Analog Logging the Albums I Listen To

It’s March 1, which means it’s time to set up another month in my paper notebook, in which I use the barebones bullet journal method. I set up the monthly log, which is a two-page spread where I have a line for every day of the year, enough room to log a meaningful event for each day, and space to log certain habits and how much sleep I’m getting.

A while back, I talked about how media tracking apps don’t really work for me. I tend to create a list of a few things I want to watch, albums I want to listen to, or games I want to play, and before long I have this digital space I’ve totally forgotten about. In the end, I wind up enjoying none of what’s in there, or if I do, it wasn’t because the app prompted me to do so.

This morning, I thought, why not scroll through Apple Music and dedicate a page in my journal to the albums I want to listen to this year? I tend to remember things better if I write them down, and there’s something about seeing progress in this way that I like. So, I went back to December from the list of recommended releases and now have a list of 13 albums to check out. I’ll continue adding albums as the year progresses, checking them off as I hear them and giving them a simple score.

Right now, I have enough to listen to one album a day for two weeks, which I don’t think is too much of an ask. It also gives me a chance to give a brief review of the album, which I can then post here. I’ll also use the app Quick Reviews to log all of this, which will give me the feature images for my posts and give me some visuals that’ll be nice for some year-end wrap-up stuff.

The feature image of this post shows the list I have so far. As always, feel free to suggest albums to me. I listen to most things, but my wheelhouse is in R&B, hip-hop, indie alt, shoegaze, and jazz. Here’s to enjoying some new (and sometimes old) music.