As someone who does not fool with Mp3s or I-Pods, and instead listens to old-fashioned compact discs, the last two I've purchased are Modern Times, by Bob Dylan, and These Four Walls, by Shawn Colvin. Other than that, I've been listening to a lot of surf music, both from the heydey in the early sixties (Dick Dale, the Ventures, and the like) and modern.
When I'm in the car, I listen to satellite radio (XM) and usually to the Sixties station.
Ah, well, I don't own a car, and cd's are, like, so 90s (kidding). Plus the fact that they dig a hole shaped like hunger and malnutrition in my pocket.
Basically can't work out, or run, or even go to the library without my mp3player these days.
CDs are actually cost-effective for me, because to download MP3s I would have to get a new computer (I have an IMAC from 1999). Of course, I don't buy many CDs, maybe 1 or 2 a month on average.
Browsing in a record store seems to be a thing that is rapidly fading from the culture. One of the two stand-alone record stores we had in my area closed up shop a few years ago. Fortunately there is still the Princeton Record Exchange, which is a throwback to the old days (they even sell vinyl) and have a huge selection of used CDs. Otherwise, it's hold your nose and go into Best Buy, Target or Wal-Mart, where you can find the hits and major artist, but forget about obscure stuff. I end up buying most of mine on Amazon.
Browsing in a record store seems to be a thing that is rapidly fading from the culture. One of the two stand-alone record stores we had in my area closed up shop a few years ago.
Yeah, here too. Bookstores and cafés - usually the two combined - have been popping up like mushrooms all over the city centres, though (I'm guessing over on your side, as well). I absolutely do not mind this evolution at all.
I can sit down, have a cup of coffee, browse through a book I'm interested in and listen to whatever new, usually good indie band the usually cute barrista girl likes.
We have more small bands, much easier to get ahold of, than ever before. The big companies are whining of lost profits, but fuck, let 'em. I seriously doubt it was this good for consumers ten, twenty years ago.
I've been on the verge of getting some kind of portable MP3 player just so I can plug it in and listen to all the podcasts I'd like to listen to in my car. Music would be daunting--I don't look forward to ripping my CDs, because I have a ton. iTunes etc. would be nice for finding some song I just heard in a TV show, but the current state of things feels weird to me in that it seems like we've gone back to the singles-dominated pre-LP era, and some might say that the downsized packaging of CDs had something to do with it. And there are the artists who felt compelled to issue double-LP length CDs of too much filler with every release. The decline of commercial radio. Lack of new music performances on TV (or at least shows I watch).
Lately I've been listening to both volumes of the Grey's Anatomy TV show soundtrack (which I like better than the show), William Shatner's Has Been, and Pulp's Different Class (which has the original version of "Common People" covered by Shatner). All these CDs are owned by my significant other, though I probably should have had that Shatner CD (been a big fan of Transformed Man for a long long time).
In the car I usually listen to NPR, Air America, or some other talk radio, and that kinda makes me cringe, but the radio around here really really sucks.
Of the XM channels I get on DirecTV, I usually listen to Cinemagic (soundtracks), XM Cafe (adult alternative), or Fine Tuning (eclectic--the greatest hits of the past 1000 years).
I find that over the years I listen to less and less music. At the office I'll open up the MusicMatch jukebox and aimlessly tool around. Right now the recommended artists are:
Travis The Strokes Blur Franz Ferdinand Paul Simon Neil Young Rage Against the Machine The Kinks Massive Attack Beck The Smiths Interpol The Clash The Who Bjork Placebo
...almost none of which I really like. Neil Young and The Who I'm good with but the rest of those only have songs here and there that I like, if even that.
While not at work, I've recently ended a Radiohead binge. This happens now and again, where I have a Radiohead song stuck in my head, so I play it, and suddenly I'm listening to nothing but Radiohead for two weeks. Then I suddenly stop and listen to no Radiohead for months.
Other than that, not much. Anxiously awaiting a new Doves album in '07 (hopefully) but mostly I think the state of music in general right now is very poor. Of course, that may just be me, since with the decline of MTV and commercial radio, it's hard to find good stuff unless you're really willing to put forth the effort to look for it, and I'm just not, for the most part.
