Hey kidz,
Working hard on getting the new QRD together. It looks like the interviews will be with Jessica Bailiff, Plumerai, Aarktica, mwvm, Origami Arktika, Wire, & Colin Newman.
Hopefully it’ll be up in a week or so. I’m kind of looking for a little slogan for a QRD sticker if anyone has any ideas. Something about music interviews should probably be
in it.
Hopefully it’ll be up in a week or so. I’m kind of looking for a little slogan for a QRD sticker if anyone has any ideas. Something about music interviews should probably be
in it.
Been talking to Kimberlee Traub who did Worms about another comic collaboration. Some time in 2008 it’ll probably happen. Maybe the series that didn't make it in
Small Press Idol last year called (r)evolution.
Small Press Idol last year called (r)evolution.
Below are some of the recent reviews.
Hrt
Brian John Mitchell
Brian John Mitchell
LYCIA: COLD
“Cold” is the third in a series of remasters of all five Lycia studio albums on Silber Records. Recorded in 1996 following a tour and the band’s relocation from Phoenix, Arizona to Northern Ohio, “Cold” marks a move to a sparser, more soundscape focussed sound for the group. Lycia were the trio of David Galas, Tara Vanflower and Mike VanPortfleet, the latter of whom has also remastered this series of reissues. Moving away from the more song focussed “The Burning Circle and Then Dust”, “Cold” consists of nine lengthy tracks, the shortest of which clocks in at just under five minutes. Concentrating largely on atmosphere and flowing guitar-based soundscapes, “Cold” proved to be one of Lycia’s most popular albums, earning fans from both their regular gothic fanbase and new admiration from as far afield as the black metal and space rock communities. Essentially focussed around drifting guitar textures augmented with atmospheric synth texture and Vanflower’s haunting vocal accompaniment, the feeling throughout is dark and emotionally charged. On tracks such as “Baltica” and “December”, the mood is particularly tense and fraught like some life-changing decision is being contemplated. Balanced beautifully between an ambient soundtrack, darkwave classic and space rock epic, “Cold” stylishly sprawls several genres whilst recognising its gothic roots.
~ Paul Lloyd, Sideline
“Cold” is the third in a series of remasters of all five Lycia studio albums on Silber Records. Recorded in 1996 following a tour and the band’s relocation from Phoenix, Arizona to Northern Ohio, “Cold” marks a move to a sparser, more soundscape focussed sound for the group. Lycia were the trio of David Galas, Tara Vanflower and Mike VanPortfleet, the latter of whom has also remastered this series of reissues. Moving away from the more song focussed “The Burning Circle and Then Dust”, “Cold” consists of nine lengthy tracks, the shortest of which clocks in at just under five minutes. Concentrating largely on atmosphere and flowing guitar-based soundscapes, “Cold” proved to be one of Lycia’s most popular albums, earning fans from both their regular gothic fanbase and new admiration from as far afield as the black metal and space rock communities. Essentially focussed around drifting guitar textures augmented with atmospheric synth texture and Vanflower’s haunting vocal accompaniment, the feeling throughout is dark and emotionally charged. On tracks such as “Baltica” and “December”, the mood is particularly tense and fraught like some life-changing decision is being contemplated. Balanced beautifully between an ambient soundtrack, darkwave classic and space rock epic, “Cold” stylishly sprawls several genres whilst recognising its gothic roots.
~ Paul Lloyd, Sideline
Formed in 1988, darkwave and ambient band Lycia have been highly regarded for quite some time now (with even the likes of Trent Reznor and other popular musicians embracing the band’s sound). Though some of their albums have been out of print for awhile now, thanks to Silber Records the band’s sixth release (and one of their most critically acclaimed) Cold is now available once again. If you missed it the first time around it’s certainly worth a listen, as despite having come out nearly 12 years ago the music still feels fresh.
Cold couldn’t be a more appropriate title for this album. Downright chilling, the instrumental arrangements have a winter feeling to them. What I mean by this is that the arrangements bring to mind the image of one wandering in a snowstorm through the woods, perhaps lost and fighting for survival. Ambient music is perfect for creating a story without even having proper lyrics, and the atmospheric instrumentals of Lycia’s Cold certainly help to reinforce this statement. Though slow in tempo, the songs plodding and subtle changes will attract many listeners.
