MySpace blog – Monday 24 March 2008
“But I’m losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.”
As a way of judging how up with the times I am with music, I consciously make a note of how long it takes me, from January 1st, to buy a new album which has been produced during the new calendar year.
Forget the tracklisting on the back of a new CD, for me the date displayed underneath is the all important thing to check. Buy something in January or February and I will allow myself to think I’m ’hip’; still waiting in Spring and, tragically once, summer and I know my finger is anywhere but on the pulse.
So far in 2008 I’ve yet to buy an album which has been manufactured since I last sang ’Old Langs Eye’, though even if I had it’s unlikely I’d be feeling pleased with myself. The reality is that I’ve taken my eye off the ball when it comes to soaking up new and exciting artists.
I can’t remember the last time I bought a music magazine, while friends I can normally hold long conversations with about the music scene are quoting names I’ve never heard of. My last gig was before Christmas and there isn’t another on the horizon until the second May Bank Holiday. The other week my brother visited from Newcastle and excitedly talked of summer music festivals he’s aiming to attend and I’m suddenly facing up to the uncomfortable realisation I might not be visiting any myself, something which has happened only once since I was 17.
How did I allow this to happen? Two years ago I was a regular reader of DJ magazine and, while I wasn’t going clubbing at the rate I’d once enjoyed, I was still getting to something at least every other month. Recently one of my best friends, who largely ignored the house music scene for a couple of years, has suddenly rediscovered an old passion and is mystified why I refuse to go along with him to old haunts. Others are asking me to attend gigs and something is holding me back. It leaves me questioning myself; have I suddenly become the oldest 26-year old in the world? Today I listened to LCD Soundsystem’s masterpiece ’Losing my edge’ and realised its meaning largely applied to where I am now.
It’s not as if I’ve stopped liking my music, but my interest seems to have taken a slower pace than others. So far this year I’ve bought several CDs and really enjoyed them, such as Radiohead’s stunning ’In Rainbows’ and UNKLE’s ’War Stories’, not to mention loved a CD my friend Martin posted me by Matthew Dear – minimal house/techno with that little more edge. I’ve also had some classics regularly playing on my stereo, such as the Stone Roses, Hot Chip’s ’DJ Kicks’, John Squire, Graham Coxon and New Order.
I recently purchased Krafty Kuts’ Fabric Live CD and am blown away by its better moments. The seven days that Radio 1 made Hernan Catteneo’s Essential Mix available online saw me spend two hours an evening listening to his gorgeous progressive house set. My mate Steve has brought Deep Purple, Thin Lizzy, Queens of the Stoneage and The Doors for car journey’s to City away games recently, which I’ve enjoyed to varying degrees. I still love my music and find nothing more enjoyable at the end of a hard day at work than playing a few belters, but very little of it is anything modern.
Should this matter? When I compare my music tastes with friends I still feel superior to most. Perhaps it’s knowing that it’s all continuing without me which is the most unsettling. My brother and friend Martin are still planning to attend the Big Chill this summer, something I may not be able to with plans to visit America in the air. How dare they even consider it without me, in fact how dare they spend their weekend’s seeing new music in the respective cities they live in? If I’m going to sit at home going through music at a slower speed and beginning to make those first tragic mutterings that ’music these days isn’t as good as it used to be’, the least they could do is the same.
Ultimately I feel as though I’ve come to a crossroads in my life long career of a music devotee. On the occasions I’ve been to gigs in the last year, I’ve enjoyed it as much as ever; but somewhere along the line other priorities have taken over. Missing only two Bradford City matches home and away since the turn of the year may have a lot to do with why my CD collection is yet to include one produced in 2008. The season is coming to an end (thank goodness, it’s been average) so there may be surplus money and a renewed desire for gigs soon. I may yet be sampling warm beer from a plastic cup while wearing sunglasses this summer just yet.
And this is where the next stage of my music loving life is heading to. I’m probably slowly turning into the three-gigs-a-year-moron who treats each one like an excuse to get over drunk and moan loudly when bands want to play ’new songs’ instead of the big numbers “I know the words to”. If a gig is rubbish I’ll unfairly compare it to the time I saw another band on top form, “And when I saw New Order they performed for two hours and did World in Motion, now that was a quality night”. Soon I’ll want to watch from the seating areas because “what’s wrong with being comfortable to enjoy it?” and I’ll always buy a t-shirt at the end so I can wear it to the pub for the next month to advertise to strangers that I’m still hip, honest.
For my friends not at such a stage, I’ll largely be a nightmare to go along with. No you won’t find me in some dingy venue watching the next big minimal house DJ play to one man and his dog, but I’ll join you for the bigger gig and loudly moan about the price of Carling and talk about house prices while you’re trying to enjoy the support act.
Or maybe I’ll snap out of it, enjoy the May Bank Holiday Evolution Festival and be in HMV the following day buying a clutch of new albums with the all important ’made in 2008’ copyright, before returning home to look up future gigs to get to. I may be losing my edge but, going along at my own slow pace, I’m still enjoying the journey.
