Happy Belated Birthday… CYSTSFTS turns 5

As you’ve probably noticed, there has been a relative lack of posting here on Can You See the Sunset as of late, and (in general) a lack of posting since my second daughter was born a little over a year ago. Between the 4 year old kid #1 and the (now) 1 year old kid #2, a full-time job that keeps me out of the house and away from the blog from sun up until 6PM, and everything else that needs to be done, I’m generally exhausted. I’m not sure how the “big boys” of the music blogosphere (like Gorilla vs. Bear and My Old Kentucky Blog) do it, but I’m not going to hire some guest editors or contributors to help me run this blog. The fact is I make barely enough $$ from ads and such to pay for web hosting and the other costs associated with the blog, with maybe enough left over for the occasional mailorder from No Idea or Suburban Home. There ain’t no money in music blogging.

I’m rambling a little bit here because while July 8th, 2010 was my youngest daughter’s first birthday, it was also the 5th birthday/anniversary of the first post on this blog. I completely missed it this year, but it’s pretty easy to figure out why. Sure, my frequent vacationing this summer (Dominican Republic, Florida, Northern Wisconsin) have certainly impacted my blogging schedule, but it’s really more like life playing out and priorities coming to the forefront. Being the lone contributor and writer of this blog, there have been natural ebbs and flows in the frequency and quality of posts over the last 5 years, but there have been posts. I’ve posted 1663 times since July 8th, 2005 (this post included) which works out to about 27 posts per month. It might not sound like much, but it’s all 100% me, and I’m pretty damn proud of that. It’s still hard to believe that I’ve been writing about music here for over 5 years.

Since you’re probably wondering, the answer is, “No.” I’m not about to announce my retirement from music blogging or anything like that. Why would I? Sure the amount of emails from PR companies I receive on a daily/weekly basis is unwieldy and if I generally delete 90% of them without reading more than the subject lines, and I have more music waiting for me to listen to it than I can possibly handle, but it’s not the end of the world. It’s just this giant monkey hanging off my back. I mean, with the exception of the folks from Southern Lovin’, Beartrap, Kiss of Death, IYMI, etc… I really don’t need any more promos or promo emails. Seriously, when was the last time I featured drum-n-bass, radio pop, or even hip-hop? On the other hand, I’d love to hear the music of more local bands, especially way out here in the suburbs. Think local people, think local.

Another reason that I’ve been a bit absent from Can You See the Sunset is that for the last few months, I’ve also been writing another blog. It has nothing to do with music, but covers another topic I’m pretty passionate about. So with all that life has thrown at me lately, I’m still kicking. With all that rambling aside, here is a killer summertime mix largely inspired by the soundtrack my uncle’s iPod provided while we were at his lake house in Wisconsin a few weeks ago. Normally I’m not this much of an “indie rock” kinda guy, but these are pretty good.

Cheers & Happy Summer,
Eric

MP3:
jj - From Africa To Malaga
Magic Kids - Summer
The Very Best - Warm Heart Of Africa (ft. Ezra Koenig)
Hot Chip - Transmission (Joy Division cover)
Taken By Trees - Anna
Atlas Sound - Walkabout (ft. Noah Lennox)
Gayngs - The Gaudy Side Of Town
The Concretes - Good Evening
Best Coast - Sun Was High (So Was I)
Hot Chip & Peter Gabriel - Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa (Vampire Weekend cover)