April 22, 2008

New Music

Just had a hankering for new, and I mean new music. Straying outside my familiar territory, as it were. Three from eMusic:

Posted by dpwakefield at 07:43 PM | Comments (0)

April 04, 2008

Let It Bleed

Things truly seem to be changing in the music world. eMusic now has every album by the Rolling Stones from 1964-1970. Dunno how that happened. And I'm a bit peeved at that cutoff date, as Sticky Fingers, one of my all time faves from their ouvre, came out in 1971.

Still, there are a lot of good albums in the given interval, and I picked up Let It Bleed, to which I'm listening now. Good stuff.

Posted by dpwakefield at 08:34 PM | Comments (0)

March 25, 2008

Rounding Out the Month

An album from 1980, Movies by Holger Czukay.

Three more songs from Rodrigo y Gabriela: Diablo Rojo, Vikingman, Satori.

Posted by dpwakefield at 08:39 PM | Comments (0)

March 21, 2008

Passel O' Jazz (and more)

Creepin' up on the end of the month again, and I have a hankering for some new music to accompany my solo coding at work. So I spent an hour or so in a feverish haze (mild cold at the end of a long week) listening to eMusic samples, and settled on:

As if that weren't enough, I've been looping over another mash-up album by dj BC, who made the excellent mash-up of Wu Tang Clan and New Orleans Dixieland jazz, Wu Orleans. The new album is actually a few years old, but given my recent kick on minimalist classical composers, it seems appropriate. The album is a mash-up of Philip Glass and various rappers, called Glassbreaks.

And finally, I've been listening to the free first volume of Trent Reznor's Ghosts I-IV. And while I haven't gotten the remaining three volumes yet, I'm pretty sure I'll be grabbing them, at the low, LOW price of $5. Sweet deal if the others are as good as the first. In fact, the first was worth $5 by itself.

Posted by dpwakefield at 09:00 PM | Comments (0)

March 02, 2008

Neutral Milk Hotel

Rafe Colburn linked to two articles celebrating the fact that In The Aeroplane, Over The Sea is now ten years old. I once listened to several samples from the album and decided that though it had a unique voice, it was a little too intense and idiosyncratic even for me, so I gave it a pass.

Based on these two remembrances, though I've decided to use the fact that the entire album is available on eMusic to take the plunge, at relatively low cost. Who knows? Perhaps I will come to consider it one of my favorite albums.

Posted by dpwakefield at 02:43 PM | Comments (0)

February 23, 2008

Silly Music Mensch

I was just downloading some new albums from eMusic, and I realized that I hadn't noted a few from earlier this month. They are:

Now for the 'new' albums I've just picked up.

Posted by dpwakefield at 06:34 PM | Comments (0)

February 03, 2008

Two Songs

Jean picked out a song specifically for me:

Then, one evening on the way home from work, I heard a song that I was intrigued with, so I hunted it down:

I've got a new queue of credits for the month at eMusic, so look for more experiments soon...

Posted by dpwakefield at 09:13 PM | Comments (0)

January 28, 2008

Sun Ra

I had seven credits left this month on eMusic, and in my 'to buy' list was an album with seven tracks:

The Solar-Myth Approach Volume 1, by Sun Ra. Listening to it now, and I'm sure tomorrow while coding.

Posted by dpwakefield at 07:49 PM | Comments (0)

January 23, 2008

Music and More

Two brief items.

One, I used my Christmas money and some allowance to buy myself an iPod Touch. It's pretty neat.

Two, I found out that Dance Raja Dance is available on Amazon's MP3 store, and bought it. I've had "Aatavu Chanda (Dancing Is Beautiful)" for years, and to finally find the rest of this album available is pretty neat. Funny thing, when I searched for it on eMusic, I couldn't find it, but Googling just now, one of the last links on the first page was to the eMusic offering of same. Guess I'll have to look more carefully in future.

Update

The album is good, though I have to admit that the first song, the one I've had forever and which is available for free from Last.FM, is still the best.

And I forgot to mention the name of my new iPod Touch: Toa

Posted by dpwakefield at 08:09 PM | Comments (0)

January 15, 2008

Two New Albums

In addition to picking up Mink Car by They Might Be Giants (which I've already been listening to on a loaner from Tom, so it's almost not a new acquisition), I picked up two new ones tonight:

The former was on Jamie Zawinski's best of 2005 list (mentioned in his 2007 list since Gram Rabbit shows up with a new album in each of 2005 and 2006 as well).

The latter is just the result of browsing. It's a really short album, about a half hour in four pieces. But it's pretty cool. Looking forward to streaming it at work tomorrow.

Posted by dpwakefield at 09:14 PM | Comments (0)

January 10, 2008

Fantastic Frank Strozier

I've been living a never-ending stream of hot and cold running They Might Be Giants (thanks, Tom!) lately, so I decided it was time for a new Jazz album. The album Fantastic Frank Strozier was featured on eMusic, so I gave the previews a listen. Sounds nice, methinks, so here we are.

I'll be listening to this and Mink Car, one of the albums by They Might Be Giants that is carried by eMusic and recommended by Tom, tomorrow.

Update

Frank Strozier is indeed a good jazzman. Not gonna see this off-label compilation on anybody's Top 100 list, but it makes for a nice, upbeat bop background when programming.

I also downloaded my own copy of Mink Car, after listening to Tom's copy multiple times. That eMusic queue for January is dwindling, but more soon!

Posted by dpwakefield at 08:34 PM | Comments (0)

December 30, 2007

End of an Era

It is with some sadness but understanding that I have to announce that Renee is bidding adieu to flute. She'll finish out the year at school, but no more outside lessons, and no flute next year at school. She just isn't feeling a connection anymore. I wish it weren't so, but I'm not one of those parents who force a child to learn an instrument for their own good. At least she had two good years.

So enjoy this image, as it's likely the last of her playing a flute.

Posted by dpwakefield at 05:29 PM | Comments (0)

New Musical Intrusions

Jean has been active on the mash-up network again. Here's her most recent net:

I'll also mention that I have two new Kristin Hersh songs:

Both are available at her new venture, CASH Music

Posted by dpwakefield at 05:23 PM | Comments (0)

December 25, 2007

Mingus Ah Um

Number Three at the Jazz 100 site, my self-gifted stocking stuffer for this Christmas is Mingus Ah Um by Charles Mingus. So far it really does sound like a number-three-of-all-time album. More as I get a chance to absorb it. Merry Christmas!

Posted by dpwakefield at 11:55 AM | Comments (0)

December 18, 2007

Winter Concert

Renee's 2007 seventh grade Winter concert was this evening. I took a few quick snapshots that I'll try to upload to Flickr over the next few days. Too beat now.

I feel, and Jean agrees with me, that Renee is one of the better musicians in the Cadet Band. Go Renee!

Update

The single minimally acceptable image from the concert is now in the banner.

Posted by dpwakefield at 09:13 PM | Comments (0)

December 15, 2007

Kelly Great

Okay, Kelly Great is the other Not-Jazz-100-CD album I had my eye on. It's only five songs, so it fills out my December queue nicely. And since eMusic charges by the song, I don't have to feel like I'm getting gouged for a short album.

Wynton Kelly was a jazz pianist, perhaps less well known than Thelonius Monk, but well-travelled nevertheless. So I decided to grab one or two of his albums and give him a listen. I like the first number on this album, "Wrinkles", a lot, already sure it's at least four stars. We'll see about the others.

Posted by dpwakefield at 07:41 PM | Comments (0)

December 11, 2007

From the Not-Jazz-100-CD Files

One of the two jazz albums I promised I'd be getting, this is People I Like, by The Blueprint Project, with Han Bennink. A bit avant-garde and arrhythmic, but in a way that really tickles my novelty gland. We'll see how it holds up to multiple listens.

Tom, I only had fourteen slots left on eMusic this month, and Mink Car has seventeen tracks, so I opted to wait until January to pick it up!

Oh, and it's now exactly two weeks until Christmas Day, so I can start listening in earnest to A Charlie Brown Christmas, a Vince Guaraldi piano album I seem to have neglected to mention here. So sorry.

Update

So People I Like is generally very strange. The atonality is a bit precious, so I'll have to say that this was an experiment with a short lifespan. I'll take it out occasionally, dust it off and give it a listen, but while I rated two songs four-star, none of them got five. Not so much memorable as novel.

Funny, but I had a book in the queue at the library, and it arrived shortly after I started listening to this album. It's called The Rest Is Noise, by Alex Ross, the New Yorker music critic. In it he explores the history of modern music, with a lot of attention given to more experimental approaches, atonality, differing scales and the road less travelled. I think of this album as sort of kicking off my browse of this book.

