How stuck in your musical comfort zone(s) are you?

well, of all the ways I could be viewed as weird, insane and horrifying, I have to admit that "wearing headphones" wasn't something I'd considered before, so congrats for that I guess

but it's OK to wear them on the subway (and listen to music in the car) because those sounds are alright to be blocked out for some reason

I'm not sure what the exact split is in my listening between familiar and unfamiliar music but I'm happy with the balance, there have definitely been points in my life where I've felt like I should be checking out EVERYTHING that comes out and gets written about but I don't feel that pressure these days.

I will say though that I feel like my tastes have become quite set - I listen to things outside my comfort zone but it's been a while since I've had any big eureka moment with a genre I didn't previously like. As far as new music goes, afro-pop/afro-house was probably the last thing that felt kind of revelatory. On the other hand I've dipped into pre-20th century classical music a bit more this year and have found that quite a lot of it does absolutely nothing for me! Am still finding my way with that I guess.

I need headphones when in noisy public spaces as I find them overwhelming otherwise, this is a fairly recent development as I was fine at raves in Eastern Europe and commuting in Beijing, just something to do with getting older maybe, or general anxiety issues.

For the actual question (apologies for the tedious background detail, please feel free to skip this paragraph): I used to consume music in a fairly normal way, then spent 2006-2010 going through a huge hard drive of mp3s I'd acquired, then at the end of 2010 I wanted to vote on a website (not this one) for my tracks of the year, so spent a month listening to everything I could find. In 2011 I decided to spend the whole year listening to as much new music as I could, and made a top-200 tracks list, toned it down in subsequent years and have continued going full-on new music in December each year. As I've been making this "centuries of sound" thing since 2016 I've been on a schedule of listening to one year every month, this was very easy when the year was 1893 and I could get through every single recording made in one day, but now I'm on 1940 and have no commutes to listen (thanks covid!) and it's a struggle, so am skipping the usual December listening and will do 1941 instead, I expect to catch up with the present day in about 6 years' time.

Would I recommend this way to listen to music: oh jesus no, not at all.

How stuck in my musical comfort zone am I?: I have barely listened to anything in my comfort zone for about five years now

^not the hero we deserved etc

I don't wear headphones in public because there is a lot of petty street crime where I live, and taking my full cans off my head would be easier than the usual bag thefts that happen every day.

I'm sorry I derailed this thread with my insanity about headphones, y'all. Let me be the first to say, hey, let's talk about that issue somewhere else.

Fwiw, tho I also don't think one can be stuck in one's aesthetic comfort zones, I think it's a good question and seems to be spurring some interesting responses!

#onethread

There is music that has immense emotional resonance to me that I listen to avidly, over and over again. I've listened to Ives "Concord Sonata" hundreds of times, I've watched Nina Simone Live At Montreux hundreds of times. This pile of music increases every year; yesterday I listened to "Shutting Down Here" for the twentieth time since it was released.

I make efforts to investigate all manner of genres of music, and enjoy the act of investigation, and the feeling of "research", although 99% of the music I listen to does not "make it" into the aforementioned "I will listen to this all the time until I die" pile. I listened to Kylie, and Jessie Ware, for example, and enjoyed it-- but I felt that this was more like "reading the news so I can stay in the loop". Sometimes I spend a few days culling tracks for potential curatorial purposes-- i.e. I'm updating my pool of songs that I might put on a playlist for a dinner party or a DJ night-- but again, this is "research", not pleasure.

There are genres of music that I just generally don't enjoy and tend to avoid. Modern American musical theatre is one-- it only takes me 15 seconds of exposure before I realize that I'd rather get a steam burn than digest "Hamilton". 80s thrash is another-- I've listened to Slayer ten times in my life and hated it each time and have given up on ever trying again.

I guess what I'm trying to say is: I have different modes of musical consumption. Mode One is pleasurable, and tends toward the familiar, listening to things I've heard hundreds of times already. Mode Two is research-oriented, and tends toward listening to something new for the first (and probably last) time.

