You may well have noticed that things have been a little stop-start at casa-EbM, and the reasons for this are twofold.  Firstly, writing posts of any value is a time consuming occupation and I’m a busy man (“Fie!” I hear you cry, and maybe with good reason…).  The main reason, however, is more of a semantic one.  I’m only just beginning to emerge from a fug of indecision and uncertainty that has shrouded these pages of late.  This fug was brought on in part by the DMCA trouble I got caught up in following some careless mp3 action on my Mumford & Sons and Big Pink posts, causing me to reassess my mp3 posting policy.  I will now be complying a little more strictly with a few basic rules about posting, but that wasn’t the sole reason for my uncertainty.

The big question I was faced with was how best to balance the reviews and the more “editorial” content.  The reviews I post provide the meat-n-veg of this blog, and give it a purpose and a mission, and by-and-large I try to steer clear of the more “bloggy” aspects of blogging;  nobody wants to read my diary, surely?  On the flip side, when I read other blogs and magazines I do enjoy reading proper articles about the more general aspects of the music world, and therefore imagine that a few of you would enjoy seeing that style of content on these pages too.  Thus I do occasionally indulge myself with rambling not-quite-review posts from time to time.  When I started this enterprise a more than a year ago I did a regular “top five” list feature, but that was a little too disciplined for me to keep it up for long, and now I stick to the occasional “article” whenever the mood takes me.  Anyway, rambling aside, I think this site could do with a little more article-style content and I shall endeavor to provide some.

As a case in point, last week’s Remix post – the first non-review post in quite a while – has produced one of the best comment threads that this site has ever seen.  After an initial deluge of criticism (some rational and articulate, some not so much…) something resembling a reasoned debate emerged, with people coming from all angles to have their say.  In fact, such was the detail and strength of opinion expressed in some of the responses we’re considering devoting the next Bearfaced Podcast to the topic.

So what does 2010 have to offer here at EbM? Expect plenty more reviews, as per usual, but there’ll also be a little bit more in the way of editorial content; so stand by to correct me, agree with me, or just put in your two-pence in the comments section.  It’d be nice to build something of a “community” here – when the posts inspire comments it makes the experience all the richer for everyone involved, and it does me good to have my opinions challenged and debated.  That said, I can’t imagine this post inspiring too much debate; I promise to keep meta-blog posts to a minimum from now on.  Although if there’s anything you’d like to see less or more of on these pages then write a comment and I’ll see what I can do…