Oh, and I've listened to A Charlie Brown Christmas every morning since I posted about it. Definitely more conventional and regular than People I Like, and certainly less cloying most of the time than the broad swath of Christmas music out there.

Posted by dpwakefield at 09:05 PM | Comments (0)

December 09, 2007

Expoobident

Okay, it's not on the Jazz 100 list, but I liked The Sidewinder so much that I decided to grab Expoobident (apparently jazz slang for extraordinary, phenomenal, wonderful.) from eMusic tonight.

There are a couple other not-Jazz-100 albums that have caught my eye at eMusic, so I have a feeling I'm gonna rip through my quota early this month. I'll note them here if I grab them, of course.

Update

Yes, The Sidewinder is an album where everything pretty much gels, and Expoobident is not. The songs, though hard bop, seem a little too relaxed, and sometimes aimless. But even so, it's a fun album, and will continue to get a spot in the rotation.

Posted by dpwakefield at 07:42 PM | Comments (0)

December 08, 2007

Wes Montgomery

Grabbed #25 of the Top 100 Jazz CDs tonight from eMusic. It's called The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery. I've just started listening to it. I'll post impressions here in a couple of days.

Also, if that's too highbrow for you, I grabbed, at Jean's behest, Milkshake by Kelis, from the iTunes Music Store.

Update

Very nice album. Definitely worth owning. I've practically tranced out to several of the numbers on this album, and look forward to many more listenings.

Posted by dpwakefield at 08:42 PM | Comments (0)

November 27, 2007

New Musical Experience

It's pretty common for a radio news show or a radio magazine like This American Life to play some music in the background, or between segments, as a sort of audio wallpaper. I've often had the experience of picking out the individual tune, naming it and the artist, and getting a little flush of pleasure. A lot of times on PBS, though, they stretch, playing compositions that I'm unfamiliar with, and which I often wish I could find later. But of course I forget to look them up.

Lately, PBS has been playing snippets of songs that I suspect they think are alternative, or obscure, and I've been pegging them. On two occasions, I've spotted them using Camper Van Beethoven, right back to Telephone Free Landslide Victory, their first album, from back when Jean and I were in Ohio. Nice to see David Lowery and gang getting recognized in such a pedestrian setting.

But yesterday morning, I was driving to work, listening to On the Media, and during their final segment, they were playing a jazz composition. And I recognized it! No, it wasn't "In the Mood", or "Begin the Beguine", or any other Big Band standard. It was "Freddie Freeloader", from Kind of Blue, by Miles Davis. One of my Jazz 100 CDs. And I named the artist, if not the title of the composition. That's a new experience for me. And "Kind of Nice."

Posted by dpwakefield at 07:47 AM | Comments (0)

November 26, 2007

New Music

Yes, despite all the free stuff I have available, I'm still spending eMusic points. This time, another album from the Jazz 100 site, Portrait In Jazz - Bill Evans.

Then to round out my credits for the month, I picked up URAQT by M.I.A.

Update

Regarding Bill Evans, I've now had three uninterrupted listens of this album, in different settings. And once again, I have to say that the Jazz 100 site's ranking, #112, feels fair to me. Listening to this album, I felt I was in a piano lounge at some generic hotel bar. There were a few definite thumbs-up moments, a lot of "meh", not much inspiration evident. Piano virtuosity aside, I don't find much memorable about this album. It's not offensive, it just doesn't reach my inner musical ear.

So it looks as if the top rated albums, like Kind of Blue and Saxaphone Colossus, are pretty easy to agree with. But after #100 (probably even earlier, as below #20 or so, I'm just picking ones that are available on eMusic), it becomes pretty much a matter of taste as to whether the album should be on any list. Anyway, Bill Evans Trio shows up twice in the top 30 (Waltz for Debby at #13, Sunday at the Village Vanguard at #26) so maybe I'll buy one of those to give Evans another chance.

But not before buying, for instance, Mingus Ah Um (#3).

Posted by dpwakefield at 09:35 PM | Comments (0)

November 24, 2007

Overwhelmed with Music

I've now reached the point that I have more music coming down the pipe than I can reasonably listen to. Brent has given me a sampler from his library, which I'm listening to in bits, then deleting. I have my eMusic subscription, currently supplying a lot of jazz and the occasional surprise. And now I have Jamendo. This website was mentioned on Slashdot yesterday. It was founded by French musicians, and is a gathering place for independent artists to post their work.

Since it was founded by French folk, there are a lot of French albums, which Renee is thrilled by, since she's studying French right now. She had me download Lonah - Pièces, which I'm listening to right now. I also downloaded Revolution Void - Increase the Dosage. I'm of course going to be listening to both over the next few days. Not sure if I'll keep either, but they're free, cost and license, so I can take my time deciding.

Update

Renee had me download another, Saint-Jean - Allo barjo. Then Brent pointed me at an album by a group I'd already mentioned: t r y ^ d - Public Domain. More than I can keep up with, like I said...

Posted by dpwakefield at 10:04 AM | Comments (0)

November 18, 2007

Shriekback

When Jamie Zawinski first mentioned Glory Bumps, by Shriekback, I checked eMusic to see if they carried them. I don't recall now if they had even minimal entries, but they didn't have Glory Bumps, so since it was a great unknown to me I filed it away for later reference. More recently he brought the album up again, saying "I think I've just listened to 'Amaryllis in the Sprawl' about 25 times in a row."

Today I was browsing eMusic, typing in hits and misses from the past into the search bar, and lo and behold, there it was. So given that I had credits to burn before the end of the month, I grabbed it. Two albums in two days. Is that too excessive?

Anyway, I agree that "Amaryllis in the Sprawl" is a cool song, but I actually like the starter song ("Hooray for Everything") better. I'll be listening to this thing a bit over the next few days...

Posted by dpwakefield at 09:46 PM | Comments (0)

November 17, 2007

The Sidewinder

I was shopping for stocking stuffers at Borders this afternoon, and just decided to browse the jazz CD section while I was there. Turns out they had a reasonably priced copy of The Sidewinder, Lee Morgan's entry in the Top Jazz 100 list. So I grabbed it, and I'm giving it a listen right now. Sounds pretty good so far...

Update

Well, I've given this thing a couple of listens, and for now I'd have to say that it has a pretty high replay value. Definitely more enjoyable than "Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section". I'm almost tempted to say that it can hold it's own against "Kind of Blue", though I suspect these two will swap places from time to time as my mood changes. Anyway, four out of six of the tunes on this disc ranked four stars. Kewl!

Posted by dpwakefield at 03:42 PM | Comments (0)

November 13, 2007

Another Jazz 200 Album

Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section. Going to give it a better listen tomorrow while coding/digging.

Update

Heh. This album was released the year I was born (1957). Many of the compositions on this album could reach four stars, but for a minor flaw. Too much drum solo. This is pretty funny, since as a kid I really liked drum solos (having grown up on old movies featuring and about Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich). That second link to a clip of Buddy Rich with Jerry Lewis is actually pretty fun.

In my teenage years rock drum solos were also pretty common, and I had no complaints. And as I've listened to the various albums I've grabbed off of the Jazz 200 list (this one, Thelonius Monk's "Brilliant Corners" and "Monk's Music", John Coltrane's "Giant Steps", Sonny Rollins' "Saxaphone Colossus" and Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue") it's dawned on me that most of these albums center on compositions using a framing melody, with intervals for improvisational solos by the various band members. So drum solos fit right in.

So I'm not sure why they detract from this album. Maybe it's just that none of the other albums feature drum solos. Maybe the drum solos strike me as jarring, or unimaginative. I really don't know. As I've been reading up on each of these albums, I've learned that some of the key ones were milestones precisely because they broke with the last musical style. Kind of Blue, for instance, is based on "a new formulation using scales or a series of scales for improvisations", or modal jazz.

I lack any kind of formal musical training, even as a dabbler. So directly observing these foundations and how they affect the way the musicians play (and play) is mostly lost to me. I still get the aesthetic pleasure of the music, but if a composition is notable to a musically trained listener mainly for technique, I probably am not going to "get it." Maybe that's what's going on with "Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section."

In any case, unskilled though I may be, I have no problem accepting that this album came in ranked #38, while "Kind of Blue" is Number One.

Please note: I do not regret getting this album. It has a lot of good music, and I've already listened to it several times. I just have a few peeves with some of the compositions. Overall, it's definitely worth having.

Posted by dpwakefield at 09:16 PM | Comments (0)

November 05, 2007

Saxophone Colossus

Okay, the Bauhaus album is fun, but the Miles Davis album got me in the mood for more jazz I haven't already heard, so I went back to the Top 200 CD list and found one that eMusic carries:

I'm listening to it now, sounds promising. I'll give it a full play during coding tomorrow.

