Recently in Musics Category

Recently I've been enjoying my new computer speakers, especially noticing the subwoofer adding punch to my "24" viewing sessions. Unfortunately, I discovered the bass was a little too heavy when listening to music, especially the more acoustic and/or vocal driven stuff. I did a little research and decided to make a customized iTunes equalizer setting to adjust the tendency to accentuate the lower range.

Next, I discovered I could assign different equalizer settings to specific songs/albums etc. This customization allows me to have that bass kick in when I'm listening to MC Solaar or my new favorite disc compilation "Kool Moe Dee vs. LL Cool J" (Old School Battles volume 1) without having to manually adjust it each time. (Check out this write-up for a quick summary of this battle rap and others.)

Damn LL, that Star Trek diss is so cold!

I finally wrote another Greatest Band Of All Time entry.

After receiving some feedback on SHOEGAZING volume one I decided to take another crack at selecting my favorite and/or defining artists and tracks from the genre. Here's what I came up with:

SHOEGAZING
volume two
01. Spacemen 3--honey
02. The Cocteau Twins--blind dumb deaf
03. Verve--make it till monday
04. Catherine Wheel--ferment
05. Slowdive--crazy for you
06. The Jesus and Mary Chain--some candy talking
07. My Bloody Valentine--to here knows when
08. Slipstream--hearing voices
09. Pale Saints--1000 stars burst open
10. Swervedriver--never lose that feeling
11. Spiritualized--i want you ('feel so sad' 7" b-side version)
12. Lush--sweetness and light
13. Ride--cool your boots

It was fun to find out I did actually have some Pale Saints in my collection, as well as tracking down a Spacemen 3 song that I enjoyed listening to. Highlights for me are Ride's "cool your boots", with its cinema sound bite from Withnail and I ("Even a stopped clock gives the right time twice a day"), an edited version of the last song on Swervedriver's "Mezcal Head", and deciding I at least like two songs from The Cocteau Twins.

I recently completed another mix CD--this time tackling the once sacred genre of shoegaze. My intention was to create a sort of primer to the scene for the uninitiated, and I had a surprisingly difficult time figuring out what I considered to fit into my definition. I usually compile music related to what I've recently been listening to, or maybe (with the two yoga mixes) music that fits a somewhat broad theme.

Shoegaze is a tough subject to tackle, considering some of my most beloved bands (like Slowdive, pictured here) fall under this most British of musical styles. Some of these tracks are my favorites, some are "greatest hits", while others are an attempt to represent a broader idea of the variations and concepts different bands developed. If I were to make a second edition I would probably end up choosing most of the same artists--even though there are plenty more groups out there I really only like a select few. Sure, some of them might sound fine but eventually come across as derivative. Feel free to comment if you think I missed something important.

01. Lush--light from a dead star
02. Verve--slide away
03. Catherine Wheel--black metallic
04. Slowdive--when the sun hits
05. Swervedriver--duel
06. Ride--vapour trail
07. The Jesus and Mary Chain--head on
08. Slipstream--your presence
09. My Bloody Valentine--blown a wish
10. The Cocteau Twins--lorelei
11. Spiritualized--200 bars

It's official, I am the proud owner of an iPod shuffle. Although initially skeptical when I first saw the announcement at MacWorld, I am now quite taken by its simple, minimalist design. Concerns like the lack of a face are pretty easy to look past once I realized how great it felt slipping it into my front pocket as I walked down Glisan--I don't spend much time looking at my regular iPod screen anyway, and now I have one that won't weigh me down when I'm on the go. I'm still awaiting the armband accessory so I can try it out at the gym (the main reason for my purchase), but for now I am quite pleased.

Check out the difference in size--so small!

Strangely enough, I've actually found myself using its intended "shuffle" feature--something I figured I would rarely do. I suppose once I'm ready to head to the gym I'll want to play my custom playlists in order, but for now I am enjoying the variety of my collection. Since I only went with the 512 MB model I've been able to fit less than 100 songs on it, yet I can't ever think of an occasion where I would need to play more than half of them during one session.

