EAR TO THE GROUND: Reflections on another year of discovering great music
The close of the year always brings lots of things: Holiday decorations, time for family and friends. In the music blog world, there's always a seemingly endless number "Best of ..." lists.
As someone who prides himself on keeping up with music and trying to find new music, these end of the year lists serve as a reminder that there is so much great music out there, it's nearly impossible to find it all.
Field Note Stenographers toyed with the idea of drawing up our own "Best of 2015" music list, but we decided to troll other lists and discover even more new music instead. I'm glad we did.
One of our favorite sites, The Bitter Southerner, isn't even a dedicated music blog (they feature stories, videos and sometimes music from the South). They compiled a list of the best 25 records from the South, and it is glorious in its quality and diversity.
Paste magazine did several 2015 lists, including one that listed the "Best new artists of 2015." I'm still working my way through that one, and I found (and purchased albums from) two acts already. In short, there are plenty of lists out there (Stereogum and Blue Indian have some great ones, too) and it is well worth it to carve out time investigate some of them.
Live music in Macon this year has improved tremendously in quality and diversity, providing yet another avenue to discover -- or rediscover -- great music. I got to see a punk rock legend (Wreckless Eric), country music legends (Marty Stuart & Jim Lauderdale), Southern hip-hop superstars (Big K.R.I.T.), gloriously reckless punk rock bands (Monsoon and Shehehe) and deliciously experimental, always lovable weirdoes (Cult of Riggonia).
I could go on and on, but there's a word count limit to this column. But seriously: So much great live music this year.
My point: Whether you're a self-proclaimed music super-fan or just a casual listener, there's a seemingly infinite amount of great music out there. Take some time this holiday season to discover some more -- whether at a live show or from trolling a list on the web.
Talk to friends and family about what they're listening to or what they've always listened to. We all have our favorites, but I find that we also tend to stick to what we're comfortable with, eventually settling in to the same albums over and over again.
Believe it or not, there is some great music coming out of our fair city these days as well. Go out and support them. Follow our blog (www.fieldnotestenog raphers.com) and the good folks at Blue Indian (www.thebluein dian.com) for local/regional acts to check out.
Lots of smart folks throughout the history of humankind have come to the same conclusion: the height of wisdom is acknowledging that you know nothing at all. While this applies to lots of things in life (arguably all of it), it most certainly applies to music.
Don't get lazy. Don't get complacent. Find some new tunes. There's plenty of great stuff out there.
Chris Nylund is a founding member of Field Note Stenographers, a collective of local musicians who write about shows in Middle Georgia. Contact him at fieldnotestenographers@gmail.com.
This story was originally published December 24, 2015 at 3:58 PM with the headline "EAR TO THE GROUND: Reflections on another year of discovering great music ."