Posted by dpwakefield at 08:28 PM | Comments (0)

November 02, 2007

Bauhaus

My odometer at eMusic rolled over with the start of the month, and I picked up Bauhaus - 1979-1983 Volume One. They were the predecessor of Love and Rockets, which I liked a bit back in the day, so I thought I would grab a 'survey collection' of their works. There seemed to be some burps during the downloads, so I may retry in a day or two. That is a nice feature of eMusic, you can re-download tunes you've paid for in the past, something that iTunes Music Store claims is impractical to track. So in your face, iTMS!

Posted by dpwakefield at 09:05 PM | Comments (0)

October 31, 2007

Top 200 Jazz CDs

Go to Jazz 100 for a handful of interesting jazz 'best of' lists. I started looking at the Top 200 Jazz CDs (it says 100, but then links to a second 100 on another page). I have a handful of pieces scattered over the list, but mainly have three albums from the list that I recently purchased (mentioned here previously). I bought these albums before finding this list:

So tonight I decided to grab the two-years-running number one ranked album, Kind of Blue by Miles Davis (thank you iTunes -- eMusic doesn't have the clout to carry this one). Listening to it right now. It's really nice. I'll probably play this on a loop while working on grungy code all day tomorrow.

So am I going to buy all 200 Jazz CDs? To say nothing of their New Breed 100? Probably not. But I'll be picking and choosing samples from this list, perhaps for a long time. I hope it stays online a long while, as I'm too lazy to grab a copy for myself.

Posted by dpwakefield at 08:47 PM | Comments (0)

October 23, 2007

Rounding Out October

Just to use up my allotment for October at eMusic, I picked up a few nice tunes:

The latter two are from a more recent (1994) album of his (20th Century Blues, go figure), but there's no mistaking his style.

Posted by dpwakefield at 09:16 PM | Comments (0)

October 21, 2007

New Music

Two new albums:

I think the song I already had from Gogol Bordello (Start Wearing Purple) is most likely the best one on the album, but I still wanted to give them a closer listen than 30-second samples allowed.

Matmos is an unusual electronic duo, and I have a handful of their music from various free samplers. One of them is one of my all-time favorites in any genre, The Struggle Against Unreality Begins, from The Civil War, so I finally decided to burn some of my eMusic credits to grab it.

I also picked up a couple individual songs:

Jean has also added to the playlist:

Posted by dpwakefield at 08:54 PM | Comments (0)

October 17, 2007

Mash-Up Report

I don't really know if these are Mash-Ups yet, Jean moves too fast for me to listen to all these guys...

Posted by dpwakefield at 09:31 PM | Comments (0)

Balkan Beat Box

Latest eMusic album: Balkan Beat Box. I was actually listening to samples of Gogol Bordello, and saw a link to BBB. Checking them out, I discovered that they make music that is ideal to program to, texturally rich, but amenable as background music. Looking forward to using it tomorrow at work.

Posted by dpwakefield at 09:25 PM | Comments (0)

October 13, 2007

The Music Pipeline

I've been wading through the freebies from the 2006 SXSW (I haven't even started on 2007's free content). Nice discoveries:

From Jean's Mash-Up Train, we have some new contenders as well:

Then a cool little culture collision I picked up scanning the web:

I've also been previewing a couple of albums:

The first is a cover album of Ramones tunes, done in the style of surf guitar. It's not too bad, but I've been spoiled listening to Takeshi Terauchi, who is a Japanese surf guitar god, so they have a steep hill to climb.

The second album is Radiohead's latest, and their first without being under contract to a major label. It's 'free', in that they let you decide how much to pay for it. I'm previewing before I give them any money, as I am generally annoyed with Thom Yorke's policy of only allowing sales of complete albums since he feels that allowing purchase of individual tracks destroys the artistic integrity of his music. Rii-ight. Anyway, so far there are only a couple of songs I'd pay for, so I'll probably delete this one in a day or two.

Posted by dpwakefield at 09:32 PM | Comments (0)

October 07, 2007

Mash-Update

Jean still busily mines the mashup world:

Then, for a more conventional take, I grabbed these two from AmazonMP3 Store:

Posted by dpwakefield at 08:54 PM | Comments (0)

October 03, 2007

Vive La Trance

Another twenty-some odd year-old album, from my early college years. Ook! Make that thirty years. The album first came out in 1974, and I remember listening to it at Michigan Tech, in Houghton, Michigan, which would put it at around 1976 or 1977. God I'm old!

Anyway, Vive La Trance is something like the seventh album by Amon Düül II. Yes, that's a Roman numeral two there. There was an Amon Düül first. I won't reiterate the history from Wikipedia here, it's an interesting read. Suffice to say that I've had two of their albums, the remains of which exist still in my desk at work, on a double-length cassette tape. I've played it infrequently over the years, well aware that it was degrading and would eventually cease playing listenable music.

Now I've grabbed this album from eMusic, and I finally found the near-impossible-to-locate Hijack, now back in print. So it's winging it's way through the mail to me, and I'll note it here when it arrives. Such good memories...

Update

Hijack arrived in the mail yesterday, and I've been listening to it ever since. It's as good as I remember, and better even than Vive La Trance. Guess I should follow my instinct to restore all those old albums I was fond of. Hmm, what's next? Voyage of the Acolyte?

Posted by dpwakefield at 08:33 PM | Comments (0)

October 01, 2007

Screamin' Jay Hawkins

Okay, I know I already got a version of I Put a Spell on You from eMusic, but that was an inferior version, Hawkins 'covering' himself, trying to be goofier without really topping the classic recording.

So now I went ahead and got the version I first heard, which was included in Stranger Than Paradise, a very strange, slow, but wonderful movie by Jim Jarmusch.

Posted by dpwakefield at 07:57 PM | Comments (0)

September 30, 2007

And In the Mash-Up Corner...

Jean's been busy, that's all I can say:

The Joe Bega mashup is kinda funny since the first time I ever heard his
Mambo #5 was in an Anime Music Video (though not the one I link here). As you may know, AMVs are a whole genre of mashups!

And some freebies from Last.FM:

Posted by dpwakefield at 09:02 PM | Comments (0)

Gulag Orkestar

This is my other eMusic grab for the end of September, by the Band Beirut. I'm still listening to it, so I haven't formed a solid opinion yet, but got it based on it's 2006 kudos. More later.

Posted by dpwakefield at 09:00 PM | Comments (0)

Now Listening...

I categorized this post under Music, but I will add Movies as well, as this is a note about one of my two remaining acquisitions for September from eMusic:

It is the soundtrack album for the movie of the same name by Fellini. Nino Rota, along with Ennio Morricone, is one of the primary Italian popular composers that I've enjoyed over the years. This is a great album, and will be background music for many programming sessions.

Posted by dpwakefield at 08:53 PM | Comments (0)

September 28, 2007

Toes in the Water

If you're technologically challenged, or just have a life, you may not have heard that Amazon is jumping into the online music store business. Since any DRM they could use would not be compatible with iPods (Apple does not license Fairplay), they have chosen to offer unencumbered MP3 files (following in Apple's footsteps after Apple negotiated a similar deal -- in their case for unencumbered AAC files -- with EMI).

Songs and albums are generally cheaper on Amazon than the DRM-locked versions on the iTunes Music Store. Songs most often cost 89 cents, though songs longer than seven minutes are nearly two dollars, and songs longer than fourteen minutes are even more. A strange variable pricing scheme, but one imagines the record companies have to get that camel's nose into the tent somehow. Not all the record companies have climbed aboard the DRM-free wagon, so Amazon currently has about one third of the offerings of Apple.

I imagine the fondest dreams of the RIAA cabal involve selling cheap to cut the legs out from under Apple during future contract negotiations, and once Apple has buckled (or simply been made irrelevant) we will see gradually escalating prices at Amazon. Probably much multi-tier nonsense, with 'popular' tunes going for $5 a pop, and older standards costing 'only' $1.98. I don't really think I'm being cynical here. But as a counterweight to this viewpoint, I don't think that the record companies will be able to push prices back up across the board, and that instead, this step away from DRM will just become the expected default. Sorry, RIAA...

Last night I went to my daughter's school for the usual yearly grind of 'meeting' all her teachers in a cattle call wandering from classroom to classroom, collecting bits of paper, but not really being able to talk to the teachers, since we were all on the clock, literally (hear the bell, move on). So this morning, as a treat for disrupting my routine evening, I've dipped my toes into the Amazon pool, buying a copy of Under Pressure, by David Bowie and Queen (really, to me, just Freddie Mercury). It's a very acceptable encoding of the song, and now that I've looked at the album it came from (Best of Bowie) I almost wish I'd just gotten the whole thing.

