My computer broke down last weekend — my hard drive was “corrupted.” I lost all my files, but got it fixed for 90$ which isn’t too bad for a laptop that’s 4.5 years old (Thanks, Apple!). Luckily, I had backed up my text files, but I lost all my music files that aren’t on my iPod. This was one of those blessings in disguise because now that my computer is fixed, I finally have enough memory space to run multiple programs at once… So now I can use iTunes and read my favorite blogs/do Chinese stuff/email people. I was also able to get the latest version of iTunes. 

I had used iTunes radio on and off in the past but I was really pleasantly surprised to see an increased list of free internet radio stations. From what I remember, the new offerings are about four or five times as large as before. I mainly listen to the classical music stations because that’s the type of music that’s conducive — and sometimes beneficial — to getting things done as I go about my normal business. And the classical music stations they’ve got on there are great. There’s everything from the big name classical stations out of New York and Chicago — it’s kind of nice thinking of those communities of classical music lovers and somewhat participating in them — to stations dedicated to just playing Mozart or Chopin. 

It’s great because I’ve been a little apathetic about music lately, after being very passionate about it for many years. This decline in enthusiasm had to do with a few reasons 1. an uncreative and somewhat tedious relationship with classes and music groups while being a music student at a liberal arts conservatory 2. feeling burned-out after discovering a lot of good music and looking for more music while dealing with diminishing returns in terms of novelty or just quality in general 3. decreasing my listening to music time as it can work up emotions and get in the way of getting other work done (which has been one of the most unexpected and a bit regrettable aspects of growing up). So for the last two or three years I had kind of a cat-like peekaboo relationship with music — I thought that because my eyes were closed or behind the couch, no one could see me/no one was making really great music. It’s all a bit silly and not entirely true but an overall accurate description. 

I would occasionally look for new music, read pitchfork but would get bored with it. I do think that indie music in the last few years has taken a slide, but also there’s just never going to be that same rush of novelty that there is when you first really get into something. And as this Jonah Lehrer post  post on the neurological explanations for liking music makes clear, novelty or the variations from patterns/expectations/routines plays an important role in how we approach music. 

With all these new stations now, there are plenty of ways to tap in and find some new music. I’ve also been listening to electronic music as that usually is the music that interests me the most — from what I’ve goofed around with, the OEM Radio station seems to be best for electronic music — and have been pleasantly surprised (again!) of what people have been doing these last few years that my head has been not-so-secretly hidden behind the couch. 

The classical music stations are great — besides the aforementioned community aspect — in the novelty and “new brain connections” department because the people behind it do a really good job of picking out the best recordings of a certain piece and/or lesser known works by well-known composers while also giving interesting commentary.  

I know my interest in music will never be the same as during my teenage years. Mostly, I don’t have enough time to listen to music or have found other things that I’m happy to prioritize more.* But it is nice to hear some new music or just get excited about music in general, as there are a lot of emotions/experiences/things it expresses better than anything else. 

*I’ve also been thinking about how much more emotional my experiences of everyday life were back then, and feel safe in saying that is one reason why I took “solace” (pretentious but accurate word) in such an emotional — rather than cerebral or physical — mode of experience. 

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I thought it would be appropriate to include a song in this post, so that explains the video at the top of the page. I’ve actually known about this song/video/group for a while and didn’t come to them through. It’s supergroup type album between some djs in Berlin. I really like one of them, Apparat, and I was really lucky to see him live at this techno festival in Buenos Aires. I went to the festival alone, and when he started playing on one of the stages — there were half a dozen stages and somewhere near 100 performers that played through the night — I got all the way up to the front row. It was an incredible and very memorable experience, and without trying to intellectualize or explain it, I’ll leave it at that. Anyways, I’ve been coming back to this song quite a bit as of late and thought it would be worth sharing.