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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 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 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 Guardian's "Soundtrack of My Life" column
    Rock Bottom - Robert Wyatt
    this was on 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
    Songs Made While High - Like
    Like co-produced “Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst” on good kid, m.A.A.d city, one of my favorite songs on one of my favorite albums by one of my favorite artists. Like also played piano on “Sing About Me,” credited as Gabriel Stevenson. i found this album by looking at the good kid, m.A.A.d city credits on Wikipedia.
    this album was alright. i listened to this after taking a bath. i smoked and cleaned a lot of my apartment and it was a nice vibe for that.
  6. Pick a random country that you haven’t been to. Listen to an album released by an artist from that country.
    Gol-e Yakh - Kourosh Yaghmaei
    i’ve only been to two countries, Canada and Spain, so this was pretty easy. i used a random country generator to pick a country for me and got Iran. i looked up Iranian musicians and a Reddit thread mentioned Kourosh Yaghmaei and said he was a psychedelic rock artist. Gol-e Yakh is his debut album. i enjoyed it!
  7. An album recommended by a friend
    HELLMODE - Jeff Rosenstock
    i tried doing an album a day challenge in October but stopped after about two weeks (so it goes whenever i try to do these monthlong challenges). my friend Jude recommended this to me but i’m only getting around to it now. thanks Jude; i liked this!!
  8. Find a random book or website about music and listen to the first album you come across
    Only Built 4 Cuban Links… - Raekwon
    found in The Rap Year Book by Shea Serrano
  9. An album with a pink cover
    Worldwide - Snõõper
    this has been on my “to listen” playlist for awhile. this prompt doesn’t really have a lot of thought behind it, i just like pink lol. most importantly tho it’s a stricter parameter than just “an album with your favorite color” or something like that.
  10. A concept album
    Zen Arcade - Hüsker Dü
  11. An instrumental album
    The Sidewinner - Lee Morgan
  12. A debut album
    Kollage - Bahamadia
    the beats on this were really incredible. smooth and chill flows; i liked this a lot!
  13. The Grammys are overrated. Find another music award ceremony and listen to a nonwinning (nontelevised) album from one of the categories.
    Untasted Honey - Kathy Mattea
    i went with the Country Music Awards because it’s a genre i’ve unintentionally neglected throughout this challenge. Untasted Honey was nominated for album of the year in 1988 and lost to Hank Williams Jr. Born to Boogie. this album was just okay, but i thought a lot of the lyrics were very sweet.
  14. Find a cover/tribute album and listen to an album from one of the artists
    Somewhere Between - Suzy Bogguss
    Suzy Bogguss was featured on Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles and Tribute to the Music of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, both of which i found on the same Country Music Awards page i found the Kathy Mattea album on. this album was definitely not bogus lol and i’m always down with yodeling!
  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
  19. One and done: An artist or band’s only album
  20. An album released independently
  21. TK
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song a day

during even years i make a goal to listen to one new (to me) song every day. i started doing this in 2014 and the only year i didn't fully make it through was 2022 (i had a lot of things going on lol). i started tracking my songs in a spreadsheet, which i'll link here soon!