Why Music Curation is More Important Than Ever

Plus Prince, Neil Young, Aretha Franklin, The Ronettes, Bad Bunny

Welcome back to Jamwise!

You have no idea how badly I wanted to actually call this newsletter Jamwise Gamgee. No idea. It would have been so perfect and now I can’t unhear it. It’ll have to be like my dog, who has a “name” but also has a thousand other extended names that are how I actually think of her. And sing songs about her. Ahem, anyways…

Why Music Curation is Becoming a Critical Skill

Music curation skills are important if you want to find good music. It’s as simple as that. There are a million ways to find new music. Whether you rely on curators or algorithms or you do it yourself, the ability to sort good music from bad is more important than ever before. Because even if you had the perfect curation algorithm, you would still need to listen to and like the music for it to mean anything - meaning your ability to listen and find things you like is always the most important.

But what I’ve learned is that no algorithm will really predict what resonates with you, especially when those algorithms are run by companies motivated to keep you listening, not necessarily to keep you happy. Even curators, as great as they can be, aren’t motivated by making you specifically happy. The people who care most about keeping you happy are on this list: you. 

And none of the music curation services are bad, I’m just saying they fulfill a specific function, and that function is not to keep you (First name last name you) happy. And that’s fine! As long as you’re aware that your favorite influencer isn’t curating music only for you, and that they have other (perfectly legitimate) motives, you’ve won the battle. 

Spotify’s product (like most streaming services, including social media) is an attention-grabbing mix of the most potent individual songs they can find, the ones that will keep you listening the longest. Their success is measured in minutes listened, not by how happy those minutes make you, the listener. 

And don’t misunderstand me - Spotify’s recommendation service is an AMAZING product. But it’s not what I’m personally looking for all the time. Spotify’s algorithms will suggest the low-risk tracks that I’m 99% guaranteed to love. It won’t take risks on new stuff I’m not as familiar with that might make me stop listening if I don’t like them. That’s just not the way it’s geared.

It’s of course possible to deep dive an artists’ library more than ever on Spotify at a much lower cost than the days when we had to buy CD’s or records. This is just another part of the amazing wealth of music access we have these days. My point is that it pays to remember that algorithmic products are geared towards shallow listening rather than deep, and if you want a different experience, you’ll have to work a little to get it. In other words, you’ll have to curate a little for yourself, or find others you trust to do so for you.

Another weak point in the algorithmic music approach (and curators, sometimes) is the lack of historical perspective. Sure, you can easily get the algorithm to bring you the best hits of the 70’s, and again this is excellent for certain purposes. The same is true of many music recommenders - they will often get more clicks and reads by promoting the new stuff, which is why many do just that. 

But what I worry about is that aside from the top 0.005% of tracks that appear in the “Best of the 70’s” playlists, there are hundreds of other artists being forgotten. I’ve already found some fantastic songs from the 70’s that I’d never heard of before. That makes me sad, especially because it seems so preventable. 

I worry that this effect will get worse and worse as the generations go on, and that one day young people might not even realize a band called Big Star ever existed, despite the awesome nature of their music. They might view the 70’s the way I currently view the 20’s - I can tell you about Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, and that’s literally all. 2 artists survive in my mind from that time period. 

The difference now, however, is that all of the music of the recent and current generations is digital and relatively easy to access compared to that of the 20’s, and technological innovations will only make that access easier. That means the younger generations, starting with mine, have a unique mix of a massive library of music from before our times, along with unprecedented access to that music. There’s no excuse to forget where our current favorite songs came from - that would be like living in a library and scrolling on TikTok all day instead of reading a book. Sure, today’s stuff will likely resonate better day-to-day, but it’s just a waste of great music to ignore the old stuff. 

It’s our job to find our individual balance between knowing the history of our music and listening to what we like. There’s no perfect percentage of old stuff to listen to or learn about, but I would make a strong case that, no matter who you are or what you like, that percentage should never be zero. 

So be aware of how the algorithm is shaping your tastes. Listen to old stuff when you can, and listen deeply to new stuff you like. Not because you have to listen to old music to be respected, not because you need to know every word of a band’s catalog to be a “real” fan, and certainly not because music just ain’t that good anymore, because it absolutely is. 

Do it because it’s fun.

Project B.A.E. - the Best Albums Ever

I talked last week about my need for an objective rating system, and how I see a need for some kind of non-emotional way for me to rate music. I’ve decided to start with the following factors to build up my “objective” rating. This is by no means science, but I’ve always found it’s best to try something until it breaks, then learn from that and build it better next time. Hashtag engineer.

