I wanted to listen to more music in 2025. So obviously I created a kanban board with 1 card per music genre from Rate Your Musics list of Genres and figured I can listen to the nr 1 rated album in each category. Then I should be able to say I gave most types of music a fair chance while figuring out what I like and don’t like.
The rating system Link to heading
This is the rating system I use when evaluating albums.
| Star Rating | Description |
|---|---|
| ★★★★★ | Essential, Spectacular |
| ★★★★½ | Amazing, maybe a few very tiny flaws. Exceptional; will likely rank among my top ten albums of the year, Very good |
| ★★★★ | Very good |
| ★★★½ | Above average; enjoyable |
| ★★★ | Not brilliant, but nice enough |
| ★★½ | Has its moments, but isn’t strong |
| ★★ | Mediocre; not good, but not awful, Just below average; bad outweighs good by just a little bit |
| ★½ | Definitely below average, but a few redeeming qualities |
| ★ | Heard worse, but still pretty bad; Awful; not a single pleasant track |
| ½ | Breaks new ground for terrible |
Genres listened to Link to heading
The second batch of genres I listened to. Metal & Jazz - great combo!
Death Metal Link to heading
Heavily distorted, down-tuned guitars, palm-muted, tremolo-picked riffs, double-kick and blast beat percussion, chromatic chord progressions, minor keys, abrupt changes in tempo, and guttural vocals.
Really catchy. Can you say that about death metal? Nice mix of heavier slower guitar and the more lighter metal with accompanying speed in general on tracks like Slaughterday. Like it how it’s not just and endless “drone of darkness” and that they actually throw in some interesting guitar and other arrangements.
“When I enjoy myself with a corpse, it’s a high beyond any I’ve ever had”.
Well, that’s a great illustration of the death part of death metal I think.
Reminds me of this reddit thread “What’s the most inappropriate thing to say at a funeral?”.
★★★ stars.
Jazz Fusion Link to heading
Near-universal usage of electric guitars and keyboards coupled with influences from genres such as Rock, Rhythm & Blues, Funk, and Traditional Folk Music, and a relative degree of harmonic simplicity.
Really liked this. The piano is front and center as it should be for this artist but the rest is also really enjoyable. Fusion is great.
★★★★ stars
Death Doom Link to heading
Fuses down-tuned guitars, growled vocals, and aggressive, often double-kick drumming with a mournful, somber atmosphere and plodding tempos.
Oh man, my new favourite genre. Made me go and buy The Tritonus Bell - Hooded Menace on Bandcamp as well as Never Cross The Dead. Both really stellar albums. Totally making me question the whole “buy physical media” kick I’m on. Still, I want it on Vinyl - but without paying as much in shipping as I do for the actual record.
Turns out I enjoy the slow, heavy guitars and drums, deep growling.
Anyways.
The Tritonus Bell - Hooded Menace
Great low growling, heavy guitar riffs. Slow, dark, wonderful.
★★★★ stars
Other listening and related things Link to heading
I have begun converting all my Tidal favorites to CDs or digital downloads. This will take a while (years) since I’m not made of money and will only be “converting” things that are worth keeping. Curation!
Went and picked up
Things that are really special I will try to get on Vinyl.
Speaking of that I have a whole stack of thrift store vinyl to clean up and play through. Jazz from like 1938 to latest 1950 perhaps? Glenn Miller, Bill Acker, Count Basie, Armstrong etc etc. Picking up everything that sounds remotely interesting and where price is like 1$ or under.
Current HiFi setup Link to heading
Made some (what I think at least) good second hand finds recently which made me end up with a bunch of different audio setups.
Used to have a pair of Edifier active bookshelf speakers and a cheap Lenco L-85 - so upgrades have been made.
When I settle down on how I want things set up I’ll do the cable management again.
Setup 1 - Vinyl, CD & Roon for active listening Link to heading
- Turntable: Rega Planar 2 with standard Carbon cartridge - RCA to RIAA (6500 SEK from Akkelis Audio)
- RIAA: Vincent PHO-200 MM/MC - RCA to amplifier (1600 SEK from Akkelis Audio)
- CD Player: NAD T513 connected via TOSLINK digital out to amplifier (200 SEK second hand from thrift shop)
- Speakers: Triangle Esprit Titus EZ and 1 Triangle S02 stand connected with “Argon Audio Classic SC1” cable to amplifier (2500 SEK including cables, stand and a free grocery shopping bag of high quality)
- Receiver: Onkyo TX-SR444 (400 SEK second hand from kyrkbytorget)
- Streamer/DAC: Mac mini (as Roon bridge/display/streamer) connected via HDMI to the amplifier. Sends audio via HDMI. The screen shows a Roon display via HDMI on the Linux server via Chrome on the TV if on. (Free - Old Mac saved from storage)
- TV (not connected to receiver) SAMSUNG Q55EQ72
Setup 2 - Computer for work Link to heading
Previously, the computer only used the monitor’s built-in speakers, so this was an upgrade.
- Amplifier: Technics SA-160 from around 1988 (500 SEK on Blocket)
- Speakers: Jamo E800 on stands - Kjell.com Luxorparts Speaker Cable 2.5 mm² White (500 SEK including stands and cables on Blocket)
- Source: Workhorse of a computer - 3.5mm headphone to amp RCA
- Earbuds/headphones: LINSOUL TANGZU Wan’er S.G HiFi 10mm Dynamic Driver PET Diaphragm in-Ear Earphones (312 SEK on Amazon.se) connected to amp with accompanying cable and UGREEN 6.35mm Male to 3.5mm Female Audio Adapter Gold-Plated AUX Stereo Adapter from Amazon (104 SEK for 2)
Setup 3 - Mobile Link to heading
- Mobile phone: iPhone 14 Pro (idk, to many SEK when new in 2023)
- DAC: Apple Thunderbolt to 3.5mm headphone dongle (about 100 SEK I think new, got it for free before when Apple transitioned)
- Earbuds/headphones: AirPods 2 (about 3500 SEK in 2023 I think)
Setup 4 - DAP Link to heading
- DAP: HiBy R1 (500 SEK on Blocket)
- DAC: Built-in DAC in DAP
- Earbuds/headphones: LINSOUL TANGZU Wan’er S.G HiFi 10mm Dynamic Driver PET Diaphragm in-Ear Earphones (312 SEK on Amazon.se)
Let’s not get into the discussion of audiophilia and subjectivism vs objectivism today. That whole world is all kinds of … confusing and hard to really grasp where the draw the line. Is HiFi considered … art?
Thats all folks Link to heading
Alright, there we have it. I’ll try to post a roundup like this from time to time for record keeping. To see more what I listen to check out my profile on RYM.