Heavy Rotation: Singles 2013

As I mentioned in my previous Heavy Rotation post, I started a new job that wasn't really music friendly. That is, I can't really use headphones and playing music through speakers isn't going to happen when some people are in the room (my office is a large, window-less room with three people in it, including my immediate supervisor). So Rdio takes an even bigger hit, and listening to music at home typically involves putting on MP3s (or whatever format they are in - I like to collect FLAC). As this downturn in office listening occurs, an upturn in mobile listening comes out. I've put together a "Singles 2013" playlist on Rdio which is composed of any singles that I've taken an interest in. I think it's a pretty awesome mix, if I do say so myself. It comes on in the car all the time, in the house while I'm doing chores, and whenever I want to listen to some seriously solid songs.

As of right now, Singles 2013 stands at 21 tracks. It took some effort to clock in over 15 or so because of a lifetime of limited CD capacity. It was a mental barrier that I broke through now and feel pretty good about it. It's also evolving. There are tracks that I have removed for a variety of reasons, mainly because they weren't good. Here's the list:

1. Justin Rutledge - Out of the Woods
2. City and Colour - Thirst
3. Young Galaxy - What We Want
4. Iron & Wine - The Desert Babbler
5. Vampire Weekend - Ya Hey
6. Small Sins - Where There's Gold
7. Metronomy - The Look
8. Broken Bells - The High Road
9. Cold War Kids - Miracle Mile
10. Half Moon Run - Full Circle
11. Rosie June - Sound it Out
12. Dustin Bentall & The Smokes - You Are An Island
13. John Grant - Black Belt
14. Woodkid - Run Boy Run
15. Arcade Fire - Reflektor
16. Razorlight - Wire to Wire
17. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads will Roll
18. Cold War Kids - Lost That Easy
19. MGMT - Time to Pretend
20. Ellie Goulding - Lights
21. Katy Perry - Roar

We still have a bit of time left in 2013 so there may be some further additions. It's also worth noting that not all these tunes were released in the title year, they're simply songs that I have discovered for myself and started listening to now. That was another hurdle for me to overcome. Mission accomplished.

Oh, and a YouTube playlist with just about all the songs above: Singles 2013

And if you're on Rdio:

Mix 2008 I

Do any of you remember mix tapes? Or even mix CDs? It feels a generation ago that any of us were making these compilations. With the advent of the iPod and deluge of MP3 players afterward, the compilation CD was rendered obsolete and a memory of old tech.

There's a problem though, in that many of our cars don't have connections for digital music players. Sure, mostly all of them do now, but you go back a few years and they all lack that AUX jack that makes it all come together. Instead, we're stuck with a single disc CD player and the radio. My car is a 2008 model and has that AUX jack so I don't have much of an excuse to pop in a CD anymore, aside from that fact that it is infinitely more convenient than getting the cable and everything plugged in (especially while driving - a big no no) and navigating the interface to start playing something. With a CD, I pull it out of the visor storage area and pop it in, the music is playing immediately. So there is much to be said for the CD mix these days, although I recognize I am in the minority here.

It's been a few years since I've made a mix CD. The one that has stayed in my car and gotten the most play is entitled MIX 2008 I. Sadly, there was never a II, or even a follow up the next year. The only time I remember actually burning another mix is when my friend and I drove to Chicago. I created a couple of playlists from my iTunes collection using Genius. So based on one track, I would simply burn the remainder of Genius recommended tracks to the disc. We never listened to them. They are lost.

MIX 2008 I is representative of a transition from a car without AUX input to one with, and an ushering in of the new, digital player era. On long trips I no longer needed a binder of discs, but simply a cradle to put my iPod in and that 3.5mm cable to connect to my car. This also brought on the era of podcasts, as talk radio on a multi-hour drive was always important, and sometimes the CBC just wasn't that interesting.

I wanted to share the track listing of MIX 2008 I

01. Swan Lake - Widow's Walk
02. Sufjan Stevens - We Are What You Say
03. Franz Ferdinand - Tell her Tonight
04. Placebo - The Bitter End
05. British Sea Power - It Ended on an Oily Stage
06. Interpol - Roland
07. The Strokes - Reptilia
08.
09. The Killers - On Top
10. Kaiser Chiefs - Ruby
11. The National - Mr. November
12. Panda Bear - Comfy In Nautica
13. Andrew Bird - Fake Palindromes
14. Peter Bjorn and John - Let's Call it Off
15. Radiohead - Reckoner
16. Spoon - Laffitte Don't Fail Me Now
17. The Decemberists - Summersong
18. Barenaked Ladies - Lover's in a Dangerous Time
19. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Mercy

There are no liner notes, no track listing on the CD: I used Shazam to recognize most of the track names. It failed me on track eight, which I'm not surprised at. It was an impulse addition of a track I thought I enjoyed, but it's nigh implorable. For the past five years I've pressed the skipped button more times than I care to remember. The rest of the album, however, is borderline genius.

