I acquired 10 albums this year (not including the ones I omitted from the list because they would have made it longer than 10), but I don't feel like I really got into any of them, and I had a hard time putting them in order of preference. It feels like it's been a while since I engaged with an album as a complete entity/experience, rather than a carcass to be stripped of choice bits and pieces. Unless I'm making it myself, music is increasingly something that goes on in the background while I do something else. I know that I've heard all of the tracks on Hercules and Love Affair, Tragicomic and 12 Crass Songs, but I couldn't tell you what most of them are like (and I only remember the title track from Dig!!! Lazarus, Dig!!!).
I'm probably exaggerating the extent to which this deviates from the way I've enjoyed music in the past, but it does feel like I've failed to give these albums a fair hearing; by not taking the time to explore them, I've missed out on a lot of interesting ideas lingering under the surface. Speaking as someone with musical aspirations (albeit pretty vague ones), that seems like a lapse in conviction. I feel as though I'm not keeping faith with music in general.
On a more positive note, here are a few bits of music that really did catch my ear in 2008 (although they've been around for longer):
Son of Chamber Symphony by John Adams
Are You Experienced? (NML username and password = 'minster') and The Little Match Girl Passion by David Lang
Various things by Anna Clyne
This all comes from somewhere in the modern classical/minimalist/whathaveyou diaspora, so maybe the only reason I'm feeling disillusioned with 'pop' music is that my tastes have shifted a bit.
Buggered if I know.
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