In-depth Comparison of CD vs. Vinyl of New Metallica

Ok, so... I've never really been into Metallica at any point in my life, but this post has nothing to do with my opinion on their music.  I ran across a link on gizmodo.com to an interesting article blog post that compares the audio quality of Metallica's new album on CD vs. on vinyl.  It's not really a broad argument for vinyl over CD, but rather just an interesting deconstruction of the resulting sound of this one album on each type of media. I think it's pretty interesting to actually see the waveforms of each compared side by side, which can point to some reason to the extra depth and clarity you get on analog media.  The article blog post is a bit technical (read: boring, if you're not in to that sort of thing), and pretty interesting, I think. Check it, here.

New Vinyl!

I'm happy to report that my turntable and speaker purchase a few months ago was not an impulse, use-for-a-month-and-forget-it purchase.  I'm amazed every time I sit down and listen as to how much better music sounds with a decent setup.

In any case, Amanda and I (and a crew of other friends) took a trip up to Berkeley 2 weekends ago to check out one of my favorite bands that I never actually thought I'd see live, Sigur Rós.  I had every intention of blogging about that experience, but have been way too crazy busy since to do anything about it.  The day after the show, we took a trip to Rasputin and spent a couple hours pouring over all the cool albums they had, where I actually picked up a couple few new.

The thing about buying vinyl, at least for me, is that, while I'd like to go out and re-buy all of my CD/mp3 collection on vinyl, that'd be kinda pricey and take up a bunch of space that I don't have.  So I had to come up with a couple rules:

Rule 1: I can buy any of my top 10 albums
This one might be a bit ambiguous since I don't really have a list; and if I did, I'm sure it'd change from year to year.  In general, I think I have a fair idea of what's not on the list though.  This is probably going to be a blog topic in the future...

Rule 2: I should only get new-music albums if they come with digital downloads
Many vinyl distributors are--most thankfully--including a piece of paper with the record(s) with info on how to go download free mp3s.  This is awesome.  After I started buying vinyl, it dawned on me that you can't just borrow an album from a friend, rip it, and give it back.  (shut up)  That was actually kind of weird.  And a little sobering.  But it doesn't matter.  With the downloads accompanying the vinyl purchase, I'm way more apt to buy it since I can listen to the tracks at work, in the car, whatever.  If I want to listen "on the go", I'm not forced to buy the CD, in which case I might not ever buy the vinyl, depending on the album.  Great marketing--please keep it up, music distributor people!

Rule 3: The music (style, production, etc) should be a "good vinyl" album
I regret my vinyl purchases, like the new "On My Way Here" from Clay Aiken... uh... jk.  :-)  Really though, there are some albums--whether due to the style/genre, production style, or both--that just sound so great on vinyl.  Others will sound better than their digital counterparts, but I can wait on getting them if they don't fit in to any of the other rules above.

The Goods
So, here's what I've picked up recently, both in Berkeley and eBay:

In Field & Town, Hayden
Thanks for sharing this with me, Biz--this has been one of my favorite albums over the past few months.  I haven't been super interested in listening to much folk rock in the past year or two, but I can't get this one off my mind.  And it didn't include digital downloads--it included a CD!  ...and on 180 gram vinyl, no less!

The Hawk Is Howling, Mogwai
This is becoming my favorite Mogwai album.  Check that--it has become.  It definitely passes rules 2 and 3--super high quality mp3 downloads, and the instrumentation and production on this album makes me want to listen to it over and over again.  So warm, but clear and concise; mellow, then powerful.  No silly lyrics to get in the way.  Also on 180 gram vinyl.  Mogwai, you guys did an amazing job on this--11/10.  Oh, and the album artwork is soooo awesome:







Ballads, John Coltrane
Personal #1 Jazz album.  Also on 180 gram vinyl.  Never thought it could sound so good.


Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim
This album is one of my recent County Library discoveries, and is a stellar album for those that dig the Stan Getz/Jobim albums with all those great Brazilian tunes.  Another on 180 gram vinyl.  This way, it really sounds like the band is in the room...
Mr. Beast, Mogwai
Another great Mogwai album.  The production sounds like their old production when compared to The Hawk is Howling, but is still a great listen for vinyl.  Yet another 180 gram vinyl pressing.


Rachmaninoff Concerto No. 3, Rachmaninoff, Van Cliburn, Kiril Kondrashin & Symphony Of The Air
I didn't realize it when I bought it, but this album is super rare.  I can barely find any info on it on the net.  Van Cliburn is a legendary pianist, the Rach 3 is a legendary classical work, and while this album was recorded in in 1958 at Carnegie Hall, it was remastered in 1983 using a new high-fidelity technique to compete with the onset of CDs at the time.  They recopied the original tape to vinyl at 1/2 the speed of the recording, which is supposed to provide more granularity and depth of tone--similar to the uber expensive and rare MFSL albums that were done in the 80s.  Not bad for a $3 purchase.

(because of the rarity, as well as my laziness in not wanting to take pics of this, I can't find any album cover pics)

1992-2002, Underworld
Yes, I like some house music every now and then.  I scored this 4 LP set off eBay for $20 and am quite happy to couch rave/dance to this now.  $5 a record for some of the original house music masters.  Yeehaw.


Ok, that's all for now!