We start off with Swan Lake moaning; I've had friends wrinkle their faces in disgust and confusion as this title is a bit different to begin with. However, it smooths out into a more typical song and easily transitions into the other tracks. Mind you, it was not a completely random order of tracks either: I tried my best to ensure they come into one another, so that you are not too startled or taken aback by a change in pace. And this is proven in the last few tracks of the album, which wind you down from the earlier, more aggressive tunes that run from Tell Her Tonight through to Ruby. Mr. November by the National has a way to transition from powerful yet subdued, which sets up the second half of the album. And finally, the compilation finishes on one of my favourite tunes, and what I think is the perfect ending.

After five years, it's a very relevant mix of great music.

And now you can enjoy it too, if you're on Rdio that is. Or perhaps I'll take the time and link to the songs on Youtube, if possible.

Heavy Rotation

Rdio has taken a bit of a backseat to life these days; with a change in jobs I don't have as many opportunities to put in headphones and set my mind on a task. My fear is that my music listening will fall way behind, so I'm actively trying to keep a few albums open, and Rdio playing a shuffled artist station whenever I can.

So far so good, but I've definitely hit a snag, in that I just keep listening to a few albums that I discovered just a few months ago. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as its telling of the quality of these albums, right?

I was asked recently what I've been listening to, and this post has been sitting in draft for a while. So here you go, my top four albums this past month!

Sea Wolf - Old World Romance

John Grant - Pale Green Ghosts

Gold & Youth - Beyond Wilderness

Young Galaxy - Ultramarine

The Golden Age by Woodkid

First, I have to tell you that Rdio is one of the greatest services that I have ever used, and has completely changed the way that I listen to and discover music. I’ll probably write more about that another time, because the focus here is on one artist I found through Rdio that reaffirms the model and reinvigorates my love for music. It also helps to remind me that there is new, good music out there, and that I’m not crazy in looking for that “click.” See, when I first listened to The National, something just clicked, and I was hooked immediately. I sought out and bought all their music almost immediately. Ever since, I’ve loaded up new albums, had a listen and moved on, never to experience that click in quite the same way. Now, that’s not to say there aren’t degrees of clicking and trying to list those degrees is akin to basically ranking your favourite albums and artists (which is fundamentally unfair, I know). It’s safe to say The National (and specifically Boxer and Alligator) are amongst the top; I could easily just list the most recent additions to my music library as other good contenders. One album though has stood out, which is The Golden Age by Woodkid.

One of the features in Rdio is the “Recent Activity” in where you can see what your friends have added to their own collections. I saw one day that Art added an album called Iron by Woodkid; with interesting album art (it’s amazing that album art is often a determining factor in trying out music) and no indication of what I’m getting into (aside that Art enjoyed it enough to add to his library) I clicked play. I was fairly impressed, and got through the six tracks in no time, but I didn’t feel that instant click. The vibe was strong enough though, that I added it to my collection. I can’t say I listened to the EP again.

Another great feature on Rdio is notifications on new content and specifically, notifications for new content from artists in your collection. Sometimes I receive an e-mail, other times just an in-software alert. I received an alert that new content from Woodkid has been added, and I quickly discovered that it was his debut album coming out. Within seconds, I’ve hit play and I’m feeling that click take hold. I’m always bedazzled when an album comes out and I’m listening to it instantly: no purchases, no downloading, and no music store involved. Everything is at your fingertips and delivered to your speakers/headphones immediately: this is truly the way to listen to music.

 What I noticed first about The Golden Age (and Woodkid in general) is the voice; it’s rough, grumbly and pretty unique. To that end, it reminds me of the lead singer in The National, except with more grittiness here. The second thing I noticed was the grand, almost operatic scale to the music itself. There is lots of brass, string and percussion represented throughout the album, and I got a very distinct movie score feel from it. The second track, Run Boy Run, is screaming spaghetti western music from all corners: this track is lifting from Ennio Morricone’s score. The third track, The Great Escape, makes me wonder if he had a classic movie on in the background and was composing the instrumentation directly to it. Other tracks can simply be described as epic, with big moving sounds that are easy to get lost in.

The album slows down and speeds up at just the right moments and mix: I’ve always been a fan of the album experience and The Golden Age definitely delivers here. It’s also easy to just throw on a track; I don’t think having a single from the album show up in a randomized playlist will feel out of place. If anything, it’s going to make me stop the playlist and put the album on from the beginning.

Woodkid on Allmusic

Run Boy Run video on Vimeo

The Great Music Collection, part four: The Aftermath

It's now been months since I first imported my collection into iTunes and really embraced the ecosystem. After months of use, the import has proven successful: the data is clean, the albums are organized and it is an actually joy to work with. Never did I believe you would hear that from me in regards to iTunes. That's not to say the software isn't without it's problems, as the software can be slow, sluggish and a pest with it's need to update all the time. But the initial setup and planning has paid off: I have the Core playlist which syncs with my iPod, and podcast episodes are individually chosen. Subscriptions to podcasts are all setup and download automatically all the time (although iTunes seems to forget the odd one).

One of the goals I had was to have the entire music library available through Subsonic, which runs off my server/HTPC that is always powered on (the desktop housing iTunes is not always on). The previous folder structure I had was good for Subsonic, but iTunes' structure is even better. Folders for artists, then folders for each album inside. I simply copied the entire iTunes music folder onto the server and pointed Subsonic at it: everything worked as expected, and as a bonus I get a simple mirror backup of my music. Now, that was good for a while, but I rarely use Subsonic anymore, as work and life don't really permit me to do so. I don't have a big need for it, so the service has been turned off (as has the server most days).

