New Year's Resolutions

By Andrew Hertzberg

Ok, I’m not normally one to make these kinds of things, but having been inspired by the list at We Listen For You for all of us who create, listen to, buy, steal, and write about music, I’ve decided I want to step up my own game on the Internet machine. So here is how I’m going to be a better person about music this year:

1) Preview more shows. Rarely a night goes by in this city without some incredible musical event taking place. I’d go to them all if time and money were irrelevant. But just because I can’t go to every show, doesn’t mean you don’t have to. Every Tuesday, I’m gonna run a weekly preview of shows I think you should go to. Why Tuesday? Because it’s just as arbitrary as any other day of the week. Especially during these winter months, I know we all need a little extra motivation to want to go out, so this is my little way of giving you a little kick in the ass and out the door.

2) Buy more vinyl. I think we can all agree that if anyone wants to purchase a physical copy of anything, it might as well be vinyl. I don’t know the last time I bought a CD and didn’t just immediately burn it to my computer and never touch the disc again. Considering a lot of bands and labels offer a download code with the vinyl, might as well get both the digital and analog bang for your buck. Not to mention supporting bands, labels and local record stores directly as opposed to relying on the Spotifys and Bandcamps.

3) Listen to more recorded music. Besides the abundance of year end lists that make another one just a piece of hay in a haystack, I’ve never really attempted one, because, well, I realize I just don’t take the time to listen to a lot of albums and become immersed enough with them. I am generally more attracted to the live setting and the sense that anything can happen as opposed to static content, but that’s only one side of the coin. Hoping my #2 will help in this department.

4) Read other blogs. Of course I read other blogs, but not to the extent that I should. Although this doesn’t fall entirely on me. Unfortunately, a lot of blogs end up posting the same stuff and it can be cumbersome to weed through the repetitive emails, posts and tweets about the new daily Weeknd album. Just gonna push myself to find better blogs with original content and hope that we at WCR help fill that role ourselves.

5) Never miss another ONO show again. This band has been around one way or another for longer than I’ve been alive and I only finally saw them a couple months ago. Part avant-garde noise rock, part performance art. Richard from Loud Loop Press coined them "Indavant Gospelgaze." Don’t make the same mistakes I have. Follow them on frontman Travis’ personal website.

Ohh, I’m sure there’s always more I can do, but this looks like a good start. Here’s to 2012. Cheers.