So now I'm getting my music from three vendors, eMusic, iTunes and Amazon MP3. Will I forsake the iTunes Music Store for a cheaper vendor? I already have, giving preference to eMusic when they carry the same artist as iTunes. This is partly for the average price of a song on eMusic, and partly due to the fact that they don't use DRM. So I'm not, in my opinion, playing into the hands of the RIAA, as I won't purchase a song for $5, ever. I won't purchase a song separately for $1.98, either, though I'll buy it if it is part of an album I'm buying, and the average price of the songs works out to 99 cents or less. An example of that would be this album by Hawkwind, where there are multiple songs priced at $1.94 (that dreaded seven minute limit, damn bandwidth costs !) but the whole (double) album comes in under $23. I don't think I'll actually buy this album, as I only want two or three of the songs, but you get the gist.

Also, Thom Yorke, get over yourself. OK Computer is not such a precious unified work of art that it can only be experienced as a complete entity. Sure, I liked Kid A, which I bought on CD years ago, but I only want Paranoid Android, and I'm not willing to pay $8.99 for it. 'Album Only' indeed!

Posted by dpwakefield at 07:43 AM | Comments (0)

September 27, 2007

Jean, Jean, the Mash-Up Queen

I introduced Jean to the concept of mash-ups, and she's grabbed a few, and highlighted a few that I otherwise gave only a light listen to, making them favorites. Now, the student has overtaken the master. She's using music from my iTunes library to compose exercise discs, and spicing them up with mash-ups. But her desire for them outstrips my rather casual discovery methods (i.e. did someone mention it on Boing Boing?)

So she's out there trawling the net alone, unprotected. She's doing it for herself, she's doing it for me, Hell, she's doing it for you! Here are the latest catches:

And in case all that unconventional music makes your head hurt, I also grabbed (via eMusic):

A fine song, later covered by the Blues Brothers. I like both versions.

Posted by dpwakefield at 09:45 PM | Comments (0)

Recovered Albums

Like a lot of trailing edge post-Boomers, I spend a fair portion of my music budget on acquiring digital versions of music I've already owned on vinyl. My most recent album is a case in point. This Nation's Saving Grace, by The Fall. It's the only album I've ever owned by them (or by him -- The Fall is primarily Mark E. Smith: "If it's me, and your granny on bongos, it's a Fall gig""), but I plan to correct this via eMusic later with Hex Enduction Hour.

Anyway, it's just as fun as I remember, some twenty years ago, when I was disturbing the normals by boogying at the bus stop with a cassette walkmen and headphones. The only other band I did that with was Camper Van Beethoven, another band I've slowly been replacing with bits.

Funniest of all, I bet if I went out into the garage and dug through a box full of old records, I'd find The Fall, pristine and unchanged, ready to play but for the lack of a working record player. Bet the record companies are giddy about that.

Posted by dpwakefield at 09:32 PM | Comments (0)

September 23, 2007

Mo' Music

Some more music acquired recently:

The first is a song I first heard on Thistle and Shamrock. It struck me as interesting for being an Irish reel with bagpipes and harmonica.

The second is a mash-up that Jean found, blending 'Evil Woman' by E.L.O. with Marvin Gaye singing 'Too Busy Thinking About My Baby'.

Finally, I got another album from a Portland, Oregon, group. I seem to have quite a lot of luck with local groups. This one is called The Prids, and the album is called Until the World Is Beautiful. I've heard it described as 'Proto-Goth', and that would not be too bad a label.

Update

I've had a chance to listen to The Prids several times now. Even when I'm not sure I'm going to like more than a song, I like to buy the entire album when sampling a local Portland group, sort of a home culture support policy. In this cased, I can say that I like several of their songs quite a lot. Even if I only liked the first one, though, that'd justify the album for me. "The Glow" has been stuck in my head since I first heard it. Talk about putting your best foot forward!

Posted by dpwakefield at 09:27 PM | Comments (0)

A-Key Kyou

To demonstrate how lazy I've been with the posting, today's banner photo is of a concert at last weekend's Japan Festival, in the Uwajimaya parking lot in Beaverton. Renee and I went there, primarily so that she and her friend Sammi could get together and roam the store. Unfortunately, we were never able to hook up with her friend, so we stayed around an hour.

While we were there, we saw A-Key Kyou, who had also played at Kumoricon. As before, they displayed reasonable stage presence, and the instruments were competently played. At Kumoricon, the amplification was so loud that it was hard to tell just what the singing was like. This time, it seemed off-key, but I marked that up to bad equipment, as I saw one of the sound crew repeatedly fiddling with the settings and then walking out to the back of the audience to check the levels.

You might notice in the foreground of the picture a sign for a 'Free Demo CD'. Well, I ambled up and grabbed one, making a donation of five dollars, since free didn't seem fair after attending two of their concerts.

I've given it a listen more than once, and I asked Renee if she agreed with me. She does. The singers (I think both of them) seem to have trouble hitting the notes, quite often. Not the high notes, or the low notes, but notes that might have been intended to be sharp or flat, sustained for a bit, anything slightly off the melody. It's a bit disconcerting, and I'm sad to report it. I had fun watching them perform, much as I enjoy watching kids do cosplay. I just feel sad that they miss the notes.

Posted by dpwakefield at 09:16 PM | Comments (0)

September 16, 2007

Two New Songs

I'm gonna be grabbing something from eMusic soon, so I should update my record of things I've gotten recently. These two were bought at the behest of my spouse:

Also, sampling music over the ether:

Posted by dpwakefield at 10:06 AM | Comments (0)

September 01, 2007

New Music

You may recall that I was sampling a band called Tilly and the Wall. I've concluded that there are only two songs I really like, so I've bought them on iTunes Music Store and deleted the remainder of my sample music:

I also did my part at Kumoricon today, and bought a CD by one of the musical guests, a Portland area band called The Slants. The album is called "Slanted Eyes, Slanted Hearts". The other musical guests, A-Key Kyo, were not represented in the dealer's room (which was set up in the hotel parking garage), so I don't know if I'll get a CD by them. I'll try anyway...

Posted by dpwakefield at 09:50 PM | Comments (0)

August 26, 2007

Giant Steps Indeed

Early this week I had to go in for a root planing at my dentist. Unpleasant business, and it left me feeling worn and a bit depressed. So come Friday I decided to treat myself, and I picked up a copy of Giant Steps by John Coltrane. I mentioned it earlier when talking about my acquisition of some Thelonius Monk albums. Well, I'm surely gonna get a lot of mileage out of this album.

What I've discovered while listening to these three albums is that I don't recognize individual numbers as such. I do recognize some of the signature works, but mostly, I enjoy these compositions as uplifting but unobtrusive background music, while I work (or read more recreationally). In any case, they are a welcome addition to my library.

Posted by dpwakefield at 08:40 PM | Comments (0)

August 12, 2007

Jazz

Way back in my college days I listened to a lot of different genres of music. For instance, I listened to a lot of jazz. Mostly Latin and jazz fusion. Lots of Passport, Weather Report, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, some Ramsey Lewis. By some stretches, Frank Zappa and John McLaughlin (Mahavishnu Orchestra) fit the jazz label as well. I still have a handful of that music in my collection, but most of it didn't survive the transition from LP to CD.

I dipped my toe into the jazz waters recently when I grabbed some Bix Biederbecke music for Jean. I've been listening too, and it's great music. Now, with my remaining 'August' allotment from eMusic, I decided to branch out once again. Not in any systematic way, but taking an almost random stab into the huge corpus of jazz history, I've grabbed two new (old) albums:

Brilliant Corners
Monk's Music

Both by Thelonious Monk. I'm not ready to comment in any depth, but I've been playing them on heavy rotation, and they make for great contemplative music, as in, for instance, deep programming sessions. I'd like to get Giant Steps, by John Coltrane, but it's not on eMusic, so I'll have to grab it from iTunes or via a traditional CD. Later...

Posted by dpwakefield at 09:14 PM | Comments (0)

August 09, 2007

Kristin Hersh

If you search my site for Throwing Muses or Kristin Hersh (sometimes mispellled by yours truly as Kristen), you'll find a number of mentions, unequivocally positive. I first heard Throwing Muses in two albums that I bought based on reviews I read in Factsheet Five. I first saw Throwing Muses in Cleveland, decades ago. I've been a fan, however casually, ever since. And now, as I mentioned in a recent post, I've bought Golden Ocean, by Kristin's new band 50 Foot Wave.