There are vocals on this album but they are muted and delegated to the background, making the instrumentals the key focus of Lycia’s music. However, with a combination of whispered and soft male and female vocals Cold is extremely haunting and melodic. Listeners may not be able to make out all of the lyrics throughout the course of this album, but this is one case where atmosphere wins over lyrics as the vocalists help to reinforce the chilling atmosphere of the instrumentals.
Lycia’s sixth album was a great listen back in 1996 and it is still refreshing now. Music such as this hasn’t aged at all and feels just as fresh now as it did back then. If you missed out on this the first time, definitely check it out now. In addition, if you’re new to darkwave as a whole Cold is a great place to start your journey. Here’s hoping Silber Records gives us more reissues from this excellent group.
~ Chris Dahlberg, Cosmos Gaming
Cold couldn’t be a more appropriate title for this album. Downright chilling, the instrumental arrangements have a winter feeling to them. What I mean by this is that the arrangements bring to mind the image of one wandering in a snowstorm through the woods, perhaps lost and fighting for survival. Ambient music is perfect for creating a story without even having proper lyrics, and the atmospheric instrumentals of Lycia’s Cold certainly help to reinforce this statement. Though slow in tempo, the songs plodding and subtle changes will attract many listeners.
There are vocals on this album but they are muted and delegated to the background, making the instrumentals the key focus of Lycia’s music. However, with a combination of whispered and soft male and female vocals Cold is extremely haunting and melodic. Listeners may not be able to make out all of the lyrics throughout the course of this album, but this is one case where atmosphere wins over lyrics as the vocalists help to reinforce the chilling atmosphere of the instrumentals.
Lycia’s sixth album was a great listen back in 1996 and it is still refreshing now. Music such as this hasn’t aged at all and feels just as fresh now as it did back then. If you missed out on this the first time, definitely check it out now. In addition, if you’re new to darkwave as a whole Cold is a great place to start your journey. Here’s hoping Silber Records gives us more reissues from this excellent group.
~ Chris Dahlberg, Cosmos Gaming
Si le groupe Lycia fait incontestablement partie de cette scène abstract/goth-rock américaine qui a essaimé dans les années 90 autour de groupes comme Love Downwards Spiral et Faith And The Muse, l’album Cold que le label américain Silber republie en 2007, onze ans après sa parution dans une version remastérisée, propose sans doute la version la plus dark de leur combinaison de pop rêveuse et éthérée et d’électro-rock mélancolique. Obsédante comme une bande-son de David Lynch, la musique de Lycia atteint sans doute sa pleine maturité sur ce disque, avec des morceaux comme "Colder", pop-song noisy isolée dans un brouillard ambient. A (re)découvrir.
~ Laurent Catala, Octopus
~ Laurent Catala, Octopus
MWVM: ROTATIONS
Michael Walton began experimenting with minimal guitar soundscapes as early as 1996, recording his first material as mwvm in 2005, spending the intervening years refining his sound and recording technique. Walton, based in County Durham in the UK, bases his music around a carefully produced mix of guitar manipulation, repetition, delay and ambience recorded in isolation to give it his complete attention and focus. By 2006 Walton was ready to take mwvm on the road and played several UK festivals before releasing this, his debut album, on Silber Records in 2007. Based around long meditative minimal tracks that swell, undulate and roll along, slowly evolving and subtly mutating as they progress, “Rotations” is a completely immersive experience that flows around you, enveloping you in its radiance. Often minimal and sparse, Walton’s music slowly and deliberate unfolds, telling its own story as its layers intertwine and tumble over each other. “Rotations” also appears to be intensely personal, whether it depicts certain moods or experiences there are times where the mood is upbeat and optimistic, on album opener “Context. Where?” for example, and others where it is dark and dejected such as the aptly titled “It’s Easy to be Miserable”. On the basis of this album the time Walton spent refining his skills would appear to be time well spent.