I've recently ended a Radiohead binge. This happens now and again, where I have a Radiohead song stuck in my head, so I play it, and suddenly I'm listening to nothing but Radiohead for two weeks. Then I suddenly stop and listen to no Radiohead for months.
Have the same on-off relationship with Nine Inch Nails. The most recent week of self-loathing aggression was triggered by the 300 trailer.
Derek Webb (no relation) - Mockingbird
The Derek Webb web-page requires I send invites to five friends to download the album. I don't have five friends!
My XM radio has triggered a lot of strange musical tangents for me. I happened upon the Texas Swing of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys (big from the 30's to the 50's), most famous for "San Antonio Rose." Bought a best-of CD, and it's first class stuff. Don't know if I'll invest in Justin Timberlake's album, but "Sexyback" is excellent. I've had a Johnny Rivers collection on heavy rotation, and Michael Penn's album "Resigned" has crept back into the mix. I am disappointed in Pharrell's latest (I loved his album with N.E.R.D.), am quite fond of Gnarls Barkley, and I have the new Dylan release queued up for play (thanks, Jackrabbit Slim!). Oh, and after seeing my annual Richard Thompson concert in Princeton two weeks ago, I've been listening to his stuff, but the studio versions can't compare to the live performance. If he's ever in your town, see him-he's amazing.
You can put my address in there 5 times if you want...I used 2 of my friends and 3 of my gmail addresses...Free legal (legally free?) music. What a concept
It's actually a good lo-fi acoustic album. Derek has, to coin a phrase, been "officially labeled a disturber of the peace" in Christian music because he doesn't toe the right-wing political line...so he's been mislabeled or, even worse, ignored. Which is a shame beause he makes me wrestle with my head everytime I listen.....
11 Comments:
According to my mp3player, my preferences go something like this:
Josh Rouse - Nashville
Damien Jurado - On My Way to Absence
The Rapture - Pieces of the People We Love
Sufjan Stevens - Greetings from Michigan, the Great Lake State
Subtle - For Hero For Fool
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever to Tell
Yo La Tengo - I'm Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass
Justin Timberlake - FutureSex/LoveSounds
Trentemøller - The Last Resort
Vashti Bunyan - Just Another Diamond Day
My Chemical Romance - Welcome to the Black Parade
The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers
As someone who does not fool with Mp3s or I-Pods, and instead listens to old-fashioned compact discs, the last two I've purchased are Modern Times, by Bob Dylan, and These Four Walls, by Shawn Colvin. Other than that, I've been listening to a lot of surf music, both from the heydey in the early sixties (Dick Dale, the Ventures, and the like) and modern.
When I'm in the car, I listen to satellite radio (XM) and usually to the Sixties station.
Ah, well, I don't own a car, and cd's are, like, so 90s (kidding). Plus the fact that they dig a hole shaped like hunger and malnutrition in my pocket.
Basically can't work out, or run, or even go to the library without my mp3player these days.
CDs are actually cost-effective for me, because to download MP3s I would have to get a new computer (I have an IMAC from 1999). Of course, I don't buy many CDs, maybe 1 or 2 a month on average.
Browsing in a record store seems to be a thing that is rapidly fading from the culture. One of the two stand-alone record stores we had in my area closed up shop a few years ago. Fortunately there is still the Princeton Record Exchange, which is a throwback to the old days (they even sell vinyl) and have a huge selection of used CDs. Otherwise, it's hold your nose and go into Best Buy, Target or Wal-Mart, where you can find the hits and major artist, but forget about obscure stuff. I end up buying most of mine on Amazon.
Browsing in a record store seems to be a thing that is rapidly fading from the culture. One of the two stand-alone record stores we had in my area closed up shop a few years ago.
Yeah, here too. Bookstores and cafés - usually the two combined - have been popping up like mushrooms all over the city centres, though (I'm guessing over on your side, as well). I absolutely do not mind this evolution at all.
I can sit down, have a cup of coffee, browse through a book I'm interested in and listen to whatever new, usually good indie band the usually cute barrista girl likes.
We have more small bands, much easier to get ahold of, than ever before. The big companies are whining of lost profits, but fuck, let 'em. I seriously doubt it was this good for consumers ten, twenty years ago.
