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2024 – Music in review

Posted on: January 2, 2025

MUSIC

It’s the start of a new year which means it’s time for my annual reflection on the music in my life.

Today marks 18 years since I joined last.fm, a truly sizeable chunk of time. It’s really true what they say – time moves faster as you get older. The year went by in a blur and unfortunately a lot of what I listened to became similarly blurred. I always enjoy the graphs and data that last.fm collects, it’s helpful and interesting, especially when I need a reminder of what I was really listening to.

I knew before checking the graphs that I did not listen to a lot of music in the last year, but I did find a lot to enjoy; here is a look at some of my favourite music from 2023.

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Posted in Music
Tagged end of the year, eurovision, evenings, favourites, gigs & festivals, music, rock, south africa, south african, texx and the city

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2023 – Music in review

Posted on: January 2, 2024

MUSIC

Today is my 17th anniversary on last.fm so it’s time I go back through the collected data and reflect on the music that soundtracked my 2023.

For me it was the first vaguely normal year since 2019, in terms of my interactions with the ‘outside world’. It was a complicated year, as they often are, with extended periods of extreme mental stress and physical exhaustion which definitely affected my musical choices. Often I actually chose to watch things (shows and background noise on Youtube) rather than listen to music. The last month or so I made a conscious effort to change that and sought out new music from the best of lists that helpfully were popping up at the time.

I know opinions on these kind of ‘wrapped’ summaries vary but I enjoy them and always check them out when I see them. So here’s a look at my favourite music from 2023.

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Posted in Music
Tagged album, art, covid, district, end of the year, eurovision, favourites, francois van coke, gigs and festivals, hellcats, lucy kruger and the lost boys, mccully/mackay, memories, music, music video, new year, painting, ramfest, review, rock, texx and the city

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2022 – Music in review

Posted on: January 2, 2023

MUSIC

Year 3 of the New Normal™ has come to a close and it’s time again for year-end lists and reflection.

Today marks my 16th anniversary on last.fm and I confess I still greatly enjoy the data and charts it collects and manages, especially lately s as I’m finding time so much harder to keep track of. Days blend into months with little to distinguish them…at least that’s been my experience in the strange limbo of the last while.

It’s been an interesting year for me musically, as I increased the amount of songs I listened to to around the same levels they were at in 2019, around a 47 percent increase from 2021, my lowest year on record. Here’s a look at my favourite music from 2022.

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Tagged album, art, covid, end of the year, eurovision, favourites, fontaines dc, ghost, infanteria, international act, interpol, mccully workshop, mccully/mackay, memories, metal, music, new year, painting, review, rock

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2021 – Music in review

Posted on: January 2, 2022

MUSIC

So ends the second year of isolation! While it might not have been fun, the old cliche is still true: the time really did fly. Honestly I can’t even remember that much at all. I think especially with all of the monotony of constantly staying home the days just blur together.

I did not listen to a whole lot of music in 2021. Looking back at my chart data it’s actually my lowest number of songs played since I joined last.fm 15 years ago….and wow, looking at the phrase ’15 years’ is a shock in and of itself. Just under half my lifetime. Talk about time flying.

Anyway, as I always do this time of year, I’m going through the data and reflecting on my listening habits from the last year; here’s a look at my favourite music from 2021.

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Posted in Music
Tagged comfort, covid, eurovision, memories, mercury, music, ramblings, reflection, review, south africa, south african, special places, streaming, texx and the city, year end

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Music: 2020 in review

Posted on: January 2, 2021

MUSIC

One of the very few positive things about 2020 was the music – some really good tracks and albums were released in spite of (and sometimes even because of) everything.

On this day I note my 14th year on last.fm and use its data to help reflect on my listening habits from the last year; here’s a look at my favourite music from 2020.