~ Paul Lloyd, Sideline
Michael Walton began experimenting with minimal guitar soundscapes as early as 1996, recording his first material as mwvm in 2005, spending the intervening years refining his sound and recording technique. Walton, based in County Durham in the UK, bases his music around a carefully produced mix of guitar manipulation, repetition, delay and ambience recorded in isolation to give it his complete attention and focus. By 2006 Walton was ready to take mwvm on the road and played several UK festivals before releasing this, his debut album, on Silber Records in 2007. Based around long meditative minimal tracks that swell, undulate and roll along, slowly evolving and subtly mutating as they progress, “Rotations” is a completely immersive experience that flows around you, enveloping you in its radiance. Often minimal and sparse, Walton’s music slowly and deliberate unfolds, telling its own story as its layers intertwine and tumble over each other. “Rotations” also appears to be intensely personal, whether it depicts certain moods or experiences there are times where the mood is upbeat and optimistic, on album opener “Context. Where?” for example, and others where it is dark and dejected such as the aptly titled “It’s Easy to be Miserable”. On the basis of this album the time Walton spent refining his skills would appear to be time well spent.
~ Paul Lloyd, Sideline
Rotations, the debut album of British guitarist Michael Walton, comes in the wake of a number of similar releases from other British guitarists. While MWVM doesn't necessarily stand out as particularly special in the bunch, Rotations is a commendable release, outstandingly pretty, if not especially remarkable in its sound or process, and avoids some traps of more contemporary ambient music. The attention to detail is superb for the most part, and much of the release retains a healthy focus on a balance between the mechanical and the organic.
It seems apt that a track by MWVM was added to a compilation by Australian label Dreamland Recordings, this vein of experimental and ornamental guitar does evoke more Australian names than others, Shoeb Ahmad's recent work for Gareth Hardwick's Low Point label, in particular, coming to mind. Rotations continues in the Dreamland vein, producing an exploratory suite of ambient works that are texturally dense without being overwhelming, and adapt well to post-Eno ambient soundscapes without appearing too unoriginal in approach.
Rather than attempting to provide a direction, MWVM's Rotations merely suggests, as if staying in the same place for the entire time. In a sense the opening track, "Context, Where?" is a less than apt title for Michael Walton's approach, especially considering the kind of thematic linking in of material throughout the piece, common progressions throughout. Such a grounding seems to be less stagnation than a foundation that is often missing, or relied on too heavily by other ambient guitarists. That said, Rotations, at its heart, is a meandering ambient muse. While this isn't necessarily a setback, the release cannot avoid suffering the fate of many similar artists, the listening experience hampered. On occasion, some tracks suffer from a hollowness, a lack of an exploration outside one framework, but for the most part, Rotations avoids this, particularly when Walton is more revealing of the original guitar sound, acting in a similar vein to Gareth Hardwick's Sunday Afternoon lap steel release.
Rotations' fairly well executed use of drone harmonics adds the kind of pitch-timbre blurring that is often associated with more drone-based experimental guitarists such as Oren Ambarchi, or even more aptly, French spectral composers Gerard Grisey and Tristan Murail. Indeed, the more naked of Walton's approaches in representing the guitar sound mirrors the kind of organic analysis of the harmonic series that is usually obtained by musicians working in a far less processing-based framework. In this way, Walton can be commended for the way the overall sound on Rotations retains a human quality, vastly increasing how listenable it is.
While not providing a particularly new take on experimental ambient guitar-based music, Rotations is a decidedly pleasant listening experience. Much of the release is steeped in the kind of ambient guitar music that has been common of late, particularly in Britain, but retains enough of a voice to make MWVM capable of standing with clarity within this framework without descending too far into its own washes of ambience.
~ Marcus Whale, The Silent Ballet
It seems apt that a track by MWVM was added to a compilation by Australian label Dreamland Recordings, this vein of experimental and ornamental guitar does evoke more Australian names than others, Shoeb Ahmad's recent work for Gareth Hardwick's Low Point label, in particular, coming to mind. Rotations continues in the Dreamland vein, producing an exploratory suite of ambient works that are texturally dense without being overwhelming, and adapt well to post-Eno ambient soundscapes without appearing too unoriginal in approach.
Rather than attempting to provide a direction, MWVM's Rotations merely suggests, as if staying in the same place for the entire time. In a sense the opening track, "Context, Where?" is a less than apt title for Michael Walton's approach, especially considering the kind of thematic linking in of material throughout the piece, common progressions throughout. Such a grounding seems to be less stagnation than a foundation that is often missing, or relied on too heavily by other ambient guitarists. That said, Rotations, at its heart, is a meandering ambient muse. While this isn't necessarily a setback, the release cannot avoid suffering the fate of many similar artists, the listening experience hampered. On occasion, some tracks suffer from a hollowness, a lack of an exploration outside one framework, but for the most part, Rotations avoids this, particularly when Walton is more revealing of the original guitar sound, acting in a similar vein to Gareth Hardwick's Sunday Afternoon lap steel release.
