STAGEBITE

I know this is waaay late, but here are my Top 10 Albums of 2012. FINALLY!

Solo Piano II – Chilly Gonzales

Lonesome Dreams – Lord Huron

Lonerism – Tame Impala

channel Orange – Frank Ocean

Boys and Girls – Alabama Shakes

Bloom – Beach House

Fear Fun – Father John Misty

Break It Yourself – Andrew Bird

Nocturne – Wild Nothing

A Wasteland Companion – M. Ward

I would enjoy reading your thoughts either on here or on Twitter (@stagebite) or just give me your sign of appreciation by "hearting" this post if you found something on here you absolutely love.

What were your top albums of 2012?

I know it's a little overdue, but I wanted to share my Top 20 Songs of 2012 with you anyway because they are soooo good! I hope you find something here that you may have missed last year. Please send me your comments or your appreciation by clicking that Tumblr heart symbol. Cheers and happy listening!

“Thinking About You” – Frank Ocean

“Sunshine” – Little Dragon

“Wild” – Beach House

“Shadow” – Wild Nothing

“Sleeping Ute” – Grizzly Bear

“Hold On” – Alabama Shakes

“Desperation Breeds” – Andrew Bird

“Is That Clear” – Nick Waterhouse

“Lonesome Dreams” – Lord Huron

“Apocalypse Dreams” – Tame Impala

“Rideaux Lunaires” – Chilly Gonzales

“Genesis” – Grimes

“Saturday Love” – Toro y Moi

“Sweet Talk” – Jessie Ware

“Clean Slate” – M. Ward

“Tear It Up” – Delta Spirit

“Talking With The Wolves” – Glen Hansard

“1904” – Tallest Man On Earth

“Do You Remember” – Ane Brun

Want to listen to all of these songs in one place? You're in luck. Here's my Top 20 Songs of 2012 Spotify Playlist: http://open.spotify.com/user/stagebite/playlist/6tLsloW5Jj7Dp1lwUl2tpw

I had a problem linking my Top Ten Songs of 2011 last December (hence, the inoperable Tumblr "play button" that appears in my post), but today Spotify made it easier to post tracks and playlists to your Tumblr blog and other spots on the web (e.g., HuffPo, SPIN Magazine, & Mashable) with the introduction of the "Play Button" widget. I've updated my Top Ten Albums of 2011 along with the aforementioned post to include Play Button playlists. Although, it should be noted that in order to stream music directly from these players, you have to be running the Spotify software on your computer. Get the Spotify Play Button here: https://developer.spotify.com/technologies/spotify-play-button/

Jeff Tweedy (founder and frontman of Wilco) truly understands not only his bands' fans, but he also has the right attitude when it comes to facing the real challenges of the new music industry. Tech Dirt's recent article highlights this and should inspire all musicians -- emerging and legacy acts alike -- on how to tread these new, bumpy waters. Here are Tweedy's commonsensical, yet brilliant quotes from the article:

A piece of art is not a loaf of bread. When someone steals a loaf of bread from the store, that's it. The loaf of bread is gone. When someone downloads a piece of music, it's just data until the listener puts that music back together with their own ears, their mind, their subjective experience. How they perceive your work changes your work. Treating your audience like thieves is absurd. Anyone who chooses to listen to our music becomes a collaborator. People who look at music as commerce don't understand that. They are talking about pieces of plastic they want to sell, packages of intellectual property. I'm not interested in selling pieces of plastic.

....

I'm happy with the amount of goodwill that seems to exist between us and our audience. I can only guess as to why that exists, and I've never been in a band where that didn't exist.... We have our collaborators and our patrons, who come to see us play, and I feel like we treated them as patrons of the arts and collaborators.

....

We needed to get out on the road, because that's how we make money -- we don't make money off of records. So our business model, if you want to call it that... we support ourselves on the road. And having our new record done and wanting to play those songs just meant, well, let's let people hear them so they'll know what's up. And it'll be more fun to play those songs for everybody.... We just can't look at it as any individual thing is how we're going to be supported by anybody. If they get one record free, they might buy another record. If they get one record free, they might come see the show or they might buy a t-shirt at the show. (...) For us, we've managed to keep our heads above water by not focusing on "the lost sales" but by focusing on the people who are there and are supporting us.

Well said, sir.

