For those who miss the CD Mix of the Month Club:

Où avez-vous trouvé cette belle idée? Les projets d’échange de compilations sur Internet n’ont pas manqués ces dernières années, mais celui-ci est particulièrement redevable à Josh Benton de crabwalk.com, bloggeur américain qui fit le bonheur de nombreux amateurs avec ses “CD Mix of the Month” mensuels, jusqu’au printemps 2003.

Meanwhile, Pitchfork is running down their favorite singles of the year, with a pretty solid top 10. I really like the fact that their choices aren’t all white indie bands and that they give some love to hip-hop/R&B radio staples (Beyonce! Kelis! 50 Cent!). Catholic musical tastes — that’s where the action’s at! I think that welcome wisdom is reflected in the introduction:

For the first time this year, the effects of file-sharing on personal taste became unmistakably clear: the indie community’s palettes — and everyone else’s — have broadly diversified. Freed from the careful decision-making that comes with $12 purchases, we can now easily branch out beyond the genres we’ve always loved and discover the inherent worth in all of them…

The great thing about music right now is that listeners don’t have to be “staunch” anymore. In an age when all music is free, dedicating yourself to just one specific genre or type only denies you the hedonistic musical bliss that is rightfully yours…in 2003, there were more than enough brilliant tracks from both sides, and friends, coming from a reformed tightass, there’s just no reason to deny it.

I have a vision of a world of reformed musical tightasses.

On a final music-related note, ex-D-Plan leader Travis Morrison has posted a new song from his upcoming album. The music’s great — sounds like it would fit on a cross between Schoolhouse Rock and A Charlie Brown Christmas. (Definite Vince Guaraldi influence there.) The lyrics…well, they’re amusing (the second chorus is priceless), but they stoke my longstanding fears that Travis may be falling off that tightrope between fun and novelty. Only time will tell.

18 December 2003

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