What are your current music-listening habits?

[LithoJazzoSphere]

My year so far:

*Massive project to compile a list of my favorite songs.  The template has been to figure out my favorite song from each artist I like at least a song from, with favorite bands generally having numerous songs.  It's fascinating how for some it's a very easy decision, with a song or two standing out from all the rest.  For others, part of the reason they are favorites is that I like a great deal of their output, and sometimes trying to narrow it down to one, two, or even half a dozen favorites is an impossible task.  This document has around 3,000 different artists (some are kind of fudging it to consider them unique), and resulted in a 1400+ song playlist for the most salient artists and songs.  Lots of artists I just can't name particular favorite songs unless I relistened to some of their albums.  This has been a crazy amount of work, involving going through countless documents, my music libraries, media player contents, RYM 3.5 and above lists and such.  But it's been one of the most enjoyable things in awhile, because I've touched on three+ decades of my music listening journey.  The goal is a top 100 song list.  There are over 300 strong candidates I've already made a playlist for, and winnowing them down is going to be a nightmare. 

*Lots of extra listening to music from '21 that I didn't spend enough time with. 

*Checking out some '22 music (probably more than most here, but I'm on pace for less than '20-'21 so far, we'll see how that holds up later). 

*Trying to listen to more vinyl.  Not very successfully, but I've gotten a bit in. 

*Currently I'm going through a lot of female singer/songwriter/instrumentalists, mostly ones that are newer to me or that I've been aware of but haven't listened to that much yet. 

*My two most significant discoveries I suppose are Sylvaine and Aythis.  Actually, I checked out a song or two from Sylvaine a year or two ago, and she's done some work with Alcest, ISON and others, so I suppose she's not entirely new to me, but I didn't get around to checking out her albums until just recently, and I'm quite impressed.  She has another that just came out, so hopefully I'll get to it soon.  Aythis is a solo side project of Carline of Lethian Dreams and Remembrance, that I had somehow completely overlooked until this year. 

[Trav86]

I mostly use Apple Music.  I’m able to play music all day at work. Sometimes for 12 hours, so I go through a lot.  I have my old favorites, but I rely a lot on albums that folks recommend on here. As well as what Apple Music suggests based on what I like.

I’ve made a point, starting last year, to spend more time listening to newly released music.  I was in rut for a while of just listening to old stuff outside of a couple of bands.  When we did the thread about our favorite albums of the 2010s decade, I struggled to come up with even 10 albums. That kinda bummed me out. I really stopped listening to newer music and discovering bands after I was about 23.  Im 35 now I’m trying to really change my listening habits.

[TAC]

  Im 35 now I’m trying to really change my listening habits.

So the 86 in your name is your birth year. That's the year I graduated high school.

[Trav86]

  Im 35 now I’m trying to really change my listening habits.

So the 86 in your name is your birth year. That's the year I graduated high school.

Yeah, and from what I can tell we like a lot of the same music. I guess I was born twenty years too late! I’m an old-soul, so I’ve been told.

[Lethean]

*double post*

[Lethean]

Lethean!!! 

Stick around some more, eh?

I haven't been online as much. How did the new DT go over? I'm not catching them on this leg but am avoiding the DT section in case they come back around so I don't get spoiled.  I think it's great but it seems like I tend to like new DT albums more than most.

Also, I really enjoyed Resonance as well - had some moment of really filthy bass slappin.  As Katt once said "this slaps". 

Yeah - Felipe is an incredible player and the songs on that album are really cool.   I'm not into the song with vocals but I like the instrumental version.

[jingle.boy]

I haven't been online as much. How did the new DT go over? I'm not catching them on this leg but am avoiding the DT section in case they come back around so I don't get spoiled.  I think it's great but it seems like I tend to like new DT albums more than most.

I'm probably not the person to ask.  It wasn't quite as polarizing as The Astonishing, but there are more than a few DTF'rs that didn't care for it.  They just played Toronto earlier this week, but between the time (2 hrs from where I live), cost of tickets, and where I stood on the scale of liking/not liking the new album, I didn't go.  I have a feeling that show in Kitchener on DoT tour will be my last DT concert.

[jingle.boy]

My 2022 habits are framed around listening to a particular year's worth of music every month.  I'm running from 2010-2021 ... Jan=2010; Feb=2011; Mar=2012 and so on.  I've got so much music I haven't regularly listened to, I figured I'd better dedicate some time to it.  I do spend Friday's listening to new/2022 releases, but the other 25-27 days of the month are dedicated to a specific year.

