The Dying Art of listening to an album the full way through.

[2020k]

As a few of you have picked up on from my posts here and here, I've recently been branching off into the world of DJing and the past couple of days I've started compiling playlists on Spotify. There's one here that Fred-E is following (thanks!) that's filled with a bunch of Downtempo music that I really enjoy, but I also have one here for DJing full of Dance/pop music setlist ideas that includes some of my favorite tracks, some classics, and some big heaping piles of crap tracks that are popular at the moment.

These are the first few times I've really been utilizing playlists and I was just wondering how the world of Twoism views the album and the new "pick and choose" digital formats that the majority of music consumers have become accustomed to. I've always been an albums guy, so making these playlists are a bit strange to me because the way I look at it is there are a group of people who came together to create all of the songs on a certain record so they should all be given a fair listen. I also feel that when I download a record from someone here on Twoism, whoever the artist may be would want me, as a listener, to listen to all of the tracks they've worked so hard on putting together. However, it seems to me that it's become so information aged that a lot of my friends will download songs for the hook, or a phrase in a verse or something and then skip around to the next track, only hearing a minute or so of the previous one..and sometimes less than that.

I also feel like since I have Spotify, I tend to spend a lot of my time on it looking up millions of different artists in a small period of time since I have access to all of it, without really spending too much time on full products from a certain aritst.

Then again, there's a difference between sitting down and listening to a full record by Thievery Corporation, where it's all very mood oriented and cohesive, and a pop record from a pop artist where it's painfully obvious certain tracks were put together for a hit factor & some for filler, isn't there? (But, I'm a big pop fan and also tend to listen to pop albums the whole way through).

Questions:
1. How often do you listen to full albums?
1. When was the last time you listened to an album the entire way through? What was it?
2. How do you feel about playlists? Do you use them a lot or feel they're useful?

[noby]

1. I listen nothing but full albums
2. The Olivia Tremor Control's first album on friday
3. Cancer

[IanRedpoint]

1. All the time but it's a home-listening thing and often on vinyl. If I'm driving then I will often randomise a playlist. A lot of the albums I listen to don't really work in the car - too noisy.
2. Thursday - The Tired Sounds Of Stars Of The Lid
3. I like playlists to be a fresh way of listening to something I am otherwise over-familiar with. I'm never comfortable with someone else dictating what the best individual tracks are by a certain artist. The artists I like tend to give equal importance to everything they produce so I feel I should do the same as a listener.

[Mexicola]

1. regularly, but then I'm pre-iPod and even pre-CD so I guess it comes more naturally to me perhaps?
2. yesterday. 'The World is Yours' by Motorhead (sorry. Going through a rock 'n' roll phrase. I'll sweat it out)
3. Ironically, I love playlists too! For all I love vinyl, cassettes, etc I love my iPod too and I make full use of it. The difference is, once I get bored, rather than tweak the playlist I'll go listen to the original albums again and re-discover a few gems I'd forgotten about. Keep the album fresh, which in turn keeps the playlist fresh (repeat).

[Twoism-ist]

1. pretty often, more often with albums i am already familiar with and enjoy thoroughly. when i get a new album from an artist i like i'll do my best to listen to it in full, if i dont know em i just skim it. i used to be a full-listen purist and still kind of am but its kinda silly since singles have been a big part of records. still irks me when i see someones mp3 player made up of only individually downloaded songs, though.
2. andrew bird's armchair apocrypha, probably.
3. i like playlists. i usually make playlists made of songs that share a particular theme and its fun. agree with mexicola about freshening up music. sometimes when i want to break into a new genre i look for mixes on em.

[Quillian]

Questions:
1. How often do you listen to full albums?
1. When was the last time you listened to an album the entire way through? What was it?
2. How do you feel about playlists? Do you use them a lot or feel they're useful?

1: I almost always listen to full albums. When I don't, it's usually because of one of two reasons: 1) I don't have enough time to listen to the full album, so I just pick and choose my favourites or 2) there's a few songs on that album that I absolutely HATE, which is when I use a playlist of the album minus those tracks (that answers question 3, right?)

2: This morning, two Ian O'Brien albums back-to-back, "Desert Scores" first, and then "Gigantic Days".

3: The only playlists I listen to are the ones I make when I don't like songs on an album (my response to question 1). I think the last time I went out of my way to make a "proper" playlist was when I used to play World of Warcraft years and years ago... I'd have a playlist of every single electronic song I had at the time, and would set it to "random" (it certainly made in-game "grinding" more enjoyable).

[noby]

2: This morning, two Ian O'Brien albums back-to-back, "Desert Scores" first, and then "Gigantic Days".

Brofist, Ian O'Brien is great, and criminally underrated.

[Kiwibaws]

1. I listen to a full album when it's tracks combine to create one cohesive piece or where every track is independent but share similar themes and are each high quality(mux mool for example).
2.MHTRTC yesterday
3. Playlists, when done right, are good. To me the individual tracks should be put together with a theme in mind and ultimately sound like a new album(with several artists of course). If you want an example of what a good playlist is then I advise you listen to nick warren's "sound garden".

[Cryabetes]

1- I listen to albums all the way through unless it is a cover i'm working on with one of my bands, in which case it's generally listening to the bridge on repeat.
2- friday while doing dishes. listened to "All is Dream" by Mercury Rev real loud.
3- Hate 'em. the 'mix cd' or 'playlist for you' and the inherent disposable-ness of it is one of the more depressing aspects of being a musician - that is, trying to convey that a cd you assembled, produced, mixed, etc is not just a selection of your songs picked out by me and burned or zapped to your ipod is hard to convey to the average listener who isn't going to notice any sort of subtle panning or punchiness or anything while they're driving along, windows down and accelerating.

