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music

this site is a work in progress.
this page will eventually have a BUNCH of stuff on it, since i'm hoping to make this site a bit of a music shrine/blog/thing. for example:

  • my playlists
  • music challenges
  • recommendations
  • music discovery links and methods
  • and much more

This layout was generated with petrapixel's layout generator.

the solarium's 30 day album challenge

i'm currently (as of December 2025) QAing a 30 day music challenge created by yours truly. i want to make sure the prompts are doable and fun, but most importantly i want them to get anyone who does the challenge out of their comfort zone and listen to stuff they might or might not like. i will have a LOT more to say about this challenge and my song-a-day challenge i do every even year. until then, here are the prompts i'm working on and the albums i've listened to so far. it's not finished by a looong shot and i'm going to have to do some creative thinking over the next few days because i'm gonna run out of prompts in like a week lol.
also because i'm still learning how to code this is gonna look way messy at first. i'll add links and stylization very soon.

guidelines

  1. Albums are a collection of at least 7 songs/at least 25 minutes long
  2. Albums you pick should be released by artists you don’t know/aren’t already a fan of
  3. Albums should be brand new to you
  4. Albums can be released in any year, country, genre, etc. As long as it’s an album you’ve never listened to, it’s fair game.
  5. Artist refers to any solo artist, duo, or band

challenge prompts

  1. An album released the year you were born
    Uchū Nippon Setagaya - Fishmans
    released July 24, 1997. i chose this one because it was by a band i’d never heard of. it was released just a few days before i was born. i listened to it at the airport; it felt like great music for that. very chill, sparse, kooky. i don’t actually know if i liked the album as a whole, but i don’t think it was bad at all and would definitely recommend it to someone who might be more into this style. my favorite song was “Magic Love” because it had a nice groove and hook.
  2. An album that’s not in your first language
    Gula Gula: Hør Stammødrenes Stemme - Mari Bone
    released in 1989. this album is primarily in the Northern Sámi language, with one song in Norwegian (my first language is English). The Sámi are a Scandinavian Indigenous group. this is a nice, pretty standard folk album. i discovered it on the “2006 in Norwegian music” Wikipedia page. i saw a [TKLINK]picture of Mari Bone and really liked the photo and her style. from there i went to her page and found this album and gave it a listen. i’ll probably be using this method for music discovery going forward with this challenge (though not tomorrow, as i’m gonna be looking at all the “best album of the year” lists that are gonna start coming out this week)
  3. An album released this year
    Birdly Serenade - David Murray Quartet
    i was in the mood to listen to a jazz album so i googled “best jazz albums 2025.” as i expected, Slate had just published their list of the top 10 best jazz albums of the year this morning; this one was number 7. i picked it because i’d never heard of David Murray and [TKLINK]the article described him as “the tenor saxophonist of the 1980s and early-to-mid ’90s, a key figure in the vital World Saxophone Quartet, the leader of a dozen other bands, featured on almost 100 albums.” i liked the sound of that, and the album was beautiful. this is the style of jazz i’m always looking for.
  4. An album that inspired your favorite album/favorite artistChoose an album mentioned in the [TKLINK]Guardian's "Soundtrack of My Life" column
    Rock Bottom - Robert Wyatt
    this was on [TKLINK] Rachel Unthank’s soundtrack for “the one that framed my marriage.” i’d never heard of Rachel Unthank or this album which i why i chose both of them. i didn’t really like this one, though. it’s not my genre or the kind of sound i like; i found it pretty grating. but i’m glad i didn’t go into it with any preconceived ideas
  5. Find the name of someone who plays/has played with with your favorite artist, then listen to an album that person has made
  6. Pick a random country that you haven’t been to. Listen to an album released by an artist from that country.
  7. An album recommended by a friend
  8. Find a random book or website about music and listen to the first album you come across
  9. An album with a pink cover
  10. A concept album
  11. An instrumental album
  12. A debut album
  13. The Grammys are overrated. Find another music award ceremony and listen to a nonwinning (nontelevised) album from one of the categories.
  14. Find a cover/tribute album and listen to an album from one of the artists
  15. Find a band an artist was in previously and listen to an album from them
  16. Get an album from your local library and listen to it
  17. An album on the “1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die” list (or a similar list)
  18. An album in your “to listen” pile
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