Sal's ➶ ⋆˙⟡

Having fun listening to music

My recent hifi splurge has me excitedly exploring music.

Before I go on, I want to make clear: It is empirically true that nobody needs “nice” gear to have a blast with music. You can do it with $8 headphones. I believe that emphatically.

That said, spending a bunch of cash on said nice gear sure did the trick. (And what a waste if it didn’t!)

I’ve been looking up lists of great albums from different angles: albums that audiophiles rave about, that are critically acclaimed, that are under-appreciated, etc. This is exposing me to music I didn’t know about, to stuff I kinda knew about but hadn’t really listened to, and to stuff I already know and even love but haven’t paid close attention to in some time.

I just used a key word: attention. I’m being more deliberate about paying attention when I listen. Since my speakers are on my home-office desk, I’m often doing something else while I listen. But I’m trying to stop at least a few times a day and just listen.

Loosely related, I liked Tiramisu’s recent post, so long, spotify, talking about quality over quantity in music listening.

A couple rediscoveries I’ve made so far:

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue. I’ve known about this album for a long time. I was in jazz band in high school, and our teacher had us all learn Miles’s opening solo in So What note for note. But man, I never realized how good this album can sound. Close your eyes, and you’re in the room.

Dire Straits. Most of their catalog sounds amazing on a nice stereo, so it’s hard to pick just one album. But a couple tracks that stick out so far are Six Blade Knife and Telegraph Road. The clarity and dynamics are so good.

Out of time; will post more soon.

#hifi #music #attention