2012 has some particular crackers I'm looking forward to.  I spun Feel the Power this morning (Shut up and Rock ).  Been a while since I listened to that start-to-finish.

[SoundscapeMN]

Recent Albums Playlist (March 4-8):
Squid - Bright Green Field
The Mask of the Phantasm - New Axial Age
Vessels - White Fields and Open Devices
Lines in the Sky - Beacon
Ty Tabor - Shades
Kevin Gilbert - Thud 20th Anniversary (discs 2 and 3)
Marillion - An Hour Before It's Dark
Cloud Cult - Metamorphosis

[Dream Team]

Because I'm old and have just fairly recently begun using a streaming service, I've been able to listen to tons of metal albums I never could before just due to practicality. So yeah learning or re-learning tons of great albums by Saxon, Accept, Metal Church, Running Wild, etc etc has been fun and a great way to make work pass by more tolerably. I also though try to mix in stuff like Sinatra or whatever to keep it varied.

[Cool Chris]

Because I'm old and have just fairly recently begun using a streaming service, I've been able to listen to tons of metal albums I never could before just due to practicality. So yeah learning or re-learning tons of great albums....

I have spent the last few years backtracking through many artists myself, sometimes going back decades, wishing I had experienced the music in real time, and been along for the ride with the band to see their growth, changes, and development.

[HOF]

Kind of the opposite of "current" listening habits, but how many other people here remember back in the 90s and 00s going into to stores like Walmart, Borders, or other record shops and putting on those big bulky headphones and sampling tracks from a CD? Usually they had a little scanner and you would scan the barcode and it would play maybe 10 seconds of each track, but sometimes they had dedicated displays with only select CDs. As far as I know stores don't do this anymore (it's been years since I've seen one of these set ups), but back before the internet really took off and certainly before YouTube and Spotify this was pretty much my go to way to preview music aside from radio (provided the store was stocking it). This was how I first experienced some of my favorite albums actually. I remember sampling all the early Genesis albums this way. King Crimson's Beat was another that I remember hearing in the store and deciding I just had to have it. XTC's Nonsuch was another one I checked out on a whim and fell in love with that band. I think I even sampled Falling Into Infinity at Walmart back when it first came out.

Anyway, thinking about how different it is now that you can literally listen to just about anything for free on YouTube or Spotify from wherever. Back in the day you had to do a little work to discover something new!

[Cool Chris]

I totally remember doing that!

[SwedishGoose]

I used to go to the record store and ask the cahiere if he had anythig new in or comig in (we ha about the same tste in music) then I'd select a vinyl or two to listen to in store.
If I found something I liked and could afford it I bought it.

[jingle.boy]

I used to go to the record store and ask the cahiere if he had anythig new in or comig in (we ha about the same tste in music) then I'd select a vinyl or two to listen to in store.
If I found something I liked and could afford it I bought it.

^ Yeah, that's more along the case of what us older farts had to do in the 70s / 80s.  Thumb thru the records, and then ask the employee/manager/owner to open up an album and put 'er on the turntable that usually was broadcasting to the entire store.

Changing lanes again, who else had a Columbia Record House membership?

[Lowdz]

I haven't been online as much. How did the new DT go over? I'm not catching them on this leg but am avoiding the DT section in case they come back around so I don't get spoiled.  I think it's great but it seems like I tend to like new DT albums more than most.

I'm probably not the person to ask.  It wasn't quite as polarizing as The Astonishing, but there are more than a few DTF'rs that didn't care for it.  They just played Toronto earlier this week, but between the time (2 hrs from where I live), cost of tickets, and where I stood on the scale of liking/not liking the new album, I didn't go.  I have a feeling that show in Kitchener on DoT tour will be my last DT concert.

I was more disappointed in it than I was with the Astonishing, which I really enjoyed as something different from them. This album is the exact opposite of different. DT by numbers.

[TAC]

You guys are nuts.

[hefdaddy42]

Changing lanes again, who else had a Columbia Record House membership?

I sure as hell did!

[HOF]

Changing lanes again, who else had a Columbia Record House membership?

I sure as hell did!

Never did Columba House, but did so BMG Music Club. Definitely used the free CDs for signing up and referrals to build out my CD collection when I first started buying music. My brothers and I used to refer to each other for the bonus CDs, which was a fun way to game the system.

