This may be the last thing that I write for long
Can you hear me smiling when I sing this song
For you and only you
—The All-American Rejects
This edition of the Swap will be the last thing that we write for 2023. We’re taking a short winter break to recharge and plan new content for 2024. If you have any ideas for future swaps, share them with us! We’ll give you a heads-up when we plan to resume our usual Friday emails/posts.
Before we go, allow us to say thank you for reading the Music Swap this year. We’re grateful for songs and for friends to share them with.
Now, the 2023 “Wrapped” songs and artists for Mat, Adam, Kody, Jonathan, and Ben, plus a Bonus Track that showcases the good side of the algorithm.
Mat
A year of great records and great concerts is wrapped up. We saw Ruston Kelly in April and Dead & Co. in May. I had a little Vampire Weekend revival this year and Adam finally helped me see the Goose light. And, of course, it doesn’t take much for Wilco to make the list, but their excellent new record sure didn’t hurt. Here’s to swapping more music in the new year!
Adam
My musical tastes have changed over time. I am clearly in my jam band era. No matter how my taste in music shifts, my true love, hip hop, always seems to show itself. That makes me happy. Also that most recent Jack Harlow album is really good.
Kody
I’m proud to be a top 0.005% fan of Ruston Kelly. We spent a lot of time together this year. Also, three out of four from my Mount Rushmore dominated my 2023 streaming. I share an account with my wife which explains why Movie Tunes showed up as Top Genre.
Jonathan
2023 was an odd year for me. Probably the lowest minutes I’ve ever recorded. I was on a podcast kick this year. Also, Seleka (M. Night Shyamalan’s daughter) is not my top artist…not really my taste! I Shazammed (is that a word?!) a song on a show I was watching one night, fell asleep, and she played all night long! Turns out I’m now in the top 1% of her listeners!
Ben
I share an account with my kids, who collectively listen to more music than I do.
Bonus Track: The Algorithm Gave Me Nolan Taylor by Ronni Kurtz
The social media algorithm might be the closest thing our culture has to a common enemy today, or at least our bemoaning of its over-the-top data collecting and ad distribution might lead you to believe. However, on a rare occasion, sitting on my front porch scrolling social media, I became thankful for the algorithm. For, on this Thursday afternoon, the Instagram algorithm delivered a 30-second “reel” of a musical artist I was not familiar with and his voice arrested my attention. I did not know it then, but I was listening to—for the first time—what would become my next musical obsession. The artist was Nolan Taylor, who hails from Cincinnati, Ohio, less than an hour from where I was sitting that moment. What captivated me about Nolan was not only his voice which, at first hearing, is obvious in its beauty; rather, beyond the beauty of Nolan’s unique projecting voice was his ability to communicate pain.
For example, consider his song “68” which is a song about Nolan’s tenuous relationship with his mother. Towards the end of the song, singing the repeated chorus, Nolan communicates not only his message but the pain undergirding it. Good musical artists can perform, but great musical artists can communicate. Whether it be about love in his song “Double Life” (I prefer the live version) or parental strife in “68”, Nolan takes listeners beyond music into the pain that can come from the rhythms of life. His music is raw, quite honest, and has all the kind of language and themes you might expect with those emphases. Yet, for me, I have found in Nolan Taylor’s music the intermingling of beauty and pain that will have me listening as long as he continues to communicate in his own way.
Here is the video I first saw of Nolan and here is another video of him singing his most famous song, “68.”
—
Ronni Kurtz is a theology professor and writer who lives in Ohio. Noah Gunderson and a cello player named Patrick Dexter are his favorite artists to listen to while studying. His top artist in 2023 was Ed Tullet (Lowswimmer).
—
See you in 2024 Swappers!
-TheMusicSwap
I don’t know how to send a direct message. One idea for a theme is “nostalgia”. My song suggestion is
https://open.spotify.com/track/6KDZfDkZFdzviKcDkwfapN?si=787618VxR7SdNNlNSim-8Q
Love seeing all the Ruston 😍😍😍