One of my co-workers introduced me to HONNE, and I’ve been listening to their sophmore album, Love me, Love me not pretty much nonstop. Mostly, I really respect the way that they write their choruses. They are all very simple and memorable, while maintaining their very respectable relaxed groove. Another similar artist that I have been obsessed with is Mura Masa, who just keeps putting out great music. I’ve spent a good amount of time listening to What if I go?. Another co-worker introduced me to K.A.A.N., who has served as a lot of inspiration to my lyrics. I also really enjoy the playfulness he has in his songs. Scary Pockets I found through Pomplamoose Music. They do funk covers of everything, and they’re always super groovy.
On the slower side, I’ve been listening to Jacob Collier for years, and his music and chord choices are just insane. A friend introduced me to Moses Sumney, whose ethereal voice and songwriting is incredibly relaxing.
These are some of the different shows that I listen to while I walk around San Francisco, or before I sleep, or while I cook. Some of them are podcasts, and some of them are Youtube channels.
To get an idea of current events, I listen to 3 podcasts: The Indicator, Planet Money, and The Daily give a perspective on current events through the telling of short stories. It’s a very relaxed narrative that lets me focus on a few of the most important things going on. They are all a bit directed at United States current events, but occasionally cover the extra important global news. The Indicator and Planet Money focus more on economics, but I find that this kind of focus tends to give just general news descriptions: you need to understand what’s going on in the world in order to give a perspective on the economy. For the same reason, I find the Economist to be a valuable news source, when I’m subscribed to it.
Most of the other channels I listen to are hobby/interest focused. Twenty-Thousand Hertz is a podcast about the various sounds of the world, and it’s really fun! They talk about all kinds of different sounds, and why they are important; from the THX Deep Note to Sound in Space. Red Means Recording and Andrew Huang are two Youtubers I listen to, explain about some different fun music production things.
I listen to Nerdwriter1 video essays that are about all sorts of random stuff, embrace my inner weeb with Joy_Boy Theories and Tekking101, and follow sports (the San Francisco 49ers) increeeedibly loosesly via the Niners Nation podcast. I also spend a good amount of time listening/speaking Pimsleur courses in Korean and Mandarin Chinese.
I don’t watch tv or internet shows all that much, so this is actually most of the content I consume on a regular basis. If I were to quickly mention the things I watch, I’d say too many videos about
cooking and building tiny houses. I read the manga My Hero Academia, We Never Learn and One Piece. I also spend time browsing various Hacker News articles and watching Hot Ones interviews.
But yup! This is the stuff I’ve been listening to in 2018. I’ll make another one of these next year, and we’ll see how it changes!