So what do I find in the comment queue today, but a message from Billy O'Connell ("Throwing Management") pointing me to an EP by 50 Foot Wave called, appropriately enough, Free Music ("please share this music in any and every way you see fit. ")!

Well, over the years, I've bought vinyl and CDs from the whole Throwing Muses dynasty. By Throwing Muses, I originally bought the vinyl for their untitled album that I called Green, due to the cover and the song Green on that album. I also bought The Fat Skier, House Tornado and Hunkpapa in vinyl editions. When those wore out, I bought their CD equivalents, along with The Real Ramona. eMusic.com has the 2003 eponymous album, so I'll be picking it up eventually.

I can't remember what all solo Kristin Hersh albums I bought over the years, but the only one to survive is the CD Hips and Makers.

So in any case, between earlier purchases and future planned purchases, I don't feel guilty accepting a little charity here. Thanks, Billy!

Posted by dpwakefield at 08:55 PM | Comments (0)

August 04, 2007

New Music

I started downloading songs as part of my new subscription to eMusic (after the free trial period, which I mentioned earlier). The first couple of albums consist of:

Bix Beiderbecke and the Chicago Cornets

which I got mainly for Jean, who's a big Bix fan, but I'll be listening to it as well.

For my own itch, I got

Golden Ocean - 50 Foot Wave

which is Kristin Hersch's new-ish rock band (less arty than Throwing Muses, much harder than most of her solo work). It's pretty funny hearing her harsh, gutteral singing, after so many years of her dulcet voice. Love it either way.

I'm also enjoying a new mash-up album (not eMusic sourced):

Forgotten Hits, compiled by Simon Iddol

and exploring the music of Tilly and the Wall, specifically I'm evaluating Bottoms of Barrels. I'm particularly fond of Bad Education.

Update

I forgot to mention some neat single songs I've gotten recently: Back in Your Head - Tegan and Sara (Salon Audiofile), Open Your Heart - Lavender Diamond (eMusic) and Star Witness - Neko Case (Pitchfork Media freebie).

Posted by dpwakefield at 08:27 PM | Comments (1)

July 28, 2007

New Music

Blood Money, one of two albums capturing the music written by Waits for plays directed by Robert Wilson. It's based on an unfinished German play entitled Woyzeck, by Georg Büchner. Definitely feels Brechtian to me, along with that "ramshackle apocalyptic carnival" ... "flaunting a keen otherworldly nostalgia and a preoccupation with freaks" (see the review). The other album is titled Alice, and I'll probably be getting it in the next few weeks.

Sound of zZz. Jamie W. Zawinski pointed to a performance art video set to the song House of Sin, and featuring the two members (Daan Schinkel, Björn Ottenheim) of the band, zZz, as well as a troupe of acrobats and a trampoline. It was visually captivating, in a silly, self-deprecating way, and the song reminded me of Joy Division, so I had to check them out. I ended up picking up the album.

Posted by dpwakefield at 03:37 PM | Comments (0)

May 27, 2007

New Music

The Anthrax tune is due to director Kevin Smith's iTunes Celebrity Playlist, which was too long for their format and regretfully rejected. So Kevin Smith published it on his own weblog. I'm not a big heavy metal fan, limiting myself mostly to bands which were popular when I was in high school (Black Sabbath, anyone?) but this is not too shabby.

B.B. King is just a favorite of mine, and this is a quintessential selection that I've always wanted to own.

'Girls on Film' was the opening credit music for Speed Grapher, a show Adam turned me onto, and one of the top ten anime of all time, as far as my own viewing goes. When they brought the series over to the US, they were unable to get the rights to the Duran Duran song, so I bought it instead.

'The Harrry Lime Theme' is from The Third Man, a post WWII film set in Allied-occupied Austria. I remember being struck both by the story and the music. This is the central theme, and it's quirky zither music made the surreal postwar Austria limbo that much more alive.

Another movie reference. The Marcels' version of 'Blue Moon' first made my aquaintance in An American Werewolf in London, one of John Landis' better films. Two friends are attacked on the Yorkshire moors by a beast that kills one and injures the other, David Kessler (played by David Naughton). After recovering, he moves in with his nurse, and one moonlit night, experiences the painful transformation to werewolf, all the while 'Blue Moon' plays.

So, pop culture aplenty in this batch of tunes.

Posted by dpwakefield at 08:39 PM | Comments (0)

April 28, 2007

Musical Serendipity

Ages ago, at Anime Expo, I was sitting in the Anime Music Video contest, and there was a very clever, cute AMV called Anime Polka set to the song Polka Power!, by "Weird Al" Yankovic. Recently, as I've noted here, I tracked down the song and bought it, setting Renee off on an endless "Weird Al" trek. What I didn't know is what one of the particular snippets of music in that polka medley was from.

So here I was this evening, browsing various weblogs, when one pointed to a video some youngsters at some Web 2.0 company put together, where they lip-synched to a song called Flagpole Sitta, by Harvey Danger. And whattaya know, there they are, singing "I'm not sick, but I'm not well, and I'm so hot cause I'm in hell." Now that I've heard it again, I know that song, but for years, the only connection I had was Polka Power! (and Anime Polka).

If that was not enough, I was reading Metafilter and stumbled onto this thread. In it is described Stephen Sondheim's "favorite song" out of all his body of work. The pointer led to a rare piece of video footage of the 1976 Broadway musical Pacific Overtures, specifically, the performance of the song, "Someone In a Tree". I watched it, not knowing what to expect.

Now if you are not like me, you probably think musical theatre is some sort of aberration of the human mind, and avoid it, as so many people I know do. One comment on Metafilter illustrates this attitude: "Musical theater gives me an urge to break things." I can show you a thing or two you can break, buddy.

But for me, a well done musical is a gem of human achievement. Ten or twenty seconds into this video clip, I was enraptured. Now I wish there were some way to recover this entire video performance. But a comment on YouTube notes:

It's on a tape at the New York Public Library's special collections dept. The only copy in America, as far as I know. You can make an appointment to view it there if you're ever in NYC. I wish they'd get the rights and distribute that tape. This is the only footage I've ever seen from that original Broadway show.

Please, somebody (Criterion Collection?) get the rights to this, and restore it proper. I'll be there with money in hand!

Posted by dpwakefield at 09:21 PM | Comments (0)

April 25, 2007

Two Albums

I feel like I've dropped a couple of stitches here. Impulse buys, Internet freebies and such will just have to go unannounced. But I did get:

We Are Pilots - Shiny Toy Guns
Beggar's Banquet - Rolling Stones

Posted by dpwakefield at 08:51 PM | Comments (0)

March 17, 2007

Costello Music

You can find an EP of Scottish sensations the Fratellis at iTunes United States, for instance, but their hit glam singalong "Chelsea Dagger" is in nearly every country except the United States. (Their randy burlesque video for it, naturally, is all over YouTube.)

The insanely great songs Apple won't let you hear

So the album, Costello Music, was not available on iTunes Music Store (US), as the article mentions, but the song, Chelsea Dagger, was really cool. So I took it into my head to search the net for it. Internally, I promised myself that if it became available in the US, say on the iTunes Music Store, I'd buy it.

I've been listening to the bootleg on and off for weeks now, and it's one of my favorite albums of the last year. And a day or so ago, I noticed it on the 'new releases' list at iTunes Music Store. So I bought it. So there, I'm an honest man again.

Posted by dpwakefield at 09:29 PM | Comments (0)

March 03, 2007

Solo Flute Recital

Today was Renee's solo flute recital, at Lake Oswego High School. Hundreds of kids from all over the area converged on L.O.H.S. today to perform and be judged. I didn't want to make her more nervous than she already was, so I didn't take my camera to the event. Instead, I snapped a few pictures of her wearing her solo outfit, one of which is now in the banner.

She chose a piece called "Allegro" by Mozart, which is short, bright, and a little bit challenging. She's been practicing it for days now. We arrived at the high school nearly an hour before her time slot, as perr the directions of her flute instructor, Denise Westby. We went to the practice auditorium, where a couple dozen soloists and duets were each practicing their pieces at the same time. Cacophany reigned supreme.

Eventually, Renee's time neared and we wandered over to 'Flute 2', one of presumably two rooms devoted to examining flautists. We entered near the end of one exam, after a young woman had performed her piece. The judge was walking her through various drillls, and giving her advice. It was fascinating to watch, even though I'm completely uneducated in formal music. This young woman was obviously quite advanced, and the judge took that into account, pressing her to do more and more. Eventually she let her go, and it was time for another young woman.

This young woman had picked a piece that was clearly beyond her. She hit sour notes, missed beats and generally had a difficult time. The judge was kind, and came up to walk her through some of the issues the young woman had been having problems with. The judge asked her how long she'd been playing, and though I can't remember the particular answer, it was for significantly longer than Renee has been studying.

