On midsummer night in 2003, I attended the small Wellerlo-fi festival; the name being a pun on the village of Wellerlooi, home to Club Diana singer Marcel, in whose back garden the festival took place. I may have bemoaned the Dutch scene, or the lack thereof, many times but there have always been exceptions and this was an important one among these. About a dozen bands played a short set each, often borrowing each other’s members, but as important was the barbecue and the mere feeling of being together in enjoying the importance of smallness.

Club Diana, of course, played too. I had followed the band from around the time of their first demo, when I helped some American put together a compilation-cassette with Dutch and Belgian bands. They were from near Nijmegen and I first saw them live shortly after I had moved there, supporting the then-big Posies; then as now I thought it was cool to go to a gig and to care more about the support act. I saw them several other times over the following years and they were one of my favourite Dutch live bands. Their records weren’t bad either, but I always liked them better live than on cd. Somewhat clumsily, I wrote this in a review once; hence when Marcel recognised me at Wellerlo-fi he said “ah, so it was you of that shit review!” He was, of course, joking and was as good a host to me as to any other guest, yet showed to care even more about his wife and two young children.

Marcel Brand died last Sunday, aged 43. Circumstances such as the birth of Marcel’s third child and my own wedding got in the way of me attending another Wellerlo-fi, but I’ve been thinking a lot this week about that night in 2003 and how good it was. If everyone organised a pop festival in their back garden once a year, the world would certainly be a better place. Thankyou, Marcel.

At the beginning of 2008, I set myself the goal to read at least one book a week. When the year ended, I was reading three books that would have counted as my 40th book. Not too bad a score, if only because the number of 52 books was as arbitrary as it was ridiculous. The resolution wasn’t even made because of a love for prose; merely, it stemmed from a strong feeling of having to make up. Make up for all those years I spent getting older without growing up, walking fast without getting further and experiencing without becoming more experienced; reading novels, which I never did enough, had become something of a metaphor for those lost years.

My goals for 2009 include to read as many good books as possible, without the number becoming a goal in itself. Other, and slightly more important, goals include growing up, getting further and becoming more experienced. In just about any aspect of life. If continuing to read books will help with that in any kind of way, then that’s only a good thing.

But I do love prose in itself and I might have loved it —and poetry, too— in 2008 more than ever. I was attempting to compile a top 10 of the books I read, but gave up after 15 titles that absolutely had to be included, which shows how many good books I read. Here, however, is an incomplete overview of some books that really mattered.

My ten favourite artists in 2008, according to statistically biased yet interesting last.fm:
  1. The Lucksmiths
  2. Would-Be-Goods
  3. The Softies
  4. Professor Pez
  5. France Gall
  6. The Cannanes
  7. Stereolab
    . Les Calamités
  9. Blossom Dearie
10. Saint Etienne

The Lucksmiths had a new album out in 2008, which we possess and which I’ve heard many times (it is really good), but I don’t think I’ve played it once through last.fm. Would-Be-Goods had new album too, but I haven’t heard more off that than the two songs Indie MP3 posted. (Back when that was still the place to download tracks of a band two months before you realised you had discovered them.) The Softies broke up half a decade ago. Professor Pez had a new album out —I think—, but. Etcetera. If I did listen to some new music this year —which, honestly, I did— than mostly to loose songs, downloaded from the various MP3 blogs that populate my RSS reader.

The best thing that happened to me music-wise in the past year were countless of moments of falling in love with songs, old or new, that for ten minutes turned out to be the best thing ever recorded. Shared second best were visiting Indietracks and arrival of the boxes of my CDs two months ago. Regarding the latter, one of my blog-related new year’s resolutions is to post some of these songs here, with a little story to reveal a bit of my past and, of course, to show off my indiepop-knowledge. (The other, since you ask, is to write more in general, to write more honestly and open about myself. Which —thanks, Dennis— can be a bit terrifying.)

Happy new year, by the way.