Listening journal: January

For the last month or so, I’ve spent some time photographing a few musicians in/around Oxford, and the time spent with them made me realise I don’t listen to the music the same way I used to. Back then, I’d put a CD (or even an LP) on my hifi, and sit through an album as if it was a movie, and for some reasons I don’t do that anymore. So I made a point this year to get back into habit of doing this, and here is some music I picked up along the way.

Sophie Roberts’ book got me in the mood for some Shostakovich. ESQ split up in 2023, and I found a bunch of their CDs in my archive. This piece of Shostakovich is, as the youths would say, hard.

I’ve not been following what’s happening in the world of guitar, but have been positively surprised Ana Vidovic still kicks ass. This has been my favourite piece to play way back when (and I’ve never done it properly).

And for something completely different, NPR’s tiny desk concert have been my guilty pleasure (the TPain one anyone?), but this set by Fred again.. has to be the most unique and intimate ones to date.