Twelve Months Older
Y’know what? I was going to try very, very hard for you guys in December, but it’s not worked out like that.
You’ve earned it. I wasn’t expecting much from this blog, entirely. I mean, music blogs are ten-a-penny, if that, given the amount of legal, free music out there from bands and artists who are willing to get their name heard before gambling on profits. But what I’ve tried to do is give a side of music writing where it’s obvious to anyone the impact the song has on the listener. A personal feel that makes it a better read, as well as a musical gift with each post. The response has been really good. So, thank you for that.
I had no ethos in mind apart from wanting to share really good music and that’ll continue in 2011. If I have time (which has proved more and more elusive with increasing commitments), you can expect a lot from Nous Aimons Danser in the next twelve months. There are so many great records to be released that we know about already, and countless that’ll sneak up on us, bouncing out of anonymity.
What do we have to look back on? Personally, I’ve had a year that’s wandered between huge career progress and utter, utter hopelessness through the shittiness of people, situations or life in general. I like to think I can look back on 2010 on a progressive note but who can even tell until it’s over? I’m not going to partake in the needless search for nostalgia where there’s barely been incident. All I can say is, it was a mixed bag. But not in music.
In audio, this year was absolutely life-changing. The return of Pavement. Incredible records by Los Campesinos!, Errors, Perfume Genius, Kanye West, the fulfilled potential of blog favourites like Wild Nothing, Wavves and Best Coast, the revitalised hip-hop scene via Freddie Gibbs, Odd Future Wolfgang Kill Them All, Wale, Black Milk and so, so many other amazing things. I’ll immediately look back on this is gruff annoyance because I missed something out. Oh, Yeasayer, their album was pretty amazing.
Sure, there have been negatives. The greed in music has hardly been quelled, with the downloading theft culture still rife, and Talent Show Karaoke Shitfests are still King. More and more, however, the internet and the wherewithal of music journalists have seen scene meld into scene, with a modern culture of mixing and matching from parts of the musical world more than ever. It’s… it’s fucking exciting.
To be a bigger part of it requires bigger effort. Hopefully you’ll see a fancy, new website with a fancy French title written by myself in the next year, with more people involved and more features. There’ll be all the mixes and bursts of excitement when I really want to tell you about this new band or whatever.
So yeah, uh, where was I? Okay, happy new year, thank you for reading and you’ll get a bunch of more stuff to cast yr eyes over soon.
Euan
x
