Treat yourself to a relisten

Main photo by blocks on Unsplash

Look around any part of music media and the top word is always “new”, “what’s hot” is what’s hot. In fact you don’t have to go as far as the media, I’m sure the conversations you’ll have with any friends about music are often revolving around what’s the latest discovery, what’s the big new music buzz.

It’s easy to get caught up with the pursuit of the next best thing, the next hot tune, the next great album. It can also feel like a never ending task, keeping an eye out for new releases, reading reviews and recommendations, I find I queue a lot of music up on Spotify for a listen. Often as well in the days of streaming I don’t give albums the same attention I used to when I bought an album, I guess partly because I didn’t have the same volume of music to listen to.

Last year I randomly queued up some old Manic Street Preachers for no reason, listening to Grant Nicholas on The Art Of Longevity podcast led me to going through the Feeder back catalogue and the recent death of Taylor Hawkins prompted me to listen to all of the Foo Fighters albums from start to finish. I’ve firmly become a fan of digging out and listening to old stuff and it’s been a joy.

Listening to albums I know inside and out trying not to feel guilty that I’m not discovering something new. Most music fans don’t want to be stale and listen to the same old music but there’s something great in indulging in music you know you love and enjoy and a revisit can open up new views on songs after a time away. There’s still plenty to enjoy and discover even in music you think you know inside out.

Which all sounds strange when the site I’m running at Mumubl.com is partly aimed at helping you discover new music. But whilst I’ve enjoyed discovering new songs and artists through people’s posts on the site I’ve also enjoyed when people have posted about artists I already know and love. Reading different views and stories of the music you’re familiar with can be equally as interesting.

So I would implore you to take some time to listen to your older stuff, dust off some discs, search though your streaming service – take a break from the drive for new and don’t feel guilty about it.