[twosuitsluke]

Ho boy, this thread is the perfect place to describe how my obsessional listening habits have gone off the geek scale, since I started using Last.fm.

I've always been a stat freak and using Last.fm has really made me think about how I use playlists (especially apple smart playlists on my ipod) to ensure I give a fair listen to the vast amount of music I consume. I know you can all relate! The more music I discover, the more I want to make sure it's all getting a fair shot.

I'll break it down a bit later but it's about to get next level, with the shear amount of playlists I use.

[Stadler]

Lethean!!! 

Stick around some more, eh?

I haven't been online as much. How did the new DT go over? I'm not catching them on this leg but am avoiding the DT section in case they come back around so I don't get spoiled.  I think it's great but it seems like I tend to like new DT albums more than most.

HEY!  Good to see you; hope everything is well with you.  Hope you can hang a bit.

[Chino]

I feel like I've been listening to the same 15 albums on repeat for 4 or 5 years now 

[Trav86]

I feel like I've been listening to the same 15 albums on repeat for 4 or 5 years now 

But they’re like, really good albums.

[twosuitsluke]

So, I'll start with my ipod playlists to begin with, as that covers the bulk of my listening and all my favourite bands.

I have a load of smart playlists, that automatically update as you listen to them, as well as regular playlists. I'll start by outlining the regular playlists, as it'll help make sense of the smart playlists after. Most of these playlists are containing full albums, not individual songs. I use the ipods star rating for that, which we'll come to later.

Starting with the regular playlists:

• 2014 - 2022 (2014 was the year I discovered DTF, so lots of new music. This playlist is everything I've discovered in those years)
• Next are individual playlists for each of those years (so I can listen to all music I discovered in 2016 for instance. Note, this is not music that was purely released in those years, just music that I personally discovered).
• Best punk (all my favourite punk rock songs)
• Classic albums (basically all my favourite albums pre DTF. All my classic faves, I know like the back of my hand).
• Classic metal (basically all the metal albums from the above playlist, in one separate playlist).
• Current faves (a playlist of what I loosely consider to be my fave albums discovered over recent years. This is kind of the 2014 - 2022 playlist with a lot of the fat trimmed off).
• Extreme metal (pretty self explanatory, all my extreme metal albums)
• Fat Wreck bands (all the punk bands signed to American label Fat Wreck Chords, that i have).
• Obsession (the albums I can't stop listening to at the moment. I update this regularly)
• On loop (albums old, and new, that I've recently listened to and thought "I'll give that another spin in the next few months". This is also updated fairly frequently).
• On-the-go (this is my main rotation, and the playlist I use most. I'll add 30-50 albums, based on what I'm digging or older bands I feel in the mood for. As I play the albums I'll delete them from the playlist until it's empty then fill it up again, rinse and repeat).
• Progressive music (all the albums I deem Progressive, in one way or another).
• Punk rock (all my punk albums).
• Top 100 albums (this is updated based on what is my current last.fm top 100 albums).
• Top 50 artists (same as above but updated to have the whole discography, that I have on my ipod, for my top 50 bands on last.fm).

Now onto the smart playlists. A lot of them will use some of the above playlists as the base and then automatically filled by least recently/frequently played, usually. This is so I am giving a fair shot to stuff I may have forgotten about, or only listened once or twice:

• 2014 - 2022 (limited to the least recently played 500 songs from the regular playlist).
• Catch up on (limited to the least played 400 songs, added to my ipod in the last 3 years).
• Classic albums (limited to the least recently played 500 songs from the regular playlist).
• Classic metal (limited to the least recently played 500 songs from the regular playlist).
  
• Current faves (limited to the least recently played 500 songs from the regular playlist).
• Everything else (only songs that currently have a play count of two or less will be in this playlist).
• Extreme metal (limited to the least recently played 500 songs from the regular playlist).
• Fat Wreck bands (limited to the least frequently played 500 songs from the regular playlist).
• Obsession (limited to the least recently played 100 songs from the regular playlist).
• On loop (limited to the least recently played 100 songs from the regular playlist).
• Progressive music (limited to the least recently played 500 songs from the regular playlist).
• Punk rock (limited to the least frequently played 500 songs from the regular playlist).
• Top 100 albums (limited to the least recently played 500 songs from the regular playlist).
• Top 50 artists (limited to the least recently played 500 songs from the regular playlist).

