Who am I?

I am a 36 year old music lover. That's the short and simple answer.

Music is a wondrous thing. It crosses boundaries, and it doesn't matter who you are...or does it?

Music can unite but it can also be the easiest way we identify and define ourselves. 

Also does music need to be universal? Often it is a way we cage ourselves into some group or movement in a particular time and space. The music is only intelligible to those within the circle, due to the many ideas and references within the songs. Words and sounds work together to create a new language. Our very own language which we think of as ours. This is why music is so powerful a medium. 

Closing my eyes or cleaning my room to music is one of the many functions of music. I love the ability to be able to put it on in the background or to stop and intensely listen. Sometimes it moves me - sometimes so much I start to dance or hum.

I grew up in the 80's, listening to my parent's cassette's and vinyl records. Music for me held an immense mystical power. The energy and passion that could be expressed therein is what attracted me, even as a young boy because it seemed to celebrate something, and point to something in life which was attainable - pure happiness. 

Often the 3 minute song format has not let us down. It is not too long nor too short to lose our attention yet within, we can hear life itself - some situation we are maybe familiar with, a problem the songwriter is trying to express, a description which is fueled by emotion and melody.  

My reviews are my own attempt to share some of the excitement or feeling I have for a body of musical work. I will try to limit myself to albums although sometimes a single song is able to capture me for days if not weeks, but for the sake of being more interesting, I will stick to albums.

Now as we approach a strange turn in the 21st century in the realm of music, where musicians might start experimenting more with the classic model of the 40-70 minute album, I might be considered outdated...and well, with an age as mine, I would say I am. I like buying cds. I also like streaming. And let us not forget that a 30 minute album was once the norm. Things change. I, merely, am going to try to document my tastes of a variety of music, though as a child of the pop age like The Beatles, Queen, Herman's Hermits, Bruce Springsteen plus of course the radio, I should think that most of my selections will be catering more towards that. 

So if I hear an album which is boring me, I won't listen to it to the end but I'll still write about it. That's just my nature. I feel qualified to give my opinion on a piece I don't particularly take to. You don't need to like everything, but sometimes listening or contemplating something different can be enriching.

Let us proceed on this path of taste and opinion. 

Some of the genres I will be commenting on the most are:

- Rock

- Pop

- Alternative

- Funk

- Jazz

- Classical

- Electronica

- Movie soundtracks