2008 Liner Notes Introduction.

Episode 2008: A New Adventure.



Dear Friends and Family, Loved Ones All:

It's hard to believe it's that time of year again. Time to rush madly between family gatherings, to max out the credit cards buying gifts for people, and to gorge yourself into a diabetic coma. Yes, it truly is the most wonderful time of the year. That means it's also time for a holiday tradition that's older than most Chinese gymnasts, the making and sharing of my annual playlist of songs of my year.



2008 was truly a historic (an historic? what's the rule on that?) year. We elected our first African-American President, the economy suffered more setbacks than the release of Windows Vista, and, most shockingly, Tampa Bay played in the World Series. I hope each of you made it through the year healthy, happy, and employed.



Sadly, it was not such a nhistoric year in music(nhistoric . . . I like the sound of that), at least compared to recent years. For example, if I made a list of my twenty favorite albums from the last two years, only three or four of those albums would come from this year. That being said, I still had about fifty songs that I really loved from this year, so I'm as pleased with this year's playlist as I have been for almost any year so far.



The Cows and Prawns, er, Pros and Cons of This Blog.

So, you may be asking yourself, why the new format? Well, every year, I debate on whether or not this is the year I decide not to make the Christmas cd and just get everyone a fruitcake. The factors weighing against making the cd include:

• The increasingly insane busy-ness of life. (I honestly don't know what we're going to do if and when the Lord blesses us with little time-sucking bundles of joy.) This means not only that I get to listen to less music during the year, but that I also can't listen to the music that I do enjoy as often or in as many different settings as I would like. A good album is like a good friend, and you can't really tell how good your friendship is until you listen to an album in different settings. You may have a friend that's great to hang out with once in a while at a ball game, but who would drive you crazy if you had to spend hours with them on a daily basis. Then, there are other folks who don't make any real impression on you at first, but later come to be great friends. Music is the same way. Some albums you can listen to every day, and every day you would discover new things to love about it. Some albums are great no matter what mood you are in. Some albums sound great in the car, in headphones, or playing out of the awful speakers of your laptops. On the other hand, some albums only sound good on a road trip, or when you are in a certain mood, or when they can wash over you as you lay in your bed listening to headphones. Similarly, some albums make you think they're classics the first week you own it, only to reveal themselves as pedestrian a month later. Or an album either sounds harsh or fails to make an impression at first only to become a favorite after enough listens (for me, this process can take years). All this to say that it takes time to evaluate music, both to listen to a range of music and to give the music you do have repeated listens, and time is one resource I seem to have less and less of.
  
• Lack of avenues to discover good new music. Houston's radio market is a vast and horrifying wasteland such as you would find in a Cormac McCarthy novel. ClearChannel has a strangling hold over the airwaves here. The local "alternative" station thinks Arcade Fire is a strange form of carpal-tunnel syndrome that afflicts video game fans. It's a truly depressing situation. I do have XM Radio through my satellite tv subscription, but usually when I'm watching tv I want to be, I dunno, watching tv. That leaves only my subscription to Paste magazine and word of mouth as about my only two avenues to discover new tunes. I have to say, Paste does a pretty darned good job of keeping me informed, but I still feel like there's a lot going on that I really have no clue about. As a result, I don't really know if anyone else is listening to the music on my playlist in a given year or how much great tunage is slipping through my net.
  
• Too much new music. A combination of technology, a changing music scene, and the incompetence of major-label record companies has resulted in a musical marketplace that's hospitable to smaller, independent labels and to the more ecclectic, experimental bands that they tend to sign. While this is a wonderful development on the whole, it means that there is a flood of new music coming out at any given time, and it's very difficult to filter that flood to find something that might be of interest. Again, my net is pretty small, so I worry that there's just too many tasty fish that swim away most years.

So, why, you may ask, did I decide to not only forge ahead with making a playlist this year, but to also expand my modest liner notes into this blog? Aside from rank megalomania, there are basically three reasons:

• A way to stay in touch. Sadly, for an increasing number of you, I only get to see you once or twice a year, if that. I've heard from more than one of you that the liner notes are something you look forward to as much or more than the actual cd, so I thought I would expand the liner notes a bit and share a little more of my life with you. Hopefully, it's not too much of a good thing. It also lets you enjoy a bit more of my sense of humor, which, like coffee, is an acquired taste that eventually leads to a crippling addiction. I'm here to feed your addiction.


