Features
January 30, 2015
As I wrote in the introduction to yesterday’s label feature, 2014 looked like a good year for labels — we admittedly see and try to treat with a large number, but isn’t that any aspiring capitalist’s ideal vision of shopping? A world of choice, with access to varied experiences….
January 29, 2015
If 2014 was a good year for labels, it was because the wherewithal still exists to start one, and continues growing far afield; there are the same old hotbeds but growth is clearly across the board. For this feature we ended up mostly looking at American labels for the sake of a focused but still far…
January 21, 2015
2014 hosted the most incredible highs and devastating lows in my personal life, but writing and editing posts day after day here at Decoder always kept me looking up. Here’s a list of stuff that got me through a long and stressful year in one way or another. Cheers to everyone and everything. And…
January 16, 2015
My grasp on music in 2014 came largely through windows, colored by an experiential and narrow outlook into the music world, and largely in terms of how music related to me. With the impending arrival of a daughter in May, I shot off as many attempts at whatever could keep music alive for my life, should…
January 14, 2015
Music Ain’t A Crime
On one hand, my musical year could have started and ended in mid-January when dispatches from New Orleans emphatically announced that a noise ordinance was killed by the city council. Opposition to that ordinance promptly staged a Jazz Funeral for the doomed measure, raising…
January 12, 2015
I’m in my late thirties. For me, a year begins and then in the blink of an eye I’m looking back on it, writing about it. When I was younger, I disagreed that time flew by quicker as one got older. Now, I’m not so sure that my younger self was right. But by reflecting at the end of…
January 9, 2015
I learned a few things in 2014. I learned that computers break, that jobs are hard, that you can’t hurry love. I learned how to get un-lost in Queens, the names of every host on The Today Show, and that I continue to be allergic to shellfish despite my best efforts. Most importantly, I learned in…
January 7, 2015
This year I am putting together a “list” but with a slightly different constraint than what most music journalists do. Instead of the “Best Albums of 2014,” I will share my favorite non-2014 musical discoveries. I’ve listened to a lot of memorable, new music this year, but I do not need to…
January 5, 2015
2014 was an immense learning year for me. Oftentimes, looking back upon one’s own accomplishments (or perhaps lack thereof) can prove to be an anxiety inducing experience filled with plenty of self-doubt and regret. However difficult, this year I’m attempting to complete my self-review process…
