Friday Jams: Volume 4

I’ve been making playlists, swapping iPods, and burning mix CDs for friends since I was a teenager. I’m a girl who went on exceptionally long bus rides and walks around the suburbs at midnight just to listen to an album with the correct mood. Maybe you did, too. Maybe you also spent the years from the start of university to your late 20s obsessively listening to music and fine-tuning your taste. There’s a lot of us, headphones on, always ready to slip you a new song.

But then I stopped listening so intently. Not enough time. Too much grief. No energy to care about music when there’s adulthood to worry about.

There’s a gap in my life from 2019 to somewhere in the middle of 2021 where I lost the urge to find new music, and anything presented to me sounded like a banjo smashed over a curb. I wondered if I’d reached that mythic point in my life where new music just didn’t sound good. “Well,” I thought, “I guess this is it. Maybe I am finally trapped in an endless loop of Death Cab for Cutie albums and ambient mood playlists that I can never escape.” I resigned myself to a future where I sincerely enjoyed Ed Sheeran.

Luckily, I eventually recognized my disconnect from music was a warning sign that I was not coping well with my life. This is not the time or place for that story. What I will tell you is that recognizing you’re in a hole is the first step to getting out of one.

I made time for music again. I wanted to listen with the obsessive curiosity I took for granted in my 20s. I bought a nice pair of headphones, as a treat, and started catching up on years of missed albums. I made playlists with new music that I loved. Ed Sheeran sounded like a banjo smashed over a curb. Everything was in its right place.

Starting in 2022 I created Friday Jams, a playlist I treat like an audio diary. On Friday morning I add the music that preoccupied, provoked, or impressed me during the week. It’s part mood ring and part recommendation engine. Looking for solid Ellie Says You Should Listen to This™ selections? Check the playlist.

2024 marks Volume 4 of this audio diary. The Friday playlist update is a ritual I’ve grown to really love. When I look back on the tracks at the end of every year I find a delightful mix of old and new, obscure and epic music that captured my attention at a moment in time.

You can find Friday Jams 2024 here.

Past editions: Volume 1, Volume 2, and Volume 3

Here’s what’s spinning this week.

Cosmic Rendez-Vous Bolis Pupul

Three Drums Four Tet

Eyes & Mouth The Smile

Que’ Onda Guero Beck

Olson Boards of Canada