Hi, I'm Xavi. Welcome to My Blog!
Curating House Music, Appreciating Design, and Living Life in a Tech World.
Soundscapes, Stories, and Systems Begin Here: My Music Curation Journey
This blog is an expression of my own journey in sharing my relationship with music. I will never forget the first time someone said that my monthly music playlist sounded like elevator music. Let me tell you, I almost cried! Yes, I've always been that sensitive and music has always been my escape to reflect on my feelings and a space of creative self-expression with no judgment.
I felt challenged to start defining my sound. While I've always put together playlists in order to tell a story, my story, I've started with my perceived musicality of the sound of songs I've selected. Whether the focus is on an emotion, a life event, a person I've met, an outcome to a choice, or simply to create a vibe that brings tranquility, I've curated music to show how an artist's work has impacted my life and my own creative process to find happiness in life.
Music is subjective and universal all at the same time. Music is derivative and original. While cheesy and true, the beauty of music is that you experience life and culture through the expression of sound and lived immersive experiences. Now, more than ever, technology plays a big part in how music is discovered, explored, shared, created, experienced, and dare I say it, marketed.
So, I'd love for other music enthusiasts to join me in the conversation of defining our own relationship with music at the intersect of song, visual art, design, technology, and personal influences.
The Start
I remember when I moved to Seattle back in 2015 and feeling excited to start a new life in the pacific northwest. It was the first time I’ve had the opportunity to create a life of my own without a roommate or a boyfriend. I felt liberated and scared shitless all at the same time. I was alone.
As I learned about the city, especially the moody winters that prolonged well over seven to nine months out of the year, I started experimenting with creating an environment for myself that I could call home. I went to IKEA and grabbed the essentials to design a space that represented my heart and my essence focusing on unique lighting ideas to illuminate my mood and space.
I gravitated to these cloud pendant rope lights that I hung from the ceiling on both sides of my tufted heather gray mid century style loveseat positioned in the center of my living room. It truly felt like I was floating every time I cam home into my apartment and sat down on that couch. I loved that the aesthetic of my first place revolved around this foundational experience design.
The Technology
Something crazy to note: Alexa was released publicly in June 2015, just a month before I moved to Seattle. What marveled me about the voice assistant was the ability to set automations with Philip Hue lightbulbs. It was something so innovative at that time and I wanted it paired with these cool cloud ceiling lights that I had recently installed on each side of my couch.
Over the course of several days, weeks, and possibly hundred of hours, I messed around with the different scenes in the Hue app positioning myself in every imaginable spot in the apartment to set the mood right. It was fascinating. I enjoyed conceptualizing how colors could impact how I would feel when using voice commands to help me adapt to my environment through all the degrees of my emotions at any given time. I orchestrated colorful soundscapes, as I listened to music, on that couch.
That was the start of my music curation journey.
The Music
Seattle became the unexpected birthplace of my music curation obsession. It was there that I truly began to explore the power of music to shape self reflect, tell stories, and connect with others.
But my musical journey started long before Seattle. To understand my curation style today, it's important to look back at the influences that shaped my early relationship with music.
My mother was a professional singer in the 70’s rising to fame as a latin pop disco diva.
From an early age, I was surrounded by song and soothed with her angelic voice. Music was life. Funny thing is that as I reflect on my childhood, it’s not my mom’s music that I remember the most. Instead, it’s the music she chose to play in everyday life:
Now, I can’t leave out my dad. When my dad likes something, it’s all or nothing. Similarly to our multiple trips a week to Taco Bell (when it was cash only) or when we went to Subway to collect stamps for free subs (literally the highlight of our week), he was loyal to his few favorite things:
Life Events Impacting My Musical Journey
From Alvin and the Chipmunks to Kanye West and beyond, my musical tastes have undergone a series of transformations, reflecting the ever-evolving soundtrack of my life. Here’s a timeline of events to review:
I was born in Puerto Rico where to this day still hear those classic Puerto Rican Christmas classics,
moved to Chillicothe, OH at age five in 1993, mainly obsessed with Alvin and the Chipmunks songs and the epic, “Nightmare Before Christmas” classic,
exposed to rock culture via central Ohio’s 63 year old rock station, 99.7 the blitz,
went to my first semester of college in Puerto Rico when Daddy Yankee taught the world about reggeaton,
decided to become a music publisher and attended Belmont University in Nashville, TN where country wasn’t even a focus for me. It was Kanye West’s, Late Registration that changed the way I saw music being marketed and appreciated,
had an emotional breakup from my first boyfriend in 2007 (when the iPhone was first released) and moved to Ft. Lauderdale where I was first exposed to EDM giants like Tïesto and Avicii, and
then in 2015 I was recruited to work in Seattle, WA, in the multifamily real estate industry, where I started to discover a new sound of music represented in this Spotify playlist.
As I think about the impact music has had on my life up to 2015, it’s kinda wild to think of the stark difference in my musical palette today, Kitty | 01.25 versus what’s on Kitty | 2016.
What’s Next?
Join me as we:
Unpack monthly playlists designed to tell stories and evoke emotions.
Spotlight fascinating artists and songs that have shaped my soundscape.
Explore the intersection of music, design, and technology in shaping our experiences.
Dive deep into personal stories and influences that have shaped my musical journey.
And most importantly, connect with a community of music lovers to share, discover, and curate together.