You Might Have Inspired Me

I want to divert from my usual line of writing, which is mostly weighted on the music aspect of the theme of this blog, and write about the other aspect of this blog: inspirations.  I'm watching The American Experience | Reagan, a biography of the man's presidency and the rollercoaster of events that accompanied his terms.  I'm reminded of Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World--a book that walks through the complexities of the aftermath of WWI but focuses on the personalities of Wilson, Lloyd George, and Clemenceau and how they (the personalities of each) played such a huge part the decisions that were made (and weren't made) as a result.  The book describes a number of encounters between the three where each are on completely different levels, which effectively causes negotiations to deliberate far longer than any had hoped.  It also leads you to wonder what the possibilities could have been if the three had actually gotten along. The part of the Reagan show that demonstrates the steps--the little things here and there--that take discussions with the Soviet Union from nil to the agreement of disarmament are really quite moving.  The part that really grabbed me was how on Reagan's first meeting with Gorbachev, Gorbachev's aids note how it was evident that Gorbachev was intrigued and swayed by Reagan's charm and ability to portray his human-ness.  The show doesn't directly draw this parallel, but allows you to draw the conclusion that it was really Reagan's personality that paved the way to the end of communism in Russia. Now, my intent here is not to assess the validity of Reagan's personality as the reason for the relative success of the negotiations with the Soviets, but rather to emphasize the value of one's character traits.  Seeing the effect that values have when relating to people is quite simple, yet quite profound.  These values govern the little things that we do--the decisions that we make on a day to day basis--that slowly compile themselves amidst the chaos of life and affect people and events that we can and could never predict. It's good to have a reminder about the simple things every now and then.

Cognitive Anthropology and Lyrics

A few weeks ago I finished up collaborating on a lightweight research paper as a work-related extracurricular activity that we submitted to some Computer Science consortium for judging and potential publishing.  The paper was intended to use Human-Computer Interaction principles and some other tech-geeky stuff to describe the difficulties in developing video security software.  Why HCI is kinda interesting Along the way, one of the advisors for the paper, Brent Aurenheimer (a Computer Science prof at CSU Fresno) pointed me in the direction of a book called "Cognition in the Wild", by Edwin Hutchins.  Hutchins is an cognitive anthropologist that spent some time with the Navy, observing how people work together using certain protocols to ensure safety for the things they do.  For example, a protocol that pilots follow when changing altitude in an airplane would entail something like:

1. One crew member verbalizes "Altitude change to X feet"
2. The pilot verbalizes "Altitude change to X feet"
3. The pilot operates on the plane to change the altitude to X feet
4. The pilot verbalizes "Altitude set to X feet"

This protocol ensures that the crew all know what's going to happen, and minimizes the risk of the pilot setting the wrong altitude because he's forced to verbalize what he's going to do, then what he did.  These sorts of systems and protocols might be boring to think about or study for most, but are of super importance when dealing with things that risk people's lives (Xray machines, airplanes, surgeries, etc.) Language and Music I came across this passage in Hutchins' book:

As part of the cognitive revolution, cognitive anthropology made two crucial steps. First, it turned away from society by looking inward to the knowledge an individual had to have to function as a member of the culture. The questions became "What does a person have to know?" The locus of knowledge was assumed to be inside the individual. The methods of research then available encourage the analysis of language. But knowledge expressed or expressible in language tends to be declarative knowledge. It is what people can say about what they know.

Maybe I'm taking this out of context, or maybe I didn't interpret it correctly, but the whole "language tends to be declarative knowledge" thing really hits home: I think this is a huge part of why I tend towards music without "language".  Language, or lyrics when language is paired with music, is really mostly capable of expressing that which one knows; au contraire, it's not so good for expressing that which one doesn't know.  Furthermore, how can you really express something that you don't know?  You probably can't.  You can't communicate something you don't know until you find out that you don't know it.  And for me, I think that's one of the great things about music--when doing music, you can express things that can't be said with language.  The idea of "a picture is worth a thousand words" comes to mind.  Looking at this picture, for example, probably evokes more emotion than reading the text: "prisoners at the Dachau concentration camp were tortured by hanging from their hyperextended arms."  Sorry for the slight morbidity, but I think it makes a good point.  Music has wonderful potential to convey and/or stir up emotions to listeners without necessarily telling them what they should think or feel.  And I happen to think that there is a vast amount of music out there that can do this far better when it's unaccompanied by language.  In fact, language over evocative music can detract from the music--like watching a beautiful sunset next to sewage processing plant.  Or like putting a caption under that picture above--once I read the caption, I'm lead to somewhat subdue the emotions that the picture stirred up, and focus on what the caption's words are telling me; without words, the picture alone allows my thoughts and emotions to carry where they may--maybe to places that I don't have words for. Don't get me wrong--I'm not suggesting that music with lyrics is crap.  I've been reacting for some years now to what seems to be the more common notion that music without words is boring.  I stereotype and think of so many people that if forced to listen to modern instrumental bands like Mogwai or Explosions in the Sky or Godspeed You Black Emperor! for the first time, they'd just be waiting for the words to start, then when they found out that there weren't any, they'd just dismiss the music as boring. Instrumentals Are Inspiring Up until this past century, as I understand it, it seems that Western instrumental music versus music with language was maybe a 50/50 split.  Depending on the era you look at, music with language was used for telling stories or for religious purposes, while instrumental music still played a huge part of music as a whole.  Today, in my perspective, it seems that that ratio has changed quite a bit, which is quite a bummer in my opinion.  How come we don't see more instrumental groups getting popular?  How has our focus shifted as a culture?  Whatever the answers are to those questions, the lack of this type of music really gets my wheels turning.  It makes me want to contribute to this part of music in our society--to fill some wholes where we're lacking (there I go again, getting "epic" notions again). The wheels are turning... "Play Delicate, Desire Quiet", Grace Cathedral Park, In The Evenings of Regret:

I think I have an "Epic" complex

I'm just winding down for bed, thinking that I don't really feel like I wrapped anything up today.  It was just another day of business (read: busy-ness), eating food, putting gas in the car, drinking coffee, talking a lot, thinking about things, blah blah blah.  It's not that any of those things were unimportant, I just don't feel like I really closed the book on anything; and that feeling of checking something off your list is a fine one, I'd say.  Especially when, for some reason, you really want to go to bed feeling like you've checked something off your list.  Some days this feeling doesn't matter, but today it does.

