In 2013, I purchased 1840 individual MP3 files (17.3GB) which is over 161 hours of material. Of that, the majority (1437 files, 14.5GB, 134 hours) is what I classify as “Spoken Word” (AKA Big Finish and other audio adventures). What with Doctor Who turning 50 in 2013, I wound up purchasing quite a few Big Finish (and BBC Audio) stories. And enjoyed pritnear all of it. đŸ™‚ (I was also fortunate in that the audiobooks for Ben Aaronovitch‘s first three novels were on sale this year, so I bought them and they’re all well done, too.)
But, on to the music, which is what I wanted to focus on in this post. I wound up adding a couple of new genres to my mix: Zydeco and R&B. This summer at one of the Downtown Troy concerts, the folks and I enjoyed the music of Creole Stomp, so pop and I bought a couple of their CDs after the concert. The R&B (which is a very loose description as the music covers a variety of genres) is for the Janelle MonĂ¡e albums I bought.
Janelle MonĂ¡e and Fleur Mainville are probably my two favorite additions to my music collection this year. It’s great adding females to my collection and these two ladies are both gifted singers/songwriters/performers. It was thanks to a tweet by Anita Sarkeesian (of Feminist Frequency fame) that I even heard of Janelle MonĂ¡e. Turns out MonĂ¡e has been working on a story about an android who falls in love with a human and all of the excitement & adventure (including bounty hunters, zombies, etc) that entails. There’s 3 albums thus far and I’ve enjoyed all three.
While doing Yet Another Pointless search for more MacKeel stuff, I found out about their fiddler, Fleur Mainville, doing some solo albums. It didn’t take much listening for me to realize I needed to add her to my collection. Indeed, her piece “Bedlam Boys” immediately found its way into my “Most Favorites of All” playlist (5 star songs). She even has a Christmas album that I had to buy too. Heh.
Other new albums include Daft Punk‘s Random Access Memories, the soundtrack to The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (along with the Neil Finn single “Song of the Lonely Mountain”), albums by Midas Fall and My First Tooth, the songs of Kaila Picard (and I backed a crowd-sourced music video of hers, too). Oh, and thanks to the tap dancing that Amy, Rachel, and I saw this summer, Train‘s “Hey Soul Sister” had to become part of my collection. (I even bought a copy for each of the girls, too. Hey, it was on sale for only $.69 at the time and the girls are worth it – LOL – and then some!)
I have quite a few “regulars” that I always buy new albums, no matter what. Well, maybe Lady Gaga isn’t there yet, but I did finally buy Born This Way. (Well, I did love “Americano” in Puss in Boots, so it was inevitable.) Pet Shop Boys had two new albums, Ricky Martin had one, Enter the Haggis had one as well. I also got the most recent Gaelic Storm album and Garbage album.
2013 started out very well, musically, when my folks gave me money to buy Neil Innes‘ complete Recollections set for my birthday. It’s pretty obvious from my last.fm statistics that Neil is my favorite solo artist (with Kirsty MacColl coming in second). But not only is it his solo work, but also his work in The Bonzo Dog Band, The Rutles, Monty Python and GRIMMS that I love. So yeah, I had to get that compilation (which also came with a little autographed note – whee!) I’ve come a long way from hunting down rare Innes/Python/GRIMM/Bonzo albums at record collectors conventions! The things you do when you’re 16!!!
Anyhoo, a great year in music with lots of new stuff from my old favorites AND some new favorites to watch out for. 2014 has started out very strong with regards to music since I spent some Amazon gift cards on new (old) music – Hank Williams, Roger Miller, The Beach Boys – gee thanks Sirius (which mom has for her new car – heh)! Hope that 2014 is a great year of music for all of you!