Been listening through this comp¹, but also using it as a jumping off point to explore more by some of these artists and also just an excuse or occasion to listen a lot of other 80s and 90s rock I loved or always wanted to listen to but didn’t have access back at the time.

A listening project, but casual, wide ranging, inclusive, and maybe with no end until I get distracted by something else. Just allowing myself to listen to what I want, and right now what I want is a lot of late 80s and early 90s noisy rock. So far I’ve also listened to a bunch of My Bloody Valentine, A.R. Kane, finally tried some Cocteau Twins, The Stone Roses (don’t start; I know they are not ‘shoegaze’ at all but they are mentioned in these liner notes as a key group of the period which made me want to listen to them again and I have also always wanted to explore Manchester music more and so I am doing that as well with this project, therefore finally listened to The Verve’s first album A Storm in Heaven which I’ve wanted to hear since I was probably 15 years old or something like that - it would have been one of my favorites if I had back then), &c. Also had this unrealistic idea at some point to listen to “everything” released by 4AD because many of my favorite 21st century artists are associated with the label and I understood it to have a storied history, so this comp and project is scratching that itch as well. A lot more things queued up to check out that I will hopefully log on this site as I get to them.

And of course it was also going to lead me to listening to Smashing Pumpkins a whole bunch, but that’s for other posts…maybe Sonic Youth, maybe my more recent 4AD favorites in this vein Deerhunter and TV on the Radio…

Past Log Updates

DATE : 2024-12-16 (Backdated)

I also posted this in my reading log as ‘currently reading’

Reading Log: Still in a Dream - A Story of Shoegaze 1988-1995

This is more listening than reading, but it is formatted as an actual book with probably 40+ pages of liner notes and essays to go along with 5 compilation discs to listen to. Since I did sit down and read it like a book, I’m listing it as reading as well. I’m not marking it as completed yet because I haven’t finished listening to all of the songs, nor my various side quest deep dives into individual albums and artists associated with this compilation and era.

I happened upon this in the Salt Lake City Public Library catalog while I was searching for something else, and I’m so glad I did get the physical copy. Having all the essays and band biographies there at hand was so helpful, and I think this is much more thorough than some random “Shoegaze and Dream Pop” playlist one could get from the streaming platforms. Also, though this comp is offered on the streaming platforms, the physical version is much more generous, with more than double the tracks of the streaming version, including many from the most notable artists. No My Bloody Valentine though. (It’s okay, I already have their stuff.)

Resources

Standalone post link: Listening Log: Still in a Dream

I’ve set up my weird little website to crosspost certain status updates to micro.blog, Bluesky, and Threads now. Let’s see what happens…

Thanks! If you’re reading this you clicked through the link, or maybe you’re some mysterious real one who follows my RSS feed.

Standalone post link: First joshuaw.xyz microblogging crosspost

In spring of 2024 I started building on this website a bespoke music listening log and gallery to match my 2024 reading log, but I wasn’t consistent posting to it. The end of the year came and I had regrets about the lack of a beautiful gallery of all my favorite albums of the year, but recognized that going backward to update all the holes would be tedious and overwhelming.

However, I have been obsessively consistent with scrobbling¹ all of my music listens to last.fm, and it turns out that last.fm, like nearly everyone else², has gotten into the “wrapped” game with some year-end interactive web thingies that are actually kind of cool and much more accurate to my listening than the ones provided by streaming services, since I do a fair amount of analog listening. So, in lieu of my bespoke music listening log gallery I am going to go ahead and link and share some details from my last.fm “Playback”

froztfreez’s year in music 2024| Last.fm

Playback - froztfreez - 2024 | Last.fm

My Top 25 Albums in 2024

(by number of plays, fairly accurate)

1. 19 MASTERS by Saya Gray
2. pointy heights by Fousheé
3. AMANA by Crumb
4. PHASOR by Helado Negro
5. Multitudes by Feist
6. COWBOY CARTER by Beyoncé
7. I Killed Your Dog by L’Rain
8. Epoch by DeYarmond Edison
9. Astoria Kazegage by Mesita
10. Only God Was Above Us by Vampire Weekend
11. Something in the Room She Moves by Julia Holter
12. Pleasure by Feist
13. QWERTY by Saya Gray
14. THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT: THE ANTHOLOGY by Taylor Swift
15. Hole Erth by Toro y Moi
16. Way to Be by youbet
17. My Method Actor by Nilüfer Yanya
18. Fatigue by L’Rain
19. The Reminder by Feist
20. A Light for Attracting Attention by The Smile
21. Your Day Will Come by Chanel Beads
22. empathogen by Willow
23. nothing or something to die for by mui zyu
24. Poetry by Dehd
25. A Storm in Heaven (2018 Remastered / Deluxe) by The Verve

My Top 25 Artists in 2024

*(by number of plays, fairly accurate)*

1. Saya Gray
2. Feist
3. Helado Negro
4. Fousheé
5. Crumb
6. L’Rain
7. Bob Marley & The Wailers
8. Mesita
9. Vampire Weekend
10. Bon Iver
11. Jay Som
12. The Smile
13. The Stone Roses
14. The Most Serene Republic
15. Beyoncé
16. youbet
17. Toro y Moi
18. Steve Lacy
19. A.R. Kane
20. Nilüfer Yanya
21. Julia Holter
22. Rainbow Kitten Surprise
23. Braid
24. Taylor Swift
25. José González

I didn’t take on any big listening projects in 2024, so my listening was somewhat scattershot. I listened to nearly 1,500 artists at least once last year. The top listings mostly center on vibe-y things that I found easy to pull up and listen to again and again. Then most of my other listens were things I only tried once or twice, but sometimes still made the list because of epic track lists. And a couple of albums I was trying to decide whether I actually liked. Also, for a while I had some Feist CDs in my car and replayed them a lot.

