Related Recs

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“The 90s College Rock Station” spotify playlist by Pitchfork founder Ryan Schreiber

he wasn’t right about everything but this playlist is a tome. when wading through nonsense spotify algorithmlically-generated playlists, it’s nice to go back to see what the human tastemakers of the era before are reccing. i do this with a few other writers.

@aviva

Jan 30, 2024

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liking basically all music, including country and rap

i’m not saying i want to or will put on every subgenre (bc i will not!) but i love being able to listen to most genres or at least appreciate most genres when playing their best. i’ve got playlists for so many moments and genres and moods and it makes me so happy having such a variety of music in my life! i’ve found that people who say “i listen to everything but country and rap” usually don’t even have a wide variety of music preferences within the “everything but” they refer to. music is such a diverse form of art and restricting yourself to a few artists or only what’s popular (hello tiktok…) is doing a disservice to the medium and to yourself as someone able to listen to music. now, i’m not at all saying that liking “popular” music is bad in and of itself. i also love charli xcx and tyler the creator and so on, but i don’t think you should restrict yourself to the top 40 and your daily life will likely be improved if you listen to all kinds of music, on the reg or least occasionally in an exploratory way. it also makes me sad when artists i’ve liked a while become popular online for a few songs but it seems like people new to the artist don’t bother listening to their earlier music or subgenre. i’m happy more people enjoy them but omg! like for example, charli XCX being seen as “new” by some people - but there’d be no brat without how i’m feeling now and pop 2, nor without pc music and SOPHIE. i actually suspect the percentage of people streaming apple who could tell you who SOPHIE is is probably depressingly low :( anyways, i’m no purist and of course have my own regular rotation but, i really really recommend exploring within different genres to find more of what you like. you might even be surprised! maybe you don’t like all kinds of country, but you learn you fuck with folk (or at least johnny cash, i mean, c’mon); maybe you think hyperpop is “too weird” for you but you discover some electropop you’re obsessed with. exploring music—“listening to everything”—is very worth it!

@marxinista

Dec 31, 2024

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MOOD MACHINE BY LIZ PELLY

I think this book is a must read for anyone who primarily consumes music via Spotify. it’s incredibly enlightening about how certain decisions made by data-driven, marketing motivated, algorithm worshipping corporate executives shape how the platform is designed, and how these designs subtly affect user listening patterns. it’s not like we’re all puppets existing at the whims of tech giants, but these platforms are constructed intentionally to change our relationship to music as an art form by reducing it to a commodity that drives app engagement. we live in the age of self, and Spotify capitalizes on making everyone feel like their personal tastes are supreme. it’s a platform which lets users stare at and admire their data reflection, reveling in having the approximation of their tastes crunched into metrics and spat back out at them. it’s made to keep the user entranced and absorbed by algorithmic sycophants. the idealized Spotify user is one that can be convinced of their own genius by individually curated playlists, casting them as the main character in need of a perpetual soundtrack.

@royallmonarch

May 26, 2025

Top Recs from @madhearts

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growing older

“how can a person know everything at eighteen, but nothing at twenty-two” life truly humbles you. as you start growing older, you stop only chasing the big things, and start valuing the little things too. being able to weave stories of experiences and begin applying them—integrating the lessons and learning curves. in the past few hours of being eighteen, ive learnt how limited our time on earth truly is. i was advised (perhaps even lectured) that i shouldn’t try to defy nature’s course with futile attempts to “age gracefully”, but to rather age with mischief, audacity and a good story to tell. beyond grateful for the love that surrounds me, and the love that i am bound to give out.

@madhearts

Dec 22, 2024

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Pain is Inevitable, but misery is optional

An ideal world is one that knows no pain. That, sadly, is not the one we live in. Pain is a part of the human experience—but failure to move on from it makes you miserable. If you dwell too much on what has happened, you will never be fulfilled enough to see all the good you have/ that is to come. Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of a situation. ‘And in fact, it’s time to forsake someone else’s idea of what gives you a spark or no spark. Block the “other” from the picture. No more audience. Just you.’ Whether you choose to take that responsibility (of acceptance), or give it up to the disappointments of life, you return to yourself. The choice is whether to wallow in the misery of that pain, or take it as it comes and look at what it has to offer you.

@madhearts

Jul 18, 2024

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Filming every Little thing

"You get a strange feeling when you're about to leave a place. Like you'll not only miss the people you love but you'll miss the person you are now at this time and this place, because you'll never be this way ever again." - Azar Nafisi, Reading Lolita in Tehran The best decision I’ve made this year was to start a video journal of my senior year and capture every moment—no matter how insignificant—to keep the year frozen in time. No matter how much time goes by; no matter how many characters I change to become, I’ll always have these videos to remind me of my essence—where I come from, and what made me. It doesn’t matter that the cusp of them are 0.5x videos of my friends’ foreheads, clips of me crying in public restrooms, and logs of us stealing grocery store carts to race them down the street—these moments are what I stay alive for.

@madhearts

Jul 22, 2024