue that she was also a part of a band called Bonny Light Horseman. Now I do, and I love it.