So... at 11:52pm, what could I possibly do to fulfill this urge...?  Some would drink some warm milk (i.e. grandma), or mix a cocktail, take a shower, read a chapter or two in a book, watch some TV... but usually those things for me are more of those everyday sorts of things.  Sure, they're nice, but they don't really generate that OH YEAH feeling for me.  Sometimes writing here can put my creativity dogs to rest, but I realize I get deterred quite often from doing such, mainly because I usually think I have to write this really well thought out, neato post that people will think is oh so cool... and then I get tired just thinking about thinking about it and usually fall asleep.

I realize, though, that I've done this with writing music as well.  I get these thoughts that say that whatever I do, it must be sooo groundbreaking and do all of this really interesting stuff that no one's ever done before, which, when I actually consider writing something, I usually say screw it and find something else to do.  Why can't I just be?

Lofty goals are wonderful--except when they discourage you from getting off the couch and starting down the goal's path.

Did Boards of Canada Steal From Radiohead?

I know I've read/heard of Kid A and Amnesiac being influenced by groups such as BOC, and thus I would've expected this the other way around... but it looks like these two albums came out right around the same time, and it seems highly unlikely that one could've stolen from the other just in time for the album to come out.  And even if that were the case, I would've expected that Radiohead would've stolen from BOC... But is it just me or do these two tracks sound peculiarly similar? "Amo Bishop Roden", In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country (27 Nov 2000), Boards of Canada: "Idioteque", Kid A (2 Oct 2000) And the BOC came out after the Radiohead... hmmm...

Memories: Serus Victoria

Five years of making music saw plenty of ups and downs. It was a great learning experience, for what it was. Once again, thanks for the good times, guys. "REM" (2003) "This Final Time", The Phoenix (2007) 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Be Yourself... Like Spinal Tap.

I decided that instead of putting my head down on my pillow and doing some reading, I'd do a quick vetting of what was on my mind. So, I made it as far as getting in to bed. But as I was getting there, er here, I mentally prepped myself for tomorrow morning. I've got an appointment with my physical therapist--who happens to be an atypical guy when it comes to what I think of a doctor/PT type. I don't know a whole lot about him, but I do know that he's relatively young, rides motorcycles, and dresses and carries himself like a guy I'd see at a club. Why is this important? ...well, for some reason, I've historically tried to dress to fit surroundings--to fit in--and I actually thought to myself as I was getting in to bed: "well, I shouldn't wear X because he might stereotype me as Y." Then I caught myself. STUPID!!! Who cares?!?!@# This guy is my physical therapist!! And then I thought some more... I don't think it's that I'm scared to live out who I am--I feel confident that I don't compromise myself. I think it's more that I want people to think they can associate with me, so I try to make it seem as such. In itself, this might not be such a bad thing, I'd think, but the more I ponder it, the more I believe it leads to compromise--at least when it comes to creative expression. Somehow I started thinking about how this might tie to the music-making process for me (perhaps these thoughts were urged on by just having watched This Is Spinal Tap with girlfriend). I started thinking that making oneself fit others is really a process of burying self. And while some may disagree, I think the burying of self = stifling of what's really going on inside oneself. Thus, how can one really believe in the creative expression that they might put forth as music (or any other form of creative expression) if what really makes them up is buried and locked away. Sometimes my insides actually wanna do crazy stuff like Spinal Tap. Not that I'd actually wanna be on stage singing "Big Bottom", but you get the point.

Whiskey Drinkin' Music #2

I couldn't resist posting another Willie Nelson track from the Songbird album.  I mean, what else says "drink whiskey" besides Willie Nelson and a confusing song called "$1000 Wedding"?

Whiskey Drinkers Like This Blog

This site gets more hits from keywords "whiskey drinkin music" than any other.  Thanks for the info, Google Analytics.  Probably tied to the fact that if you google that phase, this post comes up second.  Bizarroooo...

Willie Nelson Makes Me Happy

When I think of just sitting to listen to music as your primary focus, I think of how Dr. Huxtable used to sit and listen to jazz. Or how David Helfgott's father would do the same in Shine. I guess that means I associate the notion with old guys. And I still like to think of myself as not an old guy. That's debatable, however, due to my recent onset of back problems... but that's neither here nor there for this forum. New Vinyl! I came home today to a nice little vinyl-sized package, which I came to discover was the bearer of the two records I recently picked up from cduniverse.com (<--great prices for vinyl): Radical Face's Ghost, and Willie Nelson's Songbird. So instead of busying myself with stuff to do around the house while I checked out the new tunes, I decided to just sit and listen. This is actually really tough for me, since I'm so used to at least reading through my Google Reader feeds, but I did it. So since I have Ghost on mp3 already, I decided to check out Songbird first. Now, one of my goals for this blog is to not be a site for reviewing all of the new music that I check out, then pass on recommendations. It is, rather, a forum where I can blab about music and aspects of music that move me in some fashion. I can't say that the whole album did that, but it was definitely a pleasure to sit, stare, tap my foot, and soak in. My Review Just kidding. But if you weren't in the know, this is a Willie Nelson album--but just as much a Ryan Adams and The Cardinals album. Ryan Adams produced it and played guitars all over it, and The Cardinals do all kinds of great filling out the gaps. For the Ryan Adams fans out there, there's a number of tracks that are unmistakeably branded by his work. The Stuff That Makes Me Happy For me, the alt-country thing is really hit or miss--and more so on the miss side. But when it hits, I really really dig it. It's just that there's sooo much of it out there now that it all starts to sound the same. This song, however, is on the hit side--nothing really groundbreaking about it--it just has that right blend of the ol' good-music formula to do the trick. ...that's actually a Ryan Adams song. Cheaters. This next one--an old Grateful Dead tune--has some reaaally cool stuff going on in it. First, you get that nice baby-rocking slow shuffle-y ballad-y feel. Awesomely subtle overlaying dissonances. They play minors when you expect majors. Some really great dirty electric guitar bends. Great, easy resolving chorus. Electric, distorted tremolo guitar. Yummy major 7 chords. With Willie Nelson doing his Willie Nelson thing. On 180 gram vinyl, this sounds phenomenal:

