Two thoughts on the Kevin Smokler "Listening Through" piece (I wish I was more disciplined on artist run throughs—I often lose steam or forget about it at some point)
1) Kind of surprised that vinyl is his format of choice since that can be tricky, time consuming, and potentially expensive! (That said, having a physical copy that you invested in, staring you in the face would help with the completion aspect :)
To me, this is where streaming shines even in the light of the recent "CDs are back" articles and Neil Young/Spotify situation.
2) I like that he discusses the order and approach to this and how it's not one-size-fits-all. Chronological does makes sense and does give you the arc and trends of the artist(s) but there is the potential for getting bogged down in larger artist catalogs.
For example, someone who is really taken with The Beatles in Get Back might want to bail when they hit the Beatles For Sale LP! On the flip side (sorry), it's really instructive when you realize that For Sale and Get Back were only recorded just over 4 years apart!
I liked how the AV Club (when they cared more about music) would do artist primers and lay out 101, intermediate work, and advanced studies.
I'm also reminded of Douglas Wolk's recent book, All of the Marvels, where he discusses what he learned after reading practically every Marvel Comics published since 1961, over 27,000 issues. He *specifically* recommends not reading them sequentially since it's really easy to get bored slogging through early or uninspired work. An example might be that a 12 year old who is really into the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse movie could have a hard time getting through the '60s soap opera of the character just to get to Miles Morales in 2011.
Second: I bought Weekday Vegetarians when you shared this. A year later made my first dish from it—Spicy Chickpeas With Tomatoes & Greens—and oh boy it was awesome.
Curious if you'd ever posted top recipes or favorites from the book? I'm pleasantly overwhelmed by the options and pondering what to cook next!
I also like the “Listening through” idea! I’ve started with Fleetwood Mac—I’m that old—and am really digging the earlier bluesy stuff.
Two thoughts on the Kevin Smokler "Listening Through" piece (I wish I was more disciplined on artist run throughs—I often lose steam or forget about it at some point)
1) Kind of surprised that vinyl is his format of choice since that can be tricky, time consuming, and potentially expensive! (That said, having a physical copy that you invested in, staring you in the face would help with the completion aspect :)
To me, this is where streaming shines even in the light of the recent "CDs are back" articles and Neil Young/Spotify situation.
2) I like that he discusses the order and approach to this and how it's not one-size-fits-all. Chronological does makes sense and does give you the arc and trends of the artist(s) but there is the potential for getting bogged down in larger artist catalogs.
For example, someone who is really taken with The Beatles in Get Back might want to bail when they hit the Beatles For Sale LP! On the flip side (sorry), it's really instructive when you realize that For Sale and Get Back were only recorded just over 4 years apart!
I liked how the AV Club (when they cared more about music) would do artist primers and lay out 101, intermediate work, and advanced studies.
https://www.avclub.com/primer-neil-young-1798212829
I'm also reminded of Douglas Wolk's recent book, All of the Marvels, where he discusses what he learned after reading practically every Marvel Comics published since 1961, over 27,000 issues. He *specifically* recommends not reading them sequentially since it's really easy to get bored slogging through early or uninspired work. An example might be that a 12 year old who is really into the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse movie could have a hard time getting through the '60s soap opera of the character just to get to Miles Morales in 2011.
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/jan/20/douglas-wolk-27000-marvel-comics-dark-reign-trump-iron-man-unbeatable-squirrel-girl
Admission: I move very. slowly.
Second: I bought Weekday Vegetarians when you shared this. A year later made my first dish from it—Spicy Chickpeas With Tomatoes & Greens—and oh boy it was awesome.
Curious if you'd ever posted top recipes or favorites from the book? I'm pleasantly overwhelmed by the options and pondering what to cook next!