Second Day of the Hammer

I like living what I consider a sane and rational life, making decisions based on logic and, if not common sense, then what we'll call "uncommon sense." But sometimes, folks, sometimes I like to throw all caution to the wind and do something so irrational, so over-the-top OCD, that it calls my very sanity into question.

Today, I finished one if those illogical feats and completed a listen to all 119 hours and 42 minutes of my Big Ears 2024 Spotify playlist. 

Last month, the Big Ears organization announced its lineup for the 2025 festival. As per usual with these annual announcements, I was familiar with most of the headliners and a good number of the other performers, but there were also many of whom I had never heard. To assist my own musical education and so that I can make better decisions as to which sets to see next March, I made a playlist containing each and every performer.

There are several similar Big Ears playlists out there, but they usually select one or two "representative" songs by each artist. That has the distinct advantage of cutting down on the running time but, personally, I find that one or two songs isn't really representative of many of the eclectic and diverse jazz and experimental artists in the lineup. So instead, my playlist contains a whole album by each performer. Usually, it's the artist's most recent album, as that's where their head is at right now and probably what they're currently touring to support. But in some cases, following the set descriptions on the Big Ears website, I chose some other, previous album or collaboration. For example, for the performed Kate Soper, I didn't use her 2024 LP The Hunt, as the website clearly clearly states she will be performing 2018's Ipsa Dixit. The German musician Michael Rother has some dozen albums currently on Spotify dated 2014 to 2022, but the website says he will be performing the music of his seminal electronic bands Neu! and Harmonia, so my playlist includes Neu!'s 1972 self-titled album and Harmonia's Live 1974.

Also, the playlist is a living, malleable thing. I've made several changes to it since it was first created and expect to make more in the future. Since I created the playlist back in September, several of the artists released new albums from which I expect they will be playing during their March sets. For example, Immanuel Wilkins' Blues Blood and Jenny Scheinman's All Species Parade both dropped just last week. So where appropriate, I replaced what I had for those artists and included their newer music. 

In the case of jazz pianist Kris Davis, I had to include two albums - her most recent Run the Gauntlet (2024), and 2019's Diatom Ribbons, as the latter features several side musicians (Nels Cline, Esperanza Spalding) who will be playing at Big Ears 2025 and other Big Ears veterans (Ches Smith, Marc Ribot) from years past, any of whom might possibly join her on stage next March. 

Also, in some other cases, as I learned more about the artists, I've had to revise what I originally included in the playlist. For example, did you know that there are two separate bands that go by the name "tilt?"  When I first created the playlist, I included an album by the punk-pop band Tilt (with a capital "T"), but the actual artist slated for Big Ears 2025 is the experimental outfit tilt (lower-case "t"), led by trombonist Kalia Vandever, who's also separately performing at next year's festival under her own name. 

I've discovered a lot of great new music in this process, things I probably never would have heard otherwise. I also have to admit I heard some things I couldn't stand, but I played through anyway in the off chance that at some point I'd "get it" (that rarely happened). But as of today, I've heard - at least once - all 120 hours of the playlist. It's taken over a month to complete, and I don't think I'm going to get any kind of award or prize for my effort, other than the invaluable treasure of discovering adventurous new music.

Give the playlist a spin if you've got a month set aside with nothing else to do. Be patient: the playlist starts with all three discs and 3½ hours of Philip Glass' Music in 12 Parts, followed by Soper's avant-garde Ipsa Dixit, which may be an acquired taste. But if you like Ipsa Dixit, you might also want to check out The Far In, Far Out World of Shelley Hirsch (2002), although if the playlist is played in order, Hirsch won't come up until weeks later. Neither is my personal cup of tea, but to each their own and at least someone's doing with own, original, non-commercial stuff.

Of course, you can also play it on random, shuffle play, or select just those tracks that sound interesting to you. In that regard, here are a few recommendations to the casual scroller: the soulful gospel of Joy Guidry's Angels,  Mike Reed's funky One of Us, the spacey ambiance of Kramer's Lendrick Muir Bible Study Weekend, and the otherworldly harmonies of DahkaBrakha's Dostochka.

You'll need to have a subscription to Spotify to hear the whole tracks, and you'll also have to open the widget below in Spotify to hear all 1,322 songs (the widget only contains the first 100). 

Enjoy!