disquiet.com/ambientalist

I’ve tried this before, on Spotify and on SoundCloud, and again I’m giving a go at putting together a regularly updated public playlist. This is resulting from three things: (1) my switch to Spotify after Rdio’s shutdown (and after a recognition that neither Google Play and Apple Music has a functioning social component), (2) my endlessly delayed plans to get a proper podcast together, and (3) my desire to investigate the (apparent) popularity of playlists (and of Spotify) by working in the form. (For all this Spotify activity, the vast majority of my listening is still SoundCloud, Bandcamp, and promotional copies I receive. One thing I’m repeatedly struck by is how little of the music I listen to on SoundCloud appears on Spotify — in fact, how few of the musicians I listen to on SoundCloud appear on Spotify.)

For me, context is everything. I don’t like listening without having access — not necessarily for immediate, but for eventual, consumption — to more of a sense of what I’m listening to, which generally means written context. I’m likely in the minority in this regard, or so the streaming services seem to believe. Then again, I listen to refrigerators hum for pleasure and get turned down for sound design projects because my RFP feedback begins “you really don’t need to add music.” Spotify provides little more information than Apple or Google. It’s a little frustrating that Spotify’s playlists don’t allow for unique cover art (as a podcast might have) or even liner notes, but I’ve done a low-rent hack by titling the podcast with a URL (disquiet.com/ambientalist) that might invite individuals to click through and read more.

The first edition is 41 minutes and features tracks from Kid606, Nonkeen (a new trio including Nils Frahm), Taylor Deupree in a duet with Marcus Fischer, Lisa Gerrard (from her score to Jane Got a Gun, recorded with Marcello De Francisci), Scott Tuma (off Eyrie, which I thought I’d written about when it first came out, around the time I initiated an interview with him, but I can’t find any mention), Grouper, Marina Rosenfeld, DJ Krush, Lesley Flanigan, and Stephen Mathieu.

The playlist is at this inelegant URL, if you have a Spotify account:

https://open.spotify.com/user/dsqt/playlist/2W8PS8cf2aHe72vZDRdN8Y

I’m not sure how this is going to develop, whether I’ll switch out all the tracks, or just add over time so the thing gets entirely out of control, length-wise. I do know the current plan is to stick to current work. Everything here was released (or re-released) in 2015 or 2016, with the exception of those artists who have nothing that recent in the Spotify database. In those cases I’ve selected something from their most recent release that Spotify does provide access to.