I dated a girl once whose entire Record collection was bought with the following strategy, impulse decision to buy a record, go to record store, browse until you find an interesting looking album based on the cover art alone, purchase, enjoy the adventure.
It is something we have maybe lost in the shepherded algorithms, the intimate knowledge of our preferences and the influence of paid promotions on digital music streaming platforms.
It is certainly risky but a wonderfully liberating way to discover new music, kind of random... but with a not entirely arbitrary sensibility that is not guided by our previous likes, a certain genre, not by what the in-crowd are listening to, not what is on the media, posters, radio... just how the album art strikes on that given day.
Needless to say her collection was beautiful, a real insight into her visual brain itches.. and the music eclectic! Might not be the way everyone would go about finding new music, but I have never since met anyone quite so free.
And so, this got me thinking about playlists, how to get variety into a playlist.. doesn't cost me to impose some seemingly arbitrary rules of mine own! So there will be some based on album covers I think, of which this is the first. I began researching the 'Best album covers of all time" and of course Nevermind by Nirvana always pops up.. perhaps more iconic than artistic, I suppose that's just down to taste... but anyway, it reminded me of Bill Evans - Undercurrent, and once I had made that connection the image of Thundercat popped into my head... is there a theme here... and hey presto, the first connected visually but not necessarily connected sonically playlist... If your streamer has album artwork visible you can enjoy the images on your screen!
Oh and No Surprises too.....just because the track and video is awesome...
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