Chris Shoemaker

Cellist · Pianist · Programmer

Notes on music, listening, and the odd bit of code.

I’m Chris. I’ve played cello since I was seven (now in the Oakland Civic Orchestra) and piano since nine, studied computer science at Carleton, and still believe the best playlist is the one you’re about to hand to a friend.

On Music

All writing →
  1. No. 02The Rest is Noise by Alex Ross: First (sort of) impressionThirty-odd pages into Alex Ross on the twentieth century: Strauss, Mahler, and the art of the frenemy.
  2. No. 01IntroductionWhy this page exists: a cello at age three, a flat refusal to be taught, and a bootleg Planxty CD on the road to Louisville.

Listening

A rotating playlist of whatever has been on repeat lately. Currently spinning: October ’26.

Last heard“You're Not Good Enough”Blood Orange

Ratings and reviews of everything else live on RateYourMusic, and every play gets logged on Last.fm.

October

294 plays across 128 artists

  1. Mussorgsky: Pictures at an ExhibitionModest Mussorgsky33 plays
  2. PugnelloGilla Band28 plays
  3. In Search Of...N*E*R*D17 plays
  4. Audit In ProgressHot Snakes12 plays
  1. 01Modest Mussorgsky33
  2. 02Gilla Band30
  3. 03N*E*R*D17
  4. 04Hot Snakes12
  5. 05Torche8

This week, years ago

  1. 2025AudioLust & HigherLove — SG LewisAlso CHRYSTAL & NOTION, Wavedash · 48 plays that week
  2. 2024Reality Check (North American Edition) — The TeenagersAlso MILK., Glare · 156 plays that week
  3. 2023Seventeen Seconds — The CureAlso Gilla Band, Smut · 201 plays that week
  4. 2022Mercurial World — Magdalena BayAlso Holy Fawn, Porter Robinson · 136 plays that week
  5. 2021I Let It In And It Took Everything — LoatheAlso Bon Iver, Hans Zimmer · 61 plays that week
  6. 2020Use Your Time Wisely — Strange NamesAlso The Pogues, The 1975 · 98 plays that week
Show all 12 yearsShow fewer
  1. 2019i,i — Bon IverAlso The 1975, Cherry Pools · 127 plays that week
  2. 2018FM! — Vince StaplesAlso The National, Young Fathers · 114 plays that week
  3. 2017The Epic — Kamasi WashingtonAlso Bleachers, Gates · 14 plays that week
  4. 2016Being No One, Going Nowhere — STRFKRAlso Ayer, Draper · 105 plays that week
  5. 2015Ritual In Repeat (Deluxe) — TennisAlso Frightened Rabbit, Bloc Party · 81 plays that week
  6. 2014Cerulean — BathsAlso The Chain Gang of 1974, Ed Tullett · 215 plays that week

Counted from Last.fm · 66,657 plays since 2013 · synced Nov 5, 2026