Next came Renee's turn. She was obviously a little nervous, but she handled herself quite well. She introduced herself, and her piano accompanist, Miss Davis, who is also her teacher in band class at Hazelbrook. Then she launched into "Allegro", suddenly quite confident. I have untrained ears, but she sounded perfect to me. Apparently the judge agreed, as she said she really liked it and wished it were longer.

Then the judge began probing Renee on her techniques, trying to find out what she had been exposed to, and what she could make her flute do. The judge took out her own flute (something she had not done for the other two young women while we were there), and began giving Renee some tips on various techniques, illustrating them on her flute. The demo on harmonics was really neat. She was playing Reveille and Taps solely using harmonics (keeping her fingers in the D position and changing notes only with mouth shape and air pressure). Renee attempted to duplicate her, and did a pretty darn good job.

"How long have you been playing?", asked the judge.

"Around seven months."

The judge was amazed and pleased. She asked Renee how old she was, and where she studied. Renee told her, and the judge said "I started at your age, and took private lessons too. It's really the only way. In band, a teacher cannot hear if you flub a note, because there are forty other students there."

As we were leaving, Renee asked the judge how she did. The judge looked up and said "One Plus!"

Posted by dpwakefield at 03:43 PM | Comments (0)

January 11, 2007

Two QOTDs Two!

I loaned Brent a mix CD with some of the music I got recently, and of CSS he said:

After listening to some of the CSS songs, Jen said: "Are you sure Don wasn't a teenage girl in the mid-80's?" Heh.

While listening to Let's Make Love And Listen To Death From Above, Jen said it sounded like "Dr Who meets the Spice Girls", and found it annoying.

And yes, I did listen to the Spice Girls when they were popular. And Ace of Base. I could go on. I'm not proud. Or tired.

Posted by dpwakefield at 09:39 PM | Comments (0)

January 09, 2007

On a Roll, Here

Recent iTunes purchases, in order:


  1. One More Try - My Robot Friend

  2. Polka Power! - "Weird Al" Yankovic

  3. Tetrishead - Zoe Keating

  4. Goldfinger - Shirley Bassey

  5. Girl Anachronism - The Dresden Dolls

  6. Coin Operated Boy - The Dresden Dolls

"One More Try" is atypical for My Robot Friend, as it has a guest vocalist, Antony. And typically for me, it's the one song I really like off this album, Dial Zero.

"Polka Power!" I first heard as the music for the anime music video Anime Polka. I showed it to Renee, which set her off on a grand adventure hunting down every darn song that "Weird Al" has on iTunes and YouTube. I bought this one out of a sense of nostalgia.

"Tetrishead" is a tune off One Cello x 16: Natoma. Zoe Keating is a cello artist who creates compositions with tape looping of her cello performances. This tune is particularly captivating.

Goldfinger I hope everybody recognizes.

The two songs by The Dresden Dolls are the best ones off their premiere album. They also have music videos of these online. Oh, and I love their self-description: Brechtian Punk Opera.

Posted by dpwakefield at 09:14 PM | Comments (0)

December 20, 2006

Mo' Music

The mash-ups and obscure 60s Japanese Surf Guitar have been kind of fallow of late, so I gave in and bought a couple of albums that have been in the queue:

Bring Me the Workhorse - My Brightest Diamond

Waking the Mystics - Sophe Lux

The latter are actually a Portland band!

Posted by dpwakefield at 09:23 PM | Comments (0)

December 10, 2006

The Flute Recital

Thursday evening was Renee's flute recital at Hazelbrook Middle School. She's been taking lessons since this Summer, and now she's had a chance to strut her stuff. The young woman she's playing a duet with in the image above is named Ashley, and they appeared to get along famously, unlike some other famous duets.

I didn't want to use my SB-600 flash in such a setting, so I was constrained to ambient lighting, and of course only own fairly slow glass. So apologies that the image is not crystal clear. Maybe next time, I'll just use the flash and irritate all the other parents...

Posted by dpwakefield at 02:12 PM | Comments (0)

November 24, 2006

Madonna

My friend Nami asked me if I could record the Madonna special on NBC this week. It's a mark of how out of touch I am with most mainstream television that I had no idea it was happening, but a young woman in Fukuoka, Japan did. I set up the downstairs VCR, which is used mostly for playback by my wife. Jean set up her VCR in the living room. Mine didn't work, but Jean's did, so I'll be mailing off a VHS videotape at the beginning of the week.

It's been years since I've listened to anything by Madonna. I never really paid a lot of attention to her stuff. I watched and enjoyed her film performance in Evita, and even bought the album, but that's it. I watched snippets of the videotape to ensure that it had completed recording.

Synchronicity struck, as part of the spectacle was a group of athletes, running around the concert performing acts of Parkour and free running. It turns out that Sebastian Foucan, who played the Parkour-performing bomb-builder in Casino Royale, was also the choreographer for this aspect of the concert. When you're hot, you're hot...

Posted by dpwakefield at 09:03 PM | Comments (0)

October 14, 2006

Q-Unit

Q-Unit: Greatest Hits is another mash-up album. Moreover, it's another mashup of a rap artist with a 'melody' artist. In this case it's 50 Cent and Queen. The mashers this time are called The Silence Xperiment, an electronica group.

Did I like it? A little. Would I buy it? Nah. Whereas Wu Orleans felt like a genuine fusion of period Dixieland jazz and rap, this feels like somebody playing Queen kinda low, and then dumping a rap track on top. In other words, not a lot of creative modification here. Rather like noticing that some of the lengthier space rock tracks from early Yes seem to synch up perfectly with your favorite anime, or overlaying Dark Side of the Moon onto The Wizard of Oz.

So give it a listen, then move on...

Posted by dpwakefield at 10:05 AM | Comments (0)

September 29, 2006

Takeshi Terauchi

And Bunnys!

This album is not as captivating to me as Wu Orleans, but it is pretty neat. Recorded in the Sixties, this is Surf Guitar music seen through the lens of Japanese minyo. Takeshi Terauchi was apparently inspired by The Ventures, who did a tour of Japan in 1962.

At last count, I've played the entire album maybe five times!

Posted by dpwakefield at 09:21 PM | Comments (0)

September 05, 2006

Wu Orleans

My current favorite hit on my iPod, playing over and over, is Wu Orleans, a mash-up of Wu Tang Clan and Dixieland jazz by djBC. I've never been much of a fan of Wu Tang Clan, but set their rap/hip-hop to artfully selected jazz from New Orleans, and it just works. I wish I could buy this album. Guess I'll have to buy some Wu Tang Clan to support their work, even though it's this mash-up that I really like...

Posted by dpwakefield at 09:13 PM | Comments (0)

August 26, 2006

Jean's New Mix CD Purchases

  1. Love Shack - The B-52's
  2. Dance This Mess Around - The B-52's
  3. Word Up - Cameo
  4. Keep Your Hands To Yourself - The Georgia Satellites
  5. Our Lips Are Sealed - The Go-Go's
  6. Mr. Big Stuff (Remix) - Heavy D & the Boyz
  7. Mr. Big Stuff - Jean Knight
  8. What'd I Say, Pt. 1 - Ray Charles
  9. Straight Up - Paula Abdul
  10. In the Midnight Hour - Wilson Pickett
  11. Walk This Way - Run-DMC
  12. Shake It Up - The Cars
  13. Girls Just Want To Have Fun - Cyndi Lauper
  14. Cut the Cake - Average White Band

Addendum

Jean thinks I should mention all the songs on her mix CD, including the ones I already owned, so here is the remainder:

  1. (We're A) Bad Trip - Camper Van Beethoven
  2. Down and Out - Camper Van Beethoven
  3. (Don't You Go To) Goleta - Camper Van Beethoven
  4. Galang (Radio Edit) - M.I.A.
  5. Me Myself I - Joan Armatrading

Posted by dpwakefield at 04:51 PM | Comments (2)

July 06, 2006

New Music

Pickin' 'em up in dribs 'n' drabbles of late:

The first is the original television theme, although a longer orchestration. I got it so Renee could hear what can be done with flute besides scales...

Got 'Perhaps' after watching the first three episodes of season one of Coupling, where it is the opening theme music. It just reminded me of how much I like this song.

Posted by dpwakefield at 09:52 PM | Comments (0)

June 28, 2006

Musical Interlude

Tonight has been a musical one. Renee turned 11 on the 20th this month, and one of her presents was a dance pad and Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix 3. So when I got home, she and Jean were taking turns doing the dances.

