JOMO, dahling.
Play It Like It’s Music
In this edition:
A short soliloquy about musical taste
An amazing visual experience
A homemade track of a song that I’ve always loved
(I’m tightening up the format as we go, so you can have a good, lean experience here.)
[In rehearsal with Roo Panes.]
something I have trouble squaring:
"Our musical tastes solidify between the ages of 14 and 17, the period when we're most musically impressionable. After that, you can find and like new kinds of music but it's hard to develop loyalty to them."
We've heard this plenty of times right?
But is there a SINGLE AREA of your life where you'd want your teenage self holding sway over your choices as an adult? For example:
At 14 I still watched cartoons sometimes.
At 15 I ran every decision past a ouija board.
At 16 I recited the Pledge of Allegiance every day. In Russian.
At 17 I ate about a gallon of ice cream per week.
All of that stuff seemed totally meaningful at the time. Like it would make my life better.
(I have since reconsidered.)
But what about music?
The music which shaped me back in those days is the same music which shapes me now. I don't listen to it with the same frequency, but the "hit" I'm chasing is the same one I got from the musical inputs I selected during those years.
It's powerful. Maybe not in a good way.
Because I've fallen in love with other music since then, but only because it felt like a better version of what I'd heard before. It did the same things to me, just in a fresh way.
And as curious as I was about music back then (exceptionally!), I wonder if my extreme open-mindedness may have contributed to my difficulties choosing a genre as an artist.
Because you gotta pick a lane and hit the gas to survive in this music world.
You might open your brain to a new kind of music after age 20 but it’s much harder to open your heart to something you've never heard. It can happen for a little while but sooner or later we default to the familiar.
I wish this weren’t so.
There is very little about my 14-year-old self I'd like to have telling me how to think, feel or act today. But that part of me still dictates how I experience music?
I don't know about you, but I long for a less-reptilian set of musical reflexes. Freedom to fervently love new stuff with an informed heart. Think of the beauty!
The longing keeps me practicing.
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something curated:
I’m a huge fan of “visual etudes”. Here’s a two-minute eye-mind massage:
lastly, a bit of music:
I’ve been making strides with my home recording setup, partly because I’ve been producing podcasts for people and partly because I really need to get a new album together.
Here’s one of my favorite Paul Simon songs from the golden age of the 1970’s, with a politically-controversial call-to-action: “Have A Good Time”.
Click here to check out the track.
Thank you for reading and subscribing.
I appreciate you more than you know, and it’s always a pleasure to hear from you: I’d love to know how February is treating you. Go ahead, hit “reply”.
Love your face,
Trevor
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Hear 18 episodes of: "Play It Like It's Music"
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