1. They cover Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah"
2. They cover Gram Parson's "$1000 Wedding", which is phenomenal
3. They redo Willie's "Sad Songs and Waltzes"
4. They do an interesting rendition of "Amazing Grace"

Stuff About The Album That's Annoying:

1. "Songbird" is a Fleetwood Mac tune

Music, Culture, and Coltrane

Ok, so I've been busy and away from posting for a bit. But in my business, I've had a moment or two to do some thinking. At some point in the past 14 days or so, I started pondering on what aspects make one say "I like that song"--or even more poignantly, "I don't like that song." Autoanalysis After thoroughly listening to Dr. John's first album and discovering that it was a Rolling Stone Top-500 album, I started questioning myself: "Why can't I get in to this? Is it me or the music?" I made myself listen again. Nope. And again. Still nope. And again... a couple more times... Still. Nope. There were a couple cool moments in a couple of the songs, but they were just too hippie for me. So, I'm imagining that Rolling Stone's Top-500 list isn't just the result of one person's opinion; it's got to be made up of a bunch of people's opinions. So, some large group of people seriously thought that this Dr. John album was some of the best music of all time--so why don't I think so? I know I can see why people might think so; but I can also see why some other group of people might seriously think that a Helicopter String Quartet is amazing as well (Stockhausen was awarded for this piece, apparently, in 2001; check part of it out on YouTube). As a sort of art form, both the album and the string quartet are impressive, but in neither case do I find them aurally pleasing. The latter, I actually find to be bizarro/cool; the former, really just bizarro. Analysis So I started thinking of the people I know and pondered about what stereotypical social groups they fit in to and what music they might say they like. When one says "I can't stand opera," for example, I really have to wonder if they really "get" opera. Or replace 'opera' with 'punk' or 'rap' or 'country' or 'jazz' or 'reggae'... Sure, there's some aspect of whether or not some song may be aurally pleasing or not, but I really think that a lot of us who just dismiss a whole genre of music really "get it" before we do so. The thing I really think is interesting though, is the intertwining of the desire to like something because of reason X (my coworkers listen to Country and I want to relate to them. Or: people that listen to Goth Rock really express the things that I feel, so I should listen to that), and the idea that you like something regardless of the reason--you like it because it effects your emotions in a way you deem positive. I think it's interesting because the "regardless of the reason" reason seems to really be just the result of the first desire, which merely happened at an earlier time in your life. Maybe you didn't consciously make a decision to listen to what you listened to as a kid, but that effected you, and now represents certain events in your life; you probably listen to some music today that you hold some fondness for due to listening to it earlier in life. You probably also avoid listening to music that represents something negative that happened in your life (unless, of course, you enjoy reenacting the crap parts of your life). [2 day break from writing...] After Some More Thinking So before the above, I took a few more days (unintentionally) to ponder the whole idea, and I really just came back to the not-so-profound idea of how art, in general, is really just a catch-22 type of representation/influence on the culture or subculture you belong to. You listen to something because you identify with it--or you want to identify with it. You listen to the subculture music that you feel at home with when you want to feel at home; you listen to the subculture music that you don't feel at home with when you want to branch out--and as a result, there's a good chance you might learn something that has nothing to do with music at all. Well, if you pay attention, that is. There's a good chance that you (yes, you) don't listen to Classical music on a regular basis because you don't "get it"--you weren't raised in a family that spent much time with the genre, or weren't ever educated in a way that made you take a step outside of your music culture home, so to speak. Just like I don't listen to the music from Noh theatre because I was never around it, nor ever taught about it. On the flip side, if you fall in to that no-Classical-whlie-growing-up boat, maybe some unexpected occurrence in your life drew you in to some particular Classical piece or composer, and little by little your palette for Classical grew. That's what got me in to Jazz. John Coltrane's Ballads. The stars alligned, or whatever it was that day, and I felt the spirit move me to buy this album back in 2000. And it's beautiful. It was easy to palatte for me at the time. I was living in France, so I felt I should try to investigate the French fascination with the genre. And now, I look forward to finding new Jazz jewels to add to the collection. Previous to the discovery of this album though, Jazz bored my pants off. "It's Easy To Remember (But So Hard To Forget)", John Coltrane, Ballads: En Somme I think all of this pondering has done a couple of things for me. First, it makes me take a step back and consider how sheltered my ears are. There is so much music outside of the Western Pop (read: Pop, R&B, Folk, Metal, Indie, Jazz, Rap) that I listen to every day--maybe I should take a step out of the box and check out some Noh theatre music, or some more North African oud music. This Anouar Brahem album is gorgeous (yes, that's a piano, an accordion and an oud): "Leila Au Pays Du Carrousel", Anouar Brahem, Le Pas Du Chat Noir: Next, it really encourages me in to the whole music making process. If music is representative of who you are and who you want to be, there's sure lots of me that I need to figure out in order to make music again. Lastly, it encourages me to encourage all of you to take a step back from your regular music allottment (or cycle, as I find for myself), and pick up something really off the wall, but something that's tied to some subculture that intrigues you for some reason. Think about it. People in Papua New Guinea, Namibia, and Tahiti probably all fall in love and get their hearts broken too. Ponder it for a while. Then just give it a shot. It might change your life.