Here’s the new system I’ve come up with so far (work in progress):

1. Virtuosity (if that’s a word) - voice, instrument, or other “wow” factors - 0-3 points

2. Songwriting - quality of the song regardless of polish etc. - 0-3 points

3. Context - historical meaning, influence on later artists, etc. - 0-2 points

4. Personal Adjustment - adjust for familiarity, lack of knowledge of genre, etc. - 0-2 points

So hopefully that clarifies some things for me. I’ll eventually go back and adjust the old objective ratings to match, but I’m gonna wait and make sure this system makes sense first.

Got a good lineup this week, so let’s jump in. 3 albums in the top 100 of the Rolling Stone top 500 albums list is pretty dang solid!

Lady Soul - Aretha Franklin

Released in 1968, #85 on the Rolling Stone top 500 albums list, and chock full of timeless hits. I gotta say my excitement to listen to this album is pretty high from the get-go. I feel like this is the kind of album I should know, like those lists of “100 books you have to read once in your life.” Not knowing Aretha Franklin’s entire catalog feels like not reading Shakespeare. Of course I already know about half of the songs, but listening to them all together is gonna be fun.

“Chain of Fools” took me straight back to the pizza joint in my hometown that played exclusively 60’s hits in their basement where we’d feast on the buffet every Friday night. It’s about a womanizer who treats Aretha wrong, but in my youth I would have sworn it was about the “Chain of Fools” who let my hungry ass loose on all-you-can-eat sausage pizza pies.

Aretha’s rendition of “People Get Ready” was one of those soulful slow-dance jams that I’m such a sucker for, not to mention it’s widely recognized as one of the greatest songs of all time - the original, written by Curtis Mayfield, was written the year after Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have A Dream” speech, and has been covered by artists of all races in the years since. It was played by members of the Civil Rights movement and embraced as an “unofficial anthem” of the movement. If that’s not amazing context, I don’t know what is. Aretha Franklin’s version was goose-bump raising.

“(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” is just such a perfectly-written song. I have no words to do it justice. I loved the blues jam “Good To Me As I Am To You,” which I hadn’t heard before (Again I’m a sucker for a 3/4 time song). And “Groovin’”, which I know as a beach music classic, Aretha’s version is super smooth and relaxing.

This album got me thinking again about albums that I really want to have on vinyl. This is certainly one of them. I’ve gotten that vibe from newer albums as well, but it seems like it’s only certain kinds of music that make me think the record would sound awesome. I’m gonna start tracking what albums I’d add to my hypothetical vinyl collection to see what I learn.

Objective Rating - 9.3

Jamwise Taste Rating - 7.8

Jamwise Descriptors - Mega Voice, Mega Soul, Goosebump Guru

New/Rediscovered Jams

• “People Get Ready”

• “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman”

• “Good To Me As I Am To You”

• “Ain’t No Way”

Footnote - as the first album rated using my new objective scale, I thought I’d share how that went down. Obviously each of these except perhaps Significance is still a subjective metric, but it’s a start. I’m just gonna use it, then see if the results are meaningful after a few weeks.

Songwriting was a 2.8 only because many were covers, talent and significance were maxed out for obvious reasons, and my personal adjustment was raised to 1.5 because I tend to enjoy more modern music so I felt adding some points to this was fair (default is 1 for this number to allow for lowering the rating if needed). So from now on all of the objective ratings will be based on this framework. Let’s see how it goes!

Tonight’s The Night - Neil Young

First off, there’s no Spotify link for this album because Neil Young’s music isn’t on Spotify, as of this writing. YouTube it is, then, like I’m some kind of millennial or something. So I’ll be hearing about 15 State Farm ads in between songs, which will certainly give some interesting context to break the flow of listening. But we will survive, friends. 

This album was released in 1973 and #302 in the Rolling Stone top 500 list. 

Now I know from previous experience that Neil Young’s singing voice is an acquired taste. You’re not here for the voice, you’re here for the lyrics, the music, and the rawness of the songs he writes. This was the sort of preparation I wish I’d had before listening to Lucinda Williams in Week 3. 

“Tonight’s The Night” hits you with full Neil Young energy from minute 1, which is useful because my ears need a bit of warm-up time to listen to Neil Young sing for an extended length of time. I love following along with his lyrics, and this song is no exception. I also got into the bluesy second song, “Speakin’ Out.” “Borrowed tune” was beautiful, sad, and still somehow a little tongue-in-cheek in true Neil Young fashion. “Albuquerque” was hauntingly great, in a small-Southern-town kind of way, slow and run-down and grey.