Good description of this, thanks

I've recently come to the revelation that I've probably discovered more music in 2005 (my first year of college and my first year with a steady internet connection) than I have in the 15 years since. idk if this is a problem or not but it does kinda strike me that the last time I really got into a new band was Motorpsycho and that was like, 4 years ago now? otoh I really was downloading shit like mad in '05 because I really thought the filesharing/torrent stuff was going away any day now so I downloaded everything I could think of

For me it's not about genres, it's about being mature (i.e. old) enough to recognize that there are certain musical values that I favor and will always come back to. For example I prefer really good singers to untrained singers; I prefer interesting rhythm - say, syncopation or polyrhythm - to straight rhythm; I appreciate longer melodies vs shorter ones; and so on. No matter what genre or direction it comes from, if I hear musical elements I like I will have time for it. So it's kind of like having a very broad comfort zone that is theoretically open to new discoveries. But it would be madness not to also revisit old favorites on a regular basis.

"reading the news so I can stay in the loop"

This is what I've stopped feeling either obligation or motivation to do, unless I actually have a professional reason to listen to something.

I'm still very motivated to keep up with new music in my niche areas (which are mostly non-bobbins dance music ala the Reconstructed Club thread, and jazz). And part of that is feeling involved on some level as a musician.

But I don't really feel obliged to keep up with rap or pop anymore, I'm happy to hear whatever randomly comes my way via Twitter/ILX/radio/life. I guess that goes for vocal music in general, beyond keeping up with bands I already like and the occasional new discovery.

I have been trying to branch out more into genres I like but am not 100% on but today I'm wallowing in Big Black and Atari Teenage Riot, so *shrug*

There were decades when I tried to keep up with stuff - at one point the Pazz and Jop winners, at another point whatever Other Music was pushing. In recent pre-pandemic times my way of keeping up was to go to live shows. Mostly jazz (Latin or otherwise) and opera at this point, although I mainly listen to other stuff when I stream. Part of keeping up always had a social aspect: this is what my friends are listening to. Then that flipped: if I go to the jazz show, I will see the rather small set of jazz peoples and socialize with
them.

Also, most recent posts on the money, especially Josefa, Sund4r and Jordan.

Even with respect to ILX, I am much more likely to revisit or expand upon something that I used to like for a poll then to chase down something new that somebody recommends, no offense intended.

If I look at P&J winners from those decades when I was following closely, most of those records are still part of a deep imprint, whereas with Other Music, apart from the bigger hits and more obvious stuff (and I kind of got off the bus when their “own” bands started to break), some of my eclecticism ended up being skin deep.

Nowadays I am kind of a Slave to the Algorithm. If something pops up that I like, I will check it out and dig into the ILM archives to see what people say.

Surprised I haven't seen much (any?) mention of this from a stated musicians perspective. I'm not a musician but if I was I would feel more obligation to broaden my horizons. I think creative people generally need to keep soaking up new things, which wouldn't necessarily have to be something in your own medium of expression but it probably is an advantage.

I used to think I would get familiar with a bit of everything, but since I've still only scratched the surface of genres I started on 15 years ago, I see that is now unrealistic.

I probably should broaden a little bit more, in the spirit of trying to live life to the fullest (without mortal danger; wearing headphones out and about sounds scary to me, I need all my wits for dodging cars).

The response to that is "everyone is different, there is no 'one size fits all' methodology for people write and/or perform music"

Some of the best musicians I know listen to the least amount of music, especially new music. :/ Partly that might have to do with not wanting to listen to music in their 'off' time, or not being able to enjoy it anymore without analyzing it. Also depression.

It's the djs who listen to the most music (although that might be more functional-style listening than for pure pleasure).

Right. It is a different thing to listen to music for enjoyment as opposed to for the purpose of performing it.

I know a number of artists in different mediums who isolate themselves creatively when working on a project and make a point not to consume stuff from that medium when creating, for fear of having it mess with their inspiration or influence them in ways they dont want.

Now that I think about it, among the unscientific sample of 'working artists i know', the ratio of those who dont seem to bother keeping up with new stuff in their medium vs those who do is probably 2:1 or higher

If you work in music, a lot of music reminds you of "work" so it doesn't hit the pleasure centres. I listen to maybe four-to-six albums a week on average.