New Mogwai

New album out in the Fall, which is exciting. This track puts a smile on my face.  Its like one of those everything-is-gonna-be-alright songs.  "The Sun Smells Too Loud", off the new album The Hawk Is Howling: You can download it from Matador's site. http://www.mogwai.co.uk/ I'm excited.

Dr. John and Bizarro Liner Notes

So, on Benji's recommendation, I've been checking CDs and DVDs out from the County Library.  So far I've been able to discover some good jazz and check out some Criterion Collection flicks--good times.  Last weekend I checked out some Charles Mingus, the Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim album (which I think is gonna become part of the weekly jazz staple), and this album from Dr. John (or his full pseudonym: Dr. John, the night tripper). I'm not really sure where my long-time desire to actually check out this guy's stuff came from--I think I'm leaning towards seeing him on The Muppets as a kid?--but I know that ever since hearing him do "Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans" with Harry Connick, Jr. (on the album 20), I've had a curiousity.  Here's that track: So last weekend, I check out his debut album, Gris-Gris (or GRIS-gris as stated on the album), #143 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (in case you were wondering, Dr. Dre's The Chronic is #137 *shrug*).  It is iiiiiinteresting though.  I expected some bluesy, New Orleans jazz.  NEWP.  When I say "iiiiiinteresting", I mean it.  Really atypical stuff; it ain't today's pop music, that's for sure.  I thought about posting an example--something that really is inspiring--and I might, later on.  After reading the liner notes though, I thought that that might better describe (and entertain) what this album is like:

Who? My group consists of Dr. Poo Pah Doo of destine tambourine and Dr. Ditmus of Conga, Cr. Bourdreaux of Funky Knuckle Skins and Dr. Battiste of Scorpio in Bass Clef, Dr. McLean of Mandolin Comp. School, Dr. Manm of Bottleneck Learning, Dr. Bolden of The Immortal Flute Fleet, The Baron of Ronyards, Dido, Chine, Goncy O'Leary, Shirley Marie Laveaux, Dr. Durden, Govenor Plas Johnson, Senator Bob West Bowing, Croaker Jean Freunx, Sister Stephanie and St. Theresa, John Gumbo, Cecilia La Favorite, Karla Le Jean who were all dreged up from The Rigolets by the Zombie of the Second Live.  Under the eight visions of Professor Longhair Reincannted the charts of now. What? I will mash my special fais deaux-deaux on all you who buy my charts.  The rites of Coco-Robicheaux who, invisible to all but me, will act as a second guardian angel until you over-work him.  All who attend our rites will receive kites from the second tier of Tit Alberto who brought the Saute Chapeau to Chieu Va Bruler up to us from The Antilles to the Bayou.  St. John and my Aunt Francis who told me the Epic of Jump Sturdy and Apricot Glow.  Mimi, who in silence, says the lyrics to Mamma Roux in Chipacka the Chopatoulis, Choctaws without teepees on Magnolia Street and wise to the Zulu Parade and the Golden Blade, the sun-up to sun-down second liners who dig Fat Tuesday more than anybody and that's plenty.  I have also dug up the old Danse Kalinda to remind you we have not chopped out the old chants and the new Croaker Courtbullion to server battiste style of Phyco-delphia.  We did the snake à la Gris-Gris Calimbo to frame our thing into the medium of down under, younder fire.  We walked on gilded splinters to shove my point across to you whom I will communicate with shortly through the smoke of Deaux-Deaux, the rattlesnake whose forked tongue hisses pig latin in silk and satin da-zaw-ig-day may the gilded splinters of Auntie Andre spew forth in your path to light and guide your way through the bayous of life on your pirogue of heartaches and good times... Push and the shove that you need to get your point across no matter what the cost.

I'm not sure if I missed some punctuation, but I don't really think it matters. :-)

New Music? ...Or Old?

I somehow found myself internet wandering this eve and ran across a band called Parachutes that sounds very Sigur Rós-ish.  Maybe part of that is due to the fact that they're from Reykjavik... but in any case they might be worth a listen. Theeeen... I got pointed in the direction of Iceland, and found this cool blog on Iceland's music scene.  ...where the Icelandic Song of the Week was "Under The Influence of My Bloody Valentine" by bob; their songs on MySpace totally remind me of Benji (interesting changes, interesting rhythms, interesting chord dissonances): (You can download that track here for free.) A nice night of discoveries.  Too bad iTunes is all jacked for me now; ruins my end-the-night-on-a-good-note note.

RANT: I'm Sick of iTunes.

