The Great Music Sorting Project

Try as you might, you will never recreate the same two footsteps. In sonic terms, they will always sound different. You can step every day for the rest of your life, and I don't know that it is entirely possible to hear two footsteps which sound identical to one another. Minor differences in concrete density, cracks in the wooden tracks, dirt mixing into mud, everything is different. If you go on a walk, no two walks will ever sound the same -- unless you throw on a pair of headphones.

After listening to music while walking around daily for about two years I came to this realisation and I started leaving my house without any headphones. I started to focus on the world around me and realised how varied everything is, even walking the same route to the same place for the same things every day. I realised I had been listening to the same 30 or so songs for months and I needed to broaden my horizons, so I came up with a plan.

Every time I see a song I haven't heard, I add it to a playlist. Every time any content recommendation algorithm on any platform sends me a song, I add it to that same playlist. Every time a friend sends me a song or an album, I add it to the playlist. Over a period of days I amassed over 1,200 new songs for this playlist. I searched for new songs, I asked friends for recommendations, and I scoured my messages for any links people had sent me that I had neglected to listen to. Upon hitting the 1,200 mark, I knew it was time for the next phase of the plan.

I shuffled through the playlist and was exposed to a world of new sounds. Polish ragamuffin, American bubblegum pop, Russian synthwave, Swedish punk rock. So many movements, ideas, sounds, and noises. I decided to categorize them based on their sound profile and atmosphere into some distinctive categories, listed below

from top to bottom

instrumental songs

lo-fi hip-hop/r&b

polish ragamuffin, it doesnt sound like anything else ive heard so it gets its own category

pop punk, pop rock, pop anything with a prominent guitar and bass

songs that sound like theyre from musicals

songs that sound like they'd play on my dad's shower radio from 2009

really soft music

soft but not as soft as the other one music

songs that remind me of my exes

songs i think Good King Moggle Mog XII from Final Fantasy XIV Online: Heavensward would listen to

songs that suck

songs that sound like they'd be the soundtrack to a straight-to-television movie about nerds rising up against the jocks for the sole reason of being jealous that one of them is dating the main character's crush

songs that sound like they're made by weezer or an alternate-universe version of weezer

songs with a lot of yelling

songs that sound like walking home and wishing i wasn't lonely

After a song has been categorized, I don't remove it from the playlist of new music until I can recognize it by name or by lyrics (not melody). This journey has been fun so far! I'm excited to see my Spotify Wrapped next year :3

also this is MUCH more casual than my other blog posts sorry to disappoint if you were hoping for wistful commentary on a movie i watched or a book i read or something.. if you haven't seen my other blog posts though, feel free to check them out!!