The routes by which I find music have changed dramatically in the last 35 years. It used to be occasional things on the radio and rummaging around in record shops (when you used to have to base an album on its cover). Word of mouth is still important. But there are now entirely new ways.
Xenia Rubinos’s album came to me through the Discover Weekly playlist on Spotify (still the only case of useful Big Data I have found). And St Vincent’s MASSEDUCTION from hearing her talk about the creation of one of the album’s songs on the podcast Song Exploder.
As someone who farts about with music creation to this very day, it’s an absolutely fascinating show. An artist strips back a song to explore and explain the creative processes behind it.
Anyway, hearing the story of New York on the show led me to the album, and it became one of those on constant rotation in the year it was released. It’s a remarkable work.
You can see the #51for50 project to date here: https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/category/projects/51-for-50/
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