Of course I also love the packaging--shades of green=awesome!

I just discovered something that really bothers me about iTunes. Having recently acquired a number of songs from the iTunes music store, I decided I wanted to burn some of the music to listen to at work. After placing some of these songs into a Toast playlist, I augmented the selections with some personally encoded tracks. I knew that the music from iTunes would be AAC files, and as expected Toast transfered them into Quicktime files. What I didn't realize is that after burning the disc the iTunes music store songs wouldn't play, but the personally encoded ones would. I now had a CD with only a handful of audible tracks. Weak.

I'm assuming this happened because the iTunes music store songs are "protected AAC audio files" and therefore can only be used with iTunes. Sure enough, if I placed the same songs in an iTunes playlist and burned a disc, it played fine. iTunes support says it shouldn't be a problem if I have Quicktime 6.5.1 though, but maybe I'm missing something.

This situation is frustrating because I certainly prefer to use Toast for all my disc burning needs over iTunes because of a deeper amount of preferences. Anyone know something else I can do about this?

Last night I got to introduce Holocene to my old friend Paul Tobey. Self-confessed to not keeping up with current music, I don't think he knew what laptop music meant, but he got the picture once Y.A.C.H.T. brought the beats. Really good show by Mr. Bechtolt, and it would have been a totally good time if I hadn't opted for the "Piaf." Just 'cause it's named after everyone's favorite French alcoholic singer doesn't mean it will taste good. After appreciating the kind vibe and the clean air, we headed back to my neighborhood to grab some late-night grub at Muu Muu's...

Only to find ourselves immediately consumed by the odor of cheap cigarettes, which mixed with the quality of the food made me wish we had stayed at Holocene longer. Clean air is so kind. I wish every bar had a special smoke room.

A couple years ago I suddenly decided to use the InterWeb to obtain some Rap classics I had tossed-out in a musical cleaning frenzy--I probably had about 30 cassettes, mostly traditional West Coast, but with some gems like Black Sheep, Das Efx, Public Enemy's "Nation of Millions", and this one group I remember fondly, KMC.

KMC were basically the original Gravediggaz, using their skills to scare with song titles such as "Terrifying Tracks", "Grim Reaper" and the subtle "Murder"--but without the clout of having someone like the RZA or Prince Paul they were quickly forgotten. However, it's still a bit surprising to find out they never released a follow-up album to 1991's "Three Men With The Power of Ten", since they were on the popular Priority Records, but perhaps they fell victim to a glut of SoCal product during the early 90s.

Having already acquired a brand-new copy of KMC's full-length, I recently completed my collection by picking up Priority's solid 1991 compilation "Straight From the Hood", which features well-known Ice Cube, Geto Boys, EPMD, and lesser known but still great WC & The Maad Circle (better known more recently for his work in the group Westside Connection), and one song from KMC, "Psycho." While the song doesn't quite live up to the epic memories I had of listening to it on the bus to high school, it's still damn good and a shame they got lost in the game.

Picked up some new musics this week after feeling like I was in a rut. First is Mark Robinson's Origami and Urbanism which gets my early vote for record title of the new year, but it's hard not to feel like he is banging on the same drum. I had certain strange expectations upon hearing this one was produced by Calvin Johnson, but then it just ends up sounding like another Flin Flon record covering the same sonic ground as "Canada's Green Highways." Sooner or later I'm going to have to overlook the quality of the album titles and think about spending my moneys elsewhere.

Also on the personal listening station this week is him's all in high places are not well I picked this one due to the connection with Adam Pierce (bubblecore records, drummer for Múm) and Múm leading lady Kristin Anna Voltysdottir sings on one of the tracks. I'm getting into this one a bit more than the MR release, but once again it's a bit too similiar-sounding, this time to something better on the bubblecore records catalogue--Mr. Pierce's own Mice Parade. Oh well, at least this group has a great legal story to tell. They just settled a dispute with the Finnish goth metal group of the same name, supposedly realizing that none of their fans would ever confuse the two.