A year of Shazams and this is what I found

So it’s Sunday; I’m tending to some life admin, such as paying rent, doing laundry, binge-watching Gilmore Girls, you know, the usual. All of a sudden an amazing cover of I Drove All Night (originally by legendary Céline Dion) comes up on the radio and I just have to know who it’s by. So I whip out my phone, open Shazam and… well shazam the shit out of the song until it’s registered and BOOM: I Drove All Night (B Side) \ The Maccabees \ 129 shazams. Content once again, I put the phone back in my pocket, when it hits me. I NEVER ACTUALLY DO ANYTHING WITH THIS INFORMATION.

So I immediately open Shazam again and realise I’d fallen into this pattern over a year ago. There were dozens of great songs that I had successfully identified but never purchased or actively incorporated into a playlist.

Things like Swedish folk (My Silver Lining by First Aid Kit and yes it’s exactly what is sounds like), electrodance (Forever And Ever by Boogie Belgique) and English art rock (Worst Band in the World by 10cc). The list goes on and on and on. I discovered new (to me) artists like Bauhaus and Jenny Hval (give her a listen, she cray) and found gems that had somehow escaped me by artists I love, like Kate Bush’s Houdini – how had I never heard this masterpiece before?! I even found some Buena Vista Social Club in there (and a Nick Jonas Song. I ain’t proud).

But possibly the greatest ‘discovery’ was a song I love by an artist I love, Caught A Long Wind by Feist. Now the reason why I’ve used single quotes is because this song is part of the Nicolas Jaar BBC 1 essential mix from 2012 that I listen to almost on a weekly basis. The mix in itself is a masterpiece. In two hours it somehow seamlessly blends Angelo Badalamenti discussing how he’d come up with the Twin Peaks soundtrack with Aphex Twin, Beyoncé, and smack in the middle, Feist.

I’ve listened to this mix dozens of times and half of them I’ve rewinded and broken the flow of it just to hear Feist’s divine, smooth, melting voice call to my soul, encouraging it to keep itself afloat. I once even stepped out of the shower just to rewind the mix back to Feist.

And now, finally, I can just put it on repeat and I can refer to it by more than just that little bird song (But why didn’t you just shazam the mix when Fe – Shhhhhhh) So don’t be an idiot like me kids. If you’re gonna be the guy that walks up to a speaker, phone first, while asking an entire room of people to shut up so that you can shazam something, at least put that song in a playlist at some point.