Endless Music, Zero Attachment | Music Discovery Diary #4

Hella. High. Need New Body. Cuco. Etc.

Hello and welcome back to My Music Diary, where I listen to an artist I’ve never heard before every day and write about it.

Now that I’m a month into this endeavor, I’ve been thinking a lot about the minimal risk and effort required to check out a new artist in 2025 compared to the distant pre-streaming past. Before the internet, people would have to luck out hearing a song on the radio or MTV at the moment they happened to tune in. They’d attend a show and be mindblown by an opening act. They’d go to a record store and pick out vinyl, cassettes or CDs based on the recommendations of store owners or the way the artwork looked. Magazines or zines offered curatorial guidance. Often, music discovery came with a literal price.

The internet effectively broke down those barriers. File-sharing services opened up essentially all of recorded music history to me at a young age, when I could coerce my siblings off of my family’s communal dial-up desktop. I’d also listen to whatever songs they downloaded while they were hogging the seat.

During “The Blog Era,” as a podcast I never listened to called it, music discovery was a daily habit. I would type in URLs and scroll through posts to learn about new artists, download their albums, and store them on my iTunes and iPod.

More than a decade ago now, Spotify swiftly ended that practice with an alluring prospect for consumers—anything you want to hear, for the cheap price of ads or a monthly fee—and a shitty deal for artists and labels that happened to be better than letting everyone “steal” the product they were putting onto the market. Since then, Spotify has careened into the algorithmic and TikTok has emerged as a “better” alternative. Soundcloud happened at some point in there and I mostly missed that wave.

I’m an old man, and there’s likely a ton of other methods of music discovery that I’m overlooking. But these are the bullet points of music discovery’s evolution as I understand them.

We are lucky to be living in an age where all of the pre-internet methods of music discovery still exist in some form, yet there are many more opportunities to listen to new artists without investing too much money or time. There’s basically no risk to checking out new music.

The lack of risk also comes with decreased emotional attachment. I remember buying, then “stealing,” albums that I would force myself to listen to multiple times even if I didn’t like them. In some cases, I grew to appreciate certain songs or develop a relationship with music that today I would likely dismiss before even finishing one song. I also came to love deep cuts on albums that today I’d probably listen to once then skip in favor of the singles.

Again, I’m not trying to be nostalgic about the way things used to be. I understand that music discovery is a young person’s game, and that my habits would have changed regardless of the technological advancements that occurred during my lifetime. I’m just realizing after listening to a new artist every day for 30 days that I haven’t really become a “fan” of any of the music I’ve “discovered” in 2025. If not age, this could be a fundamental flaw in my approach to this project. I’m focused on keeping my streak alive, of listening to something new every day without properly engaging with it beyond those time constraints. All for the purposes of sending a newsletter like this that I’m not sure anyone really cares about.

Still, my music discovery diary has become a habit. After a ridiculously long break, I’m making a conscious effort to seek out new music on a daily basis. Simply exposing myself to a wider swath of recorded music makes me a more informed person. It’s oddly satisfying to jot down my experience, surroundings, and instant reactions to new artists as I hear them for the first time. This week, I listened to some newer artists that I will certainly be keeping tabs on moving forward, like High. and some I won’t, like [CENSORED].

I’m going to attempt to keep up my streak for the rest of the year, if only to prove that such a pointlessly ambitious project is possible. I’m also going to start thinking more consciously about what it takes to actually form a deeper connection with the “new” music I’m listening to. Maybe at some point I’ll give up and decide I’m just too old, and this project isn’t serving me or my voracious audience of email openers any beneficial purpose. But for now, here’s this week’s diary and the updated playlist. I hope you discover your new favorite band, or get mad at my opinions, or something.

1.24.25

High. - “Dead”

This recommendation came to me from a tweet from Titus Andronicus, quoting a Stereogum article describing High. as a “Band To Watch.”

Titus Andronicus is one of my favorite bands of all time, and I discovered them around when I was nearing the end of my adolescent music discovery JOURNEY™. Despite never visiting the state, I’ve always had an irrational reverence in my heart for bands from New Jersey. It’s a relentlessly maligned place, but the art that comes out of that location is unique and special.

