Different ways to find and enjoy music - Every Noise at Once and DJ mixes

27 Sep 2023 •

Disclaimer: This is a stub of a blog post.

I’ve always been the type of music fan that listens to albums. Ever since I was about thirteen, my music discovery has revolved around albums, for example reading album reviews, finding an artist and listening to their back catalogue, and reading through lists of the best albums of the year.
But recently, I’ve been experimenting with different ways to find and enjoy music.

Every Noise at Once - really good algorithmic playlists

Every Noise at Once is a real treasure trove for music nerds. Because the project’s creator Glenn McDonald works at Spotify (his job title is data alchemist), he is able to analyse the vast amount of Spotify’s listening data to create insights.
My favourite part of Every Noise at Once is the algorithmic playlists that are generated for Spotify’s microgenres. These playlists are a really interesting way to find new music.
If you find a genre you like, you can check out the ‘sound’, ‘pulse’ and ‘edge’ playlists to find out what other fans of the genre are listening to. Here’s an example: The Edge of Garage Psych.
You can shuffle these playlists and find hundreds of new songs. Interestingly, I find this is a much more diverse mix than what Spotify directly recommends to me as a listener. I think Spotify should use this data more for adventurous music listeners!
Listening to Every Noise at Once playlists, you realise there is a practically infinite amount of music out there to enjoy. You will never run out of music to listen to. This is a revelation for someone that grew up downloading albums and loading them onto my iPod, which could only hold a couple thousand songs.
Using my web app discover-mix, you can generate playlists with thousands of songs to explore, just in a few clicks.

Another way of listening to music is to listen to DJ mixes. You can find thousands of 1-2 hour mixes on Soundcloud that are free to listen to. Once you find a DJ you like, you can listen to their mixes, look them up on Resident Advisor, see other DJs performing at the same events, and continue exploring.
For example, I’ve been really enjoying mixes by Chloe Caillet.
DJ mixes are different to albums because you don’t need to listen to them over and over again to enjoy them. The enjoyment of the music is more ‘in the moment’. Hearing the music in a context where it is being cut up and remixed, it’s less about the individual songs and more about the journey of where the mix is going.
This probably sounds obvious to people who enjoy DJ mixes and dance music, but it’s been a revelation from my perspective, as someone who has enjoyed music in a fairly narrow way up until now.