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What I respect so much about Majestic Casual is their focus on curation. Unlike editorial outlets like Pitchfork, it’s not about music news or witty reviews. It’s about finding what’s next in music.
Never before have I gone through another curator’s full catalog. It took about 10 days to go through all 1,932 tracks (and counting) on Majestic Casual’s YouTube channel and another week to whittle it down to 130 selected. Mind you, I only spent a minute or so on each track initially, which still comes out to over 32 hours of listening. Not including the hours it took to refine them down.
I was shooting to playlist less than 6% of their total catalog but ended up with just under 7%. And it wasn’t easy. I never realized how many tracks Majestic put on my radar over the years. Not to mention the ones I swiped up in the last few weeks, which are about 44% of this list. They promote a variety of music styles and are going beyond simply curating music.
Majestic is going on tour in the US over the next few weeks – I’ll be at the SF show. They’ve released a print and online journal. They’ve got merch, a record label, and are doing more with video and photography. There is one thing though they need help with.
It’s not just about promoting music partnerships. Uploads and even closer relationships Majestic has with artists are the bedrock from which they’ve become so successful – something we lack – but shouldn’t be the entire game. There is so much more good music out there that fits Majestic’s aesthetic and deserves to be in their collection, uploaded or not.
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2018: 13
2017: 21
2016: 21
2015: 18
2014: 16
2013: 18
2012: 23
1,932
283
170
133
122
130