Rotations' fairly well executed use of drone harmonics adds the kind of pitch-timbre blurring that is often associated with more drone-based experimental guitarists such as Oren Ambarchi, or even more aptly, French spectral composers Gerard Grisey and Tristan Murail. Indeed, the more naked of Walton's approaches in representing the guitar sound mirrors the kind of organic analysis of the harmonic series that is usually obtained by musicians working in a far less processing-based framework. In this way, Walton can be commended for the way the overall sound on Rotations retains a human quality, vastly increasing how listenable it is.
While not providing a particularly new take on experimental ambient guitar-based music, Rotations is a decidedly pleasant listening experience. Much of the release is steeped in the kind of ambient guitar music that has been common of late, particularly in Britain, but retains enough of a voice to make MWVM capable of standing with clarity within this framework without descending too far into its own washes of ambience.
~ Marcus Whale, The Silent Ballet
Avec ses morceaux au long cours, étirés en drones bourdonnantes et ondulantes, Michael Walton appartient à cette génération de musiciens ayant appris à tirer partie de l’outil technologique, électronique et informatique, pour trouver de nouvelles perspectives à la musique de guitares. Mais à l’écoute d’un morceau comme "Fireside", on comprend vite que ce Rotations, premier véritable album de son projet isolationniste MWVM, trouve une résonance particulière. Derrière ses nappes instrumentales, redorées de sonorités synthétiques et de textures soignées, travaillées par divers effets de pédales jusqu’à créer des climats à la fois chauds, lumineux et inquiétants (la montée fascinante de "It’s easy to be miserable"), on retrouve la patte de l’interprète, ce feeling si particulier qui place Michael Walton dans la lignée grave et mélodique d’un John Fahey par exemple. Certes, les arrangements omniprésents ne transigent pas à travers ces couches de sédiments harmoniques qui viennent gonfler chacune des pièces de flétrissures digitales enveloppantes, mais on est très vite convaincu à son écoute que même dépouillé, débarrassé de ces scories granuleuses qui perturbent des morceaux comme "Negative pole", ce Rotations n’aurait pas moindre allure. Mais inutile de se priver de ses magnifiques effets de manche. En trouant l’espace de ce charivari fusionnel, Michael Walton défie les lois de la gravitation et ce Rotations peut décemment s’inscrire dans la lignée, quoique encore plus méditatif, du And Their Refinement Of The Decline de Stars Of The Lid.
~ Laurent Catala, Octopus
~ Laurent Catala, Octopus
ORIGAMI ARKTIKA: TROLLEBOTN
Trollebotn is both a mythical and real place; in folklore it is a remote location on the edge of the world where trolls and mountain giants are said to dwell, in reality it is an area in Seljord, Telemark, Norway. The traditional folk songs that feature throughout the “Trollebotn” album are drawn from the community that inhabits the mountainous Seljordshei region. To add further authenticity to the recording the band recorded the album on location on the southern tip of Vesleøy, an island in the Seljord lake that overlooks Trollebotn itself. Recorded with an array of musicians from the Norwegian underground scene, “Trollebotn” combines elements of ambient, post-rock, electro-acoustics and folk to form a warm organic mix of upbeat music and, perhaps surprisingly, quite captivating traditional lyrics. “Fanteguten” and “Som Lindi Baerer Lauv” for example use steady insistent bass alongside electronic ambience while album opener “Anne Sit Heime” focuses more on conventional acoustic instrumentation. “Guro Heddelid” is very much more minimal, combining field recordings of water, wind and droning organ with Rune Faten’s smooth vocal to create an image of improvised music making with whatever happens to be at hand with impressive results.
