A happy new year to you all! Now the festivity and fun of the Christmas party season is over it's a rather despondent time as the realities of what 2009 really holds in store are considered. For the first time in my life it feels as though friends and peers are looking at what they spend and thinking about whether they actually need it or if it is just a piece of plastic - re-reading The Society Of The Spectacle it certainly strikes a chord. We are but spectators within a consumerist nightmare. I sit and look at my record collection and wonder "Do I really need this?" (Generally the answer is YES but I do wonder about some of the things I've purchased over the years! The majority of those are now listed on Discogs though).

It is therefore that I have decided that in 2009 gone are the days of walking into a record shop and blindly spending £50 on the latest hot tracks. Anything I now buy needs to be of substance, hold my attention for longer than 7 days, be more than just a record that I'm bored of VERY quickly. Disposability is at the bottom of my list. As Malcolm McLaren recently said "We are moving from a culture of desire to a culture of necessity". I am therefore going to buy just 1 piece of music a week - whether that be new or old, an mp3 or a 12", a 10" or a deluxe gatefold boxset. This will hopefully allow me to appreciate what I buy more, and hopefully be more considered with my purchasing. I remember saving up for my Michael Jackson Thriller cassette for WEEKS before excitedly buying it (and then wearing it out over 6 months with repeated listens). It will also allow me to spend more on a well put together more expensive purchase (Isomorph or the Portishead Third Boxset for example) than just a load of disco edits.

Thisisnotanexit Records will also be emerging in a new form in 2009 too with a bigger focus on developing highly limited but beautifully put together pieces of music. Say NO to generic run of the mill ideas. Say YES to innovation and labels trying something different. Now is the time to reappraise the underground - the resistance! Look at Pure Groove - they only stock 100 different records at a time and are those that they feel are highly interesting. Support this type of thinking! Racks of minimal house is BORING!

So next week is week one of 2009. I await Mondays new releases with a mixture of trepadation and excitement - join me as I try and develop a bigger appreciation of music purchasing and those artists and producers doing something different.

Reject the majors. Embrace the independents. Everything is permitted!