I Gots The Funk 'n' Blues

I've been a little concerned lately that I may have started to lose interest in music. Is it possible for a person to be worried about something and also to not care much about it at the same time ... a mix of anxiety and apathy, perhaps? Because this feeling of "anxiapathy" is just the effect this revelation is having on me. Maybe it sounds a little crazy, but if you felt it yourself, you'd understand.

I first noticed about a year ago that I had stopped listening to the promotional CD samplers I habitually picked up in the independent stores' "free stuff" bins or had been receiving in magazines. Now the vast majority of them either go back to those bins never having been listened to, or just end up on a shelf or my desk collecting dust. It's the same thing with music magazines: I used to read all the little articles on up-and-coming acts, checking each one's "recommended if you like..." section for artists I already love. But I rarely do that anymore, either. One reason for that is because I've discovered over the years that those "you might also like..." lists can be very hit-and-miss. It takes more than a passing sonic resemblance for me to like an artist; it's a combination of things (the singer's voice, the composition of the melody and lyrics, the instruments used) and how they fit together -- and I think there's even a proverbial "je ne sais quoi" involved, that intangible effect on the listener's ear that an artist's music either has or hasn't.

I think part of my apparent "music ambivalence" might stem from the fact that I've discovered some truly fantastic artists in the last few years. It sounds like a paradox, I know, but it makes a certain amount of sense: Erik Faber and McFly are two of the most amazing artists out there right now (check out this recent post from Poster Girl ... the way she feels about Espen Lind is pretty-much the way I feel about Erik Faber), and I find it quite impossible to imagine falling in greater "love-at-first-sound" with any other artists than I have with them. And, as you might speculate, it's a bit difficult to look forward to discovering more great music in the future when you can't imagine anything better out there than what you've already heard.

On top of all this are two other circumstances at work: my continuing struggle to spend less money on music (at least where my credit card is concerned), and a general feeling of "sensory overload" -- with the endless bombardment of music blogs (as wonderful to read as they are) and the recommendations, reviews and MP3 downloads they contain, it's easy to feel like you're drowning in a sea of sound ... I'm surprised I haven't felt overwhelmed before now.

Don't worry ... I don't plan on shutting down this here blog anytime soon. And I won't stop reading other people's blogs either, though I might become a bit less avid about it. And of course I'm gonna keep buying CDs I have my sights set on in advance, from my favorite artists and new ones I happen to catch wind of. But, if it's all the same to you, I'll no longer go probing every cyber-nook and CD-cranny for every possible music discovery. I've got plenty of tunes to listen to already, and I've decided that if I'm meant to fall in love with a particular song or a certain artist, fate will send them my way. I still love music ... but I think I'll love it more if I rest my ears more often.