Originally published @February 2, 2021
- Last month, I found an app called Crabhands that solves a huge pain point for music discovery nerds.
- Elias Wallace’s new “Walk With You” made me realize why I care so much about discovering new music.
- I want to fill my life with gems like the olllam, Elias Wallace, and many, many more I don’t know exist yet.
Anyone who knows me personally has gotten at least one link to Eclectic Mix Lists playlists in the past year or so.
Since I first launched it as “Everyday Eclectic” in early 2020 (pre-pandemic, remember?), this project has gone through many iterations including:
- A Substack newsletter
- Playlists of all new music sorted by genre
- Playlists based on week & season
- Playlists based on mood (and less recency-based)
This project has been driven by an obsession to discover amazing new music in all genres, because I love them all. But, until recently, I didn’t really know why I was so obsessed with finding new music.
Last month, I found an app called Crabhands that solves a huge pain point for music discovery nerds.
This is something Spotify would have already solved if their heads weren’t up their asses:
Crabhands links to your Spotify account and tracks the artists you follow. Then, it notifies you as soon as they release new music on Spotify. And constantly adds the new releases to a special playlist in your Spotify account:
For me, this was well worth a $10 donation to the app developer, and my plan is to work closely with them to build out more functionality and brand that will help them avoid the “big platform turns your entire app into a feature and you die” fate that so many indie builders eventually face.
And, thanks to Crabhands, I recently discovered an album that opened my eyes to the reason why I’m so obsessed with discovering new music.
Elias Wallace’s new “Walk With You” made me realize why I care so much about discovering new music.
When I first started listening through Elias Wallace’s newest album—a 16-song, 42-minute soulful masterpiece—I couldn’t keep my jaw shut. I couldn’t focus. It was too amazing.
I realized that I care deeply about discovering new music—and helping others do the same—because I want to listen to masterpieces like this as many times as possible in my lifetime. I don’t want to discover this in 3 years!
I discovered the olllam in 2019, yet their first EP—an irish electo masterpiece—came out in 2014. FIVE YEARS I couldn’t been listening to this album 🤤
While it’s unrealistic to think I’ll be able to immediately discover every masterpiece album released during my lifetime, I now at least know why I care so much:
I want to fill my life with gems like the olllam, Elias Wallace, and many, many more I don’t know exist yet.
And the only way to do that is to listen. A lot.