Recommended music

When I first thought about creating a compilation with my favorite albums, I thought it was going to be child’s play. Boy, was I wrong. Being a perfectionistic, full-on music nerd, this turned out to be quite a stressful undertaking.

At first it was fun, but it didn’t take long until I started obsessing over it. How could I dare to leave out The Beatles, Elvis Presley, or Beethoven in favour of some obscure band? My intention with this, however, was far from creating an exhaustive ranking, but rather give you a grasp of how my life sounds like, and in doing so, hopefully introduce you to one or two pieces of music that could also enrich your own life’s soundtrack.

When it comes to music, it’s easy to take for granted how fortunate we are to be alive at this point in time. Technology has allowed us to stream every existing piece of music under the sun, in high-quality, wherever we are, whenever we want, for as many times as we want, virtually for free. Just a couple decades ago, to have an interest in music meant spending a ton of money on physical records and equipment. Go back a little further in time, and listening to music digitally was not only an inconceivable notion, but 99.9% of today’s music didn’t even exist. I feel that’s a strong enough reason to feel appreciative and take the opportunity to broaden our relationship with music beyond what the mainstream pushes onto us.

Like most people, my relationship with music grew over time. I was lucky to be raised in a household where there was always soft-rock or classical music playing in the background. In my rebelious teens I got into 90s hip-hop, and particularly 2Pac, whose eloquence and combativeness was something I coveted during those years. As I turned 18, I started to outgrow rap and googled something along the lines of “best songs of all time”. After that, I quickly got into rock music, with bands like Dire Straits or Lynyrd Skynyrd. I was also encouraged by my uncles, who invited me to my first big concert with AC/DC live in Madrid.

Interestingly, it was ‘progressive’ rock—a genre characterized by long, eclectic compositions—that grabbed my ears the most. “Supper’s Ready”, a 23-minute composition by Genesis, was what that truly set me on a path of no return. That song inspired me to pick up the keyboard and teach myself to play until I reached a decent level of proficiency. I began travelling to see my favorite bands and was lucky to get my best friend into it as well. Gradually I gravitated towards more underground stuff, so much so that I got to dig music I thought I’d never enjoy. These days, I let curiosity be my guide and simply go with whatever I find enjoyable, regardless of popularity or labels.

As opposed to recommending individual songs, I decided to feature bands through my favorite album of theirs. I have a few reasons for this. Lots of bands are able to produce a hit song, but fewer of them manage to put out a solid album. I love the feeling you get when you come across a cohesive album you can enjoy from beginning to end. Ocassionally these albums revolve around a theme or narrative that make them more appealing to be consumed as a whole. And for the purpose of this list, they also offer a powerful visual element that would be missing if focusing on songs or bands.

A few extra considerations, for simplicity purposes:

• Only one album per band
• In no particular order
• Frequently updated
• Every album includes two emojis indicating how challenging I consider the album to be (from green to red) and the main emotion it evokes on me

In case you prefer to explore this collection on your own, I’ve created this Spotify playlist with one featured song from each album so that you can easily explore the music below. Now, go grab your headphones, and enjoy!