The other program that requires access to music is XBMC, which I do use regularly. The good news is that XBMC is pretty flexible but benefits greatly from the Artist - Album folder structure that iTunes utilizes. Once the collection was copied over it was very easy to start listening to music, but I noticed something: album art. iTunes stores the album art in it's database, and XBMC (as well as Subsonic) look for local images. The classic "folder.jpg" is widely accepted and used by those these two programs. Previously, I had this setup and all my albums had nice cover art displayed, so it meant that I had to re-insert those files into the appropriate iTunes folder. The major danger here being that iTunes could do anything to that folder and erase any files its not responsible for. But I figure that won't happen often enough to worry about, as each album is imported and tagged with care: further modifications should not be necessary.

I actually found a script somebody wrote that did exactly what I needed automatically. The script would go through the iTunes database and extract the album art and place it in the right folder with the proper naming. This worked for the most part, but I wanted to ensure every album was done properly, so I double-checked and downloaded new art as appropriate. Anytime a new album has been imported, I just download the art (Google Image search of course) and place in the folder. Importing an album or two at a time is a painless operation now.

What happens now though in XBMC is the absence of thumbnails while you are browsing artists. This is harder to resolve than the album art although it's tackled in much the same way, by placing a folder.jpg of the artist in the folder. Album art is fairly standardized: they're squares. Photos of artists are not, and when you search for one you will get a variety of results in different resolutions and dimensions. The secret may be to actually modify images and make them as square as possible. XBMC does like portrait style though, although Subsonic does not. I probably got through 20% of my collection before giving up on this little project; I've just simply neglected it in the past few months but keep meaning to return to it.

The other issue centers on new albums to the collection. While my iTunes workflow is solid, and process of getting that new album onto the server for XBMC is lacking. At first, I thought I would simply just copy the new folder over, but I keep forgetting. What results is fragmentation and just simply a lack of music. Every few months I could copy the entire folder over but that's inefficient. I know where the problem is, and it's me. The only solution is to make copying that folder over a part of the iTunes process. The other solution (and really the better one) would be to keep the iTunes library on the server itself. I'm not sure if I went into any detail before regarding my computer setup, but it has proven to be less than ideal for this.

It is weird to think - for me - that this solution is still working. It's working nearly exactly as planned, and I'll say it again: proper planning pays off in the long run. The next step will be to import the rest of the collection: many of the albums from "Albums B" that I rarely, if ever, listen to. With proper tagging, and use of playlists, they can sit in the main library and simply be accessible. I've already setup smart playlists to make music from different years and genre's readily available, as well as newly imported music. I may dabble in ratings again, and see what else is available for me to further organize this "great" music collection.

The Great Music Collection, part three: The Import

It's no secret to my friends that I hate iTunes. The software (on Windows) has been sluggish, bulky and a pain to deal with. Any Apple software - for that matter - has been difficult to deal with. I remember a decade ago trying to play movie trailers with Quicktime on the web, or download the trailers and play them locally. It was a fiasco that I've since resolved by not installing any Apple software on my system, and just installing the proper codecs from others. This lets me download and enjoy those MOV files like it's nobody's business, especially not Apples. But I digress, iTunes is a necessary evil now that I've jumped onboard with the iPhone. I figure I could make it work, to at least get by. And so far, things have been OK - except the automatic updater has never worked, on any machine I've used. Anyway.

Anytime I've used iTunes to import my gigantic collection in, the software has chugged along, done its thing and given up quickly afterwards. This is mainly due to tagging and organizing. Although I may have an album tagged properly and it looks alright in software such as XBMC or Winamp, iTunes reads it differently and manages to ruin my day. But this time I've taken a different approach, and I must say it's been pleasurable. Perhaps it's my patience, or seeing the beneficial light at the end of the tunnel, or the ridiculous number of updates Apple has done to iTunes over the years, but things have been great.

I start with my main Albums folder, which is supposed to contain music I listen to most often. I import each folder one at a time. This point is crucial: one at a time. iTunes is also set to copy files into its library, and to organize the files itself (admittedly it uses a nice structure of Artist -> Album). Doing it this way allows me to inspect an album on its own, fix any tagging issues and sort it as I please. It takes just a minute or so to copy the album over the network to my desktop, and just moments more to fix regular issues. In some cases, I have to touch every track, but for the most part my meddling consists of modifying an entire album of tracks at once, for things like album name, genre and year.

Which brings me to what fields should be properly set up.

1. Artist
2. Track Title
3. Album
4. Album Art
5. Year
6. Genre

That's it, in order of importance. The top three are of the utmost importance, and have to be correct. Album art is important but not necessarily necessary. Year and genre are more for sorting and using later, and for the most part I could see years were correct, however I wasn't too keen on checking every album. Genre is tough and is probably worth a post all its own, but I tried to keep it simple. I had the Allmusic site open at all times to check genres of artists; quickly you see a limitation of iTunes in that you can only apply one genre, whereas Allmusic presents you with Genre, Style and Mood, of which an album could fall under a number of headings. So it's kept simple here, and not something that I plan on using too much later on.