My Listening Footprint

More adventuresome and eclectic than some, but still pretty basic…

For 2025…

I’m going to continue with my last.fm scrobbling as I have done since 2008. I’m not quite ready to let my bespoke listening log gallery idea go; I’m committing to trying again. That being said, we’re already a week into 2025 and I have several things I should have added already but haven’t yet, so it remains to be seen…³

Standalone post link: My 2024 Music Listening

There were a lot of things on this website and elsewhere in my life that I wanted to do or meant to do in 2024 and did not get done. And I’m making no promises to myself or anyone else for 2025, yet.

But I did read some good books in 2024, and I did manage to build and populate this 2024 reading log gallery.

It makes me happy when I scroll through it. After some updates yesterday and today I think it is almost 100% accurate, other than some picture books I didn’t bother to log, and, of course, all the random digital content I read.

I also record my books read and more especially my crazy want-to-read list on Goodreads, but I guess I don’t share reviews there or even ratings usually anymore. Will I start again? I don’t know.

Standalone post link: Note on My 2024 Reading Log

Finished reading The Magician’s Nephew with Will tonight.

Not sure if I ever noted down that we started reading this. After we finished Moonbound it was Thanksgiving break and normal bedtime routines were abandoned for many days. When we got back to bedtime reading I had no great, burning suggestions, so he picked this because it felt comfortable and nostalgic but it had been awhile since we’d read it so it was a change.

We were maybe just going to read all the Narnia books from this omnibus edition but we might instead try first some new middle grade books I have borrowed on Sora, either Impossible Creatures or Lola.

Past Log Updates

DATE :

Resources

Standalone post link: Reading Log: The Magician's Nephew

.

“Narrative, you say, is just one way of navigating time.

And those perceptions culled
by the restraints of narrative
become available to other trajectories.

Meanwhile, the future blows toward us without handholds. It is a gaping. An already. A maw.

What happens when the mind is no longer a place of duration?

If you want to resuscitate your destiny, you joked early in our relationship, start with the present…”

Past Log Updates

DATE :

Resources

Standalone post link: Reading Log: Mojave Ghost

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Meh. The idea is cool. Some of the illustrations were cool, some of the ten-word tales were cool. Would be good for a classroom writing activity. This reminds of The Mysteries of Harris Burdick but doesn’t quite add up to that. When they are this brief and this few, every single one needs to be phenomenal. Or maybe I want it weirder. Or maybe I’m just jealous.

Past Log Updates

DATE :

Resources

Standalone post link: Reading Log: Ten-Word Tiny Tales

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Very generous in its number of pages and prompts (40+), language concepts shared, writing techniques and tricks, and activities. These would of course be good teacher or librarian-led activities, but I feel like the book is written in a way that a kid could totally pick it up and try these things on their own if they are interested. It gives plenty of information and examples, and doesn’t get too technical about how the poems need to be. In fact, there is a refreshing refrain throughout of “do it however you want, this is for fun.”

There are a lot of typos and missing words in the text.

None of the prompts address rhythm or meter other than syllabic count for haiku, etc.

Feels weird that it gets to the 41st prompt and just ends. There is no conclusion, glossary, “Further Reading and Resources,” boring small print note for teachers, or anything like that. Not even “Visit my website,” “Follow us on Instagram,” “share your poems with the hashtag,” etc. I guess the intended audience is legally too young for all of that, so they are being responsible.

This one is on that poetry longlist so I need to rate it there. 4 or 5, I’m not sure. I will know better once I’ve read more of the books, maybe…

Past Log Updates

DATE :

Resources

Standalone post link: Reading Log: Poetry Prompts

I’m trying to actually do this “Homegrown National Park” thing in my yard, so I have a lot of notes, but I’m not ready to share them. (Today I’m just trying to get my 2024 reading log filled out and updated.)

Past Log Updates

DATE :

Resources

Standalone post link: Reading Log: Nature's Best Hope (Young Readers' Edition)

Tearjerker.

This was presented to me as a “novel in verse” but it feels like it barely qualifies. It is definitely lyrical and spare writing, and has some line breaks here and there, but I really wonder about the whole “novel in verse” distinction the more I read of them. If this is a novel in verse (as prose poems) then probably almost every Kate DiCamillo book could be called a novel in verse, or perhaps a “novel in prose poems”, and a lot of other pared down, well written books…Need to explore this idea more.

Past Log Updates

DATE :

Resources

Standalone post link: Reading Log: Telephone of the Tree