Best Albums of 2019

It was a deceptively solid year for music. We were given an eclectic mix of new music from both veteran innovators (Lana Del Rey, FKA Twigs, Nick Cave, James Blake) and newcomers that dominated the global charts (Billie Eilish, Lil Nas X, Lizzo).  2019 feels like a precipice, in a way. Not just for music, or film, and other forms of art. The social fabric of ou...
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Best Albums of 2018

2018 was a deceptively great year for music. There wasn’t a runaway favorite for Best Album of the Year like there was last year, when Kendrick Lamar’s DAMNstole the spotlight and never gave it up. But in that vacuum, it allowed a bunch of new and/or underappreciated artists to fill the void. And people really stepped up their game. This year was filled with great mus...
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October Playlist Ready!

It's November, so that means I've completed my monthly October playlist! These playlists are a place for me to remember the songs that struck me throughout the month. It helps me create my lists at the end of the year. And it's fun to go back and listen to what I was into at various points throughout the year. You can kind of track my listening habits and, to a certain degr...
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All Monthly Playlists – 2018

  Here is my collection of 2018 monthly playlists, comprised of the tracks I've liked, discovered, or re-discovered throughout the year. In June and December I compile a playlist of the best tracks from my playlists so far. Check 'em out! BEST OF PLAYLISTS PLAYLIST, PART 2 2018   NOVEMBER   OCTOBER SEPTEMBER   AUGUST   JULY   BEST OF PLAYLIS...
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Best of Playlists Playlist 2018 – Part 1

Every June and December I put together a playlist of my favorite songs from all the playlists I've made each month (plus random playlists for moods or events). I usually have about 40 tracks per month that I add to various playlists. From January to June, that's almost 250 songs to choose from. It's a difficult task to select only 30 or 40 songs out of 6 months of great mus...
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Best Albums of 2017

Just as TV is being transformed by streaming platforms, music in 2017 was dominated by Spotify, Apple Music, and other services. More than 30 million people in America now pay for music streaming subscriptions. While streaming was originally seen as a potential downfall for major labels and the industry at large, music sales in general are actually up 17%. Music is big and ...
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Best Songs of 2017

  There were probably 100,000 albums released this year. Maybe more. There were likely over 1 million songs released. Maybe more. And that’s not even counting the songs that are released by small acts, under the radar, without an ISRC (an International Sound Recording Code). Making any “Best Of” list - when there are more songs released than time available to listen...
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