There's nothing more frustrating in going to sit down and listen to your mp3 collection and then realize it's not there. Well, that's not quite exactly what's going on, but sorta.  I use 2 separate iTunes libraries to a) manage the goods on my MBP and b) manage the goods on my server.  It's neat that iTunes offers this functionality.  Except that it doesn't work.  Every time, now, I switch from one library to the other, iTunes re-references all my files to the last source.  I.e.: I use the iTunes library that points to all the stuff on my server, quit, then launch the library that points to my laptop stuff, and voilà!--nothing works because iTunes thinks all of those songs are physically located on my server.  And of course there's no easy way to make iTunes switch all the files back--it makes you think it does when you change back your preferences (that it so conveniently changed for you), but it doesn't fix anything.  So, I either have to delete all songs out of my library and re-add them (but then you lose all of your playback metadata--count played, rating, etc--I actually started rating things a couple months ago and have enjoyed this feature for filtering out crap that I, for some reason, won't delete even though I don't listen to it), or use Doug's Bring Out Yer Dead script to fix all 3060 songs, one-by-one. FIX YOUR CRAP APPLE. {end}

1s and 0s

I just got Reason 4 installed on the MBP. And that's exciting. Back in the day, I found Reason 2 to be pretty easy to make some electronic tunes with, so I went with it and ended up with some of the stuff at my "loveless" MySpace site.  According to Luke D., it doesn't produce the most well-rounded and full music, even after mixing--and I'd have to agree--but I'm hoping it's improved in the past 5 years or so.  I'm also hoping I've improved in the past 5 years... Now, if I only had a MIDI controller so I could actually use the program... *sigh*

Hooray for Thrift Store Vinyl!

Amanda and I took a trip to Yoshi Now! on Saturday and I was quite happy to score some new vinyl.  Besides being cheap, the great thing about buying used vinyl is that you sometimes find treasure: I found a personalized & autographed sketching of Willie Nelson inside the Greatest Hits (And Some That Will Be) album I picked up: I also scored Steve Reich's Tehillim (which is interesting in that there's no fixed meter for this piece, yet is quite rhythmic; very cool how the percussion accents the Hebrew text): Volume 1 of Glenn Gould playing Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier (already had Vol. 1, but in mono!): Van Cliburn and Fritz Reiner (+ Chicago Symphony Orchestra) doing Brahms' Concerto No. 2, and an old school (on 78!) recording of The Boston Symphony Orchestra doing Ravel's Bolero (too bad I didn't realize they were 78's until after I got 'em--my record player doesn't do those :-( ). While looking for album cover pics for these, I also finally registered for discogs.com--a cool site for buying, selling, trading, displaying and finding info out about albums--especially vinyl.  I actually found out that the copy of Abbey Road that I picked up from Amoeba in May is actually an original pressing, and that a couple other thrift store finds somehow made their way to Fresno from Canada at some point in time.  If for some reason you feel the urge to take a gander at the collection, check it here.  Unfortunately, they don't have a lot of classical stuff up there that I have, but it's still cool nonetheless.

Whiskey Drinkin' Music

Thanks Scotty.

Music Is Not My Everest

I've tried to pretend that it's not. I've tried to make it what I wanted it to be. I've tried to to use it to say things I don't believe. I've used it to say things I don't feel. I've made it something it's not. Oh, but it is. "Gagging Order", Radiohead, Go To Sleep (EP 2)

Forgetfulness = Happiness

At some point one must become OK with not knowing everything.  In fact, one must become OK with the idea that much of what they come to know, they will eventually forget. Sounds like a silly statement, probably, but it was something that popped in to my head this weekend while at the Brewer's cabin.  I was sitting on the patio about 9:15am and trying to soak up the silence and enjoy the nature before heading back to dirty, smokey, mucky, grimy, sticky, hot Fresno, when I started pondering silly questions. The Question(s) I noticed these two trees (don't ask me what kind--I don't know a cedar from a fir from you name it, unless it comes to fruit) and how perfectly straight they seemed, but yet they weren't perfectly perpendicular to the ground.  If they were so straight, what made them get like that?  Why is it, again, that trees grow in different directions?  ...and then how do some end up so straight like these two?  That, of course, led to other silly questions... I know somebody knows the answer to that question about the trees, but why don't I know it?  Maybe somebody told me why trees might grow like that, but I guess I probably just forgot. So why do I forget?  Why can't I know all of the stuff I was once told?  Why couldn't I remember why trees grow the way they grow? My (Completely Unfounded) Answer It's too much for my brain.  As a kid, I learned things, then for some reason, my brain dismissed them.  So... at some point in my life, I must've realized that I can't remember everything I read or heard or saw...  I must've then decided that it's just OK to never know it all and that I'll continue to forget all kinds of things for the rest of my life. But why?  Why is it OK that I forget? Because that's how it is.  No choice in that matter. My Refreshing Conclusion (well, at least to me) While all of that may sound like a downer or even a "who cares", I think it might point to the opposite.  Maybe bad memories serve us well.  Maybe they allow two of us to have the same conversation over and over again and it's OK.  Maybe they allow us to dismiss the ways that we've been wronged without realizing we've dismissed them. When it comes to music, forgetting how that one note in the Rach #3 can bring me to tears every time I hear it, is really priceless.  That, in fact, drives me to listen to it again, and again, and again...  but only after I've forgotten it just enough to make me long to hear it again.  And when I do finally hear that note again (in context, of course), my heart flutters, the corners of my eyes dampen a little, my teeth show a little, and I'm satisfied all over again.  (Sometimes I want to punch Mr. R in the face for being so damn good to me.) I'm thankful for my forgetful brain.  It helps put smiles on my face time and time again.