Once an album is copied over, and I'm satisfied with the top four - I decided album art was absolutely important in this step - I would move onto the next. I got brave, and would be ripping some albums at the same time as importing existing rips. The software didn't put up a fuss and it wasn't too hard to focus on, with the end result that I could import my entire collection more quickly.

As I imported more and more, my satisfaction increased exponentially. Everything looked clean. I recalled days of importing two hundred albums at once and being scared by the mess that ensued, but doing it this way provided a clean, efficient and tidy collection that I was happy to scroll through. Everything is as what it should be. It took around seven or eight hours by my best estimate, over the course of three or four days, but I was enjoying every minute of it, and the end result made it worth the time and effort.

Afterwards, I would go through my library and put albums into the "Core" playlist, which is the playlist that will sync with my iPhone. It serves as the music I'm most interested in and represents what I'm currently and willing to play. The next step now is to bring this collection to the server, and allow both XBMC and Subsonic to view my progress.

The Great Music Collection, part two: Existing Structure

I've been buying music for a long time. One of my first cassettes was the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie soundtrack. I also picked up the Batman movie (1988 Burton) soundtrack. Keep in mind that this was the score to the movie: there was no Prince on here at all. It was one of the first CDs I bought, as I was in HMV with my dad and sister - who were buying lots of music - and I felt a bit left out, so my dad let me get that album. Then, in high school I got into "real" music, so to speak. I got a three disc all-in-one stereo for Christmas, a few albums and I was off to the races. Over the next few years I would buy albums constantly. Album buying would slow down quite a bit as funds dried up during university, but that just meant I had to apply more strict criteria to my purchases.

High school was also the time that MP3s came out, and I took an immediate interest in. Keep in mind that we're talking about the days when the legalities were not set. You didn't need file sharing software because songs were hosted on websites all over the place. After a couple of years it because clear that it wasn't going to fly, and all the sites were taken down, to be replaced by Napster (and you know the history there). I never really got into that type of file sharing, and I think a big part of it was because I was more interested in the entire album, not just individual songs. Over the years I would accumulate a lot of music, be it through digital download or buying the album and ripping it myself. I got so much that I didn't know how to sort it out, and the problem of what I actually wanted to listen to popped up: a lot of those albums I bought in the 90s were just terrible now, and I question my younger self on his taste in music.

Such as it is, I currently have this file structure, seeing in the image below. I'm going to give a brief overview of what each one contains.

5.1 | This is when I dabbled in surround music. I own quite a few special edition albums that have surround mixes, but found it tough to get them into the main collection. There's only a few albums in this folder and they are not easy to play back. I've basically given up on them.

Albums | This is the core collection, 247 albums right there. If an album has made it in here, then you know I've spent the time to make sure the file names are proper, there is artwork in the folder and I have an interest in the album itself.

Albums B | Not very creative name, but these are mainly CDs I've ripped myself and have no interest in anymore. There's a lot of 90s music in there.

Compilations | For those mix CDs you could buy, like Big Shiny Tunes. Only a handful of compilations are in here, as they are more "singles" based.

Lossless | Music I've ripped in lossless format. Representative of my favourite music that is worth the extra space, and is primarily what I listen to on the home theatre.

Movie Soundtracks | For quite some time it's all I could listen to and get; movie scores, sound tracks and what have you that I haven't listened to or opened in half a decade.

New | Should indicate newly acquired music.

Podcasts | For downloading podcasts outside of iTunes whenever possible.

Singles | Very few singles exist here; as I mentioned before I was and still am more interested in full albums

Soundtracks | Seems a bit redundant, and definitely a case in point for the neglect my collection has been (not) receiving. There are two albums in here, both for Tron Legacy. Perhaps it's meant for a modern movie soundtrack collection that I have an actual interest in.

Staging Ground | The bane of my music collection. This is newly acquired music that has to pass through my non-existent organization process. Here you find folders of music that are not tagged properly and missing artwork. These should be moved into Albums one day, but it's been years since that's happened.

Staging Ground Lossless | Same as the regular staging ground but for new lossless encodes.

VG Remix | Yes, I was once a fiend for video game remixes. I could go into a long history of that, but just know that I've downloaded these since the early 90s from Compuserve. A guilty pleasure if there ever was one. Hasn't had an addition to it in years.

Video Game | For the full albums of video game music. 

So there it is, as the collection stands right now (early March 2012). It's a pain, it's a hassle and organizing music in this way has become too much for me to handle. It is definitely showing its age and is just begging to be replaced by something modern. In part three, I'll discuss my experience with importing this collection of misfits into iTunes.

The Great Music Collection, part One

Recently, I've undertaken a project to use iTunes to it's "full" extent, in that I'm going to start using it to organize my music. The biggest hurdle I've had for doing this in the past is the sheer amount of songs and albums I have, and the organization that needs to be done to properly put it into iTunes. For years, I would manually tag all my MP3s; I would rip my CDs and encode them with the latest and greatest (most recently LAME V2 or something - it's been years) and put them into proper folders. The system shows it's age, but one thing for sure, is that it will never be obsolete: you'll always have the files to play with. Going to a database-driven system like iTunes offers much more flexibility in sorting, tagging and whatnot, but you're kind of tied to the system, which is something I've never liked. It doesn't help that iTunes on Windows is one of the worst pieces of software I've ever used.