• A creative outlet. I think it's deep within human nature to want to create, to add some beauty to the world and to share that with others. Well, I don't paint, and I've been mostly frustrated by attempts to write songs or literature in the past. However, I enjoy non-fiction writing, and I'm usually pretty good at it, so this is a natural format for me to let my creative juices flow. While I do more or less write for a living, drafting briefs and motions is a little too constricting to satisfy the urge to create. So, this blog is an attempt to maintain a hold on my humanity after a hard day of billable hours.
  
• Room to spread out. The more expansive blog format will allow me to include some things that would have been impossible in the old liner notes, such as lists, awards and pictures. I'm very excited about the lists! I love lists! See, my mom passed on her mania for list-making mania to both me and my sister. I like to have everything in its place, and I can give you my top five or top ten or "Mount Rushmore" on most any topic at the drop of a hat. And if I can't, I'll think one up, because it gives me a chance to make a list! In a related manner, I like awards. I think everyone should get an award for something periodically just to show that somebody notices what they are doing. Not just boring awards like "Employee of the Month," but also fun and ridiculous awards like, "Employee Who Dresses the Most Like Kramer" or "Employee Who Bears a Freakish Resemblance to Richard Simmons." Travis and I used to give people honorary doctorates in such esteemed fields as Tomfoolery and Being the Studhorse of the Universe. It was great! Basically anything unique or noteworthy you should get an award for. That's my pledge to you.

Speaking of lists, it's about time for one. Here's my top twenty albums of 2007. As I mentioned above, only three or four albums from 2008 would have made this list were they released in 2007:

1. Icky Thump by The White Stripes
2. Neon Bible by Arcade Fire
3. The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter
4. In Rainbows by Radiohead
5. Cease to Begin by Band of Horses
6. The Reminder by Feist
7. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga by Spoon
8. Wincing the Night Away by The Shins
9. Boxer by The National
10. The Ringing Bell by Derek Webb
11. Armchair Apocrypha by Andrew Bird
12. The Con by Tegan and Sarah
13. The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse by The Besnard Lakes
14. Fort Nightly by The White Rabbits
15. We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank by Modest Mouse
16. Our Love to Admire by Interpol
17. The Stage Names by Okkervil River
18. Challengers by The New Pornographers
19. Favourite Worst Nightmare by The Arctic Monkeys
20. Sky Blue Sky by Wilco

So, all that to say, welcome to the new and (hopefully) improved version of commentary to my annual cd. I hope you enjoy.

How to use this blog.

Here are some helpful suggestions and recommendations to peruse this blog.

Comments, please. Please feel free to comment! The best blogs I've come across work because they are conversational, with give and take from among the poster and the readers. If you see a list or an opinion you disagree with, please offer your take. All I ask is that you keep your comments free from profanity and name calling; that goes for you, too, Mee-Maw!

Wikipedia is your friend. I will make many references and allusions to pop culture, sports, literature, movies, obscure bands and other such things. I apologize if some of them are esoteric, but that adds to the offbeat humor of the thing. If you don't know what in the world I'm talking about, feel free to ask, but it may be more efficient to look it up online.

Patience and kindness, please. So, you may have noticed that the blog is not done. I will try to finish as soon as possible, but, at least this way you don't have to wade through pages and pages in one sitting. Check in from time to time to see if a new post has gone up!
Also, it's very hard to write intelligibly about music. With books and movies, you can describe a scene or explain a character's actions to give a sense of your subject. Music is more abstract than that. You can give some lyrics or say a song is a "guitar-driven ballad," but that doesn't really explain what's magical about it or what makes it worth listening to. So, how do you say something about a song or album that's more useful than, "I liked it" or "I hated it"? Well, I'm not sure but I'll give it a try, but have some understanding if I fall woefully short.

Wishing you and yours a joyful and nhistoric 2009!