Yes, I’m still here.

And no, I didn’t expect you to notice that I was gone. But for the fourteen or so people who did notice: Bless your hearts, all six of you who cared.

It’s been a few months since I’ve posted anything. I’m not dead. But perhaps more importantly for anyone reading this, neither is this blog. I’ve been busy. With stuff. Most of it not pertaining to this blog, but also some stuff yes indeed pertaining to it. Stuff like thinking about how to make it better. Maybe move along at a skippier pace. “Chop chop, let’s go. New stuff. Like, now, please…” kinda skippier. All while still maintaining the quality that I personally like to see in any reviews I read myself. With that…

I’m still busy, but I’ll be posting more reviews despite that I’m still the exact same amount of busy (just kidding, it’s more than) as previously mentioned.

Here’s why: As little as it is compared to other blogs, I’ve gotten a lot of stuff (read: album downloads, and even a few super rare and completely awesome instances of actual, tangible physical swag) for free that I otherwise would have had to paid for. I’m not cool with taking freebies. I am a musician myself, and I grew up in a strange era where people, ya know, exchanged currency for music. It was weird, and like, fair, and stuff. (There are better times and places to fight this fight…) Regardless, changes needed to be made so I could actually produce content of any sort of quality I’d be willing to attach my name to, but in a more timely manner. So…

In an effort to post more content, I’m going to be switching up the review format. I’m not going to be breaking down each individual track like I’ve been doing. That quickly proved to be very time consuming, and was the biggest reason why I had so many albums left unreviewed at the end of the year. And to be perfectly frank, not every track on every album I review is going to merit its own description. I started this blog to share the music that I really like with random internet traffic. And for future employers in any journalistic field to find an archive of concrete reasons why not to hire me. The fact that each review took so long to write was, in the end, detrimental to those goals. Okay, only the first one. (Future employers: I’m also good at walking dogs, mowing lawns, and general maintenance. And I make bitchin’ coffee… runs to Caribou.)

.

Ian L

.

And for those in it for the long game: No, I am still not going to be posting negative reviews. I never had time for that bullshit in the first place. I (amazingly) have even less time for it now. If that’s your bag, I apologize. I barely have time to form my own opinions anymore, let alone those for anyone too cool to form them on their own.