Mind Blowing Radiohead Covers

Pop Music To many people, I just blasphemed.  To those people, the words "Radiohead" and "Cover" should not be in the same sentence.  I was one of those people at one point in time; I might still be one of those people, actually.  The reason for this, for me at least, is due to the amazing result of what comes about when those 5 guys get together with a bunch of guitars, crazy weird synths (I got so excited when I saw Johnny G playing the Ondes Martenot live), and some percussion.  Sure, many people say that Radiohead is not pop (and pop is dead), and I would heartily disagree with them--Radiohead, while not getting much radio play since the early 90's, is a pop band. But man do they do some interesting stuff in their pop music.  Maybe they're sorta pop pioneers--I don't know, and I don't really care.  While Thom Yorke's voice is great, the thing that really gets me is how they seem to have their instruments mastered, which allows them to play with music, so to speak.  5/4 (in "Morning Bell"), 7/8 (in "2 + 2 = 5"), 3/4, 6/4, 7/4, 9/8... they play in all sorts of meters, mix meters, and even mix 5's and 3's to make a regular 4/4 sound interesting.  Remember, this is pop music... The Cover But I really love how jazz pianist Brad Mehldau (on Nonesuch) does their "Paranoid Android."  He does a version of it with his trio on his Largo album, but the version on his Live In Tokyo album completely blows me away.  In order to be allowed to cover a Radiohead tune, you really have to be as good or better at the instrument you play, or at least offer some amazing creativity in what you do with their stuff (check Radiodread out... Reggae is really hit or miss for me, but somehow this hits for me.).  Mehldau's version of PA makes my eyes wanna pop out of my head.  You have to put your patience hat on to listen to this one if you're not one that grins at 20 minute versions of tunes; for me, this is cake though.  If you know PA, you can easily pick out the various melodies when Mehldau plays them, which is always a plus for me when it comes to jazz.  The thing that blows me away is the range of dynamics and emotion that he gets out of this tune, all by himself, on a piano, over such a (relatively) long period of time.  In order to keep a piece interesting over such a period, you have to keep it breathing (so your listeners can breathe!); he grows this thing in just the right places. And then I marvel at his strength to pull this off.  If you've ever played a concert grand piano for more than 10 minutes, you know that it's a tad different than playing on that spinet in your living room; it really takes some finger strength to get tones out of those 7' or 8' or however long strings that you've got in your bass register.  If you really listen, once the piece gets going, he's playing 8th's or 16th's on these huge strings forEVER.  I'd pass out if I tried to do that. This is a great tune in general, and Mehldau dominates it.  For me, this is one of those sacred pieces--one of the ones you don't really wanna listen to too much, because you'll ruin it.  Please... enjoy... "Paranoid Andriod", Brad Mehldau, Live In Tokyo

Music that pisses me off (that probably shouldn't)

There aren't a lot of songs that can evoke so much negative emotion from me (well, save from Josh Grobin or Celine Dion).  I have this Bebel Gilberto album that has a bunch of cool Brazilian electronic-y modern-y stuff on it.  This one song, however, makes me want to scream and run around the room punching things: "Bananeira", Bebel Gilberto, off of Tanto Tempo I noticed, though, that if you play two of this track at the same time (which would normally drive me nuts), it gets better:

Musicovery is web2.0neato for finding new music

Biz sent me a link to musicovery.com the other day, and I was instantly intrigued by both the way you tell it to find stuff you want to hear (by your mood, rarity, era, and genre), as well as how it presents it to you (spacial links, sorta like a Mind Map).  I haven't got the chance to really use it for a while, but I did sign up and am planning on seeing if I score any new music as a result.  It looks promising...!

The New Boléro

The Bolero To quote Wikipedia's article:

Bolero is a 3/4 dance that originated in Spain in the late 18th century, a combination of the contradanza and the sevillana.[1] Dancer Sebastiano Carezo is credited for inventing the dance in 1780[2]. It is danced by either a soloist or a couple. It is in a moderately slow tempo and is performed to music which is sung and accompanied by castanets and guitars with lyrics of five to seven syllables in each of four lines per verse. It is in triple time and usually has a triplet on the second beat of each bar.

I'm sure I'm not the first to think this, but I always think Ravel's Boléro is so evocative (I hate that word, but can't think of a better one for this case). It's so simple, so elegant, yet so mechanical and complex at the same time. Some say this is his most famous work.  I'm curious as to how a piece like this ended up influencing guys like Philip Glass and Steve Reich, due to the blatant minimalistic characteristics it possesses. I've always loved Ravel's Boléro. I love how it builds intensity without letting you realize it's building intensity. I love the simplicity of the melody. I love thinking about how much control the players must have in order to keep the same time for 15 minutes, and yet only grow in dynamic just ever so slightly as each second goes by; you'll ruin the whole thing if you let yourself go, lose control, and just go to town even for one little tiny note... it must be so tempting at times.  And the cathartic end just gives this sort of balls-out, classical-music distortion fulfillment...  It's like all of this careful and beautiful work was done for 14 minutes, and then everyone just shouts through their instruments for the last minute.  Awesome. Today I've recently realized, however, that there are a few pieces by a few of my favorite bands that sorta fit a modernized mold as the Boléro:

• Mogwai's "New Paths To Helicon, Pt I"
• Mono's "Halcyon, Beautiful Days"
• Sigur Rós' "Olsen Olsen"

Now, they might not sound anything like the Boléro, but they each share the ideas of a simple, repetitive bass line, a simple counter-melody, a simple melody, and a slow build to an explosion of cathartic goodness; and they're all in a meter that could almost feel like a triple time. I realized at one point back in my electronica days that all of my songs seemed to try to emulate this formula--it was totally unintentional--but they didn't even approached the result that all of the pieces I talked about here do. Take a gander... "New Paths To The Helicon, Pt. I", Mogwai, Government Commissions: BBC Sessions 1996-2003 "Halcyon (Beautiful Days), Mono, Walking Cloud and Deep Red Sky, Flag Fluttered and the Sun Shined "Olsen Olsen", Sigur Ros, Agaetis Byrjun This stuff harkens to both the minimalist and the romanticist in me, capturing two very opposite concepts and meshing them together in to something great. Even if these pieces aren't Boléro-esque, I like to think they are. And that makes me happy too.

A little time...

