Everything Old Is New Again
At least with my music.
First, let’s have a bit of a check-in on the 2024 Music Project. For long-time readers, this started last year when after my 2022 Spotify Wrapped posted, I was appropriately shamed because the bands I was listening to were roughly the exact same bands (and songs) I’d been listening to for years. My brother said something like, “It’s almost like you have one big playlist you just listen to on random, and that’s it.”
Yes, that was it, exactly.
So, I set out to listen to more music and it was a rousing success. I’m doing the same this year - and while there are a few less earworms (songs I can’t stop listening to on repeat), I’ve found plenty of new songs. Here is the current playlist if you’re somehow interested.
There’s 75 songs - again, these aren’t all songs released in 2024, just songs that are new to me - and last year I had about 100. Given that we are about two-thirds of the way through the year, that feels about right.
But…the reason I mention it is that there are a few songs on there by bands I’ve liked for YEARS. And in some cases, I thought they’d stopped recording music altogether.
Sunny Day Real Estate not only has two new songs but is touring again. This is fantastic news, and I keep finding more and more of my friends who are equally excited. Get hyped.
Nada Surf has a new album coming out next month. Kim Deal of the Pixies and the Breeders is releasing her first solo album in November. The Chameleons not only released a new song but it went higher on the charts than any song they’ve ever had in their history.
Newer bands like Wallows and Dayglow either have or are about to release new music too, and I’m definitely hyped for that. And of course, Sleater-Kinney released a new album late last year that I added to this playlist as I first listened to it. Other upcoming releases include bands I really, really like such as Japandroids, The Smile, Suki Waterhouse and The Hinds are releasing albums as well.
But with these “old” bands releasing new music, it very well may be that I can have my cake and eat it too. (By the way…what is that sentence about? Who has cake and can’t eat it? What is that kind of personal hell?) My Spotify Wrapped may well have many of the “same old bands” on it this year, but with new songs by them! What a victory.