Music I loved in 2023
A year-end recap of the music I listened to and the listening equipment I bought.
I’ve made a concerted effort in recent years to discover new music, especially since I’ve been gradually coming to terms with the idea that I will never learn to play an instrument well. Between my arthritic hands, trouble with rhythm, and inability to regularly make time for practicing, continuing to study an instrument hasn’t fit into my life in the past few years.
But that’s OK. My involvement with the music world will be in the form of (1) discovering, sharing, and enjoying new music, and (2) helping share my love of music with my six-month-old daughter.
On that note, I wanted to post a 2023 version of the post I wrote last year about music I’d discovered in 2022.
What I listened to in 2023
Here’s a Spotify playlist.
No one but me will like every song on this list, but most modern rock fans will find something to like. The main genres represented on the list are indie rock, chamber pop, alternative rock, and indietronica. I’ve left a few of my favorite compositional ambient and modern classical tracks in as well, though I have a separate playlist for those here.
Best new artist discovered — easy call: The Beths.
Best “old” artist discovered: Yo La Tengo.
Best albums bought: Wolf Alice, “Blue Weekend” (2021); Sufjan Stevens, “Javelin” (2023); Slowdive, “Everything is Alive” (2023); The Beths, “Jump Rope Gazers” (2020); The National, “Laugh Track” (2023); Taylor Swift, “Evermore” (2020).
Sources of music discovery
- Spotify’s recommendation algorithms
Upgrading my listening equipment
I took an interesting step forward in music listening a few months ago: after spending some time researching equipment and exploring the online community of “audiophiles” and headphones-aficionados, I decided to take the plunge and buy my first set of audio equipment designed for “high-end” listening; my setup is entry-level relative to what most people in the audiophile community use, but better than the setups casual listeners use.
These devices are commonly recommended for people interested in upgrading how they listen, and I can confirm that they make a difference and allow you to hear more subtleties in the music:
Sennheiser HD 650 (~$310) - Entry-level audiophile-grade headphones
Qudelix 5k bluetooth portable DAC and Amplifier (~$110) - Provides a superior listening experience for audio streams sent over Bluetooth or when plugged into a USB-C port (on an iPad or other device).
Optional: FiiO K7 Desktop DAC and Amplifier (~$201) - For listening to music through your computer’s USB connection. Connects to headphones such as the Sennheisers linked above or to speakers.
Note that like other audiophile-grade headphones, the Sennheiser HD 650s are “open-back” headphones. These are for private listening in a quiet environment because they don’t keep out ambient noise. The noise canceling headphones I use when I need to block out external noise are Bose QuietComfort 45s, which aren’t audiophile-grade but are good for focused work.
Ryan McCarl is the author of Elegant Legal Writing (book | blog), a founding partner of the litigation firm Rushing McCarl LLP, and an adjunct legal writing professor at LMU Loyola School of Law. His previous experiences including serving as a research fellow in AI Law and Policy and teaching Advanced Legal Writing at the UCLA School of Law; working as a litigation attorney at several major firms; and founding the language-learning app WordBrewery. Second Stage is his personal blog.
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Nice to see The Beths feature in there! Looking forward to the book's arrival next year.