Listening Habbits

Listening Habits

My Music Listening Habbits for 2024

Ramen Junkie 2Comments

I have to admit, this is my own personal favorite post for each year, even if no one else cares. Q look back on my music listening for the year, and how it has, or has not changed or evolved, and a round of trying to make predictions, and then working to not make those predictions self fulfilling in some weird attempt to not be wrong about my predictions.

Anyway, lets get it going then, with the 5×5 for albums.

Unsurprisingly, Aurora’s What Happened to the Heart was my most listened to album. And this doesn’t even count time spent listening to the vinyl copy I have. Aurora was number one on my Spotify Wrapped as well. I suppose “unsurprisingly” is bad taste, since last year my too album was actually a surprise with Wolf Alice’s Blue Weekend.

Also not real surprising at number 2 is Lauren Mayberry’s recent debut solo album, Vicious Creature. Being a Chvrches fan, its not real surprising that I was into this album, but honestly, it all kind of “speaks to me” in a way that I am not inclined to post about here. Its good, its all good.

Going on down the list, The Gods We Can Touch from Aurora is still holding on at Number 3, despite being 2 years old now. Its actually my second most listened to album ever (on Last.fm), which is funny because if you asked me, I would tell you its Aurora’s weakest album. Maybe I need to reconsider that stance.

Daft Punk’s Discovery sits at number 4, its just a good classic standby for listening.

One real interesting one is a new one on the list, Disintegration by The Cure. The funny part is, a lot of this being on the list is just listening to “Pictures of You”, most often when driving home from work. It is exactly the same length as my drive home commute, at a little over 7 minutes long.

Getting into more “mainstream” music, number 6 on my list is Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess. Its full of nice catchy pop music for sure. Its followed by last year’s number one, Blue Weekend from Wolf Alice, and Supermodels by Claud.
Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft is a bit surprising here at number 13. I actually would have expected it to be much higher. I guess part of the reason for that is I didn’t jump on that train until later in the year. But then, my number 2 album came out in December.

Some more oddities along the way, both Shame and Change Shapes in the single versions are in the top 25. I wonder if Vicious Creature would be pushed to number one if I added up the numbers.

A lot of my personal “mainstay” albums as well, Kid A Mnesia from Radiohead, Sucker Punch from Sigrid, Woman on the Internet from Orla Gartland. Step I is the only Aurora album not in the top 25, just missing the cut.

The only other significant newcomer is Karol G at number 17, and I am blaming Fortnite for that. She was featured for the Music Pass in the fall. I even got the Karol G skin from that pass.

I should also give an honorable mention to the popular BRAT from Charli XCX. If i combined BRAT and “Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat”, it would almost make my top ten.

On a purely artists view, Aurora and Lauren Mayberry dominated there, with CHVRCHES as number 3, so, just more Lauren. Claud comes out at number 4, which can actually also be blamed on Lauren Mayberry, if I had not gone to Pygmalion last year to see her, I would have never seen Claud and gotten into their music. Billie Eilish makes up a bit for the low ranking of Hit Me Hard and Soft by being my 6th highest for artists.

Listening Habits

My Music Listening Habits for 2023

Ramen Junkie 0Comment

It’s that time again, when I discuss my music habits for the year, or at least, parts of it that seem interesting, to me. I’ll just start off with the 5×5 chart, from my Last.fm scrobbles. I had some Spotify Wrapped stuff too but it doesn’t capture everything and was only for like 3 months of listening, so it’s kind of worthless.

So, a bit of an interesting surprise, Wolf Alice’s Blue Weekend was my top album for the year. I guess I was listening to that one a lot more than I really thought I had been. The same goes for Paramore’s This is Why. This is Why is kind of in there twice too, because they put out a second version where every track was done or remixed by an artist that was not Paramore.

I’m also a bit surprised how high Aurora’s The Gods We Can Touch ranked, at number three. I’ve always kind of considered it my least favorite of Aurora’s four albums. In less surprising areas are Hot Mess from Dodie and CHVRCHES, The Bones of What You Believe. Bones is definitely from the tenth-anniversary release. Hot Mess actually shows up twice, probably because before Spotify I was listening to the copy I made off the Vinyl version I own, which was tagged as Hot Mess (RSD Vinyl).

Related to CHVRCHES is Lauren Mayberry, with a single. Shame is one song, and it’s number 6. The album I believe is supposed to drop sometime in January, and I can almost guarantee it will be in a top spot for next year’s wrap-up, if not at number one.

Things get a bit more interesting later in the list here outside the top ten reliable when we get into the whole “potential usurpers” area. At number 14 is Ben Fold’s latest album, What Matters Most. Ben Folds has become a bit of a weird piece in my music listening. I’m not entirely sure I am super into his music, though it’s all pretty enjoyable. But I find Ben Folds as a person really interesting. I’ve been watching a bunch of his interviews on YouTube where he talks to all sorts of creative types and talks about the music-making process and it’s all very fascinating. My last real exposure to Ben Folds was way back in High School when Ben Folds Five and Brick were on the radio all the time. I don’t really being super into that song either, I was a lot more into rock and alternative in that time period. I’ve recently signed up for his soon to be ended Patreon, so I can snag the archive content and give it a listen.

At number 15 right after is Fizz with The Secret to Life. Fizz is a sort of super band collaboration between Dodie, Orla Garland and a couple of others that I had not really listened to previously. As much as I really like Orla and Dodie, I slept on this album because I just found the acid trip aesthetics of it to be really off-putting. But I decided I really should at least give it a try and it’s really good. Like super great good. I wish I had started listening sooner.

The last couple I want to point out here, feel a bit related. Let’s start with Raffaella, at number 20, with Live Raff Love (Act I). It’s technically an EP I think, I never really got the distinction honestly aside from EPs have less tracks. Anyway, Raff has been a consistent mainstay in my library since first hearing about her back in 2019 when I went to see Sigrid. Live Raff Love (Act II) I believe is slated for January, and I’m looking forward to it.

Like Raff, I want to mention Claud, to which I was pretty much introduced in a similar way, Claud was one of the acts performing at the little festival thing where I saw Lauren Mayberry’s solo show. Like Raff, I listened to a bunch of their music before the actual show and enjoyed it, and I enjoy it even more after watching them perform live. I am pretty sure at least half my plays on that Paramore remix of This is Why, is Claud’s rendition of Crave.

Which leads me to my usual predictions for next year. Claud and Raff will likely rank up there. Lauren will probably top the list. Sigrid I think has a new album in the works and has been making a bit of a come back in my listening this year, so I am predicting she will be pretty high. Fizz will probably be around, I’m not sure they will go much higher though after a whole year. Ben Folds will probably remain, though I doubt he will break the top ten. The only one on the list above I can say probably won’t return is Maisie Peters. I enjoy her music, but I don’t really know how to describe it, but I don’t really like her. Seems a bit too bitchy in a sort of “I think I’m better than everyone” sort of way.