Over the last couple of years a good portion of the new music I have become excited about came to me from Christian Finnegan and his great Substack, New Music For Olds. As I have aged, my excitement for new sounds has waned and my voracious musical appetite is a fraction of what it once was. Christian and his terrific newsletter give my old ears regular suggestions that run the gamut of genre and style. 

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For this edition of the pod, I wanted to dig into what keeps Christian excited about finding new music. We explored some of his favorite recent finds including a melodic doom album and a vibrant dance act from Miami. Christian has also recently discovered that his tastes are far broader in middle age than in his youth. He might have been more voracious as a younger listener, but now Christian has managed to shed any pangs of guilt for liking a certain song or artist. As he says, he isn’t trying to impress anyone with his tastes anymore. He is just listening to what he likes. 

Christian has also been recently exploring the concept of creativity for nothing more than the act of making something. He has taken collage and mosaic classes and engaged with his child brain. We talked deeply about getting your hands dirty doing physical work for nothing more than the sheer joy of creating.

Ten days after this episode airs I will be with Christian in Las Vegas at PodJam 2, a live three day event run by my friend and podcaster Pete Dominick. Christian will be performing in Vegas and in lieu of a typical stand-up set, Christian will use his hour to try something he has been ruminating on for twenty five years. With a series of questions and prompts, Christian will ferry a live audience through the process of creating a cult with the show culminating in a brief mock-religious ceremony featuring details and tenets all divined from the show and its participants. I am very much looking forward to it.

In our conversation we also touched on Christian’s all or nothing mentality, and I empathize deeply while sharing some of my own similar behaviors. There is also talk about the struggles of writing, creativity with accountability, and the inevitable influence of AI in music. It’s a big talk. There is so much here to dig. Enjoy. 

Cheers,

Matty C

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