Martin's Musings

If you want to get to know someone — to really know what’s going through his mind — the secret can often be found in what music he’s listening to.

That may not be true of everyone, but it’s definitely true of me.

Every year can always be summed up by a playlist of the songs I listened to — the good and the bad.

My time capsule playlist for 2015 is no exception. Yes, I listened to podcasts and other things this year (shoutout to Why I Social, Here’s the Thing, and The Sporkful), but it’s the music on my year-end playlist that fills me with more memories and that will last for a longer time to come. For example …

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Every year, folks like DJ Earworm and Daniel Kim create mashups of the year’s most popular pop songs. The top 40 songs of 2014 include ones by Ariana Grande, Jason Derulo, Taylor Swift and Iggy Azalea, so it’d be easy to be dismissive and say there wasn’t much good music to listen to.

And yet, DJ Earworm and Daniel Kim’s 2014 mashups are still pretty awesome. Which proves, in one way or another, that when you listen to the right song in the right context, it can sound better than you remember.

Also, that we all have our own soundtrack, and like to listen to music in different ways. What sounds good to one person doesn’t to another. We all march to our own beat. Etc.

Plenty of music writers have already ranked what they think is the best/worst music of the year, and I have no intention of creating that kind of list. That said, as I look back on the past year, I’m finding that there was plenty of music I want to remember. Admittedly, not all of it was good (by my standards, anyway). But months or years from now, when I’m trying to put my head back in the place it was this year, playing these tracks will do the trick.

You won’t find any U2 here (free or not, I just didn’t dig their new album), but you will find multiple songs by folks like Bruce Springsteen, Jamie Cullum, and Pharrell Williams. You may even find a song from a Broadway show and a jazz instrumental track. (And two Megan Trainor songs, too; no judging.) That’s what I listened to this year. That was my soundtrack.

For your listening pleasure, here’s my musical time capsule for 2014, with some commentary on some of the tracks. Songs are listed (on the playlist and in this blog post) in no order other than a roughly chronological one. Enjoy! Continue reading →

Every year has its share of ups and downs.

My 2013 was no exception.

There was hope, disappointment, fear, elation, relief, frustration, happiness, and much more. Sounds like a great movie.

Of course, like any movie, there’s a soundtrack. Here are the songs I was listening to this year, which, when listened to together, provide a pretty accurate representation of the emotional roller-coaster I was on in 2013. (For the record, no pun intended, I did the same thing last year.)

I invite you to relive the year with me — musically, anyway — if you choose. Continue reading →

There’s a reason why everyone is falling over themselves to shower praise on Bruce Springsteen, Frank Ocean, and fun. right now.

It’s because they released damned good albums this year, ones that many of us are still listening to.

But they weren’t the only ones who put out great tunes in 2012. There were plenty of good singles and albums, and a good number of those really resonated with me.

Sure, it wasn’t all good: The eagerly awaited release from Fiona Apple (the one with the really long and crazy name), which I was looking forward to, barely made a blip on my radar. And I had had enough of Psy’s viral smash “Gagnam Style” within about 30 seconds of hearing it for the first time. But lets’s stay positive, alright?

Here, in no particular order, and with commentary where I have something to say, are 33 (mostly) new songs that I couldn’t get enough of this year — with apologies to #bFlat, who just missed the cut — and a Spotify playlist so you can relive my year in music with me.

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