[Mexicola]

2- friday while doing dishes. listened to "All is Dream" by Mercury Rev real loud..

Ah! Another dish-washer-listening!! My favorite time for listening to music, closely followed by doing the ironing. Headphones on, natch.

[Cryabetes]

ah my kitchen's right off the living room with the doorway/sink pretty close to the optimal "center" spot so I just blast things on the hifi.

[ultrablue123]

1. ALL THE TIME. Maybe it's because I have OCD, but on iTunes, I am obsessed with the plays a song or album has. I don't like having one song clearly having more plays than others on a certain album. It gets to the point where I won't have the computer in front of me, just my ipod, and I want to play a song in the car by an artist, but I can't remember where I am in the album so I don't play that artist. I often listen to an album from the beginning, leave/listen to something else, then next time I come back to where I left off in the album. It's weird. Certain songs and albums get mingled and then I can freely listen to certain songs and not others, but usually I start at the beginning of an album and go to the end
2. Polar Bear Club - The Redder, The Better
3. I do enjoy playlists, but mine on iTunes usually consist of songs that are not on albums that have consistent numbers of plays for songs. That's why I like making mix CDs for my car, because plays don't count.

[saurus]

1. Very often, some days I don't have time or energy but others I can listen up to 7 or 8 consecutively
2.That was yesterday, and I do think it was Neil Young's On The Beach, but I played many albums that day so not sure!
3. It can have its downsides regarding attention and the flow of an album but on the other side it's excellent for discovering new music, listening to albums of said discovered artist and finding your new favourite ones!

[Jonse]

I listened to Hi Scores and MHTRTC the full way through a couple of days ago.


Before that, The Downward Spiral by NIN a month or so ago.


Probably the albums that I've listened to the most over my entire life all the way through are The Downward Spiral by NIN, Geogaddi, and Discovery by Daft Punk (although it's been about four years since I've done that with that last one, as it's become stale for me, but I recognize that it's still a special album).


I commonly do it with my favorite bands/artists where I like all the material on an album like BoC and whatnot, and even moreso if that band/artist makes concept albums almost exclusively, like NIN for example.

[lostintegrity]

1. Listen to full albums when I legitimately have enough time to do so, and if I'm thoroughly interested in the content. Sometimes I'll be listening to an album halfway, and put on something else just to change it up. I'm not a big fan of shuffle. Infact the only time it seems to happen is at friends' or parties. "Youtube DJing" and whatnot.

2. Last album listened to entirely would have to be Eternal by Kinesthetiac and Video Club by VHS Head.

2. I think playlists are wonderful to receive from other people, and to give. They also work well in work/party situations where you might want to please others.

[Waterbagel]

1. i guess it depends on the artist. something like.. skrillex (not that i listen to him/her/it [i'm not entirely sure..]), but his/her/its music style seems more.. one song. one song is the moment. live the moment, and onto another. but my favorite bands (pink floyd, yes, boards of canada, etc.) are much more.. i guess "movement-based". each song is a movement, like that of a symphony. one movement may be fine and may be useful in a different context (such as a playlist), but it is not full unless accompanied by the other parts of the story. like a chapter in a book.
2. jimi hendrix - are you experienced, last night
3. i forgot what 3 was, but i have a feeling i answered it in number 1. if i didn't, i will edit this.

[zeitgeist]

Questions:
1. How often do you listen to full albums?
1. When was the last time you listened to an album the entire way through? What was it?
2. How do you feel about playlists? Do you use them a lot or feel they're useful?

1. Almost never--usually only with an actual record
2. Last week - Dark Side of the Moon
3. I make playlists for CDs I burn for the car, but never use them when I'm listening at home

I have a list of less than 10 albums that I can play from start to finish everytime without skipping any tracks. I'm very particular I guess.

[Spenner]

I listen to MANY albums, full ways through, daily I like the full experience.

I do agree that some albums aren't exactly structured to be listened to from start to finish, though. Like, say, 26 Mixes For Cash, sometimes I flip through depending on my mood, or anything that isn't exactly structured. Something like any of the Gas albums for me have perfect structure and progression, same with a lot of BoC albums, same with Burial. It really just depends. But I like to listen to albums that require the full listening experience

[Iced Cooly Beatnik]

1. Pretty much the only way I listen to music now. It's a shame, a lot of new electronic artists aren't that content with albums, they mostly seem to just enjoy putting 2 or 3 tracks up on SC and hoping they get put in a mix or something
2. Last night, Math The Band Banned The Math
3. They work as tasters, samplers and such, no different from amateur mixtapes and compilation albums, but when playlists are exclusively what you listen to, nothing more, then for me it becomes a bit of a problem. When it's available for you, you should listen to an artist's output beyond 2 or 3 songs. Imagine if you'd only heard Roygbiv, 1969 and Dayvan Cowboy and decided you didn't really need to listen to any more BoC?
Most of my friends still see albums as collections of songs rather than an artistic thing in its own right, so this kind of idea isn't too uncommon. Some people 10 years ago that would've just listened to NOW compilations etc. will now listen to playlists, so not much has changed, to be honest.

[Cupz]

Good thread.

1. Except for s3m files, when I listen to music its the full album, including my own work.
2. Well, sifting through garbage 3 yesterday to be honest. If that doesnt count, slander fall's 98C EP shortly before.
3. I only use playlists for watching anime, when I have a gig or when I'm releasing an album (picking out songs is kinda like making a playlist right?). I find playlists suck allot, especially if I wasnt the one that made it. My brother had tons of burned cd's that went from enigma to darude to vangelis to dj tiesto and though I can see the connection they really really didnt work in a hilarious way.

I hope the art of LP-listening doesn't die in the future, though the current attention span of our youngsters is starting to look a bit grim.