I am a person easily swayed by opinions with an air of authority or relevant knowledge, and reading reviews of music I listen to, before or after the fact, warps my perspective, ruining my enjoyment or falsely boosting it. Be they major print outlets such as Rolling Stone and the Denver-local Westword or the massively popular online site Pitchfork Media with its final-word followers, I'm going cold turkey. I used to have a policy of not reading critiques of albums until I've fully explored them, but I've found that even this does not work, and that I see it through others' eyes instead of my own.

Obviously, this creates some problems. In the past I've discovered new music primarily by way of various review outlets, passing up records that received poor or mediocre ratings. The temptation to skip a poorly-received album of an artist I'm a fan of is great, and I simply don't feel right doing it anymore. So, from now on, I will actually utilize Last.fm's recommended artists and radio features as well as Pandora's and many other options (word-of-mouth, Virb profiles, local record stores, etc) to discover new music. There are countless means of discovery and expansion, and taking the easy way out has severely limited my eclecticism and taste.

So, from this day forward, I vow to do my best to avoid professional reviews if at all possible. If you are like me in any of the ways listed, I implore you to try it yourself.