Marginalia #1 — Dabi
Marginalia is a series of short interviews with music lovers from small corners of the internet — bloggers, reviewers, and listeners worth knowing about.
Who are you and what do you do?
I'm just a person that likes to be creative, I love learning about new things so I have a ton of hobbies, I've done a lot of different projects. So far, my blog has been my most long-time project. If I had to choose just one hobby, I'll pick music, is my top one.
How did you get into music? Any highlights in your journey?
This is a hard question. I think what it got me into music was how it makes me feel, when I play music everything that I do seems better.
Music came to me very naturally. I started to listen to what my parents listened and slowly parted away from that. I listened to what was popular: Coldplay, Imagine Dragons, then realized I liked bands so I looked more deeply on those genres until finding what I liked the most. Ultimately I got curious about other countries' music so I explored even further. I fell deeper and deeper in a rabbit hole.
One highlight I thought is my discovery of classical music. While taking violin classes I realized the beauty in old pieces as well as instrumental music. From that I jumped to jazz (which I love so much) so it was really a turning point for me. Also, learning guitar I found out that I also enjoy songwriters like Elliott Smith, he is now one of my favorite musicians.
I believe that if I wouldn't have learned these instruments I'd still discovered this music but it would have taken me more time.
What's your current favorite album/artist and why?
I spammed this everywhere but: Acid jazz! that's what I've been playing for months now. Specifically Jamiroquai's album "Dynamite", I've been listening to all their discography to be honest. Their music makes me very happy, I love how groovy it is!
What's an album that you feel holds up to the years and will stand the test of time?
I have many options but I'll go with "DAY OFF" by THE CHANG. I would say that fun music like this one holds up very well, all the songs have a funky sound and a nice melody. I think it is an album that isn't at the spotlight but it can always be playing in the background and people won't complain, they'd be moving their head along. I have a soft spot for jazz influenced music.
What's a "guilty pleasure" artist you'll defend to anyone who'll listen?
Day6. I don't know if it's a guilty pleasure (I don't think so) but I don't mention them often, so I'll take this chance to do it. I've been a fan for a long time, listened to all their discography and solo's work. It is my comfort music I guess.
They are now very famous in Korea and they are actually getting more credit now so I'm happy for them. They've worked a lot (they even had a project where they'd released 1 song every month for a year), they seem to genuinely love music and in my opinion have great music, so yea, they deserved it.
How do you discover new (or old) music these days?
I usually go to YouTube and go from a song that I like and look in the recommended videos, I click on one that I don't know and then check again the recommended videos, click on something I don't know and I follow this until I find something I like. I also like to check other people's recommendations, maybe they put a song in a video that I liked or from a blog post.
Sometimes I also research something in particular, so I'd go to Wikipedia and try to check out lists of artists for certain genres or a country or years. Like this list of alternative rock artists for example.
If you could only listen to one genre for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?
This is going to be very obvious but, Acid jazz. It really makes me happy when I listen to it.
How do you listen to music i.e. via streaming, vinyl, CDs? What audio gear do you use?
I mostly use YouTube now. I don't have a fancy setup, I have simple headphones, but when I get tired of them I'd play music on our home stereo. I listen to radio from time to time too, local ones as well as online. Collecting CDs is on my plans.
Who should I interview next?
I don't really follow many people that talk about music. ¿Maybe Toska?, I really enjoy reading what she writes and she recently talked about her favorite band. Apart from that she hasn't talked a lot about music in her blog but I'm curious what she has to say.
Where can we find you and do you have anything you would like to share?
The only place where I'm active is on my blog, so you can go there. I write a lot about music, recently I created a new series where I share new music that I've found (it’s called "Music findings", a very creative name I know), I'll try to make it something regular.
I found Dabi through Bearblog's discovery page when I first started my personal blog. She's been a great peer who's been posting for more than a year, and I'm grateful that she's the first person I get to share on Marginalia!