I went upstairs and had some supper, watching a movie in the den. The movie is Koi ... Mil Gaya, which apparently means "I've Found Someone". Like so many Bollywood movies, it is a musical. This is my first Indian musical, and I have to say I'm pretty fond of it. Production values are low, the choreography is strange at best, the storyline is charitably characterized as a kid's movie, but it still tickles me.

After I ate, I paused the movie and went down to watch Renee DDR away. She's manic, and I got nervous just watching. I got on the treadmill for some exercise, since I knew it was futile to try to hit even one arrow in the game. I actually stumbled a couple of times watching the arrows scroll up the screen while walking!

Soon the DDR extravaganza was over, and I went upstairs, took a shower, and returned to my Bollywood movie. Eventually Renee joined me, and confirmed my suspicion that Koi ... Mil Gaya makes a pretty good kid's movie. We watched it right up to Jean's bedtime, when I had to stop it, since the den is right next to the bedroom. Two and a quarter hours have elapsed in the movie, and the final crisis hasn't even occurred! How long is this thing?

So anyway, looking forward to finishing it, hopefully tomorrow night after work. I think my next Bollywood movie will be a horror movie ... and of course, a musical.

Posted by dpwakefield at 10:03 PM | Comments (0)

June 10, 2006

Musical Acquisitions

It's been awhile since I bought a new album or song. About a week ago I bought one that's been getting mostly positive feedback on the weblogs I make the rounds of, and I'm pretty happy with it:

Saint Elsewhere by Gnarls Barkley

I also bought a single song by another group I've never listened to before, Architecture in Helsinki. The song was Do the Whirlwind. Very pop, kicky kinda tune.

Posted by dpwakefield at 08:57 PM | Comments (0)

November 12, 2005

Bach

Renee and I attended a free performance of the Portland Baroque Orchestra at my workplace Thursday night. I had asked her if she wanted to go and she made a mildly interested sound, but Jean tells me that she spent most of the day picking out her clothes and making references to the concert. I don't think she knew what to expect, since the only orchestral music she's seen has been full symphony music. The PBO performed with one flute, two violins, one oboe, one bassoon, one bass cello and one violoncello piccolo (sort of a tenor cello with five strings).

We arrived early, found seats in the gym, and chatted and goofed around until the performance started. The program was A Musical Offering, by J. S. Bach. This is a series of canons around a theme provided to Bach by Frederick II, then king of Prussia. Each canon is a variation on the original theme, and usually also a musical puzzle. As my friend Burr observed, the puzzles in canons are often mathematical exercises, and as a result, of interest only to the professional musician. But Bach was a musical genius, and could make these exercises beautiful to listen to as well as mathematically gratifying.

Renee listened with real appreciation for the first twenty minutes or so. Then she began resting her head on my shoulder, then leaning on me and holding my arm. Affectionate, but in those crappy folding chairs, my back was beginning to ache. I finally asked her if she wanted something to do while listening to the music, and handed her my Palm Pilot. She played Bejewelled, and I listened to the remainder of the concert.

I have no formal musical training, and make no pretense toward classical knowledge. I just let the music wash over me, and this evening was totally hypnotic. I was trancing out much of the time, entering a musical, mathematical meditative state. It was great fun. Renee assures me that she enjoyed the music very much as well.

After the concert there was a buffet. Corporate finger food. I made sure to stack my plate with raw vegetables and fruit, but also had a couple of mini sandwiches. Renee was not so discerning. I went there mostly for her, since I know that she enjoys these little buffets almost as much as the events. While there I ran into Alaine Warfield, who used to work in the same company, and whom I went to grad school with. She's offered to help network with my friends who were laid off, so I'm feeling a little better about that.

More interesting is that she's done tons of volunteer work with animals, and she gave Renee lots of advice on things she could do to get experience with animal care. Renee, at age ten, has many years to choose a career, but one of the things she's expressed interest in is veterinary medicine. So we've begun offering to take her to volunteer opportunities so that she can get a feel for the experience. Last summer she helped at the local no-kill cat shelter, but they were reorganizing, and it sort of tapered off. So maybe we'll be able to use one of Alaine's leads next...

Posted by dpwakefield at 07:49 AM | Comments (0)

October 27, 2005

The Rhythm of Life

So I was watching this video (very good, by the way), and the song just got stuck in my head. It took me awhile to nail it down, it's The Rhythm of Life, from Sweet Charity. I'm pretty sure I saw this movie when I was very young, but I don't remember it. More likely, I saw it while working the night shift at a ski lodge in my twenties. That's where I learned to love Fred Astaire, after all.

I'd like to buy it, but I'm not sure it's available. Sure, you can buy the CD for the current Broadway revival with Christina Applegate, but that's not the one in the commercial. The singer in the commercial does sound like Sammy Davis, Jr., who sang the movie version, but the sample on Amazon sounds like a different arrangement. I wonder if it's a remix? A few years ago I bought a remix of Elvis Presley's A Little Less Conversation. They used his original vocals, lots of filters, synthesizers, and what not to punch it up. I think something like that was done to The Rhythm of Life.

Well, I'll keep an eye open for it, and in the meantime, maybe I'll try to rent Sweet Charity.

Posted by dpwakefield at 09:23 PM | Comments (0)

September 11, 2005

Kristen Hersh

More reasons to wish I were in Seattle more often. Kristen Hersh is touring with her new band, 50FOOTWAVE, and played at two locations in Seattle Friday and Saturday.

I first saw Throwing Muses, her original band, in Cleveland, in a cellar bar on the waterfront (though not in the upscale Nautica district). Cripes, this was probably '88 or '89! I had already bought the untitled album I called 'Green', due to it's cover. Apparently, Throwing Muses couldn't get an American label at first, but caught on in Britain, and this album got mentioned in Mike Gunderloy's Factsheet Five magazine.

I fell in love with their strange and quirky music, the dark, alien wailing vocals. When I heard they were playing in Cleveland, I got my co-worker Christine to drive up with me. I had my album in hand, in hopes of getting an autograph, but the bouncers rebuffed me. Kristen was amazing, and just as alien and remote in person as on vinyl. She rocked back and forth while playing her guitar, hair sweeping side to side. Tanya Donelly, her half sister, was still with the band.

I've since bought a number of Muses albums, and one of Kristen's solo projects. Gotta say I'm tempted to pick up the first 50FOOTWAVE album now, too. We'll see, they've got three freebie tunes up on ThrowingMusic, so I'll be giving it a listen first.

Posted by dpwakefield at 10:04 AM | Comments (0)

September 09, 2005

Your Little Hoodrat Friend

Salon has a section called Audiofile, covering all things music scene. One feature I take advantage of is their Daily Download, which is just that, a sample of music made available for free on the web by artists and labels to promote themselves. I typically listen to each song once, and rarely a song or band grabs my interest. I got introduced to Four Tet and Nouvelle Vague this way.

Now I'm obsessing over a new song I discovered on Salon: Your Little Hoodrat Friend, by The Hold Steady. This song makes me think of a cross between Elvis Costello and The Ramones. That's not really accurate, I'm grasping at a description that somehow does this song justice. I know there's a good fit somewhere in my pop culture trunk, but I can't put my finger on it. If you've got thirty or forty years of musical culture, including some punk, in your history, download this song and give it a listen. Then tell me who it reminds you of.

I've also got their song The Swish, from their first album. As is so often the case, the first song grabs me much more than the second, and a little research indicates that most people think they've got one or two good songs. That's my fate lately, latching onto the One Hit Wonders (I had the same experience with The Tiny).

Oh, and I had to look up hoodrat. Feelin' old, feelin' old.

Posted by dpwakefield at 07:35 PM | Comments (0)

May 03, 2005

iPod Down!

So I bought my iPod on April 25th, 2004, and foolishly opted for the default one-year warranty. Why foolishly? Because it is May 3, 2005, and my iPod is not responding to input. I can't even reset the thing, since it's not recognizing keypresses. We'll see if I can wake it up when I can tether it to the computer at home...

If it is DOA, I won't be repairing it at all, since the repair price for an out of warranty iPod is just $50 shy of buying a new one. And with Expo looming, I won't be buying a new one for awhile either. But I'm certainly enough of an addict to my portable audio device that I'll consider getting a new one (should this one be dead) eventually.

And I now call it my portable audio device instead of music device, because I tend to use it to listen to lectures and streamed radio shows the majority of the time. IT Conversations carries panels and lectures from all the hot technical conferences, and then there are four or five shows I listen to regularly, such as On the Media and Dr. Karl.

Update

I hooked the iPod up to my computer, fiddled, unhooked, did a deliberate battery drain, hooked up, successfully rebooted, and now can get Sumomo to recognize digit input again. So for the time being I'm able once again to listen to On the Media. But label this iPod finicky!