Then, came the iPhone. By purchasing the iPhone and using it, I was fully aware that I would be forced to adopt iTunes. There's really no good way around it; there are other options for getting music on there, but nothing for actually managing the device once it's connected to the computer (at least, nothing I'm comfortable with). This presented problems for me though. I have a sizeable music collection that exists on my home server. I have my laptop, which I do most of my computing with, and for some reason decided to connect and configure my iPhone with, so that my laptop basically became it's "home" so to speak. I would copy my favourite albums onto my laptop, then import those into iTunes haphazardly. It wasn't pleasing, but the end result was my music was on the device and I could use it. 

1. My iPhone is tied to my laptop

2. My laptop contains my favourite music, but is "unkempt"

3. My server contains all my music, fairly unorganized now after years of neglect

4. My desktop is convenient and easy to work with (proper mouse, keyboard, monitor)

There are a few other notes I could throw in there, but the point is: everything has been overly-complicated. I need to simplify things. The goals:

1. Have one place for all my music

2. Have all my music properly tagged

3. Have the ability to easily add music to my library

I'm not sure what is the most important factor, but in the end, I need more control over the music I have on my phone. The beauty of iTunes lies in the playlists, and with this, I can accomplish my goals. Simply, create a playlist (I like calling mine "Core") and sync that with your iPhone. Anytime you want to add to your iPhone, add it to Core and next time you sync, the album will be there. Likewise, it's easy to remove albums from that list. You can also create other playlists for your activites, for instance, "Gym" which is pretty self-explanatory. I know that by laying this out I'm dating myself - playlists have been around forever - but keep in mind I am lazy, and have been neglecting the inevitable. This is an exercise in modernizing myself too, really.

The first decision in this project was to determine where to store my music. I had to go with what's easiest: my desktop. There is nothing finer than sitting at a desk, with a proper full-sized keyboard and monitor, and just doing what needs to be done. This means abandoning my laptop for music completely, although I could still store my music on the server. The first phase is not to do that though: all the music will be stored on the desktop, as it is now going to be the computer I sync my phone with. The phone takes priority, and it's easiest to go through the prompts and whatnot on the desktop than it is with the server. When I complete The Big Import, I'll be copying the entire iTunes folder to the server in all it's glory. This serves two purposes: one, it's a backup; two, it allows me to play that music through whatever medium I choose on the server. And that brings up a big point. I used XBMC exclusively there. There is a nice remote control, iPhone app for control as well, and the interface is built for you when you're on the couch. XBMC also has library capabilities, although they are much more limited and we can't forget the two big factors here, which are iPhone syncing and ease of use (going back to the point that it's easier to manage a music library on a desktop than it is on a fifty inch plasma television). 

Finally, I have one other medium of playing music, and that's my Subsonic music streamer. When Apple was announcing their cloud and music streaming thing I looked for cheap or free alternatives that would do the job better, and I found Subsonic. This allows me to stream music anywhere on the internet, from my server's home connection. I use this mainly for playing music at work, where I don't have to worry about loading my work laptop up with MP3s: I can just stream it instead. The system works beautifully but it's sort of limited to looking at the file structure on your computer. Thank goodness I've organized my music in such a way that it works great for streaming, but iTunes also has an option to keep your folders organized for you. Subsonic loves the way iTunes organizes music, so I point Subsonic at the iTunes library and I'm all set for streaming music as I see fit. 

So that's it for part one. Hopefully you have an understanding of what I'm trying to do. In later parts I'll discuss my experience with specific aspects of the project, including the importing of everything into iTunes, quality of ripping, and the criteria for what makes an album good enough to find it's way into the main (or Core) library. I've always loved organizing music, but in recent years that love has faded. Doing this has sparked the passion again, and driven with the hope that the results will make listening to music that much more enjoyable.

Two Turntables

I think the first pieces of vinyl - if you can even call it that - was a set of ALF Burger King promotional records. The combination of ALF and Burger King was something that no nine-year old Ryebone could resist. They probably got some spin time on my sister's record player, which could have been a Fisher Price; regardless, it was big, beige and very plastic. Now, I don't remember my parents having a turntable, but I do remember my father's vinyl collection. He had it stored at the bottom of the stairs, just off the living room in an ottoman type device that we would sit on while putting on our boots. It was this light green colour, and the inside housed a few dozen records; not once did I go in to admire the big artwork or become curious what they were. They simply existed.

Back in those days I had a couple of cassettes, and my dad was just getting a CD player (perhaps 1989 or 1990); my dad and sister would be visiting music stores and buying music, but I just wasn't into it. Give me some video games to look at, great, but music, not so much. I think if the album wasn't a movie soundtrack to something I enjoyed, like Ninja Turtles or Batman, I would have none of that. Over time my musical interest matured, but I would always have a consistent focus: quality. I can recall recording Mega Man 2 with my parents' boombox from the television speaker, to upgrading to line inputs, getting the NuReality 3D (sorry, no link - I couldn't find the exact device online...although it was an early product featuring SRS technology) and experimenting with different speaker setups. I would embrace the digital world, downloading MP3s when they first came around (and weren't blatantly illegal). I would encode my entire CD collection not once, but twice with different quality settings, and experiment with lossless audio a few times.