I've been on the verge of getting some kind of portable MP3 player just so I can plug it in and listen to all the podcasts I'd like to listen to in my car. Music would be daunting--I don't look forward to ripping my CDs, because I have a ton. iTunes etc. would be nice for finding some song I just heard in a TV show, but the current state of things feels weird to me in that it seems like we've gone back to the singles-dominated pre-LP era, and some might say that the downsized packaging of CDs had something to do with it. And there are the artists who felt compelled to issue double-LP length CDs of too much filler with every release. The decline of commercial radio. Lack of new music performances on TV (or at least shows I watch).
Lately I've been listening to both volumes of the Grey's Anatomy TV show soundtrack (which I like better than the show), William Shatner's Has Been, and Pulp's Different Class (which has the original version of "Common People" covered by Shatner). All these CDs are owned by my significant other, though I probably should have had that Shatner CD (been a big fan of Transformed Man for a long long time).
In the car I usually listen to NPR, Air America, or some other talk radio, and that kinda makes me cringe, but the radio around here really really sucks.
Of the XM channels I get on DirecTV, I usually listen to Cinemagic (soundtracks), XM Cafe (adult alternative), or Fine Tuning (eclectic--the greatest hits of the past 1000 years).
I find that over the years I listen to less and less music. At the office I'll open up the MusicMatch jukebox and aimlessly tool around. Right now the recommended artists are:
Travis
The Strokes
Blur
Franz Ferdinand
Paul Simon
Neil Young
Rage Against the Machine
The Kinks
Massive Attack
Beck
The Smiths
Interpol
The Clash
The Who
Bjork
Placebo
...almost none of which I really like. Neil Young and The Who I'm good with but the rest of those only have songs here and there that I like, if even that.
While not at work, I've recently ended a Radiohead binge. This happens now and again, where I have a Radiohead song stuck in my head, so I play it, and suddenly I'm listening to nothing but Radiohead for two weeks. Then I suddenly stop and listen to no Radiohead for months.
Other than that, not much. Anxiously awaiting a new Doves album in '07 (hopefully) but mostly I think the state of music in general right now is very poor. Of course, that may just be me, since with the decline of MTV and commercial radio, it's hard to find good stuff unless you're really willing to put forth the effort to look for it, and I'm just not, for the most part.
Derek Webb (no relation) - Mockingbird
Disneyland Happiest Homecoming on Earth Discs 1&2
The O.C. Supertones - Supertones Strike Back
Roll Bounce Official Soundtrack (and homemade supplemental soundtrack to include what was left out of the official)
Homemade Hawaiian CD featuring Makana, Hapa, and others
Fold Zandura - Return
Watermark - A Grateful People
I've recently ended a Radiohead binge. This happens now and again, where I have a Radiohead song stuck in my head, so I play it, and suddenly I'm listening to nothing but Radiohead for two weeks. Then I suddenly stop and listen to no Radiohead for months.
Have the same on-off relationship with Nine Inch Nails. The most recent week of self-loathing aggression was triggered by the 300 trailer.
Derek Webb (no relation) - Mockingbird
The Derek Webb web-page requires I send invites to five friends to download the album. I don't have five friends!
My XM radio has triggered a lot of strange musical tangents for me. I happened upon the Texas Swing of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys (big from the 30's to the 50's), most famous for "San Antonio Rose." Bought a best-of CD, and it's first class stuff. Don't know if I'll invest in Justin Timberlake's album, but "Sexyback" is excellent. I've had a Johnny Rivers collection on heavy rotation, and Michael Penn's album "Resigned" has crept back into the mix. I am disappointed in Pharrell's latest (I loved his album with N.E.R.D.), am quite fond of Gnarls Barkley, and I have the new Dylan release queued up for play (thanks, Jackrabbit Slim!).
Oh, and after seeing my annual Richard Thompson concert in Princeton two weeks ago, I've been listening to his stuff, but the studio versions can't compare to the live performance. If he's ever in your town, see him-he's amazing.
Nic-
You can put my address in there 5 times if you want...I used 2 of my friends and 3 of my gmail addresses...Free legal (legally free?) music. What a concept
It's actually a good lo-fi acoustic album. Derek has, to coin a phrase, been "officially labeled a disturber of the peace" in Christian music because he doesn't toe the right-wing political line...so he's been mislabeled or, even worse, ignored. Which is a shame beause he makes me wrestle with my head everytime I listen.....
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