Posted by dpwakefield at 08:59 AM

April 29, 2005

Growth

I came into the den to listen to Extraordinary Machine, the unreleased album by Fiona Apple that is supposed to be a work of genius (it isn't, but it's good). So Kelly followed me in, wearing headphones and listening to a CD I'd burned for her maybe six months ago. At the time, she didn't know what to make of Several Species of Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict. Now she thinks it's hilarious.

I'd enjoy her musical growth more if she wasn't singing along with every damn song on the CD, all while Fiona is singing to me. Now she's rendering a fractured version of Stand. Earlier it was It's Your Thing. I don't know what's next...

Update

It was We Will Rock You. Now she's looped back to the beginning. "Hmm, hmmm, uh something ... Run Rudolph!" It's like having Rain Man in your room while trying to listen to a new album.

Posted by dpwakefield at 08:26 PM

April 05, 2005

'High' Fidelity

Bluegrass, hothouse jazz, I'm grasping for labels to capture this Back Porch Vipers album I bought. But as I listen more carefully, the score is five songs out of seven devoted, to one degree or another, to marijuana. These folk love to toke!

I guess I should have guessed from the album title, "Light Up", and the subhead, "We never have too much fun."

Posted by dpwakefield at 04:24 PM

April 01, 2005

Dealership

I've had five of the eight songs from Secret American Livingroom for two or three years. Dealership make a lot of their music available online, especially this, their debut album, which was out of print for awhile. Now it's not, and it's mine:

  1. Jungle Gym
  2. My Box
  3. Nerdy Girl
  4. Fallout
  5. Perfectly Happy
  6. Montserrat
  7. You're Dumb
  8. Green

By the way, a very good album. I love You're Dumb (one of the tunes I've had for years now).

Posted by dpwakefield at 08:44 PM

March 28, 2005

Back Porch Vipers

Arrived in the mail today, Light Up:

Back Porch Vipers

  1. When I Get Low, I Get High
  2. Jack, I'm Mellow
  3. Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens
  4. If You're a Viper
  5. He Don't Care
  6. Caldonia
  7. Light Up

I heard the first song in the SXSW Sampler, of which I've still got 590 to listen to. But I've heard some good bands, and this gives me a chance to support indie labels.

Posted by dpwakefield at 07:33 PM

March 24, 2005

The Bloodmobile

This one's for my friend Tom:

A Flash-based music video created by Dave Logan based on They Might Be Giants' The Bloodmobile. Enjoy, Tom!

Posted by dpwakefield at 07:57 PM | Comments (1)

March 16, 2005

Free and Legal Music Sampler

Cool, I've managed to listen to the first 28 songs from the SXSW Music Festival Sampler! Only 728 more to go.

Posted by dpwakefield at 03:57 PM

March 09, 2005

The Tiny

All praise to the MP3Blogs! I don't know which of my rotation of music blogs pointed to this tune, but indie record label Eyeball Records is making a high quality mp3 of one of their artists available on the web, and I have listened to it maybe ten times today. Closer, by Stockholm band The Tiny is quirky, quiet and unlike anything I've heard in years. An elfin-voiced Ellekari Laron, backed almost exclusively by a cello and a violin (spare piano and occasional guest instruments notwithstanding) lullls me into a mood I can't quite describe. I feel like I've entered an alternate reality. The last time I listened to a group that was so unrelentingly downtempo and avante garde was when I originally discovered Van der Graaf Generator. Now I'm just debating whether to buy the song, or the whole album.

Some of the reviews I've read say that the album is deeply repetitive ("As each song flows into the next without much of a change in tone, tempo or arrangement..."), and once you've heard one song, you're done. I went to CDBaby, and they have sample streams of the entire album, 2 minutes per song. I can see the point about repetition, but careful listening reveals subtleties among the songs that make me think I might enjoy them all. I'm pretty sure that I'll be buying Closer and Across the Bridge. Guess I'll just have to dig into the sample streams a few more times.

Posted by dpwakefield at 08:17 PM

February 28, 2005

The Pillows

Good God. Suddenly The Pillows are everywhere. Literally. Physically. Except Tualatin, of course. The above link to SXSW posts Ride On Shooting Star, and since I own the FLCL album, and have it loaded on my laptop, I decided to queue it up. Technology eases my bitter disappointment at not living in a hep locale.

P.S. - I used Quicksilver keyboard shortcuts to insert this tune into my iTunes Party Shuffle playlist, as soon as the urge hit me. More technology giggles!

Posted by dpwakefield at 09:34 PM

January 13, 2005

Dance Hall Crashers

Damn, I can't believe I waited this long to put this CD on my computer and iPod. I've owned it forever (okay, eight or nine years) and it was sitting in a shoebox, fercripesakes!

I really like the Dance Hall Crashers. They remind me of No Doubt before they ditched their Ska-rific notes. So now I'm really digging the songs while riffing on code here at work. Yeah!

Posted by dpwakefield at 04:22 PM

November 29, 2004

Beatallica

Okay, I was listening to Adam Curry's podcast, The Daily Source Code, and he played a song from an 'album' I'd only heard about. It's called Beatallica, and is a mashup of Beatles songs sung as if written and performed by Metallica. The example he played was Hey Dude, and it's ... just ... wrong.

Others I don't intend to try, but am amused by the titles:

Just visit the link and try to match up the originals with the mashups.

Posted by dpwakefield at 09:59 PM

October 31, 2004

What's This, What's This?

I spent a large part of this morning riffing through my iTunes music collection playing Halloween appropriate music for Kelly. It started when I was at the music store and saw they had a Halloween playlist, and visited it. Nightmare Before Christmas was prominently displayed, so I played a number of samples for Kelly. She liked it, so I went hunting for my Danny Elfman stuff, playing some of his soundtrack music (Beetlejuice, Tales From the Crypt) and his work from Oingo Boingo (Dead Man's Party, Weird Science).

I played Glass Tubular Bells, explaining it's origin in The Exorcist, and what that was all about. Sifting for words like ghost, witch and monster yielded still more goodies, though I stretched the point and played Ghost Riders in the Sky (instrumental version by The Mermen). Finally we went back to the thirty second sample land of the iTunes Music Store, and Kelly played Jack's Obsession about a hundred times. So now I'm at work, and Kelly is at home in the den listening to the entire soundtrack to Nightmare Before Christmas, since I had to buy it after the hundredth repeat of Jack's Obsession. Welcome to Halloween!

Posted by dpwakefield at 11:27 AM

October 20, 2004

Taking My Money - By Strategy

I know where I'm going to drop my next thirty bucks. I was browsing Asian Mack Super Filter ("We sift through Apple's iTunes Music Store so you don't have to!") and there was a link to Viva! Roxy Music. I followed it, which opened iTunes and went to the music store. Then I checked out an iMix labelled AllEnoRoxyFerry, and clicked. And there was the pot of gold. Three of the pop rock albums by Brian Eno, which I glided through college on:

I can't tell you how many times I listened to these albums, on vinyl. Eno was as innovative in pop as he was in ambient and new wave, and I'm buying all three of these suckers the next time I do an iTMS purchase. I've been cursing Apple that they hadn't gotten the rights to sell these, for the longest time; now I'm cursing them for getting them all at once!

Posted by dpwakefield at 09:28 PM | Comments (3)

September 30, 2004

New Music

Forgot to mention this, over a week ago:

These are mostly purchases for Jean, for a mix CD she wanted for long drives. But I enjoy nearly all of these, probably even more than Jean.

Posted by dpwakefield at 09:51 PM

September 08, 2004

iTunes Music Store

New Purchase:

The Michelle Branch song was a Kelly request, and the Ivy song was one Jean heard on a television show and asked for, though for the record, I like it too. Going down the list otherwise...

Trail of Dead is an interesting band, I heard about them on a weblog, so I grabbed a single to wet my appetite. Gato Barbieri and I go way back, in fact all the way to high school, so make that thirty years, gosh! The Coasters are probably my dad's influence, but Kelly likes Yakety Yak, so now we can play it whenever the urge hits.

Leonard Cohen. Leonard. My wife and daughter both think I'm nuts, but Leonard is the prophet. I'll be buying more of his songs, mark my words. I recommend him to anyone, even folk who can't figure out why I like him.

Nat King Cole was Kelly's idea, but I took the initiative to hunt down the song, since I like it too. Devo goes back to my early college days, and it's about time I had some on my computer. Dido just sounded nice.

Echo & the Bunnyment and New Order are both the result of a posting of Blue Monday on Jason Kottke's weblog. His post of that sampled song, and the ensuing discussion in the group comments, spurred me to get off my keyster and buy a best-of album