I visited nearly every corner of the United States this year. When I hung out with someone, I let them play their music. I was stunned by the diversity and quality I discovered. There is so much good music out there, of so many different genres.

In Texas, I learned that the French make some of the best eargasm electronic music. Some of this is goosebump-inducing if listened to loud, in the car, at 2 AM.

The rural Texan desert (Google “Marfa”) gave me some of the best “alternative music.” I’d heard a lot of it before but never identified it or added it to my library. I like this kind of music for road trips.

Virginia showed me awesome modern folk-country and brought classic folk to my 2017 collection.

Virginia also introduced me to the best music I’ve ever danced to. Modern Tango. This stuff is a blast. You have to be compleely soulless to not at least tap your foot.

 

 

In the South I found this soulful stuff and some cool anti-authoritarian rebellious rap.

Detroit is the most abundant goldmine of good music I ever discovered. The greatest beats come from Detroit. The best music to work to, the best music to drive to, the best music to lounge to. If you like any of this, I encourage you to dive into the albums.

Honorable Mentions

I can’t tie these to any specific place, but I know I acquired them on my travels. Just good sounding music.

 

This post is barely a tenth of the wonderful music I came in contact with just this year. I always thought people all over the country listened to relatively the same stuff. Nope. I used to be unhappy with my music collection. Now I love it.