🎙️ Jason Dettbarn, writer and designer

Watches TV and sports (Hockey + Football + F1); listens to albums; and reads comics.

To start out, can you tell us a little about yourself and where people can follow your work?

I live in Buffalo, NY with my wife and three teenage kids (twin juniors in high school and one senior graduating this year.) For my day job, I work as a UX/UI designer slash business analyst for a large science equipment supplier.

I have a music blog called Crucial Tracks, where we focus on interviews with people around the songs that made them who they are today… as well as the important new releases that come out each week. I love music and I appreciate the impact music has had on my life, so it’s pretty fun to share that along with similar stories from very cool people. My main focus in 2025 will be getting the interview queue filled up again, so please subscribe to the newsletter or RSS feed to stay in the know on that!

Another cool aspect of the Crucial Tracks site is my band photos section, which I moved there recently from Flickr. I’ve been taking photos of bands since the mid 90s and my days of doing hardcore music zines. It’s been featured on a few music sites/communities over the years, so I’m quite proud of that little archive.

Besides music, I enjoy cooking, hiking, and photography. I also collect records, comics, and hockey cards… and have an XBOX and Switch, though I don’t have much time to play video games these days!

You can also find all my social accounts and personal blog details at jasondettbarn.com

Given the wonderful Crucial Tracks site, let's start with music

What's your process for discovering new music?

Generally I browse the New Releases section for each genre in Apple Music. Artists I’m familiar with get a definite listen, while others get a shorter trial. I generally listen to 20-30 seconds of a couple songs from an unknown artist to see if they get a deeper listen. I already listen to so much music for Crucial Tracks, I have to be OK with not hearing everything, fully, the first time it’s released. I’m sure I miss a lot, but I’ve also found some of my favorite artists from 2024 like Merce Lemon, julie, Bendigo Fletcher, Sprints, Lizzy McAlpine, The Dead Tongues, and Haley Heynderickx.

I go through a similar process every Friday, but generally only look at Alternative and Indie... Which genres do you tend to focus on?

I tend to focus on Alternative, Indie, Punk, and Hip-Hop. If there isn’t much new I will check out genres like Rock, Americana, and Metal to see if anything looks interesting.

And how do you listen to your music?

I generally listen to full albums, either via vinyl or streaming (Apple Music, specifically the Albums app.) Generally I listen while working, walking, or driving. One of my kids play travel ice hockey and various varsity sports, so we’re driving her around a lot!

With TV and Sports being a large part of your consumption, are you still a cable subscriber?

No cable. We haven’t had cable for awhile. Thankfully ESPN+ has a lot of hockey and some F1 coverage. Football is covered via local channels. Watching the Sabres (NHL) takes some creativity and VPN assistance, since they are almost always a blackout. As far as serial TV shows, we use most of the streaming services at some point or another during the year.

Who are your teams?

I’m a long suffering Buffalo fan… Bills and Sabres. Some of my core memories include going to Bills playoff games during their four consecutive Super Bowl run…and watching each and every loss in the big game. For the Sabres, my (future) wife and I were out at a bar watching the infamous triple OT Game Six of the Stanley Cup, where Brett Hull scored with a skate in the crease. Another soul crushing defeat for this city…I really hope our losing streak ends soon!

My son got me into Formula One this past season and I’ve been partial to McLaren (his favorite) and I enjoyed rooting for Logan Sargeant as an underdog, while he was still on the circuit.

How do you view the current streaming landscape?

I honestly think it’s kind of getting ridiculous. Too many services charging too much for way too much choice. There are a lot of good, entertaining shows so I can’t complain too much, but it’s basically cable all over again and probably more expensive. (Unless you manage your subscriptions strategically each month.)

Do you use anything to track your listening, watching, and reading?

For music listening, I use the iOS app Albums and it’s Last.fm scrobbling ability to track my activity. For TV watching I’ve been using the app Marathon. I was using Sequel for TV, movies, and books… but Marathon caught my eye and I’ve been enjoying it’s UI and functionality for TV. I still use Sequel to track books and movies, though. It’s a very good app.

Have comics always been part of your life?

I basically got into comics when the kids were little. Merlin Mann talked about Uncanny X-men so often on the Back to Work podcast, I dove in and got hooked on that Whedon/Cassaday run and haven’t looked back. I don’t do a great job reading every issue in my stack, but I still keep up with my favorite writers like Rick Remender, Jeff Lemire, Jason Aaron, and Kieron Gillen.

Do you have a favorite current series?

I’m not entirely caught up but I’ve enjoyed Void Rivals from Skybound/Image Comics. I loved Transformers and GI Joe growing up so it’s fun to read something in the same universe.

You're stranded on an island... you get one album, one comic series, and one show, what are they?

• Album: probably Broken Social Scene's You Forgot It In People. It's quiet and loud; melodic and noisy; beautiful and ugly; sparse and full... it's a modern masterpiece in my opinion.
• Comic Series: probably cheating but the Chris Claremont Uncanny X-Men run. It’s long and has some classic story lines.
• TV: LOST, probably. Beyond the irony, there are plenty of easter eggs and mystery to help with re-watchability.

What's the most recent thing that has stuck with you?

• Music: I am absolutely enamored with the band The Spirit of the Beehive and their new album, You’ll Have to Lose Something. They are such a unique force in rock music, I can’t get enough.
• TV: I finally watched Shogun (FX) and holy moly was that a good series. I can’t wait for the second half. I love historical fiction/semi-fiction shows like this and all of the Vikings shows.

And what's something older than 20 years you think holds up really well and people should revisit?

• Music: If you haven’t listened to Broken Social Scene’s You Forgot It in People or their self-titled followup, they are both a must listen. The first is going to be 23 years old and the self-titled will be 20 years old this year. That makes me feel old.
• TV: I haven't re-watched much in the way of older shows lately, but I can't believe LOST started over 20 years ago. I think it's time for a re-watch, since I've talked it up so much this interview.

Any last words about your media consumption or the state of entertainment?

It can be exhausting. There’s so much choice nowadays (literally millions of books and songs published each year), it’s hard to know what to listen to, watch, or read next sometimes. I don’t think social media algorithms help at all either, as they seem to push the absurd or click bait. I’m glad there seems to be a resurgence of blogs and I’m excited about the growth of non-algorithm social media like the Fediverse and Micro.blog. We need more curators and small communities. I hope it continues!

Anyone you think has good taste we should interview next?

My Crucial Tracks co-conspirator Chris Fritton has been one of my best friends for over 40 years. He has great taste, reads a ton, and loves TV/music so I think he would be a fun read. Plus he’s an accomplished poet and letterpress printer, which I think jibes with your publication.