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 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: August ’26.

Last heard“Giraffe”Gilla Band

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

October so far

218 plays across 104 artists

  1. PugnelloGilla Band23 plays
  2. Mussorgsky: Pictures at an ExhibitionModest Mussorgsky21 plays
  3. In Search Of...N*E*R*D17 plays
  4. Audit In ProgressHot Snakes12 plays
  1. 01Gilla Band25
  2. 02Modest Mussorgsky21
  3. 03N*E*R*D17
  4. 04Hot Snakes12
  5. 05Torche8

This week, years ago

  1. 2025Fun House — The StoogesAlso Seventeen Years Old and Berlin Wall, Kyuss · 78 plays that week
  2. 2024Hammer of My Own — ClosebyeAlso HighSchool, Drop Nineteens · 43 plays that week
  3. 2023A Place You Grew Up In — LavedaAlso Mitski, Gilla Band · 209 plays that week
  4. 2022Being Funny in a Foreign Language — The 1975Also Brambles, Arkells · 70 plays that week
  5. 2021Midsommar (Original Motion Picture Score) — Bobby KrlicAlso John Adams, Blood Cultures · 51 plays that week
  6. 2020Conatus — Zola JesusAlso Daughters, Huun-Huur-Tu · 51 plays that week
Show all 12 yearsShow fewer
  1. 2019Ghosteen — Nick Cave & the Bad SeedsAlso The Midnight, The Limousines · 74 plays that week
  2. 2018So Long, See You Tomorrow — Bombay Bicycle ClubAlso The 1975, Aminé · 92 plays that week
  3. 201722, a Million — Bon IverAlso Papertwin, BROCKHAMPTON · 15 plays that week
  4. 2016Oh My My — OneRepublicAlso Francis and the Lights, Bayonne · 74 plays that week
  5. 2015Yume — HeliosAlso Battles, Mas Ysa · 112 plays that week
  6. 2014Young Blood — Bea MillerAlso Baths, The Magician · 201 plays that week

Counted from Last.fm · 66,501 plays since 2013 · synced Oct 23, 2026