A few months back I had the brilliant idea to go through the music on my phone in a rather different way. Usually I just hit the thing up on shuffle and let it play whatever it feels like. Or, in the case of early morning wake up calls, I like it to just play my Relax playlist. At the end of February I got kind of bored with that system though. My phone kept playing similar things and I wasn’t hearing anything new. So instead I decided to just start at the top and listen to every single song on my phone from A to Z.
I had 2888 songs on there to be exact and it took me a little over 3 months (I finished about 2 weeks ago) to listen to all of them. Mind you, I only use my phone to listen to music while I’m on the go, so I solely used it on the train and sometimes while walking down the street. The good thing is that I discovered or rediscovered a bunch of music. I now know that I only like a few pieces by Satie and not all his works. However, all the Chopin nocturnes I fell in love with even more. The best part is that I discovered songs which I otherwise would have just skipped. Either because I heard them so many times, or because they were on an album of which I already knew which songs I liked (or so I thought).
Here are 10 songs that I discovered while listening to my 2888 songs. Share your latest music discoveries in the comments below!
Angus & Julia Stone – Jewels & Gold
Great song by the lovely Australian brother and sister combo. I pretty much like everything they do and this song is just so soothing.
AJ McLean – London
I had totally forgotten how much I like this song! Gah, the memories. When I heard it I was immediately taken back to 2008 when I saw this song live during AJ’s solo concerts in 3 different cities in 3 days.
The Kills – What New York Used to Be
Super catchy song by The Kills. I saw them live in November and the more I hear the more I like it. This especially goes for their 2008 album Midnight Boom. Every track on that album is just great: simple, raw, catchy rock songs. The way rock was meant to be, if you ask me.
Lykke Li – Rich Kids Blues
As much as I loved Lykke Li’s debut album Youth Novels, that is about how much I couldn’t get into her latest one Wounded Rhymes. All I really dug was Get Some. The rest? Didn’t stick, didn’t strike me, let alone impress me. Till I gave this track a good listen.
Beyonce – End of time
I love me some Beyoncé. But not too much, which is why I had failed to give ‘4’ a thorough listen. And then this came on. That beat at the beginning is just genius. The rest of the song… Well let’s not talk about that, but that bass….
I Blame Coco – Please Rewind
This album was my obsession in early 2011. Ever since I had just taken a few songs that I liked the most and stuck to those. By listening to my entire phone playlist, I rediscovered not 1 but 3 (!) songs of this album. Ingenious indiepop with some 80s flare and a bit of rock thrown in the mix. Oh and she’s Sting’s daughter too.
Hadouken – Rebirth
There are these songs that, once stuck in your head, you can’t get out. This is one of them. I love the sinister build up this has, the explosive middle and hell let’s not forget the lead singer’s accent. And any band naming themselves after a move in a Super Nintendo video game earns points in my book.
Florence & the Machine – No light, No light
Another one of those: I loved the first album, can’t be bothered to get into the second cases. Needless to say I’m super late to jump onto this bandwagon, but this song is Florence the way Florence was meant to be. Love it.
Johnny Flynn – Sally
Folky song. The word ‘frock’ just makes me happy.
Beans & Fatback – Roots from my soul
And last but not least, a bluesy song. I love the entire album this comes from (Finger Lickin’ Good) but this song just stands out. It’s laid back and perfect for a late summer evening.