First Post/Introduction

Hi potential readers! I'm very much aware that as I write this I could quite possibly be talking to myself for....well quite a while, and honestly I'm okay with that.

My name is Chris and I'm a student at the University of Lethbridge in their new Digital Audio Arts program. Basically its a Music degree but instead of playing an instrument it focuses on production and music technology. I still have to take all the courses required of any other music major and this includes Music History. And well my writing is poor which is one of the reasons for me starting this blog.

Aside from working on my writing I'm hoping that this blog will help me go deeper into contemporary music. I love talking and arguing about music, and most of all being proven wrong.

While this may sound odd let me try to explain it through something that happened the other day. I was having a conversation with one of my friends between classes and he brought up Kelly Clarkson. Needless to say I was shocked, this person was a huge fan of the Dirty Projectors (they'll come up in later posts I'm sure) and here he was arguing that, a singer that I had written off as some pop "artist" that won a recording contract and had nothing to offer musically, had one of the best songs in the last decade. After 10-15 minutes of debate he asked if I had actually listened to her music. And then it hit me, I hadn't, and there I was passionately arguing a point I had actually no idea about; there's that joke about assuming and its certainly true here. So I made it a goal of mine to either learn or shut up, and well I talk a lot so I went with learn.

The format I'll be using in this blog will of course evolve over time, but what I want to stay constant is a conversation. I don't want to tell you how good or bad an album is, attach an arbitrary star/number value to it and move on to the next album. I want to be challenged by you and by the music. I want to challenge you to go outside your comfort zone and go listen to that Dirty Projectors album (wow already). I want to have debates about the importance of the music, the evolution of artists, disappointments, things you find interesting, and the future of music. But what I hope most comes out of this is a new perspective.

Thanks for reading and I hope you'll join me. Feel free to email me or comment, I'll be sure to reply.

Chris