Someone once told me that music is the decoration of time (and film is the decoration of space). I’m sure he got that from somebody else, but it’s a scorcher of a sentiment regardless. Music is the decoration of my time, certainly; I listen to endless amounts of it, new favourites, old classics. I’m even (sometimes) lucky enough to get to listen to music of my choosing at work. I’m constantly hunting for new things, and re-assessing old flames.
I easily listen to an album a day, somewhere between two and four. I figured that after about two years of this steady diet I should turn it into something useful. I have been told, on occasion, by (presumably biased) friends that I am capable of stringing a word or two together, so I figured that could be my project. A write-up of an album, every day. Nothing long (I’m not Pitchfork), between 250 and 750 words as a loose minimum and maximum. Sometimes an album sets the mind ablaze with joy and movement and images and the words tumble out, ‘glowing like burning coal’; other times an album penetrates to the core of your being whilst bypassing critical and other faculties. You feel it, but you don’t know why. It’s a spectrum.
There is nothing fixed about this. Some days I might just feel like writing about one song that impacts me. There might be some weekends where I just don’t find the time. I might, instead of an album, review a gig I’ve been to. I might use this space to promote the works of musician friends that I want you to hear. EP’s, Live Albums, Compilations are all fair game. Books are too, if they’re related to music. Ditto films.
But expect a steady trickle of music based goodness either way. I’d love it if anyone wanted to hop in and do their own version of this project. Music is the most personal artform because it’s so easy to link to moments in our life; music, more than films or books, can take us back to a certain period in our life with the scratch of a needle on a groove. It doesn’t just remind us of a time; it can encapsulate the feelings of that time in a way that seems to transcend physical engagement. Music is the most readily available thing to become “sublime”.
There is nothing to be ashamed of with that. Some of these posts will skew more towards the personal. Some might be irreverent. There’s no telling what form they’ll take. I love innovation, invention, novelty. Something that sticks in the craw and jolts the eye.
Bring on the tunes.
The Appreciation Index 