I don’t know if everyone else is like this, but for me, music has gone from something social to something solitary. I listen to music when I work, when I walk, when I bike, when I read, when I write. Almost the only time I don’t listen to music is when I’m with other people, and if I do, it’s something backgroundey and ignorable.
This has created this weird dynamic where the more important a song is to me, the less I want to share it. When I was younger, all of my social activities had soundtracks. Now, they have footnotes. And what I hear on the way there and back feels like mine rather than ours.
I don’t know if this is an actual trend or just feels like one because it’s happening to me. I don’t really care. These songs are how I spent most of my nonsocial time in 2012. Don’t tell anyone I know!
Ekki Mukk - Sigur Ros
Why listen to the mindless clacking around you at work when you can listen to a twinkling drone and soprano vowels instead?
Express Yourself – Diplo
Because sometimes you just want to listen to something that sounds like a homeless person shouting at a fax machine.
Anything Could Happen – Ellie Goulding
Try to listen to this song without tweeting something optimistic, just try.
Lots - Dan Deacon
No matter what you’re doing, this makes you feel like you’re jogging up a mountain to an orgy.
Four Seasons - Max Richter
I crave this album whenever I’m walking around London because it makes me feel condescending and imperial.
Dangerous and Sound - Tingo
I refuse to believe indie artists are making albums without rap mashups in mind
& It Was U – How to Dress Well
This makes me wish I dated ladies, just so I could clench my fists when they left
Bad Girls – M.I.A.
Listening to this in public will turn your walk into a swagger, I promise.
Four Walls - Burial & Massive Attack
You can tell this song is dark and profound because it is longer than your commute to work.
Third of the Storms – Mike Simonetti
This shit is so catchy you’re amazed it isn’t a cover of a Sesame Street song.
Ms Jackson (Jean Tonique Remix) – Outkast
Can we keep remixing our favorite songs from the ’90s, to keep reliving our teenage years forever? No seriously, can we?
Grimes – Oblivion
Every single hipster who biked past you on a fixie this year was listening to this song.
Bang – Rye Rye
You know that anxiety, when you’re late for something you don’t even want to go to? Now that feeling exists in musical form!
Wrath of God – Crystal Castles
This will not only drown out your surroundings, but also your feelings.
