I realized this morning that I hadn’t made any New Year’s resolutions. I know it’s been 2010 for more than a week now, but I feel like I missed out. So I reevaluated the last twelve months, reconsidered the choices I made and vowed to make some improvements in my life. Here are five New Year’s resolutions I came up with. And they have nothing to do with exercising more, smoking less or paying off credit card bills.
1) I will listen to more new music.
I listen to a lot of music. But I mostly listen to what I already know and love. Call it Pareto Listening—I spend 80% of my time listening to 20% of my music. The same albums get played over and over. Sometimes when I really love a song, I’ll loop only that one track. (It’s enough to drive most people crazy; my roommates are lucky I use headphones.)
As a blogger I listen to everything sent my way. But the volume of music I come across is so overwhelming that I’m always behind. Keeping up with new music is a Sisyphean task. As soon as I think I’m up-to-date, I discover something else I haven’t heard. All these year-end lists I’ve read about the “best CDs/New Artists/Songs of 2009” are making me depressed. I haven’t listened to half of this stuff. Has there really been so much amazing music this year that I don’t know about? I really gotta step up my game and pass along my favorites.
2) I will see more live shows.
I used to have a “live music above all else” policy. It didn’t matter if it was a basement show with shitty sound and more people in the band than in the crowd, I’d take that over a party on Saturday night. I was at a show every single week. Now it’s barely once a month. That’s definitely not enough. There’s something magical about live music. And it’s easy to tell who’s really talented when you see him on stage. So this year I’m gonna go out to more shows like I used to. In fact, I’m making two more concert-related resolutions right now.
3) I will see a concert alone.
This is something I’ve only done twice in my life (both the result of a friend bailing last minute when I was already at the venue). But both shows were fantastic. I listened more closely and more critically than I usually do. And I ended up meeting some cool people who were into the same music. We all hit up another show about a month later. (I know, something about going to a concert alone feels weird at first. But give it a try.)
4) I will travel for a concert.
Remember than Seinfeld episode where George combines his three passions—food, sex and T.V.—to form the “trifecta”? That’s how I feel about this resolution. After live music, my second passion is traveling. It makes sense to combine them, right? I already did it once. This past March I traveled to Mexico City to see Radiohead, carefully planning my trip around the band’s schedule. It was fantastic. I think every vacation can be improved with an awesome concert. There’s a ton of places I want to visit that have booming electronic music scenes—England, Australia, Japan, France. So I’m not going to skim past those foreign dates on the tour poster anymore. I’m gonna start looking at plane tickets.
5) I will finish watching The Wire.
I’m halfway through season four. This is the year.
In accordance with resolution #1, I spent the day digging a ton of Baltimore club songs. I love that this type of music jumps around so much. Short songs, fun loops, fast drums. It’s great music for hanging out, but it’s also danceable without being too heavy.
I’m in the middle of putting together a bmore set and I can’t wait to drop both of these songs in there. The first is a classic that I’ve been trying to find for months. If you’re at all into the Baltimore scene, you’ll recognize it instantly. The second is a fun track that loops James Brown’s vocals (Yeah! Get down!) and some disco synths on top of syncopated drums. I’m starting to think that any James Brown track can be “Baltimored” with the right drumbeat.
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Jimmy Jones & Booman – Watch Out For the Big Girl
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