photo credit: Grant Ruof
A short while ago, I found myself sitting down, relaxing my brain after a long day and listening to my personal ‘old reliable’ playlist of the songs I had carefully selected over time and listened to for hours on end. However, this time, it just didn’t feel the same. I craved something more and something different, but I just didn’t know where to start.
I know I’m not the only one to experience this, so my goal in writing this column is to broaden music taste by tackling a new genre every month and give my thoughts about it here, along with my favorites and recommendations from each.
But before getting to that, it might be important to know a little about my personal favorites and taste, so here’s a little insight into what I like and what I want to listen to more.
Favorite Artists
If I had to pick my one favorite artist of all time, it would be Twenty One Pilots, and I can say this confidently with three concerts and being in the top 0.7 percent of listeners on Amazon Music (Yes, I know, Amazon Music, I’m working on changing that).
After discovering Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun almost three years ago, I truly couldn’t stop listening to them. Something about their sound just hit so different; the way the music was just satisfying to listen to in any situation, and I think they’re by far the most unique-sounding band I’ve ever listened to.
Some other artists I listen to include Linkin Park, an absolutely legendary rock band formed in 1996 with an incredible legacy, though I prefer their older songs with Chester Bennington to their newer music.
I also really like Djo, or Joe Keery. Many people know him as Steve Harrington in Stranger Things. His music has the simplicity to fit lots of different situations, and his experimental music style across his three albums. I’m really excited to see where he takes his sound with his recent success into the future.
Favorite Albums
Keeping with the theme of Twenty One Pilots, I’m very torn as to what to call my favorite, but if I had to pick my two favorite albums, I would pick their recent 2025 addition “Breach” and their 2017 album “Trench”.
“Breach” is some of their best work. To put it simply, their dedication to their fans was really shown in the songs, and the first song on the album, “City Walls”, has a music video with a $1 million budget and is a masterpiece of cinematography that I highly recommend everyone to watch.
“Trench” is probably their most full-sounding and put-together album. The change in tone to represent the story’s development is super impressive. It has everything listeners can ask for in a well-produced and highly successful album. Popular song “Chlorine” is a song a lot of people have heard before from the album.
In terms of other artists, I think I need to give Daft Punk’s ‘Random Access Memories’ some love because if you like masterful production, this album delivers so impressively. Daft Punk made me like a genre I never thought I could like, which is actually part of the reason for the column that I’m writing.
Daft Punk has a certain style to them that is so incredibly hard to put into words. Their electronic sound is so unique, especially on “Random Access Memories”, that it makes listeners feel so many different emotions and different sounds of the music that really makes you appreciate the production quality put into the funky vibes of this album.
So there it is. A little bit about my music taste that I’m looking forward to expanding throughout next year, so, see you all in September.
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