I never sit in the quiet anymore.  Never just sit.  There's always something to read, something to watch, something to listen to.  I allow myself to be inundated with information and stories.  Today's days seem full of info coming in, but no time to process it all. I need a little 4'33" in my life...

Vinyl vs. MP3 and Piano Snobbery

It's amazing... I never thought I'd really be able to tell such a difference. Background After buying my first turntable (Thorens TD-125 MKII) about a month ago now, then picking up some audiophile-ish speakers (Dynaco A-40XL) (I like to call em "speaks"), I've indulged in to the world of the plastic-y, music-y stuff. More on this in another post... Anyway, I just popped on the Dave Brubeck Quartet's "Dave Digs Disney" album (ripped as 160Kbps mp3's) and was amazed at how digital the piano sounded in the intro. I've listened to this album probably 30 times and I'd never noticed this before. I mean, it always just sounded like a piano--this sounds aaalmost like a modern electronic stage piano. It seems that listening to the vinyl goodness at home has effected my music listening. Piano Snobbery I'll openly admit that I'm a piano tone snob. I have a great piano at home (although a tad out of tune), but I won't play it because the tone bores me. And for anything that claims "piano", the further you get away from real piano sounds, the greater my emotions heighten towards detesting the sounds being made from that instrument. It generally causes me to turn the music off. Of course there are exceptions though. But hearing this recording after being battered by mp3 compression almost makes me want to turn it off. Weird. Maybe it's time to jump on the bandwagon and use AAC instead of MP3... or buy an external HDD and rip everything as FLAC...? I really hope that listening to vinyl won't taint my life with music like learning Music Theory in college did (fat chance though, it seems). I don't regret, by any means, taking those Theory classes (kinda had to since they were required for the major, but still), but they changed every music listening experience I've had since; sometimes I'm happy for that, and sometimes it frustrates the crap out of me. (Once again, ignorance really is bliss, I suppose) In any case, here's that Brubeck tune: "Alice In Wonderland", Dave Brubeck Quartet, Dave Digs Disney

I'm finally going to a show

I'm not quite sure, but I think the last big-name show that I went to was when I saw Radiohead at The Shoreline, back on their Hail To The Thief tour (geez, was that really 5 years ago?), with my good friend Doug (was that a 12er of Bass that we "quenched our thirst" with in the parking lot beforehand?).  In any case, Sigur Rós should be a good way to break that streak; I'm excited to see what kind of presence they bring in a live setting. Althoooough... Peter sent me a link to NPR interviewing them, and I have to say that it evoked some interesting emotions, that might have changed my opinion of them.  Sometimes ignorance really is bliss when it comes to my perception of bands and their music (one reason why I've usually stayed away from watching music videos--well, back when MTV actually had music videos on).  Here's that interview:

Led Zeppelin - Since I've Been Loving You (Live @ Blueberry Hill)

Here's a recording from someone's bootleg tape, which isn't quite as yummy, but still ain't too shabby...

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Led Zeppelin: Since I've Been Loving You (BBC Sessions)

Well, I don't have the original track on my laptop for some reason, but found this awesome recording of the track recorded for their BBC Sessions album. This is what that Raconteurs song reminds me of--and once again, I friggen love it. I'd never heard this recording of this tune, and damn it's yummy. Bonham gets a little silly with the double kicks and the like, but does some real tasteful stuff here--super awesome. (Funny how I always drool over Bonham's drumming before anything else, when I don't even play)  The hint to the culmination @ ~4:55 is soooo niiice--totally one-up's the studio version.  And what a nice sound they get from whatever room they were in when they recorded this... Bastards. Oh, sorry about the funky slideshow--I really wanted to find a music-only version online somewhere, but no juice.

Blue Veins - The Raconteurs

A couple weeks ago, Scotty turned me on to The Raconteurs (w/Cat Power) on Austin City Limits 2006 show that was on PBS in HD. I'd never really been a huge fan of The White Stripes (probably as a result of not really listening to them much), and hadn't heard anything really of The Raconteurs since their first album--and even then, it was maybe one track, one time. Decent, I thought. Holy merde though. I hadn't expected to be so impressed--which is probably partially why I was so impressed. Totally money. They did a few tracks which were good (I think off of "Broken Boy Soldiers"); the cover of "Bang Bang" was freaking great; and then this tune--"Blue Veins". I'll let it speak for itself, but man did I dig it. I couldn't stop flashing back to Zeppelin's "Since I've Been Lovin' You", which just so happens to be one of my favorite tunes, period. Check it...

What is my purpose?

Why did I start this blog? I started it because I need an outlet for music. Then why not go do music? Because I'm stumped. The History This music thing has always been a big part of my life, but lately (the past few years) it's been a huge roller coaster. I don't seem to encounter huge inspirations like I did in my early 20s. And consequently, I don't find myself getting that big urge to sit down and just play like I used to. Getting time alone with a piano or guitar used to be the ultimate. I found fulfillment in sitting for hours on end, playing things I knew, learning new things, and creating new things. But those times are few and far between these days. It seems that in order to create, I have to logically force the issue--but the effort is like I'm climbing a mountain when I've lost the love for the outdoors. A few weeks ago, I realized that maybe it just has to do with my mindset. My main goals and thoughts over the past few years have revolved around careers and relationships and finances, and making decisions based on logic rather than emotion (that was a big turning point for me :-)). I thought that perhaps that shift in mindset sort of buried that part of me that does music. The Future So as a result, I created this blog to try to stimulate some creativity in hopes that things will change again; not necessarily to revert to the old, but rather to combine the old and the recent in to something new. I look forward to brain-dumping about the topic, sharing new music, sharing old music, and investigating new creative inspirations. I hope this is worth putting on the web... :-)