I'm finding most things in media to be disposable lately. Getting more enjoyment out of walking the dog over hills and around lakes than out of TV, magazines, music, etc.

Getting old or getting perspective, might be both. Might just be the realization that it's all so transitory and there's so DAMN MUCH of it that I can't retain it all and look damn silly to my wife and friends when I try.

i really only buy 10 to 15 new albums a year and I carefully pick which ones I but - so every year seems pretty good to me.

Sounds like something I'd like to unlisten to, as well as that Mouthus. Set me up, love.

I have no real complaints for 2005.

I'll hook you up with both as soon I get the chance. At least by this weekend.

I'd really like to hear whatever Mouthus you've heard, too, as I think Slow Globes is mostly kinda dull.

Like some others have said, I must agree that 2005 has not yet proven itself to be a great year for music. When I think back to recent years, by September I almost always had one or two albums that blew my mind, that I gave heavy spins to for extended periods of time, and that I developed lasting associations and memories with. While there have been many 'good' albums this year, and many more catchy songs, I have yet to have an 05 album hit me like a ton of bricks. Wolf Parade's album might have done it for me, had I not been listening to most of the songs on the album since last summer, so for me it's an 04. Anyway, some of the good albums that have received many spins but managed to not touch my clit:
Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
Of Montreal - Sunlandic Twins
Stephen Malkamus - Face the Truth
Fiona Apple (Jon Brion version) - Extraordinary Machine
Edan - Beauty and the Beat

Some of the records from last year that connected on big emotional and aesthetic levels in ways no records have yet done this year:
The Bees - Free the Bees (strange i know)
Stereolab - Margerine Eclipse
Arcade Fire - Funeral
Of Montreal - Satanic Panic in the Attic
Dungen - Ta Det Lungt

Perhaps some of these will grow on me further, only time will tell. I also have not yet lost hope, as this is the time of the year when many many great records get released.

As for your question about music becoming more disposable as we have more and easier access to it, I don't think that this is necessarily true. I deluge myself with new music as much as possible, as I've been doing for many years. What I've found is that great records rise to the top regardless, even if you're spinning a new album or two a day. If anything, the increased amount of music shows me that there are a lot of bland bands, records and songs. At the same time it shows me that there's a ton of good bands, catchy songs and great records that I have to keep on digging for; it's just a matter of adjusting to the new scale, kind of like fishing in the ocean as opposed to a lake. And for the record, i totally get into records from YSI and file sharing, ect; i need not physically posses a record to become enamored with it.

I've gone nuts over Andrew Bird's latest album. That'll easily be my favorite album of the year.

I'm also pretty nervous about buying Devendra Banhart's new album. I was going to just go out and get it, but everyone -- even his fans -- are saying how bad it is.

I think this is more a reflection of our increasingly shorter attention spans than

I fully intend to compliment the cleverness of this sentence as it contained just enough words to notice but not so many that my focus wandered. So what was this thread about again?

I'll weigh in on this fascinating discussion.

As Dusty mentions, shorter attention spans, are partly to blame.

I believe there is something else.

Think about it: When Beethoven et al played concerts, chances are that their audience hadn't really listened to too much music, in quite a while. Thereby, they could sit during a 3-4 hour performance, completely enraptured and focused.

Fast-fwd to today. I'd be hard-pressed to think of a day, in the last five years, when I haven't been exposed to some kind of music (not-always-by-choice), such as in the coffee shop, on the radio, the television show, the movies, the next door neighbour's stereo, the leaky headphones from the person next to you, in line.
We are suffocated by it, at times.

Does this make the ears/brain synapse numb?? Hard to say, but there are times during the year, when aurally I feel over-loaded.

Perhaps this is what the kind thread-maker is experiencing.

On a personal note: this is shaping out to be one of the best year's in music, as was last year. I believe October has plenty of good/great stuff in store.

Only problem is keeping the "noise" out and allowing the good music to seep sweetly in.

For what it's worth,

audiobill

this is what I've become...and it's an example of why downloading music has actually improved things for me...rarely do I buy an album without listening to it thoroughly

I haven't found that I'm any less patient with albums, now that I download them first...but I also try to limit how much I download so that I'm not overwhelmed and can give plenty of attention to what I have

I've only got "Loam" on vinyl, and the soon-to-be four live experiences in two weeks. I've got a copy of a collaboration with Double Leopards on hold, as well. "Loam" hasn't struck me how they have live.

I won't be around after tonight until Sunday, so don't worry about it. We'll exchange soon.