My final smart playlists are the ones that use the star rating for songs, allowing me to play all my favourite songs:

• My classic faves (all songs that are 4 & 5 * rated).
• My most played top rated (all my 5* songs that have over 15 plays).
• My recent top rated (my 400 most recently played 5* songs).
• My top rated (all my 5* songs).
• My top rated to listen to (all my 5* songs that have less than 16 plays).

This wraps up my current ipod playlists. I'll basically rotate playing an album from my On-the-go playlist, then an album from one of the other playlists, in order, then repeat once I get to the bottom. I have times when I'll just listen to what I fancy but this system helps me keep up with my music collection.

I also use Spotify, which I'll post about tomorrow or something. I use that purely for discovering new music and checking out new albums. I have a playlist system there as well, but I'll get to that later 

[Lethean]

I haven't been online as much. How did the new DT go over? I'm not catching them on this leg but am avoiding the DT section in case they come back around so I don't get spoiled.  I think it's great but it seems like I tend to like new DT albums more than most.

I'm probably not the person to ask.  It wasn't quite as polarizing as The Astonishing, but there are more than a few DTF'rs that didn't care for it.  They just played Toronto earlier this week, but between the time (2 hrs from where I live), cost of tickets, and where I stood on the scale of liking/not liking the new album, I didn't go.  I have a feeling that show in Kitchener on DoT tour will be my last DT concert.

That would be a shame!   I thought that was a pretty awesome show.
 Maybe you'll change your mind if they come back around. 

[Lethean]

Lethean!!! 

Stick around some more, eh?

I haven't been online as much. How did the new DT go over? I'm not catching them on this leg but am avoiding the DT section in case they come back around so I don't get spoiled.  I think it's great but it seems like I tend to like new DT albums more than most.

HEY!  Good to see you; hope everything is well with you.  Hope you can hang a bit.

Not too bad.  Just trying to stay offline a bit more when not working, but I will try to be around a little bit more.

[Ben_Jamin]

Kind of the opposite of "current" listening habits, but how many other people here remember back in the 90s and 00s going into to stores like Walmart, Borders, or other record shops and putting on those big bulky headphones and sampling tracks from a CD? Usually they had a little scanner and you would scan the barcode and it would play maybe 10 seconds of each track, but sometimes they had dedicated displays with only select CDs. As far as I know stores don't do this anymore (it's been years since I've seen one of these set ups), but back before the internet really took off and certainly before YouTube and Spotify this was pretty much my go to way to preview music aside from radio (provided the store was stocking it). This was how I first experienced some of my favorite albums actually. I remember sampling all the early Genesis albums this way. King Crimson's Beat was another that I remember hearing in the store and deciding I just had to have it. XTC's Nonsuch was another one I checked out on a whim and fell in love with that band. I think I even sampled Falling Into Infinity at Walmart back when it first came out.

Anyway, thinking about how different it is now that you can literally listen to just about anything for free on YouTube or Spotify from wherever. Back in the day you had to do a little work to discover something new!

I remember those. I liked it because I could sample the albums. Actually, I utilize Spotify, Youtube, Pandora, Limewire the same way I did to those kiosks. I thought it was great how you can easily scan the barcode and hear a sample. I used to do this all the time at Hastings, Barnes and Nobles, Borders and Sam Goody's.

I'm going to add onto my current listening habits that I have been getting into a lot of Pop music. There are good songs and they just get flak because of who the producer got to record them. I can proudly say that I enjoy the Justin Bieber song Ghost. The live version is better because it's played by a live band with live drums and adds guitar fills. For myself, the only thing it needs is an epic guitar solo reprising the chorus melody.

[425]

I haven't been fully keeping up with my own thread, but I just caught up and I think there are a lot of interesting responses in here. I'm impressed by those of you who have really intricate systems, like Luke's tiered playlist concept. I don't think I have the commitment to keep up with anything like that. It'd be interesting to know whether people who do that listen to more music/more new albums than those of us who don't. I think I probably listen to music less often than the average DTFer, and am definitely in the lower 50th percentile in terms of how many new releases I check out.

This is a cool thread 425.

Also, it's awesome to see you here, Lethean. Glad to hear you're doing well and might be around more often!