That’s a good way to describe the album, in fact. I have so much respect for the songwriting that’s on display in this album. It’s an expression of grief after the loss of two close friends, and those emotions come across clearly. Writing a song is often an attempt to communicate emotions too deep to express any other way, and the ability to translate those emotions, even when the writer is in such a dark mood, is always impressive to me. 

Despite my jokes about Neil’s singing chops, this album is absolutely beautiful start to finish, and the only reason my Taste Rating is low is because I tend to hide from sad music, which is another story altogether. This is the kind of album that would certainly resonate with many people going through difficult times. 

Objective Rating - 8.6

Jamwise Taste Rating - 7.9

Jamwise Descriptors - Songwriting Sensei, Emotional not Emo, Rawness

New Jams

• “Tonight’s The Night”

• “Borrowed Tune”

• “Come On Baby Let’s Go Downtown”

• “Lookout Joe”

Sign O’ The Times - Prince

Released in 1987, this was Prince’s 9th studio album and is ranked #93 on the Rolling Stone list. 

Prince is among the most famous artists (in my perception) where I only seem to know know one or two of his biggest songs. None of them are on this album, at first glance. Another blemish on my musical history knowledge. Ah, well, we’ve already established that wasn’t worth a damn before this project. Let’s correct it now.

The title track is a total oxymoron track from the start, with a beat made for strutting down the street to and dark lyrics about the lamentable way things are going in the world. Predictably for me, “Slow Love” was super enjoyable, and shows off what Prince can do with his voice that I frankly wasn’t aware of from the big hits I was previously familiar with.

This album is some funky stuff. I mean that in the best way. And Prince has a way of really inhabiting every single song with his enthusiasm and personality that some artists lack - even the mid-album songs seem to get his full attention and energy. The album is solid and cohesive, but (at the risk of falling prey to confirmation bias) I had trouble pinpointing a candidate for a single. 

This review from Pitchfork puts it well:

Choosing a single high point from Prince’s glorious run in the ’80s is impossible, but Sign o’ the Times surely stands as his most complex and varied statement.

This album is certainly varied, a bit all over the place musically, but none of it feels forced. 

Objective Rating - 7.8

Jamwise Taste Rating - 6.5

Jamwise Descriptors - Moist, Funktastic, Mega Personality

New Jams

• “Sign O’ The Times”

• “Slow Love”

• “The Cross”

• “Adore”

Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes - The Ronettes

Released in 1964 and coming in #435 on the Rolling Stone list. This album is actually more of a collection of singles than a single unit. 

Besides “Be My Baby,” I don’t know much about this group, and I also wouldn’t have been able to name them as the artist of that song without looking it up. 

OK now I realize I do know “Chapel of Love” - it’s another one of those pizza joint basement buffet songs I grew up with. I knew every word of this song when I was 9, although I definitely didn’t think that was cool at the time. But now I realize it was totally awesome to learn the lyrics of 60’s songs while stuffing my face with subpar pizza.

This is a mega-classic that I’d listen to in any kind of restaurant, not just my local pizza joint. I’d even listen to it upstairs. 

Objective Rating - 8.2

Jamwise Taste Rating - 5.5

Jamwise Descriptors - Diner Jams, Anti-Aging Music, The 60’s Rule

New/Newly remembered Jams

• “Be My Baby”

• “Chapel of Love”

X 100Pre - Bad Bunny

Released in 2018, #41 on Rolling Stone Top 500 List (!!!). I had literally no idea Bad Bunny was getting such recognition in the ranks of all-time musicians. I know he’s the most streamed artist in the world right now, but the fact that the critics and the public seem to agree so strongly about him is very intriguing. I have mixed feelings about relying solely on critics or public opinion for music recs, but if literally everyone agrees this album is awesome, who am I to argue?

Without understanding the lyrics, it’s hard to say much about the writing, but I loved the parts of the music I could understand - the genres seemed to shift at times, but that only adds to the effect. I was hooked from the second the trap beat kicked in on “Ni Bien No Mal” until the outro with Drake. 

This one’s popular for a reason. 

Objective Rating - 8.5

Jamwise Taste Rating - 8

Jamwise Descriptors - Music is a Common Language, Get Lit

New Jamwise Jams

• "Ni Bien Ni Mal"

• “Caro”

• “Como Antes”