But during this time, I would occasionally see vinyl records in stores: typically very old, beat up and featuring artists that I had zero interest in. But then I would see some new bands releasing records, and I became curious. Do they still make turntables? They must. The only one I would ever see is the lonely Sony model in what else: the Sony Store. The price of records seemed reasonable, but what about the quality? I don't even want to get started on this, as it's practically a subjective thing: people hear differently, some better than others. I'll say it now, I can't really tell the difference between CD and vinyl, or even a well-encoded MP3. When I listen to my CDs, I feel like they have more depth and presence but put me into a blind listening test and I'm sure I would never hear the difference.

So, over the years I've toyed with getting myself a player, and a few records. It's not a big investment, and I feel good buying a record for an artist I truly enjoy: I get more physical product than the CD counterpart, and these days, all records come with codes to download the digital version for free. So it's win-win. I would go ahead and buy a few records: The National's Boxer, Wolf Parade's Apologies to the Queen Mary and the latest Interpol.

Our local Sony Store was going out of business, so I bought the display model of their standard record player at a nice little discount. I brought it home, got it connected and the sound was just horrendous. Scratching, noisy and messy. I couldn't make out the music at all. Over the next hour I would learn a lot about how these things work, and it was exciting. So mechanical, so simple and fun. I can see what parts you can replace, and how to do it. But this record player was finished; I returned it.

For quite some time, I subsided with nothing, until my recent birthday when my parents purchased me a Denon DP-29F. Looks like a fairly well built, standard player that will do the trick and what do you know, it does. I broke it in with Boxer; placed myself in the sweet spot and just listened. All the little cracks, pops and hisses were there, just like they said it would be. Did it sound better? Like I said before, I don't think so. But I took contentment in what was happening: the disc spinning steadily, the needle traversing the surface and magically transforming this disc into full, rich music. I love the large format; the big album artwork and the full size inserts. They are all pieces I would have no problem hanging on my wall, and putting on display. Finally, my system is complete with the addition of this turntable and I'm excited to get into this niche market.

The National - Boxer

This post could be epic or sad; it may end in failure. I have been in love with this album for a very long time now, ever since I first listened to it. Dave introduced me to The National with the track Secret Meeting off their Alligator album. Something about it stuck with me, clicked instantly, to the point of seeking out all their other music. Boxer was released in 2007 and there is a chance I've listened to it hundreds of times; their sound is epic and sweeping. Matt's vocals are hypnotic; paired with the rest of the band, the intricate songs are addictions that never seem to get old. After all these years I love nothing more than to immerse myself in Boxer.

Fake Empire
This track starts off with a wicked piano; I read once that the referenced fake empire could be referring to the USA and it's citizens. People of the country being half-awake to what's going on around them and their role in the world; being told they live in the greatest empire in history but in reality, it's a delicate, verging on unstable land that they must "tiptoe through cities with glass slippers on." Regardless, the percussion and brass wake you up halfway through, getting you pumped for the rest of the album.

Mistaken for Strangers
This song could be described as brooding, perhaps with a somewhat monotone voice as its being pushed along with heavy drums. I just love the idea of being "mistaken for strangers by your own friends," a testament to people's blindness and self-absorption, perhaps. It becomes even more relevant when you love the movie American Psycho so much.

Brainy
Again, with a strong intro this song is almost stalkerish, or describing the intense feeling of falling in love without being allowed to. At least, it reminds me of something to that effect.The hopeful lyrics "you might need me more than you think you will" resonates with me as some kind of forbidden, unknown desire for a girl: I love her but she does not know, and if she does know my desire, she will not recognize it or any kind of desire back towards me.

Squalor Victoria
Again, it may be my own problem but reminds me of a girl. Specifically this song does as I can remember driving, thinking and being worried. "Out of my league, I have birds in my sleeves and I wanna rush in with the fools." The song ends with definitively, something that I can't attest to.

Green Gloves
A slower, more relaxed but sweeping song that resonates with the verses "get inside their heads, love their loves." This song always turns me introspective; the slow moving instruments attaching onto into my brain, moving it forward. As if, putting on my own green gloves, will give me just the boost I need.

Slow Show
This song comes alive to me with the lyric "you know I dreamed about you, for twenty-nine years before I saw you" and "I missed you for twenty-nine years." Truly epic. The instruments at this part become basic, effective and pronounced, with a beautiful piano and drum line. Twenty-nine years, because I am twenty-nine years old, and want to meet the love of my life; it's clear to me what the song is saying as it slowly descends out. This is definitely one of my favourite tracks as it feels deep, layered and personal.

Apartment Story
Just as the previous song ended slowly, this one hits you with sound and a hopefulness, as well as a story of getting older. This reminds me of approaching adulthood; becoming complacent, becoming tired more quickly but also becoming more aware. We have love to give and we are more capable of providing it now than we were when we were younger.