Also, deriving inspiration from other artist's music (or work from other genres) doesn't require immersion. The inspiration is often instantaneous. I once went to see a band, they played a new song as their first song, I loved the chord progression so much that I immediately left the show and went home and wrote a song with a similar chord progression

DJP - that's true but I wanted to hear what works for you guys or have any special philosophies and paths about it.

But I'd quibble that sometimes you can tell quickly from some musicians that they need to listen to more kinds of things. Perhaps more than any other type of artist I think visual artists (particularly comics, anime, commercial illustrators) are in dire need of more influences or just studying life.

flamboyant goon tie included - Is that 4 to 6 different albums played regularly or 4 to 6 albums listened to in total?

lol fgti, I love the idea of you trying to convince them later that you walked out because you loved it. But I've had similar experiences, it can just be a little spark from hearing a random moment.

I'm with fgti above. I spend weeks with familiar stuff and others trying new stuff.

On headphones/earphones I can really recommend the Cambridge Audio in-ear wireless. Amazing sound for a low price and long battery life. I rarely leave the house without them.

In lockdown I've been going for long walks - about 10-15 miles thru the city three or four times a week. Which has been great for getting to know new stuff and revisit neglected albums.

lol I can just picture table FP’ing every single pro-headphone post.

@ Robert, 4 to 6 albums total. Today I am planning to listen to Can "Delay" while I make an overnight bolognese with Beyond Ground Beef

As for headphones, seeing as I generally work cans-on I seldom use them recreationally.

lol I can just picture table FP’ing every single pro-headphone post.

― pomenitul, Monday, November 23, 2020 2:13 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

jfc how many times do i need to acknowledge/clarify that my anti-headphone stance is very personal and insane.

haha

speaking of musical comfort zones in that context, boy do I hate hearing someone blasting those bluetooth speakers as I walk the dog through nature

is "beyond ground beef" when you just keep grinding it?

I would say "laab" but technically that is minced not ground

I'm working on perfecting a vegetarian version of the sauce for a friend I'm bubbled with

Beyond Beef does sound like a nice state of being tho

do you really notice that an overnight simmer has an effect on the chemical structure in a way that's discernible from, say, three hours — in a way that pork or beef would surely break down more ?

#onethread

lol, and yes

comfort zones, hm ... well, I am listening to a "new" downtempo album released because someone found a DAT from 1995 in a box somewhere, thinking to myself "this is the best shit" ... so ...

is that the new kruder and dorfmeister?!?

you know the answer already

:-D

It's pretty good, not quite on par with their best, but it makes me hanker after new material.

Ugh, reviewing old Pazz and Jop polls there is definitely a Before and After point when I stopped caring. Or maybe I was still keeping up but in retrospect I don’t care so much.

the only new albums i have bought in 2020 are :
Cabaret Voltaire, The Black Dog, Gorillaz, Kompakt Total 20, and the African Head Charge boxset.
therefore, i would say that my answer to this question is : Very stuck in my comfort zone.
of course when charity shops are open then my listening can be dictated by the random finds, but that's a different story.

Send me your address and I'll post you my annual compilation, Mark.

I'd been pondering what we mean by "comfort zone" and I don't think listening to one genre is necessarily sticking in a comfort zone.

that's very kind of you djh.
my ile email is still valid if its a digital release ?

i should clarify - those albums i listed are new 2020 releases i have actually bought.
for some strange reason, i am still on a few record label digital mailing lists, so have heard quite a bit more, but to be honest, nothing has hit me as much as diving into the extensive On-U/Kompakt/CV/tBD back catalogues.
(during the summer i also hit my acid jazz/talkin' loud/mo'wax archives hard as well, but that stuff only works for me when the sun is out)

hence my answer to the thread is : yes, i am stuck in my comfort zone, and given the shitstorm of 2020, i have no problem with that, as it been a really enjoyable experience.

Oh, I could just post a link on ILXOR somewhere. I was thinking a CD-R because that's my comfort zone.

In fact, here you go:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/22k5Bz4p7K82ViTpJJ4eid

May change between now and Xmas.

do you really notice that an overnight simmer has an effect on the chemical structure in a way that's discernible from, say, three hours — in a way that pork or beef would surely break down more ?

In general I prefer the original lineup but I'm willing to listen to certain side-projects