The Year In Music

2009 has probably been the best year for music in at least 10 years, possibly longer, arguably because it has benefited from several trends that have emerged over the past decade. I can't recall a time since the late 1960s when so many different subcategories of popular music were all achieving their peak, and so many performers were so perfectly articulating their various artistic visions.

Technology probably has a lot to do with all of this. With the advent of the internet, file sharing, and the mp3 music format, some predicted that the music industry was going to die, and that new, quality music was not going to emerge. Starting in the late 1990s, sales of CDs plummeted, established artists suddenly found themselves in dire financial straits, and record companies started laying off employees by the truckload.

While admittedly traumatic, I was hoping that was only an initial effect of a larger phenomenon - the end of music as a commodity, a means of extreme wealth for a relative few. During the 1980s and 90s, popular music was increasingly seen as a profit center, an industry to generate cash flow not only for the artists, but also for record-company executives, A&R men, advertisers, and an ever-growing armada of hangers-on. While some talented artists and musicians did get rich and even got very rich, much of that wealth also went to the latter group, who had no interest in music at all other than as a means of production.

This system had the unintended consequence of discouraging the emergence of new voices and new styles in music. Nobody wanted to put out a new CD that wouldn't sell millions of copies; everyone wanted to hit a home run with every at-bat. This is natural in business - business exists to generate profits - but it is not healthy in the arts. The results of the old system was that new, quirky and/or original voices were not heard, and armies of cloned sound-alike bands were aggressively being merchandised to the public. And if an original artist happened to somehow get through the filter and get time in a recording studio, there was a whole industry of recording engineers, studio executives, A&R men and "consultants" to hammer and package the "product" back into what they perceived as marketable shape. In other words, to make it sound like everything else.

And then they all lost their jobs. Suddenly, playing a guitar or writing a song was no longer seen as a pathway to astronomical wealth, and the boy bands, Disney divas, hair bands, and flavors of the month were no longer interested in being in the business. This put music back into the hands of the musicians, people who played music because they loved it, because they had to play music, not because they just wanted to become rich and famous.

So in the early 2000s, I was hoping that the crash of the music industry would actually turn out to be healthy for the quality of music, and I'm pleased to see that 2009 proved to be the fulfillment of that hope. The music charts and radio airplay are no longer the domain of a handful of established stars supported by their labels, but now of a staggeringly diverse group of musicians, artists, and eccentrics articulating their visions without the filter of big-business labels.

But the bounty of 2009 is also due to a second trend that combined with this new roster of talent to form a perfect storm of outstanding music. Newly available technology on computers put the techniques of the recording studios into the bedrooms, rec rooms and garages of musicians around the world. Playing around with programs such as Pro Tools, my friend Nick and I were able to produce a couple of reasonably professional-sounding tracks over the course of an evening or two. Bands are no longer required to obtain access to expensive studios and have their sound adjusted by so-called experts who want everything to sound the way that they were accustomed to it sounding.

And increasingly, these independent artists and musicians were able to release their self-produced songs over the internet using My Space, music blogs, and podcasts. A buzz would get generated about some hot new band in, say, Arizona, people could access their music all over the globe, and before you know it, they'd be selling out shows in L.A., New York, and beyond.

All of this is not to say that there haven't been side effects and losses associated with these trends. One casualty is the loss of the album as a major musical format. People tend to listen to mp3s on their iPods or over their computers as single songs, not as entire albums, and even if they purchase or download an entire CD, the technology often mixes the songs in a random order, usually with tracks from other CDs. While this has caused artists to try and make each individual track as compelling and complete as possible - every track a masterpiece - there is a loss of continuity. We will probably never hear another Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band or Dark Side of the Moon, as there is no incentive, no audience, left to listen through an entire album. Alternately, however, this could also be seen as putting the formatting of the songs into the hands of the listeners.

So all of this talk about what a great year it's been for music without naming any of the bands producing it. Perhaps I should keep it that way, but instead I will just point to those that I've most enjoyed this year - in no particular order, Grizzly Bear, The xx, Animal Collective, Phoenix, and The Ting Tings. There are many, many more, but if you're looking for a music blog, then check out All Music, or Fact Magazine, or Brooklyn Vegan, or 32 Ft/Sec.

Cheers. Here's to an even happier 2010.