I thought to go back to this thread because of an interesting development in my own music listening. I've been primarily listening to metal for the past year or so, with Big Big Train coming out as a recent exception. But I've felt, with my growing interest in Big Big Train, that a prog rock phase was coming on. And suddenly I've listened to three Flower Kings albums in the last three days! I only actually have four of their albums, because, by the time I became interested in them, it had become hard to get most of their back catalog. Doing some research, I read that they're planning to re-release a bunch of their old stuff this year, so I hope that comes to fruition. If so, I'll probably get everything I'm missing (which is the entire run from Retropolis through The Sum of No Evil, which I know fans will tell me contains all their best albums). In the meantime, I'm looking forward to getting their newest album and Waiting for Miracles, which are the two I don't have that are still easy to find.

[Cool Chris]

I'm impressed by those of you who have really intricate systems, like Luke's tiered playlist concept. I don't think I have the commitment to keep up with anything like that.

No kidding, that was crazy - and I mean that in a totally complimentary way. I certainly don't have the energy to catalog my music like that. I just think "hey, I want to listen to some Maiden, maybe reunion era..." and I'll put on A Matter of Life and Death. Or if I need something to play while doing chores or working on a project and can't commit to anything, I stream internet radio.

[425]

That's pretty much what I do as well. I think as sophisticated as it gets for me is "I don't know what I want to listen to... Hey, maybe I should listen to that new release from that band I like, or maybe that album I bought recently and have only listened to once."

[PixelDream]

I'm enjoying a concert DVD revival. I have so many great ones and last night I watched '5 Years in a Lifetime' by Dream Theater. I forgot how good it actually is. I've never thought too highly of it, but especially the Awake tour stuff is stunning.

[twosuitsluke]

I'm impressed by those of you who have really intricate systems, like Luke's tiered playlist concept. I don't think I have the commitment to keep up with anything like that.

No kidding, that was crazy - and I mean that in a totally complimentary way. I certainly don't have the energy to catalog my music like that. I just think "hey, I want to listen to some Maiden, maybe reunion era..." and I'll put on A Matter of Life and Death. Or if I need something to play while doing chores or working on a project and can't commit to anything, I stream internet radio.

It's actually really easy once all the playlists are set up. You just drag albums into the relevant playlist and then the smart playlist function does the work.

I used to be like you just picking what you fancy listening to, but you know what it's like, as your library grows you just have more music than you can remember.

My playlists help me keep on top of what I'm listening to and giving stuff a fair shot. It'd be easy to just listen to my fave bands/albums on repeat, but it's those albums that click on like 5th or 6th listen that keep me rotating what I'm listening to.

DTF is really the root cause of it all! I discovered so many bands in the first few years here, as well as hearing others passionately discussing their faves. I just consume so much music now that I've gotta keep that shit organised 

[Lethean]

Also, it's awesome to see you here, Lethean. Glad to hear you're doing well and might be around more often!

Thanks!   Just trying to find a good balance I guess between being on the computer all day for work and getting some personal screen time in, but not too much.

That's pretty much what I do as well. I think as sophisticated as it gets for me is "I don't know what I want to listen to... Hey, maybe I should listen to that new release from that band I like, or maybe that album I bought recently and have only listened to once."

I might be only slightly more sophisticated than that. I do use iTunes and use it to not forget about newer releases that might otherwise fall off my radar.  Or I'll use it to see what I haven't listened to in a while.

[Cool Chris]

I'm impressed by those of you who have really intricate systems, like Luke's tiered playlist concept. I don't think I have the commitment to keep up with anything like that.

No kidding, that was crazy - and I mean that in a totally complimentary way. I certainly don't have the energy to catalog my music like that. I just think "hey, I want to listen to some Maiden, maybe reunion era..." and I'll put on A Matter of Life and Death. Or if I need something to play while doing chores or working on a project and can't commit to anything, I stream internet radio.

It's actually really easy once all the playlists are set up. You just drag albums into the relevant playlist and then the smart playlist function does the work.

I don't do playlists though. So everything else downstream isn't part of my playbook. I admittedly could use a more organized way to listen to my music, I just don't think any of that would work for me. Something about the randomness, even if there is a system behind it. But I could just be stubborn...

There are definitely days when I get in to the work van first thing, start the engine, take out my mp3 player, stare at it for 5 minutes, and shout "I don't know what to listen to!"

I used to be like you just picking what you fancy listening to, but you know what it's like, as your library grows you just have more music than you can remember.

Definitely! Once I committed to having a digital library (putting all my CDs on my computer and eventually my portable mp3 player) and moving to mostly digital purchases, I ended up making a spreadsheet of my library to help me keep track of everything,