High. is no exception. They’re kinda shoegaze adjacent, if you want to reduce them with a genre distinction. I listened to their newest album at the gym while running on the treadmill and I felt like I was floating. In the parking lot afterwards I thought about Hum, and how I haven’t seen their name come up often in the supposed shoegaze revival that’s occurring with the youth. I wouldn’t say Hum is necessarily shoegaze but they do make music that consists of overwhelmingly powerful noise, and I think they’re due for some increased retroactive reverence. But again, my Champaign Illinois is showing.

Back to New Jersey, though. High. is another great band from that great place. I will definitely keep watching them, Stereogum. Thanks.

1.25.25

Hella - Biblical Violence

I read about them in a Tim Kinsella interview because Joan of Arc was on tour with them at some point. I was doing research for my own interview with Tim, for my forthcoming book. I listened to them with my phone to my ear so as not to annoy my wife or child on a rainy Saturday. I wrote in my notes, “Love the name. Crazy band. Math/noise/Primus comparisons.” Northern California is hella cool.

1.26.25

need new body - Show Me Your Heart

After listening to Hella I decided I might as well also check out Need New Body since Tim also mentioned them in that interview. This time, all I wrote was, “Freaky. Remember liking Man Man.” Apparently this group formed in Philadelphia and then went on to become several different groups including Man Man, who I think I saw at Lollapalooza or Pitchfork festival one year as a teen. I never really loved Man Man and don’t see myself getting into Need New Body, even though I appreciate their extremely strange approach to making songs.

1.27.25

Pomellijen Thijs, MEAU - Het Midden

I solicited my group chat for song recommendations and after telling them about Beabadoobee, they realized that pop singers were on the table. “Heard this on the radio recently. Kind of a banger,” my friend who lives in the Netherlands said before sending the link to this song. I played it out loud on my laptop and my wife said it sounded like Aly and AJ. I said “Who’s Aly and AJ” and she glared at me. I’m not going to listen to Aly and AJ for a future rendition of this newsletter though because I’m sure I’ve already listened to them. Their name sounds vaguely familiar from some Disney Channel past of mine but I couldn’t tell you what they sound like. Well, I guess they sound like Pomellijen This and MEAU. This is a nice little tune and it probably helps that I can’t understand the lyrics, so I can’t get angry at them.

1.28.25

Geordie Greep & Seth Evans - Motorbike

My friend Justin posted a screenshot of this song’s Spotify art on Instagram and wrote “How did I sleep on this album.” It came out in 2024 and I slept on it too. This song reminds me of Pulp in a weird way. It’s long but evolves in a satisfying manner. A lot of tension and release. Seth Evans is a keyboardist apparently. The song that follows this one on the album, “As if Waltz,” is like a whimsical musical number.

From looking it up on Wikipedia, Geordie Greep was in the band Black Midi and part of the “Windmill Scene” that started in England in 2017. None of those words make any sense to my ignorant old American ass. But I may dig deeper at some point.

1.29.25

Cuco - Get Used To It

Cuco was floated as a name for a possible guest for a new unreleased podcast I’m working on. After looking him up I became intrigued by the description of him, which mentions his hometown of Hawthorne, CA as well as his combination of hardcore punk, psychedelica, bossa nova and Mexican music. “Get Used To It” had a Tame Impala vibe. I enjoyed listening while lounging in bed feeling kinda sick. Liked this one more than some of his other songs I heard. He’s another guy who has millions of views on his Youtube videos which is wild to me. Oh well.

1.30.25

MAKAVELIGODD - Orange Juice

My brother sent me another newer song by Makaveligodd and said something about how music is weird now and we both agreed we weren’t sure if we liked it or not. This reminds me of Lil Wyte. I probably would have liked it when I was a teenager. As of now it sounds horrible though. But I get that some people like this. It’s got something. Okay I kinda like it. I’ve been typing out loud while listening. Two minutes in right now. Now I’m hearing Riff Raff. I don’t know, man. I might be done listening to new music. Nah.