This post was originally supposed to be about my music listening strategy in this age of music suggestion algorithms. But apparently, if you procrastinate enough on writing blog posts on time, they evolve into something more than they were intended to be.
As I questioned my obsession with listening to music and why I put so much effort into the plain act of listening to music. Be it listening to most genres (anything but dubstep), multiple languages (about 11 as of now), or going to the lengths of training advertisement algorithms to show me music ads (I have a video on YouTube if you wanna watch it), planning out playlists (yearly, top20's etc), my Instagram profile page which is turning into playlists of music, the jerry-rigged home theatre setup I had built for myself and not forget collecting all my favourite headphones I've listened with over the years. Oh and I've also been paying for music service(s) for about 5+ years now. No regrets at all.
It all brought up the deeper questions.
What does music even mean to me?
What role has it been playing in my life all this while?
When did my obsession even start?
This post is turning into something I never expected, I don't know what I'm going to find by answering those questions. But like always, curiosity gets the better of me.
Before digging further, let's address the featured image. Yes, it's me (cute right?) with a portable cassette player which played just one cassette on loop all the time. Songs from Hum Saath Saath Hain. Think ABCDEFG...
Things get even better on Instagram, ever since they've added the feature to add music to stories. I've been able to combine visual stimuli like a photograph with auditory stimuli together to document anything. The more sources of stimuli, the better you can recall the emotions you'd been feeling back then. What's better than going back in time and seeing something which puts a big smile on your face.
A dollop of science before I move on to answering the big questions. (Don't skip it 😏)
Musical Frissons
Musical Frisson is like goosebumps/chills for the brain. For me, with certain songs, a shiver originates in the brain and runs down the spine and body. The first time it happened, I had to sit and find out what was going on. That's when I stumbled upon musical frissons.
Only some percentage of the population can feel the frissons and these sections of people tend to have thicker/higher amount of nerve fibres connecting the ears and the auditory cortex in the brain (don't quote me on this 🙅♂️, don't have the sources right now).
Here's an article that talks about it in more detail and all the research being conducted. They call the phenomenon 'skin orgasms', which fits the bill much better than calling them goosebumps.
They also write this about people who feel the frissons.
I guess that kind of explains the bizarro dreams from my dream log.
Recipe for Finding New Music
Trust me, as much as the algorithms help you find new music, they usually regurgitate the same kinds of music and discovering new songs gets even harder.
My current strategy to find new music is to use multiple music services, using different algorithms. Spotify has a much better music recommendation algorithm than YT Music. Unfortunately, the music quality is better on YT Music. About 80% of my Instagram Ads are still about new music published by various artists. The probable #1 song for this year is from an Instagram Ad. Reddit is a great place to find new music from all the communities. I do not like what Tik Tok/Reels have done to music. Playing 10s of a beautiful song doesn't do justice to it. All the songs from Reels instantly become meme songs which is just sad.
By far, my favourite way of finding new music is by finding people and asking them what their favourite tracks are, secretly 'shazaming' whatever someone's playing. I discovered the genre dream-pop at the only hackathon I've ever been a part of, one of the biggest highlights of those 24 hours. You can find me trying to shazam music at restaurants, public places & even while grocery shopping. Whenever I shazam someone's music I feel like I'm stealing their music without their consent😂.
Anime has been a big part of how I find Japanese music, there's just something about listening to music made by different cultures. I feel like it gives an insight into how people from different cultures process their thoughts.
Language plays a big role in how we perceive our feelings and process things. Language influences how one thinks. Language and culture go hand in hand. Even though you don't know a language, you can still feel a piece of music. Irrespective of where and who in the world made it.
Here's my favourite Japanese song of all time (was also #1 on my 2019 playlist). I remember some cheesy fancy words to describe this song in my Instagram story. It went something like "musical frissons in the quantum world". It's so hard to describe how music makes one feel.
Music Organization
Okay just a little bit more about how I've come to organise music in the last few years. I stopped organising them based on their genre and instead organise them based on time.
On new years day, I am a very desperate guy to find new music to start filling my newly-created-empty playlist. It's not that I stop listening to the songs from the previous year, but just the act of creating an empty playlist forces me to start finding new music.
Over the years, I've had more and more songs on my yearly playlists. This year, I already have 330+ songs and I have half a year more to find new music.
