DJ Jim Q's Playlist: NOMAD

Welcome, listeners, to the August Playlist. Our theme this month, selected by our friends from the Ulaanbaatar chapter, is NOMAD. I would posit that inspiration and creativity are fueled by diverse and novel experiences. What better way to pursue experience than to push ourselves into the uncharted and beyond?

I’ve always thought of myself as a bit of a musical nomad—drifting from one genre to another, visiting long enough to become familiar with the key areas before meandering on to another sonic territory. I love this about music: each style and sub-style has so many nuanced crevices to inspect and uncover.

Tour guides are helpful. I often follow a knowledgeable and passionate friend’s recommendations—or, if none are available, I’ll scour the web for suggestions from those well-versed in the musical area I’m exploring. But mostly, I wander without a compass or map. One song might attract me to a band, which leads me to a musical style, which leads me to the progenitors of the genre, and on and on, over and over. This journey repeats itself, and my path of exploration splinters into a web of overlapping, intersecting musical connections. This wanderlust is powered by curiosity—the fuel of discovery. That persistent urge to see what’s just around the corner, over the hill, beneath the surface, behind the curtain. On to the next one.

I encourage everyone to approach music discovery the way they might approach spontaneous travel: pick a destination as a starting point, then drift from there. Most people, no doubt, have a home base—a music style or genre they’re familiar with or prefer over others. However, pushing yourself into new territory can be incredibly enlightening and rewarding.

So, next time you have the urge to load up that old favorite tune, challenge yourself to visit a musical style foreign to you—or even one you think you don’t like. With just a bit of effort—a quick web search and a little casual research—you can usually find a great place to begin your exploration. Try to spend enough time in that musical enclave to become familiar with the attributes of the style or genre. Maybe these playlists can be a jumping-off point. That would delight me to no end.

Some of my favorite sources for discovery at the moment are:

The Quietus, Hearing Things, Northern Transmissions and, of course, Bandcamp’s Essential Releases

And if you’re looking for something truly nomadic, check out Radio Garden. It’s one of the coolest websites out there—through an interactive globe, you can jump to any region and listen to local radio in real time. Stations are geolocated and organized around cities. It’s so rad! You can read more about the project here.

Calling all curious listeners and artistic adventurers: the theme this month is Nomad. So follow me from genre to genre and through eras on this sonic saunter across musical territories. From Clairo to Leonard Cohen to Black Sabbath to Lord Heron and all the stops in between, this month’s playlist will transport you through a multitude of auditory landscapes and musical destinations. Follow your ears and wander with me.

Thank you for listening. If you enjoy these playlists, let me know! Give me a shout on Bluesky and follow me on Spotify.

Until next time, go forth and discover, as they say not all who wander are lost.