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How do you choose?

Del monaco

Del monaco

Del Monaco
So I wake up and go down stairs, turn on the equipment and then….
How do you choose your first piece of music when you come downstairs or in from work or at the end of the day?
I will generally start with Radio 3 Fm whilst I think about where I want to delve. It’s very mood driven for me. A sunny morning might indicate some Copland’s Appalachian Spring or Peer Gynt. A grim start to the day will often lead to Mahler or Beethoven symphonies. If I’m feeling troubled I might pick out some Schubert songs or even Mr Nick Cave on occasion. I might want to survey a particular thread of music or an artist/composer I’d like to listen to. If I’m content I will generally fire up Paradise or Jazz in Bolz and let the station choose the music for me. Winter months bring forth Sibelius or Simpson. Bernstein seems to be a key part of winter(don’t know why) and Wagner may spin.
How do you choose your music?
 
Generally start with the most recent purchase and see what that leads too or sometimes a song will come into mind during the day and I'll listen to the LP it's on when I get home.
 
Never given it any thought... Something to think about on one of those evenings when I can't get to sleep.

In days gone by I would go to the shelves and pull a record/CD out and then another until I found one I fancied. These days it's practically always Roon from the NAS. I'll choose something for some reason or another, it'll come to an end and Roon Radio will kick in and the next choice is generally inspired by a track served up by RR (often after quite a few tracks).

This Roon Radio thing is leading to me listening to a wider variety of albums than I used to. ìt reminds of good tunes I've bought and forgotten about.
 
I always have a pile of 50 or so albums that I haven’t heard yet, so it could be something from that pile, BUT I might not be in the mood for something unknown.

Then there are new albums that I might be still playing to death for a month or so…

Or I might be in a [insert emotion] mood, and need something raucous, sad, sexy or relaxing?

Truth is, I often have no idea what is going to spin until it is spinning, and then I might take it off after the first tune.

Unless I have a particular record that I am grading to sell, then it is always an emotionally based decision.
 
Pretty much every weekday morning the first music I SS&shower to is Virgin Radio with Chris Evans - the music is good and I like the chatter, wakes me up.
Then move to the office and make a conscious choice depending on mood, or if I have no inclination (most mornings) then Radio Paradise. RP often stays on all day...
 
I have some Peaches crates. The smaller one has what I call 'the fifty' - my favorite albums. I hit that crate a lot.
 
When I'm at work someone always has a radio singing away and quite often I'll hear something that sticks in my mind. That's often the first thing I'll play when I get home. Today it was Gerry Rafferty and Baker Street.
 
Got about 200 Berlin electronica cds and usually listen to one or two a day .then female vocalists . The tannoys are simply divine with electronica and those spacious holographic tracks just suit them as well as the impulse
 
Usually a song/piece I have on my mind and hit song radio on Spotify, sometimes that's it or a song pops up that takes me in another direction.
 
Radio 6 Music live or one of their shows recorded on the iPlayer; RadMac, Steve Lamacq, Huey, Marc Riley, Tom Robinson etc
 
All a bit random here. Radio 3 goes on in the kitchen while I brew the first cup of tea at around 6 am and I half listen to whatever is on. Later in the day I'll listen to whatever takes my fancy on the main system. It goes in phases: at the moment it's mainly baroque trumpet music, either LP or CD. I may move on to a bit of Wagner if the move takes me. Next week, who knows?
 
Sometimes choices are prompted by the flow of memories - yesterday that was the (slightly odd) Bert Jansch album 'Nicola', sometimes by chance listening (that'll be Butterworth's 'Banks of Green Willow', thanks to R3 this morning). Othertimes browse along the CD rack until something shouts at me. But I find that process less and less satisfactory. It's more difficult to read labels on jewel boxes and cardboard sleeves are often effectively invisible. The upper shelves are out of visual anyway. I've been playing more CDs recently to see if this is all down to lack of practice, because about 80% of my music is also stored on a NAS. Somehow, swiping through screens of album artwork triggers more musical memories and makes choices easier, though I wish Audirvana Studio had an 'alphabet bar' like Sonos and didn't always default to starting at A.
 
Barkiss said:
Sometimes choices are prompted by the flow of memories - yesterday that was the (slightly odd) Bert Jansch album 'Nicola', sometimes by chance listening (that'll be Butterworth's 'Banks of Green Willow', thanks to R3 this morning). Othertimes browse along the CD rack until something shouts at me. But I find that process less and less satisfactory. It's more difficult to read labels on jewel boxes and cardboard sleeves are often effectively invisible. The upper shelves are out of visual anyway. I've been playing more CDs recently to see if this is all down to lack of practice, because about 80% of my music is also stored on a NAS. Somehow, swiping through screens of album artwork triggers more musical memories and makes choices easier, though I wish Audirvana Studio had an 'alphabet bar' like Sonos and didn't always default to starting at A.
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Sometimes when I listen to Building a Library, I will go on a quest.Firstly I’ll listen to the subject, then I’ll move on to other things by the same composer/ conductor/ artist, whatever thread takes my fancy. I find it a nice way to build quality listening and meet new music. I used to do this with Roon as well.
 
Del monaco said:
Sometimes when I listen to Building a Library, I will go on a quest.Firstly I’ll listen to the subject, then I’ll move on to other things by the same composer/ conductor/ artist, whatever thread takes my fancy. I find it a nice way to build quality listening and meet new music. I used to do this with Roon as well.
Click to expand...

Clearly a more cerebral approach! Although I do occasionally 'follow a thread' as it were. But usually it's emotional - does it suit my mood, what 'colour' is this music, do I feel a particular connection to it today. And since I so often want to feel uplifted, particularly in the last few years, I've got some music which has been unplayed for years. So much so that the word 'cull' drifted into my head this week ...
 
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