My dad had a heart attack, and then got married, all without me there, weird stuff.
I did not go to Santa Cruz enough, probably because Nate was gone and Ira was being a reclusive hippie, but Carlin was always there for me. I could always use dorm food to help me through the day.
The thing that really stuck out to me this year was the fact that I discovered a lot of good music, the best part is that most of it was old music. Let's be clear, this sounds like a broken record but most new music is boring to me. It's over produced and full of non-talent, the talent is in the business marketing and the producers who are smart enough to sacrifice their integrity for a steady sum of money, and more power to them, the artists are the one's who are suffering.
The main shout out here goes to my friend Ian, he really got me to check out older stuff after years of me showing him the good stuff and getting him out of his terrible metal phase. We now look at the music we used to listen to as a joke, but Ian really showed me that most new stuff now is simply ripping off someone who did it first 30 years ago, and that sometimes the people doing it 30 years ago did it better. There is no problem with being influenced by older artists but sometimes certain artists (Muse) aren't even trying and are borderline ripping off their influences.
It's really getting to me, my former room mate is badass and I love him to death but for every good thing in music he likes he enjoys 4 shitty-fake artists.
Here is what I discovered in 2008
1. David Bowie: I had a greatest hits, but I got "Heroes" and from then on I was hooked. He has done everything and most people in music own him credit for doing something first. I will say though he hasn't made a great album in many years.
2. Depeche Mode: this is a linger on from 2007 but I could not stop listening to them this year!
3. Studio - "Yearbook 1": this album I got off my friend James, and it's Swedish electro music but it's so good
4. Tricky - "Maxinquaye": another shout out to Ian, this album is not getting a play stoppage anytime soon
5. PJ Harvey - "Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea": another Ian shout, classic pop songwriting and all the Radiohead fans can rejoice because their singer shows up on it and doesn't turn the songs into electronically muffled shit.
6. Oasis: they put out a rockin' new album last year and I discovered the good and bad of their back catalogue. "What's the Story (Morning Glory)" is classic rock indulgence.
that's it for now, I need to sleep, but I discovered so much good old music that I had to shout it somewhere.