Start a War
This is the part of the album, where if I'm listening late at night and lying down, I will slowly drift to sleep. This song feels comfortable, with a slow build-up that feels like it's getting stronger but never quite jars you awake again. Nobody wants to start a war; stay and confront your battles.

Guest Room
If the last song put me to sleep this one brings me back to life with strong drums. Another song that reminds me of growing up; just as they throw you into prison, you can't do what you did when you were younger without consequences now. Talking about being in the guest room so often, and acting like deviants reminds me of being out of place with friends; we're not settling down. We'll always be holding on; we know change must be made but really, why would I want to?

Racing Like a Pro
Womanly hands? Shooting up the ladder? More coming of age; this album and the years I've been listening to it matches the themes perfectly as I enter into a career, become overwhelmed and my mind races to keep up. I was once glowing too but it feels too long ago. Dumbstruck is the key word here as this song can move me into a sadness that is both comfortable and scary.

Ada
This one is very catchy and gets my feet or head bopping along. The song sounds happier than it would seem; while I don't necessarily relate to this tune in particular I can feel the emotion running through it. It's very beautiful.

Gospel
The album ends perfectly with vocals being front and centre, with simple, supporting instrumentals. I feel as though everything comes together here.

It's weird to think that I'll be listening to this album thirty years from now, and loving it just as much as I do now. Perhaps that won't happen; I listen to Boxer and am reminded of my dream girl, a love lost and of dealing with growing up, letting go of the past and becoming more aware of who I am. It seems crazy, but this album is very emotional; I am attached to it now. It will remind me of long drives on icy roads, and of recovering from bad days, amongst other things.

Listening to it for the purpose of writing this article has not been the same as how I typically listen: eyes closed, volume slightly increased a total immersion in the melody. I can hear each instrument, focus on different parts every listen and experience this anew forever. Sometimes, when the mood is right I am moved, other times I just want to appreciate the music on a simpler level.

Truly, a terrific piece of art.

Lego Rock Band

There are too many Rock Band and Guitar Hero games out there. There are not ENOUGH Rock Band and Guitar Hero games out there. The conflict is strong.

I absolutely love going through these games, and also, enjoying them with friends. I find it quite relaxing to just go through set list after set list, blasting through some quality tunes. It's also a lot of fun playing the hits with your friends. What I do not get a lot of enjoyment from, is trying to improve my skill on these games: I'm a player who is stuck at medium; that extra colour is just asking for a little too much. However, that is not entirely true as I can play quite a few songs on hard mode, with the bass guitar only though: hard guitar is just too much. 

Rock Band came around and it was a bit easier [than the Guitar Hero series], but I don't get a kick out of endlessly practicing, which is why I'm excited when a new iteration comes out, with a selection of good songs. I will not pay full price though: I've waited until now, when the game is under twenty dollars, to pick up Lego Rock Band. I've picked up Guitar Hero Aerosmith months ago for $4.99. At such prices, they are an incredible value of gameplay.

Do you like the "Lego" games humour? Perhaps I'm too dense, but I just don't get it. I'm not a fan of it. I've tried playing Lego Batman and it's just too weird. I also don't like how I have no clear idea of what is going on in these games: why are there so many areas that I just can't get to? Perhaps I'm too used to being spoon-fed linear gameplay and I've lost the ability to play games that are geared towards children (but appeal and are enjoyed by adults, calm down)? Turns out they are pulling a Donkey Kong 64 on us all. I won't stand for it. 

The fact is, Lego Rock Band is just a skin: the note highway is the same thing, but instead of shiny bars, you get Lego bricks. You get Lego characters, who I think look terrible and the customization doesn't sit well: the bodies are always a different shade than the faces?! And you get Lego cut-scenes, complete with lack of speech and that Lego humour. I skip them.

But it's all about the music, and this game has a good selection. I'm not going out buying pop albums, but I enjoy playing through these oddly catchy tunes in game. I'm glad they are there as they give you a break from the classic rock and metal that is abundant in the Guitar Hero series. They also further refine the tour mode which is...good.

For me, these games are a reprieve from your "hardcore" titles, such as Assassin's Creed or Mass Effect. I'm actually hoping that after a few hours of this, I will be able to pick up Mass Effect II. Now, if you excuse me, I need to go download all the Franz Ferdinand tracks for Rock Band!

Great Lake Swimmers

Well this has certainly been a while in the making, or waiting, but I felt like the movie "reviews" could use a little rest on the site. The idea of sharing thoughts on music albums is great, but I find it incredibly difficult to write about. I'm in awe when I peruse the reviews on sites such as Pitchfork or Stereogum: those writers are talented and I am not. They are passionate about their subjects, and then you realize that it's also a job for them: I'm an amateur who writes without an editor or even a grammar check. Most of the time my brain sloshes onto the keyboard and the end result is what you are reading now.

So going back to the music: it's tough to write about. I can't go into much detail except to say simple things such as "I really love it" or "I really...feel indifferent." If I'm going to make an album recommendation it's going to be a quick shout-out, hardly worth an entire multi-paragraph blog post.

So the Great Lake Swimmers? They are really great: mellow and warm. There is depth in the lead's voice, and some really fantastic instrumental work.

See?

