As the year draws to a close I see numerous top 50 album lists in various places and for the first time I can remember I can honestly say I don’t know any of the albums being touted as the finest of the past 12 months. It’s a strange feeling but it’s a feeling I can’t seem to shake.
As the year dawned I was no longer involved in the music retail business having worked for various companies and even had my own small indie shop which meant I was constantly hearing new albums good and (mainly) not my cup of char.Living in rural Ireland meant that a trip to the city 40 miles away was my only way to see and hear anything released and this was also the first year that Cork my nearest city had no indie shop of its own (Plugd was a great shop everything a small indie should be and the good news is that after nigh on a year they have recently re-opened).So that left me with the internet and the reviews sections of magazines like Mojo or Uncut. Now I have stopped buying these publications after years of getting them and Word magazine and the like for years for reasons mainly economical (at around 7 euro a pop I can’t justify it) and also as there are only so many times I can read about the Beatles or Pink Floyd or other such cover stalwarts.
Downloads I just don’t really get , I’m old school I want a tangible piece of art in my hand preferably on vinyl so this year has been all about re-discovering my collection whilst of course adding to it with stuff I already knew about if you get me.
Of course I haven’t ignored new releases completely as I made journeys to pick up albums by Weller, Neil Young and Gil Scott Heron so you can see I’m at the fore-front of the cutting edge?!!
So I’m left wondering why I simply couldn’t be arsed to dig out new music after all the internet is perfect for doing just that. Maybe as I grow a bit older and have two young kids running round all day making all manner of racket I just want to relax and have fallen into the ‘play something we know’ trap that used to annoy the hell out of me? Often I hear new stuff and think it sounds a bit like such and such so I might as well go and listen to them? Maybe I just feel that bit older and have internally realised that most of the new music released is just not aimed at me and that’s fair enough I’d hate to be the drunk uncle at the wedding.
Or maybe the new fads were right……
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6-kdG-TFyAPhil
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