Everyone has a line, a breaking point, that, when reached makes them rethink certain things. I continued to use Spotify for far longer than I should have, in addition to my regular support of the music I love. (I mean, really, we should all be augmenting our streaming services with buying records, concert tickets, merch, etc, whenever we can.) But a few months ago, former Spotify CEO (and current executive chair) Daniel Ek pledged €600 million of his vast, ill-gotten fortune to Helsing, a German firm specializing in AI military technology. This was my line. It was time to ditch Spotify for a different evil steaming overlord – Apple Music. I wanted to do something to “celebrate” this change. A new playlist series seemed like a good idea. Something to help me familiarize myself with a new platform, but also to combat the rise of insipid AI-created playlists. I'm (not actually) sorry, but an algorithm cannot make a mixtape with any kind of feeling or purpose. A good mix is something you sit down, think about, select carefully. I should know, I've been making tapes and playlists for my friends for almost three decades now. (Shout out Blake Shiny Tunes. IYKYK)

But just making a playlist didn't seem particularly fun or exciting, so I sat and I thought, long and hard. Who do I know that uses Apple Music that can help put something together? And it occurred to me, one of coolest dudes I know, and one of my most-trusted music allies uses Apple Music, the big homie Joshua Szirmay-Corrales. From the moment I met Josh in the middle of Rifflandia festival, discussing the great Reggie Watts, he has become one of my most trusted musical taste-havers. The man's ear is impeccable. In a world where everyone seemingly has something to recommend for my ears, Josh is one of the only people who gets their recommendations to the front of my queue. In recent years he's taken up as the main writing contributor with Rocktographers, our hometown Victoria's most-trusted source for live music coverage, and our local scene is absolutely better for it.

And now we're here, celebrating the very first Trash Gentlemen List. This recurring playlist will be a place to celebrate all the different bits of music that make us love it so much. This is a place for you, dear reader/listener, to come find something new, maybe reconnect with something old and most hopefully, to help you think about music in some of the ways you used to, before an algorithm started to take everything over. Each one of these lists is going to be built around a unifying theme or idea, not just a collection of dope songs (Though each list certainly will be that!). To get things started we're looking at some of our favourite Track 1s. We're opening the series with a series of openers. So sit back, relax and let's get into some fucking music.