~ Paul Lloyd, Sideline
Trollebotn is both a mythical and real place; in folklore it is a remote location on the edge of the world where trolls and mountain giants are said to dwell, in reality it is an area in Seljord, Telemark, Norway. The traditional folk songs that feature throughout the “Trollebotn” album are drawn from the community that inhabits the mountainous Seljordshei region. To add further authenticity to the recording the band recorded the album on location on the southern tip of Vesleøy, an island in the Seljord lake that overlooks Trollebotn itself. Recorded with an array of musicians from the Norwegian underground scene, “Trollebotn” combines elements of ambient, post-rock, electro-acoustics and folk to form a warm organic mix of upbeat music and, perhaps surprisingly, quite captivating traditional lyrics. “Fanteguten” and “Som Lindi Baerer Lauv” for example use steady insistent bass alongside electronic ambience while album opener “Anne Sit Heime” focuses more on conventional acoustic instrumentation. “Guro Heddelid” is very much more minimal, combining field recordings of water, wind and droning organ with Rune Faten’s smooth vocal to create an image of improvised music making with whatever happens to be at hand with impressive results.
~ Paul Lloyd, Sideline
The album literally inhabits the space where the “real” world and the magical world meet. The album title Trollebotn is named after a wild untamed area of Norway where trolls & mountain giants live. This album was recorded by a who’s who in the Norwegian underground drone rock community including Tore Bøe (Origami Republika founder), Kai Mikalsen (Kobi), Kjell Runar Jenssen (Motorpsycho, Del), Kjell Øyvind Braaten (Varde, Ehwaz), Kjell-Olav Jørgensen (Salvatore), & Bjarne Larsen (Salvatore). Out of all the participants, I am only familiar with Kobi. If the rest of the collaborators are anything like Kobi, and from what I hear on this disc they are, then I would assume that the sounds that they make on their own would be intriguing too. This disc was recorded on an island in a lake that looks down on the actual physical and magical, Trollebotn. Through musical alchemy, the magic and wonder of the place has been transformed into stunning, drone-ing, floating sounds.
I listened to this record for many weeks before even bothering to open the CD case. I was so entranced by the sound I felt little need to find out what it was about. I don’t speak Norwegian so all I did was listen to Rune Flaten’s melodious, woodsy voice. When I finally opened up the CD case I was pleasantly surprised that each song had a brief explanation of what each song was about. Despite sounding like Can or Faust on Quaaludes (this is meant as a compliment) most, if not all these songs are very old.
The first song “Anne sit Heime” features Rune's amazing vocals, a sad whistle or flute, a slowly unfolding strummed guitar, and minimalist percussion. It tells the tale of a mother singing to her son, about his father’s journey to go fight the Mountain Giants. The mother finally breaks down telling the son that his father can not return unless the son helps him back. The intensity of the song slowly builds as the drumming gets tighter and quicker. By the end, it is almost sounding like Slint or at least the dense part of the For Carnation.
Fjellmannjenta apparently is a bit of a dirty ditty. Like all great dirty folk songs, it sounds like the song is about nothing but sweet, innocent farmer's daughters. Well the song is about a farmer’s daughter, but she is making a pass at her chosen one, according to the liner notes, “with her skirt around her neck.” While I enjoyed the song on a pure sonic level, finding out the meaning of the words to the song is like reading the explicit verses in the Song of Solomon in church. It is deliciously wicked.
Fra Guro Heddelid needs no translation for one to know it is a sad, sad song. What sounds like a bagpipe drone, or an accordion, moans slow and low. There are bells, cymbals fills, and other unspecified clatter. All the while, Rune sings the lament of a woman who married for money not love. Her children surround her as she describes her self as a dying, once beautiful, tree beside a beautiful river.
Som Lidi Baere Lauv is full of impending doom. The drum beats have a thicker, more ominous feel which counters with a high pitch but low drone. Simultaneously, the vocals seem fall from the sky to the earth, like tears rolling down a cheek or a droplet of water falling from a waterfall. The song ends actually with the sound of water.
Throughout this whole disc, the magic of the place where it was recorded can be felt and heard. A very special recording, it is both ancient and modern. This record is a bridge between the “Real” world and the magic one. In this place and on this record they co-exist beautifully.
~ Dan Cohoon, Amplitude Equals One Over Frequency Squared
I listened to this record for many weeks before even bothering to open the CD case. I was so entranced by the sound I felt little need to find out what it was about. I don’t speak Norwegian so all I did was listen to Rune Flaten’s melodious, woodsy voice. When I finally opened up the CD case I was pleasantly surprised that each song had a brief explanation of what each song was about. Despite sounding like Can or Faust on Quaaludes (this is meant as a compliment) most, if not all these songs are very old.