Holy moly! It's been waaay too long since I've last written a blog post here on Tumblr. So much cool stuff is happening right now like new music from Andrew Bird, Nick Waterhouse, and a collab between Bon Iver and The Flaming Lips! But what I'm most excited about has nothing to do with music (at least not directly).

There seems to be a lot of buzz and momentum surrounding co-working spaces. Most recently, I briefly suggested the idea of bringing a co-working space like WeWork to my hometown of Fresno. (We already have a small, yet thriving co-working space here in Fresno called Hashtag; though, it is my hope that more will be developed in various parts of our city.) In August of last year, The Next Web wrote a post on The 5 Coolest Coworking Spaces in New York City; earlier this year Business Insider toured the offices of General Assembly with great photos of their work space; and last week the Wall Street Journal did a piece titled, Looking for Ideas in Shared Workspaces. The most interesting part about the WSJ article was the following paragraph:

In some cases, companies are renting desks in co-working spaces, with an idea that workers from different companies, and with different skill sets, can complement one another. Some companies are also turning to shared workspaces as a way to save money on pricey leases or to house employees in areas where they don't have other corporate offices.

I love this idea of cross-pollination of employees. It's something Tom Kelley (IDEO co-founder) recommends you do as an organization in his book, Ten Faces of Innovation.

You see my city, Fresno, is not looking so hot as evidenced by today's headline in the Fresno Bee, Fresno ranks low nationally in recession recovery. I think places like WeWork, General Assembly, and Hashtag will be the impetus of new ways of thinking about how we "work" and help cities like mine grow sustainable businesses; while also, reducing unemployment and brain drain from our city limits.

Bon Iver, Bon Iver – Bon Iver

Days – Real Estate

Making Mirrors – Gotye

Wounded Rhymes – Lykke Li

House of Balloons – The Weeknd

SBTRKT – SBTRKT

Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Unknown Mortal Orchestra

The Whole Love – Wilco

James Blake – James Blake  

Stone Rollin’ – Raphael Saadiq

I've also included a companion Spotify playlist with a selection of favorite songs from each album. Some of the above albums are not on Spotify yet, so I've doubled up on songs from the other top albums to make up for the loss. Here's the link: http://open.spotify.com/user/stagebite/playlist/5Si4159LB5kVLVLDxT5KUZ

Like every year, this was another very hard list for me to make. So many great records came out this year, many I haven't even had a chance to listen to yet! My list is a representation of the albums I fell in love with at first listen, most played throughout the year, and/or artists who are on the verge of reaching greatness! With the exception of Bon Iver and Wilco, the list is made up of artists I have not recognized in any of my top ten lists before. I love discovering and, sometimes, rediscovering great artists.

I love making these lists. It's something I look forward to doing every year. I hope you can find at least one gem on this list.

Lastly, leave me any recommendations by commenting here on Tumblr or tweet them to me via Twitter. Make sure to check out my Top 20 Songs of 2011, too.

Twitter has announced the ability to embed tweets on your site! Once the tweet appears on your blog or website, your Twitter readers can follow the user, retweet, reply, or favorite from within the embedded tweet. This is so cool! Love the new Twitter and its improved functionality.

Try it now on this embedded tweet!

#MusicLicensing - How to Feature Your Music in Movies, TV, Commercials, and more awe.sm/5crGo (via @cdbaby)#bandtips #DIYartist

So, I'm not necessarily following Seth's advice as best as I should.

I didn't post any blog entries on December 24th, 25th, 26th, and 31st. I also missed an opportunity to post yesterday. Some days (e.g., Dec. 27th, 28th, and 30th) I didn't write much at all.

But today I found solace in a blog entry by Andrew Weissman, which I discovered via Twitter. He talks about the small things/moments in life that in-turn become the fabric of our lives (sans the cheesy Zooey Deschanel Cotton theme song). He also posts quotes to better illustrate his point like this one:

"Normally, I'm against big things. I think the world's going to be solved by millions of small things." - Pete Seeger

And another:

"From small things, mama, big things one day come." - Bruce Springsteen

So here's to the small things in 2012 and the big things that follow!

My entries may not be as wordy as I would like and they may not even be entries of my own creation (i.e., reblogs), but I want to share my "little" sources of inspiration with you. Many times it comes in the form of music, or someone else's words. 

Nevertheless, I hope my blog is inspiring to you or helpful in some way regardless of how of "small" my entries are.