Field Guide: Let’s Dump Spotify, Go to Shows, and Pay Local DJs

In college, I did a stint as a DJ at WXYC, UNC’s student radio station. Given that my taste mostly ricocheted between Rilo Kiley and Fleetwood Mac, I’m pretty sure I only got hired because it was summertime and campus was empty. Nevertheless, it was a transformative experience. 

My first shift was at 2 a.m., so I’d navigate my bike across town in the dark before playing records for any poor souls who happened to be awake. Obviously, there was a freedom implicit to being 20, but it also felt enormously freeing and thrilling to fill a crate with records, consider selections on a song-by-song basis, and appreciate them as they unfurled across airwaves. 

This nostalgia was activated this week when I wrote about my New Year’s resolution to cancel Spotify and form intentional listening practices that do more to support artists and contribute less to my brain turning into streaming sludge. (Extra motivation: The day after I wrote this, Spotify raised its subscription prices.) To think through the resolution more, I tapped a few musicians and curators around town, including Nick and Amelia from Sylvan Esso—who themselves exited Spotify this year—to ask how they discover new music. I loved this contribution from Victoria Bouloubasis, who DJs as Uymami: 

“The best way to keep your music tastes fresh is to support your local DJs. It’s our job to curate soundscapes that scratch your brain and bring you euphoria in these dark times—whether on the dance floor or in your earbuds. So show up to our events, pay the cover, and let loose. You can even tip us if you want!”

What about you—how do you find new music and keep a spark of musical curiosity alive? Thanks for reading. More below.

On Dumping Spotify. Illustration by Nicole Pajor Moore.

Recommendations for things to do this week, including a performance by harpist Brandee Younger, an album release party (tonight) from Lord Fess, and a radio play reading about the 1951 murder of Rachel Crook.  

Jasmine Gallup gives the rundown on a suite of new modern Indian dining options in western Wake County. 

Brian Howe previews Active Imagination, a new festival premiering at Shadowbox Studio, January 27-29, in which “more than two dozen performers from the Triangle will show new work in the forms of solos, duos, and ensembles.” (Speaking of Shadowbox, a reminder that Alex Maness and Jim Haverkamp, the duo behind the space, are giving us something to look forward to in 2026: a downtown arthouse cinema.) 

ICYMI: Hoop Dreams. John Beerman’s abstractions. A trip to the archives. New movies.

Stanczyks, a new bar and music space, has opened on Main Street from the team behind Federal and James Joyce. Ella West Gallery in Durham closed in late December, but founder Linda Shropshire plans to stage site-specific installations across the South and launch a local event, Black Wall Street Art Festival, in 2027, per a press release. Winston-Salem barbecue restaurant East of Texas is expanding to Durham and opening on the American Tobacco Campus. 

A new baby lemur. Walk for Peace, a group of Buddhist monks embarking on a 120-day journey across ten states on foot, will be walking through Raleigh on January 24. (The group was recently reunited with their dog.) Axios has more on Big Cat, the “restaurant, to-go market and neighborhood watering hole” opening in Raleigh’s East Mordecai neighborhood. 

— Sarah Edwards —
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