Last updated December 3rd, 2025 at 1:59 pm
Lots of new (to me) music appearing in my life as of late! I've started carving out time in my weekly routine to experience albums for the first time --- in no small part thanks to my friend Jack of www.cosmicsmell.com. His segment "AN ALBUM A DAY KEEPS THE WHATEVER THE F**K AWAY" has directly influenced the frequency at which I am interacting with new art.
I was driving home from work on a warm evening a few months back, my iPod on shuffle. I've been consistently keeping a backlog of things I've been intending to, but haven't yet listened to in my music library... but on this particular night I was feeling stubborn. I was in desperate need of a familiar sound to score the rest of my journey home. So I shuffled and shuffled and shuffled... Soon enough the continuous shuffling became too frustrating and I just stopped, resigned. Silence.
After about 10 seconds, the sound of vinyl scratching filled my Buick. Hark? My interest was piqued.
And just like that BOOM, I was trying something new! I shook myself out of my unconscious shuffle trance and allowed what was playing to become my reality. And that, kids, is how I met your father, Portishead's Portishead. My iPod had begun playing "Humming" from the band's 1997 record (which would soon become my second favorite Portishead record [after Third, one of my all-time favorite albums].)
This whole experience exposed to me a valuable lesson about how new experiences and joy reinforce one another. When I'm feeling joyful, I'm also more privy to try new things. And, when I'm feeling not-so-joyful, trying something new, involving myself in a creative act, or just generally shaking up my routine is a good way to bring me back to the present moment.
Thus, experiencing new art is necessary for my survival. So here's how I've been living:
Psst... email me recommendations!
DECEMBER 2025:
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
To Pimp a Butterfly - Kendrick Lamar
NOVEMBER 2025:
EP's 1988-1991 - My Bloody Valentine
EVOL - Sonic Youth
Let It Be - The Replacements
Mezzanine - Massive Attack
Rain Dogs - Tom Waits
The Sensual World - Kate Bush
So Tonight That I Might See - Mazzy Star
Rockin' The Suburbs - Ben Folds
Speaking in Tongues - Talking Heads
Wish - The Cure
Purple Rain - Prince & The Revolution
Loveless - My Bloody Valentine
Ege Bamyasi - CAN
Selected Ambient Works 85-92 - Aphex Twin
Stop Making Sense - Talking Heads
Apostrophe(') - Frank Zappa
Emperor Tomato Ketchup - Stereolab
Brighten the Corners - Pavement
The Fugitive - Tony Banks
Neil Sedaka's Greatest Hits - Neil Sedaka
A Trick of the Tail - Genesis
Promises - Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders, and the London Symphony Orchestra
OCTOBER 2025:
Fear of Music - Talking Heads
Little Earthquakes - Tori Amos
Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea - PJ Harvey
The Best of Aretha Franklin - Aretha Franklin
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan - Bob Dylan
Ants From Up There - Black Country, New Road
Homogenic - Bjork
Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes
Titanic rising - Weyes Blood
LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem
Under the Pink - Tori Amos
My Iron Lung EP - Radiohead
Stand Up - Jethro Tull
More Songs About Buildings and Food - Talking Heads
SEPTEMBER 2025:
Portishead - Portishead
For Emma, Forever Ago - Bon Iver
This Is Happening - LCD Soundsystem
Rid of Me - PJ Harvey
Head Over Heels - Cocteau Twins
songs/instrumentals - Adrienne Lenker
Songs - Regina Spektor
Wind & Wuthering - Genesis
For the first time - Black Country, New Road
Hellfire - black midi
Songs In The Key of Life - Stevie Wonder
Blue - Joni Mitchell
13 Songs - Fugazi