Monday, January 2, 2012

New Year's Resolutions In New Music

Happy New Year to all -- in the spirit of renewal here are some things I'm looking forward to in 2012. There's the arrival of the new release by the reworked band once known as The Shins, a concert by New Build (interesting project involving members of LCD Soundsystem and Hot Chip, two of my fave bands ever) plus various other new music opportunities which will invariably happen along the way.  But also I'm hoping for a few other items as listed below.


1) Less whistling
From the beginning of "Moves Like Jagger" (in the video for this, I must add, I saw no moves remotely like Jagger by Maroon 5's Adam Levine) to Foster the People's mega-hit "Pumped Up Kicks," it seemed whistling was the thing to do in 2011.  Let's hope for more inspiration beyond a simple "pucker up and blow" next year.


2) Animal band names
Pepper Rabbit has announced their split so that's one less entity utilizing a name from the animal kingdom but groups could aspire away from such Google-able nomenclature in order to keep things less confusing.  Perhaps a move to the vegetable world would be a solid suggestion.


3) Keep live shows live
Bands shouldn't need to recreate songs exactly as heard on studio cuts -- too many backing tracks lean towards glorified karaoke.  If that's the case, we all might as well stay home.  With touring so important to many band's revenues, the concert setting allows an intimate view of the people creating the music.  Each show simply needs a beginning, middle and end with a succinct set list for building allegiances between fan and band.


On that note, here's to another fun year of being a new music fan!