Packing Up and Moving

January 1, 2009, I started a blog called The New Classics. You can read about my original goals here. Mid-year however, I lost a lot of interest when it became too time consuming, and after several attempts to revive it, something just didn’t feel right. I need a new start.

So, starting fresh I am relocating the blog right here. A lot of my original hopes and ideas for the blog are still in tact, but they will executed be a much looser, easier way.

At 12:00am on November 26th, 2009, Thanksgiving Day, I am re-launching The New Classics with a month-long countdown of the Top 150 Songs of 2009, filled with downloadable links, music videos, videos of live performances, track information, and some words about each song.

Then on January 1, 2010 the site will resume it’s old duties of reviewing new songs, albums, mixtapes and music videos daily (hopefully).

If you’re interested in being around for the new beginning, bookmark http://thenewclassicsmusic.blogspot.com/ or subscribe to the RSS to keep up with all the happenings. If you don’t really give a shit until there’s some actual quality material up here, check back soon and see if you like what I’m writing.

Either way, I hope you enjoy all the hard work I am going to put into the new site, and please drop some comments even if you don’t. I love debates and discussions, and that is what this site is going to thrive off of.

I’ll see you all on Thanksgiving. Thanks guys.
gM

Like I Never Left

I turned 25 a few days ago. I’ve been looking for a milestone of some sort to jump back into this thing headfirst, as I have several times before, and this one’s as good as any. I couldn’t fully commit to The New Classics for the past 4-5 months, and if you can’t put your best into something, why even bother? But as the gap from my last real update to “today” gets wider and wider, I think it’s time to give it another shot. I’ve missed a lot of music, and perhaps I will be able to cover it all in retrospect, but for right now I’d like to just dive into the freshest and newest, because there’s still some good shit coming down the pipeline. 2009 ain’t over yet.

gM

Read This

Thought I’d share this blog article (blarticle) about the subjectivity of music, and “best of” lists, even though they’re something that a lot of us love to read, and even take as gospel. This is the very point of the conundrum that The New Classics has aimed to solve from the beginning, despite using a rating system in itself. I believe that listing should be used more in the sense of directing people towards extraordinary music, rather than a “#32 is better than #45″ bullshit argument, because it is impossible to say for certain (especially when voted on by a group of very like-minded individuals). Anyway, TSURURADIO is a pretty rad blog that I only came across recently, and I encourage everyone to give it a read.

As for the future of The New Classics, I’m slowly coming back into the swing of things, compiling a butt load of dope music videos that I’ve missed out on in the past 3 months of absence, to be followed by getting back on track with the new day-to-day jamz, and some opinion pieces. Keep checking in, please.

In the meantime, here are the top 500 songs of the 2000’s!
gM

Rest In Peace Michael Jackson (1958-2009)

Michael Jackson is literally the first artist to make me aware of music outside of nursery rhymes, which makes him infinitely important to me. Dangerous was the first album I can remember playing out until I was sick of it, back when I was a six year old doing Mike’s spin/crotch-grab dance moves and getting yelled at by my grandmother. ‘Heal the World’ was my joint, but ‘Jam’ always got me going and admittedly holds up much better.

RIP Michael Jackson

Blog Politics

I needed a two week break from the blog to re-evaluate what I’m doing here. I don’t think that the format I’ve been using for the past 6 months is the future of The New Classics.

There is way too much music coming out way too quickly for one person with a full-time job to keep up with it all on a daily basis. Aside from that, it’s hard to even enjoy the music when worrying about having to throw a review up, although the reviewing does help me appreciate a lot of it.

But what I think will happen going forward is a more column-based format. Sort of suggested songs and albums, including playlist/mini mixtape download links. Also, I want to figure out how to embed some type of flash music player, so that you guys can preview the tracks while reading, before opting to download. Because I can’t even count how many times I’ve blindly downloaded a zshare link and absolutely hated the song, so I think a stream player would be really helpful.

Another thing I want to dip into is articles about music. I’ve found myself with a lot of opinions and ideas about modern music and media lately, and there’s a lot I’d like to get out on the table for discussion.

The song & album review formats I’ve been using will still show up from time to time, but mostly for things that I think truely deserve the solo spotlight, rather than a post for every song that hits my ears.

Things are changing a bit, but I hope everyone who visited the blog before keeps coming back. Looking at the hit counts from my two week absence, the numbers surprisingly only dropped off slightly, so I know there’s a readership here. I’m not even quite sure where I’m going with the site at this point, but I know that it’s all for the best.

Thanks for reading The New Classics, check back soon.
gM

Album Review Catch-Up, Part 1

05.14.09

There has been so much music coming out over the past few months that I’ve been neglecting a lot of album reviews for the simple fact that I don’t have a whole lot of time. By the time I finally sit down to do an album writeup, there’s 4 or 5 other albums that have my interest. It’s a blessing and a curse to live in this digital age, as we have so much great music right at our fingertips, but not enough time to digest and enjoy it before something new comes along. This especially a problem for someone like me, who loves collecting EVERYTHING. So for the sake of catching up with myself and saving myself time in the future (although a few of these reviews I have half-done already, but am scrapping in favor of this format), here is part one of all of the albums fit for coverage – now in bite size:

Firefox Plugin

Just a note for anyone who uses the download links that I, or that any of your other favorite bloggers post. There’s a great free plugin for Firefox that skips right over the annoying wait screens on zShare, RapidShare, Mediafire and every other file sharing site. It’s helpful, it’s automatic, and I think you’ll get the most out of this site if you have it installed. It’s definitely a beneficial tool but it only works for Firefox. Check it out below:

SkipScreen

The New Classics Mixtape [February 2009]: Download

Ain’t dead yet…
Hit the jump for the tracklist, download link, and information on the future of the site:

Quick Message

01.22.09

It’s obviously been slow this past week in terms of music coming out (besides a handful of pretty great music videos), so I will be postponing the weekly “Top Music” edition until this Sunday. This actually works out better, because it is easier for me to compose the lists on these days, and it just makes more sense to pump these out at the end of the weekend. But before Sunday you’ll be seeing an album review of the new Franz Ferdinand album, and hopefully the Bon Iver EP, as well as whatever new music drops in these next few days.

Also, on January 31st I’ll be dropping the very first New Classics Mixtape, consisting of the best 20 songs of the month, complete with artwork. And I’m hoping that by February, I can convince a buddy of mine to start contributing some type of creative material to the site, so look out for that. And remember to comment if you like what you see or hear. Or even if you don’t like something, drop a line anyway. We gotta start pumping some blood into the comments section.

Cheers,
gM

Best Music for the week of 01.01.09-01.08.09

01.08.09

Sort of a disappointing first week of music for the new year, but there are a few standouts. Eminem & 50 Cent were the biggest but not necessarily the best releases, having both returned to the front and center with new singles. Lil Wayne only put out three songs in the last seven days, and there are a few new artists who are starting to impress. On the rock side of things, there’s only been 2 songs unfortunately, but quality rock music comes out at a slower pace than hip hop anyway. I have a review for Animal Collective coming this weekend, and hopefully that will bring up the rock quota of these lists a bit. Week 1 is complete, and after the jump is the best album, top 5 songs, and worst song for the week of January 1st – January 8th, 2009.