Details & Restaurant Playlists

There is a view that Youtube algorithms have killed serendipity. Instead, the algorithm reinforces existing beliefs by sharing things I already believe and like. This doesn’t seem false.

But, the surprise I feel from watching a suggested video seems genuine and not manufactured by Youtube’s algorithm. This is what I felt after listening to a playlist of composer/musician Ryuichi Sakamoto. My favourite is Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence. There are multiple versions of it, I think all are good.

While reminiscing over Joe Hisashi and Yiruma while on the Sakamoto trail on Spotify and Youtube, I learned about Sakamoto’s Kajitsu playlist. "What is this?"…. I wondered.

Turns out, Sakamoto hated the music in his favourite NYC restaurant, Kajitsu, and asked the chef if he could curate a playlist for him. A NYT piece updated me on the backstory.

It made me think about how often I pay/don’t pay attention to music while I’m eating. Given my affinity for coffee shops, I notice it most there. It may also be because I find many to be too noisy for my reading and writing. Oddly enough, I listen to thunderstorms, crowded murmurs, or quiet jazz while in coffee shops.

I just never thought someone would take the time to pick out specific songs to craft a playlist for a restaurant. But after reading the NYT article it now seems ludicrous that someone wouldn’t do that. Eating at a restaurant is a holistic experience for the sense after all.

Quite honestly, I will go to certain restaurants not because the food is amazing (my palate isn’t quite refined) but for the ambiance and crowd, it attracts. As one coffee shop owner told me….they wanted to make the place “instragrammable” and well.. I the average human am a sucker for nicely decorated places too.

But music is a sense I didn’t think too much about while eating. Usually, there is a conversation taking place instead. With another person or I’m listening/watching media.

Then does this mean Sakamoto frequently eats alone? Because this is usually when music matters for me. When I eat alone or am in a coffee shop alone.

Is it that only when we are alone that we start seeing missing details? Or is it when there aren’t any other distractions that you can zoom in on the details?

Successively, it’s when these details hurting you that it’s a signal of it mattering. Sometimes, it can physically hurt or anger you.

Sakamoto says he just leaves some restaurants when the music is off. I wonder if it’s the same frustration I feel in poorly managed companies or talking with people who have no ambition.

What details frustrate you?