Maybe it’s a testament to how busy I’ve been in 2010 that I didn’t even have time, or energy, to write this end of year round up before the year ended. Or maybe it’s because being so busy the one thing I learnt this year is to stop and relax when I can take no more.
2010 has been a hell of a year. I finally moved into a proper home after nearly two years of self-imposed nomadic style living, I moved further into web publishing in the process leaving my writing roots and love unattended (well apart from music, as always), I found less time to take photos though I found more ways to share the ones I did take on the fly thanks to smartphones, I continued to grow the Original Cultures project with my lovely family in Bologna and around the world, and I spent a lot of time talking about and promoting music on Rhythm Incursions, K Mag and here (sometimes). I also started playing video games again (as Dom from LuckyMe pointed out to me, I’m not quite sure how the fuck I find the time) and made more mixes in 2010 than ever before.
A lot of these were ok, some might call them good even, but if there was one I had to choose it would be the DMZ best of I did for my friend Javier (and which got an insane amount of feedback and love) and the Hoya:Hoya Love Letter. Make up your own mind though, all mixes are linked here as well as those from previous years. Apologies to anyone who actually follows this blog and its irregular postings but basically I’ve had no time to finish my ten mixes for 2010 post series – I really wanted to but couldn’t. I’ll try and fix up for 2011.
Over at Rhythm Incursions, I managed to finally redesign the site, hold down a monthly show, invite two new presenters on board, set up a regular guest mix series with the Friends of Friends label in California and er… well that’s quite a lot already. You can hear/browse all my Rhythm Inc shows here, or simply visit the site to get your fill of all the goodness.
As I said music continued to dominate my life for most of 2010, and with this in mind I’ll indulge end of year lists-mania with five albums from 2010 I think anyone should own. For the rest, listen to my end of year mix to see what ticked my boxes last year.
5 albums for 2010: Bonobo ‘Black Sands’, Lorn ‘Nothing Else’, Blundetto ‘Bad Bad Things’, Scientist Launches Dubstep Into Outer Space, Ernest Gonzales ‘Been Meaning To Tell You’.
It’s not all been music though, and 2010 marked my second year back in London after my Japan, Italy and travelling gap. It’s also the first time since I left Japan that I’ve actually made a home for myself, after nearly 3 years. With this in mind, and following from previous end of year posts looking at life in different places, here’s some lists of things I miss about living in Japan, Italy and the UK (in the case of the last one, things I still enjoy).
5 things I miss about life in Japan: courtesy, efficiency, onsen, ramen and being the foreigner.
5 things I miss about life in Italy: food, coffee, the women, the bullshit and the weather.
5 things I still enjoy about life in London: the people, my friends, easy access to music, the parties and cycling around town.
So I guess that’s it for 2010. I don’t really do resolutions and all that but if I had to choose one to post on here, it is that I resolve to make more time for writing again in 2011. After all that is why I originally started this blog four years ago. Let’s see if I can stick to it. Peace and blessings wherever you maybe.