New year, New York, new post!
This evening at the gym every treadmill had a runner, every bike had a biker, and every machine had a lifter. I’ve never seen so many people working out at once. It is the new year in New York. A time and a place to change. Delusion? Perhaps. But who am I to judge? The same force flowing through the legs of those runners is now pushing my fingers to type. And just as others look back on what they did or should have done and why they did or didn’t, I’m looking at what music meant to me in 2008, at how my taste and habits changed.
For the last few years leading up to 2008, my predominant experience of music occurred around other people. I worked in a radio station, I went to dances, I listened to music in groups, I shared and swapped mixes, and I talked about music constantly with others. Even when listening to music alone in my different rooms, I felt like people were there with me. My musical life, and the preferences that developed out of my experiences, existed with other people. One could say that I was just following the crowd (so to speak), but I had a really good time doing it. We got excited about music together, and we expressed our love of music through one another.
The music of 2008, however, seemed to play in a different key. The crowd wasn’t there. I could still pick out a hot tune, one I knew my friends around the globe would like. But in general I went into something like a music abyss. For the first time in many years I only listened to music alone. Long subway rides with my headphones replaced those countless dance parties. Silent and diligent CD shopping trips replaced late-night sessions of loud, new music at the station with my friends. I think this new key, this new mode, made me start the blog, in an effort to reconnect with those others, with that crowd, and regain that same excitement.
It didn’t work. Or, it didn’t seem to work in the way I wanted: I still enjoyed music, but the excited crowd was still gone. So I stopped writing and took a few months to do other things. In that hiatus, I’ve realized that the blog itself, and the process of thinking and writing about something I love, should be the central goal. My goal this year is to love the things I love more. To begin this resolution is my 2008 mix, made of songs that brought me to a good place, whether around others or not.
Spring/Summer (click to play)
1. Three Way – The Magnetic Fields
2. Last Day of Magic – The Kills
3. Courtship Dancing – Crystal Castles
4. Paris s’enflamme – Ladyhawke
5. Hercules Theme – Hercules and Love Affair
6. Can’t Say No – Thomas Function
7. Hammer I Miss You – Jay Reatard
8. Converging in the Quiet – Crystal Stilts
9. Room Without a Key (Version by Studio) – Rubies
10. Shempi – Ratatat
11. Constructive Summer – The Hold Steady
12. Give Up – CSS
Fall/Winter (click to play)
1. River Card – Atlas Sound
2. I Am a Girlfriend – Nobunny
3. Valley Hi! – Stereolab
4. Four Provinces – The Walkmen
5. Little Bit – Lykke Li
6. Hundreds and Thousands – Fujiya & Miyagi
7. Mustaa Lunta – Fucked Up
8. Tell the World – Vivian Girls
9. Heavy Water / I’d Rather Be Sleeping – Grouper
10. Highway of Endless Dreams – M83
11. Give Him a Great Big Kiss – The Shangri-Las
If you like any of these songs, support the artist and go buy the album.
Happy New Year
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