The first song “Anne sit Heime” features Rune's amazing vocals, a sad whistle or flute, a slowly unfolding strummed guitar, and minimalist percussion. It tells the tale of a mother singing to her son, about his father’s journey to go fight the Mountain Giants. The mother finally breaks down telling the son that his father can not return unless the son helps him back. The intensity of the song slowly builds as the drumming gets tighter and quicker. By the end, it is almost sounding like Slint or at least the dense part of the For Carnation.
Fjellmannjenta apparently is a bit of a dirty ditty. Like all great dirty folk songs, it sounds like the song is about nothing but sweet, innocent farmer's daughters. Well the song is about a farmer’s daughter, but she is making a pass at her chosen one, according to the liner notes, “with her skirt around her neck.” While I enjoyed the song on a pure sonic level, finding out the meaning of the words to the song is like reading the explicit verses in the Song of Solomon in church. It is deliciously wicked.
Fra Guro Heddelid needs no translation for one to know it is a sad, sad song. What sounds like a bagpipe drone, or an accordion, moans slow and low. There are bells, cymbals fills, and other unspecified clatter. All the while, Rune sings the lament of a woman who married for money not love. Her children surround her as she describes her self as a dying, once beautiful, tree beside a beautiful river.
Som Lidi Baere Lauv is full of impending doom. The drum beats have a thicker, more ominous feel which counters with a high pitch but low drone. Simultaneously, the vocals seem fall from the sky to the earth, like tears rolling down a cheek or a droplet of water falling from a waterfall. The song ends actually with the sound of water.
Throughout this whole disc, the magic of the place where it was recorded can be felt and heard. A very special recording, it is both ancient and modern. This record is a bridge between the “Real” world and the magic one. In this place and on this record they co-exist beautifully.
~ Dan Cohoon, Amplitude Equals One Over Frequency Squared
PLUMERAI: WITHOUT NUMBER
With three releases under their belt, Boston four-piece Plumerai follow up their 2006 EP “Res Cogitans” with their second album entitled “Without Number”. Having secured a consistent line-up of Elizabeth Ezell (vocals), Martin Newman (guitars), James Newman (bass) and Todd Richards (drums) during 2006 the band toured up and down the US East Coast and worked on new material. Choosing bass player Newman to record the album allowed the band to experiment more in the studio and use instruments such as accordion, guzheng and keyboards. “Without Number” is based around a series of character studies and stories brought to life by Ezell’s unique vocal talents; “Lavinia” for example is based on a Shakespeare play while “Iris” pays tribute to a lost friend. Musically, the band are not easy to categorise as they draw from a number of influences as diverse as alternative, shoegazer, art-rock and beyond. Ezell’s vocal delivery is distinct and evokes a unique mixture of such names as The Cranes, PJ Harvey, Patti Smith or even Portishead. The only thing that can be slightly distracting is that the music itself can sometimes become slightly too overpowering at times. Aside from that fairly minor point, “Without Number” is a worthy indie-pop album characterised by Ezell’s seductive vocals.
~ Paul Lloyd, Sideline
With three releases under their belt, Boston four-piece Plumerai follow up their 2006 EP “Res Cogitans” with their second album entitled “Without Number”. Having secured a consistent line-up of Elizabeth Ezell (vocals), Martin Newman (guitars), James Newman (bass) and Todd Richards (drums) during 2006 the band toured up and down the US East Coast and worked on new material. Choosing bass player Newman to record the album allowed the band to experiment more in the studio and use instruments such as accordion, guzheng and keyboards. “Without Number” is based around a series of character studies and stories brought to life by Ezell’s unique vocal talents; “Lavinia” for example is based on a Shakespeare play while “Iris” pays tribute to a lost friend. Musically, the band are not easy to categorise as they draw from a number of influences as diverse as alternative, shoegazer, art-rock and beyond. Ezell’s vocal delivery is distinct and evokes a unique mixture of such names as The Cranes, PJ Harvey, Patti Smith or even Portishead. The only thing that can be slightly distracting is that the music itself can sometimes become slightly too overpowering at times. Aside from that fairly minor point, “Without Number” is a worthy indie-pop album characterised by Ezell’s seductive vocals.
~ Paul Lloyd, Sideline
Start the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape in the new year.