If I was going to write an end-of-year list, this would be it
Typically I enjoy logging things and keeping records. I track what films I’ve watched with Letterboxd. I have list of what fiction I’ve read, which I started in January 2022 in a notebook and recently switched to a spreadsheet. I track my running and climbing too. I find the accumulation of this kind of information satisfying in itself, but it also serves other purposes. For films I’ve watched, it’s a very practical thing. My memory is really not what it used to be and the list serves to remind me what I’ve actually seen. I’m working through the classic 40s and 50s film noirs, for example, and they do tend to blend into one. I’ll often refer to the list in in-person conversations if the topic of films comes up. Tracking fiction is similar, though I do tend to remember what I’ve read more readily than what I’ve watched. I sometimes refer to the list when I’m buying a new book to read, reminding myself about authors or series I’ve enjoyed. Or giving me a nudge to switch genres if I’m in a run of sci-fi. Tracking exercise is quite practical. My monthly climbing wall membership only makes sense if I go at least six times a month, so I started it to monitor that. Logging my running distance is a good motivator – I’m aiming to run one mega-meter (1000km) this year, and currently just need to get another 64km done in the next two weeks.
I have tried logging my music listening in the past, but found it wasn’t for me. My first encounter with algorithmic recommendations was via Last FM, a website which tracked your listening stats and compared this to other members. They invented the verb to “scrobble” for this, so new did they consider the concept. Scrobbling could be done via the website itself, which allowed for artists to upload their discography for streaming (feeling a bit like MySpace from an artist perspective, as I recall. Checking now seems like my artist profile is still there, though I’ve not thought to look at it for years now). Or via a plugin for your favourite media player. VLC player still has inbuilt settings to log your plays. I got quite into Last FM and scrobbling, and enjoyed seeing my stats. Some familiar issues occurred, like hour-long tracks counting as one play comparable in the numbers to listening to a two-minute song. I remember the recommendation algorithm being pretty good but fairly rudimentary, and not always useful in finding new artists. For example, anything rock-based would always generate the Beatles, Radiohead and Bowie in the top artists, however obscure the origin, just by the sheer weight of numbers those major artists would draw. But the reason I finally stopped was when I noticed my listening behaviour being affected by scrobbling. Putting a record on to listen to I hesitated because I realised it wouldn’t get added to my stats. I considered finding the mp3s and listening to the same album that way instead. With that I decided I needed to pull away from the scrobble.
I’ve listened to a couple of interviews with Liz Pelly this year, who has extensively researched the way Spotify works for her book Mood Machine (she was on No Tags podcast back in February and more recently Politics Theory Other), and find it fascinating the way in which the streaming platform has changed the way people listen. I’m not a playlist listener myself, preferring either complete albums (to get a feel of the artist’s bigger body of work) or DJ mixes (to feel how different tunes fit together in a considered way). My brief trial of Spotify ended quite briefly when it didn’t have anything by Om on there, and when the only version of a Joy Division album was a recent remaster which sounded completely different than the original. I understand the ubiquity of the platform but it wasn’t for me. Spotify focuses on the individual listener rather than the genre, scene or artist, tailoring playlists and recommendations to the listener’s sense of self rather than their connection with others. And the end-of-year stats it provides are part of that. I recoil slightly every time someone posts their Spotify Wrapped list – it doesn’t feel to me like a celebration of the music or a contribution to the community, it’s a celebration of their individual taste and a presentation of their personality.
I think the other factor that puts me off the Wrapped-style year-end review is the focus on the importance of the numbers. To a large degree I’m more interested in what’s new than revisiting music. I’m lucky that I get to put together a monthly radio show which gives me the impetus to go looking for new underground and experimental music. I can play anything I like on the show – there’s no pressure or direction whatsoever from the station – but I have some self-imposed guidelines that affect what I play. I try not to ever repeat tracks from show to show. I won’t usually play more than one track by the same artist in a show. And I try and find new artists to play as much as I can, avoiding over-playing the same people. This isn’t something I currently track, though I do have a spreadsheet for this, it’s jut not been updated for a couple of years. If I were to analyse the numbers for the listening that goes into making the show, there wouldn’t be clear trends with tracks or artists moving to the top of the list. Some of these I might only listen to a couple of times. Or it might take me a few listens to an album before I realise I’m not into it, potentially generating bigger numbers that don’t map onto my enjoyment of the work.
This blog post is inspired by a post on mastodon by C. Reider, describing their listening habits as somewhat incompatible with the concept of the year-end list. “i’m constantly listening to music that’s new to me, but not necessarily a lot of music that was released in the last 12 months. might make a big recommendation list of things i liked this year, but 90% of it will be not brand new.”
My own listening is somewhat similar. I don’t think I will make any formal recommendations, however, I kind of think the radio show is how I do that throughout the year (the tracklist for each show is on the blog and I think the bandcamp library page does a good job of showing most of what I’ve bought, despite the issues with it being a closed system).
I mostly listen to DJ mixes when I’m out running. This year I enjoyed digging into the archives of Field Maneuvers festival, with favourites from Jay Duncan, Ben Simms and Local Group. I also really like the live mixes posted by south London record shop Planet Wax on youtube, and highlights were by Louise Plus One and Jerome Hill. In terms of bigger numbers, the stuff I end up listening to often is also context dependent. I’m excited to be going to see Pharaoh Overlord live for the first time next year, so have been going back over their stuff and checking newer releases on their bandcamp page. Because I’m moving house soon I’ve been looking through my CDs and records, listening to some albums I’m less familiar with, which is one of the benefits of physical media. Similar to what C. Reider said, not everything I listen to is newly released, but often it’s new to me. All this is to say, I’m not writing an end-of-year list, but if I was, this would have been it.
Graham Dunning 
I mostly listen to DJ mixes when I’m out running.
Find myself musing about the labor of curation, and its relationship (positive, negative) to the creative enterprise.
Have an awesome 2026.