Alright, this post is more about going to see this group in concert a few months ago. My friend Jay introduced me to the band and it did not take long to get into all of their albums. When the opportunity to see them in concert came up, it was a quick decision of executive-level execution. Buying the tickets was a different experience as I've had in the past: no specific seating, and they were playing in a church. I'm trying to find the name of the place but it's eluding me on their page right now, and I just noticed that they played in Wolfe Island, and for any of you familiar with the region, you know how small that place is, and isolated. This group rocks. I see now the place is Trinity St. Paul, in Toronto.

So, we try to get to the show a bit early, but of course, being a small venue, we were forced to stand outside for about an hour in the freezing cold. It was February and we were not fully prepared for this. We were also not prepared to be sitting in the pews for the concert: this was a real church, and not a big hall or anything; the acoustics were great. I'm glad we got there early as we got some great seats in the lower level. But you couldn't go wrong: this was an intimate setting and really, a treasure. We also could not take off our coats for the entire show: it was cold.

The Swimmers did a really fantastic job, of course. At the end Dekker went solo and acoustic. He managed to fill the entire venue...it was truly something else.

I'll leave it up to you now to go listen to some of their music, if you haven't already. This was definitely one of the best "concerts" I've been to. www.greatlakeswimmers.com

Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds on Blu-Ray

When I got home from work Friday there was a package from Amazon that I had completely forgotten ordering. In the package was the Blu-Ray of Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds Live at Radio City.

I like music on DVD, mainly because you get a higher resolution sound and in most cases, surround sound. The Flaming Lips have put out two great discs so far with very aggressive 5.1 mixes. I was thinking that a Dave Matthews live performance in 5.1 would be pretty fantastic as well. The thing that I did not expect was a full acoustic performance with the rest of Dave's band. Just Dave and Tim. It still sounds great, although focused entirely with the front speakers, and of course the hi-def looks fantastic.

The performance runs about two and a half hours; I've made it through about an hour already and have been quite impressed. These guys are excellent guitarists and hearing Dave Matthews' songs are always great.

Years ago I was a huge fan of Dave Matthews Band and couldn't stop listening to them constantly. I must have gone a little overboard because I have slowed down quite a bit, even to the point where they're not in the regular rotation. What really killed it, I think, was the plethora of live performances coming out on CD, and the fact that they were all so identical. Listening to their marathon jam sessions at the end of some songs (with tracks reaching twenty minutes long) does not make for good random-play music, hence the removal from casual listening.

But, with this recent acquisition, their music may be played a bit more as I try and get all of their albums (I think I only own two, plus a live performance).

The National

Not a big post today. The other night I was wondering around CD Plus in the local mall and for the first time, was impressed with the selection of music contained within. Typically one can never really find what you're really interested in, but sometimes the store pulls through and has some non-mainstream album you would actually purchase. I kind of feel like I'm borderline here, as a lot of the "indie" stuff I listen to is carried here.

The National is one of those bands whom I can purchase any of their albums and be completely satisfied in the pick-up. I managed to snatch a two disc edition of Alligator at the same store here a number of months ago, and the other night I grabbed Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers. The clerk was impressed with the album and said they should be getting even more of The National in sometime as more people request it. Good news because they're definitely my favourite music at the moment.

Going back a step, I was also impressed, standing at the front of the store and marvelling in the rows and rows of CDs, that they would have so much music there. Sure, they have a lot of DVDs, but they are somewhat crammed together and pushed to one side of the store. I was taking in the site because a recent trip to an HMV revealed that the majority of their sales is not from music anymore, but DVDs and now video games. You could even buy a Wii there! Which just does not seem right to me at all.

HMV was the go-to store for hard to find music. Although their prices were jacked up ridiculously, they would have what you wanted. Not so much anymore. So I'm now happy we have a CD Plus whose focus is still music (they even have a used section), although for the truly hard to find stuff, we'll have to depend on the online realm.

Oh yeah, if you haven't listened to The National yet, please do so!

Sold on the iPod

Last year, I bought an iPod from a friend who was embracing the iPod Video. It's an iPod mini, and it has 6GB of storage. I paid about $50, which was good, but I must admint that I was not buying it to use; it was more of a collectable to me. So it sat there for a while, and it was great. It was great because it had it's nice packaging, the earbuds, and all the cables. And I had to hand it to Apple: they got the packaging right.

So the iPod died a slow death, because the battery is constantly being drained. At some point, months after the purchase, I plugged it into the computer and put two albums on it, just for the sake of doing it. I had to see what the big fuss was. I listened to those two albums. I wasn't overly impressed.

The problem is, I have no real need for portable music. I never really have, either. I turned my phone into a 1GB music player and listened to it on the bus to North Bay a couple of times, but after I got my car, there was no need for that.

So then something happened: I got a job, and saw that people were listening to music, with headphones on, at work. This was something that I could do, I had a portable music player! So I brought the iPod to work, and it was glorious. The little thing really came to life, and I couldn't be happier with it!

I always recommended people not get the iPod, as I really thought you were paying for the name. You could just get the same functionality elsewhere, right? Well, that may still be true, but the next portable music device I buy will most definitely be an iPod. I'm sold!

"I'm just glad it's getting some use."