I am Ashley Elsdon

someone who's doing some things

Tag: The Wire

An excellent magazine of underground music.

The Wire top 50 albums of 2022

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Every year I try to listen to The Wire top 50 albums of the year. It is a little ritual that I have been doing for a few years now. This year the last edition of the Wire has been delivered late, but now it is here and I am leafing through it. Normally I try to find all of the albums on Spotify, but there are always a few that aren’t there.

Some years I find one or even two things that I want to follow up on, and even if that doesn’t happen, it is an interesting experience. One that I find valuable even if at times not particularly enjoyable.

As I delve into this years selection I may post about things that I have found interesting. As yet I have no idea.

The Wire 2022 Rewind

The Wire at 40

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I have been a subscriber of The Wire for quite some time. Sometimes with breaks, but on the whole a fairly loyal subscriber. I can say that I have enjoyed The Wire on the whole for some twenty years now. I can’t say that I have always understood or made sense of it, and often the music they rate highly does nothing for me. However, that is not the point of The Wire for me, not at all.

I find it at times incredible to see the enormous variety of music produced across the world and The Wire is my window onto that world. Sure, sometimes it is music that does nothing for me, but that doesn’t matter at all. The fact that it is made is what is important.

Every year I read their top albums of the year, and I’m always pleased if I’ve heard three of them. Most years it is less than three though. Even so, each year I do my best to listen to as many of the albums in their chart as possible. It’s always an interesting time.

The Wire top 50 albums of 2021

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Every year I listen to all of the Wire magazine top fifty albums of the year from their rewind issue. Some years I might have heard of a few of them. Some years I might have even bought one or two of them. But on the whole it is rarely more than one or two.

Usually I find very little that I would want to follow up on, occasionally an artist will stand out for me and I’ll find something new to follow. But more than anything I am pleased to find so much music that, whilst I may not enjoy it, is being created by people who are pushing the boundaries of sound. I find that quite a comforting thought.

I have been a subscriber of the wire for a long time. Probably well over a decade, possibly longer. I like the fact that there is so much going on on the fringes of the world of music. Even if it is music that I don’t like. That is not the point. I just like that it exists, that there are people creating this stuff, having these ideas.

Anyway, if I do find anything that I think is worth noting, then I might just post about it. Who knows.

Attempting to listen to the Wire’s top 50 albums of 2015

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I sort of do this every year, or at least try to anyway. It has become a little ritual with me. I leaf through the Wire’s top 50 to see how many (if any) of these albums I’ve heard and then try and find them all on Spotify so I can listen to them. Of course not all of them are ever on Spotify so it isn’t really a comprehensive system, but it does most of the job, and that’s ok.

This year is no different. I’ve actively listened to just a handful of these albums in the Wire’s top 50, and only own 1 of them I think. So I’ve added the lot, or at least the lot I can find, into a playlist and I’ll attempt to listen to the lot. Probably next year I’m thinking.

That’s the plan. That’s been the plan for a few years now, and it seems to work.