What started as a fun idea (Top 20s) now represents a boiled-down version of how I felt during a particular year. There's a method to the madness in how I select my top 20s. It's usually how well I'm able to connect with the music and what was happening around me when I found it.
If I stretch the same idea to a longer epoch (spans of 3-5 years in this case), the music I connected with shows how I did in general in those epochs.
I mean, isn't looking back at life one of the most underrated pleasures in life? good or bad doesn't really matter.
The Answers?
At the moment, music in a way represents the timeline of my life. Weaving through people, emotions, events and things I don't even know how to describe with words.
To me, music makes it easier to get a sense of the world. Connect with new people, remember past feelings, cornerstone events & people who've played important roles in my life. Even now, specific songs trigger memories of certain people. Either because they were the ones who introduced me to that song or I somehow have intertwined feelings with them.
It's a very commonly heard phrase "music heals..". How there's a piece of music for every mood, how a piece of music can change your mood. It's a very personal view but I think in the end music brings out the purest of what you're feeling at that moment and helps you face them, and accept them. Thereby healing you. Making you embrace the happiness, sadness or whatever the feeling might be. You can't lie to a piece of music. You just cannot.
Describing a feeling with a piece of music feels more organic sometimes than using words. It even makes them more memorable.
Trying to describe how music makes one feel using English, is almost like using math to describe feelings. Even with all the vocabulary in English, I don't think you can do justice to describing how you feel when you listen to one of your favourite songs. It's like you're boxing in the feeling when you describe it with words.
You know what let's give it a try, let me list down some of my favourite tracks with corresponding feelings. Watch me try to describe the feelings and fail.
Most of the tracks are from the Top 20s of the past few years.
This one sounds like looking at a highlight reel of my life to this moment, enriched with nostalgia.
"Khudi ko khud se milane..", I don't think I need any more words to describe this one.
Let's call it the Coldplay section, by far my favorite music creators on this planet. A few weeks ago I read a comment on Reddit, the user described Coldplay's music as "being able to make one feel alive and infinite..". I don't think I can word it any better than that.
This one sounds like thanking life for all those small moments which make everything better.
On this piece of rock whipping through the cosmos, somewhere out in the universe, in the end, it's all about the love you're sending out. This song can make anyone sing along with all the emotional weight of the moment.
Cry, every single time. Just watch the below video.
Just a joyful song I always sing along with. Perfect to get lost in the moment.
This one makes me want to learn how to sing. One of my favourite finds from Instagram Ads. I don't think I'll listen to anything like this for quite a while.
Listen from 2:40 if you're in a hurry.
This one feels like how you describe the moment where you let go of the anger. The avalanche of things you feel at that moment.
#1 on my 2020 playlist. The song I would describe as the transition where you try to live in the present.
Being someone who often gets plagued by existential crisis, this feels exactly like that. My flatmate asked me why I listen to it if it makes me feel that way. Umm, I think being aware of the existential crisis is important and is the first step towards looking at the world with the below sentiment.
Such a beautiful song. It sounds like a description of all the shades of gloominess.
Getting mind blown in the middle of traffic near Halasuru metro station. Like getting slapped in the face out of nowhere.
Listen from 2:00 and wait for it.
Perfect car ride song. Like wheels talking to an immaculate road.
Fills me with hope, and reminds me of a quote from the Shawshank Redemption.
How to be calm after setting your room on fire. No, don't ask me about it, please.
Looking at a sunset, knowing it's a real thing.
This one is a peaceful train ride.
Haha, perfect workout music. Full of energy and makes me want to dance.
Feels like the pain you feel at your fingertips while learning to play the guitar.
Last Words?
I have always connected more with the melodies and music rather than the lyrics. Nowadays I've started to pay closer attention to lyrics ( If you want to write songs, you've got to first see what the world is writing about right? ) and have realised what I've been missing.
As I had written in one of my Instagram captions, I can't wait to go 10 years from now and listen to the 10 playlists representing each of the years. In fact, throughout writing this post, I was listening to the music from 10 years ago. I still have my MP3 player from back then with all the old songs. Those songs made writing this post so much more seamless while having a flashback to my last decade at the same time.
I love to recommend music and at some point, I started a WhatsApp group to share music. Ping me if you want to be on it :)
