Music

I've been slowly putting my collection of vinyl into the computer, and found the best program to do it so far. I have an ION USB turntable, so the turntable goes straight into the computer, no issues there. Not the best turntable, but certainly good enough. I had been using Audacity, but it seems to really run the CPU even when it's recording. Don't know if it's a PPC issue, or just the program in general. I like the click/pop filter it has, and the MP3 encoding with LAME. I tried doing the recording with Final Vinyl, which works well enough to just record, but is a bit too simplistic.

So I just started using VinylStudio, and it's great. Interface isn't totally Mac, but it makes sense from a process standpoint, and works great - especially since this is the first Mac version (v7) of a longtime Windows program. It's worth the $30 registration for making the process that much easier - the automation of getting and inputting MP3 tags is a huge help and the biggest thing missing in my other methods. Audacity helps a bit with that, by at least remembering the tag info within the same recording, but it still requires manual input, and if you record in different sections you have to type it all in over again (yes, you can save the info and reload it, but it's a cumbersome process).

• Beach House - Teen Dream
  
  • Great dreamy lazy melodic pop - perfect for the Pet Sounds (or Animal Collective) lover in you. The more I listen to this, the more I love it.
• Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
  • More melodic dreamy psychedelic (not my favorite normally, but love it here) pop from the Brooklyn folks. Modern with a good beat, and beautiful layering. (check out a sweet video of theirs Brothersport - how much fun must the filmshoot have been for those kids!)
• Flaming Lips - Dark Side of the Moon
  • Great re-do of a super classic album. WIth White Dwarves, Stardeath. Vocals by Henry Rollins and Peaches!
•  Pajo - Scream With Me
  • The cover art looks like it would be dark and noisy, but the music is lo-fi and folkish, although the lyrics are dark. Sounds good so far. Hadn't heard of him before, but looks like he's been around - Slint, Royal Trux, Billy Corgan/Zwan, Tortoise...

Finally got a chance to watch/listen to the CUNY Graduate Center program 'Bob Dylan: American Poet.' It's always interesting to hear Dylan's music deconstructed, to hear about the details behind the making of and meaning of his songs. Especially the political ones, which while they may have timeless meaning, can have a lot of mentions of events that happened when they were written or before.

The music performed is interesting - I didn't really care too much for the classical-type interpretations of John Corigliano, but that's more because I'm not too much for that style of singing (I was subjected to way too much opera as a child). It is interesting to hear how he interpreted the lyrics poetry of Dylan in the music, not having much reference to the original music.

I like the Howard Fishman stuff. He sings with good understanding of the lyrics, and the arrangements are well matched. I'll have to go back and listen to 'I'm Not There' from The Basement Tapes and see how his interpretation jives with I think it should be.

• Novalima - Coba Coba
  • Based in Lima, Peru, but bringing a cross-south american sound. Good rhythmic stuff. Album was nominated for a Latin Grammy this year - Best Alternative Album. Also have a Coba Coba Remixed album that I'm thinking I'll be picking up quite soon...
• Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog
  • A great rec/gift from Jackie's sister. Catchy, folky, jangly, with some smooth vocal work. 
• Klaxons - Myths of the Near Future
  • Great energy in this music. Interesting label 'new rave' for them. I get feelings of good 80s alt-music, electro, punk-ish. Another good rec from Stephie.
•  Jazzflora Compilation (Dealers of Nordic Music)
  • A great compilation of nujazz from an unfortunately defunct label. Much more on the jazz side than the electronic side

•  Nu:Tone - System feat. Natalie Williams (Matrix & Futurebound Remix)
  
  • Always quality from Nu:Tone - a beaut of a track, great vocals, remix that compliments the original. What more could you ask.
• John Gorka - I Know
  • One from my folk music days a long time ago. I like almost every track, but I have always loved 'Branching Out' - I have a thing for trees - and I wanted something I could sing to my daughter - my wife already claimed 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star'
• Flying Lotus - LA EP 3x3 
  • Really liked the FLying Lotus release Los Angeles, so I got this set of remixes and extras. Quite good, the remixes are a bit more ambient then the originals, but still contain the off-kilter funky vibe.
• Fat Freddy's Drop - Based On A True Story
  • Reggae from New Zealand, from 2005. The first indie album to go gold in NZ. Solid and soulful, with Joe Dukie on vocals. They have a new one out now, but I figured I'd start from the beginning.

• Flying Lotus - Los Angeles
  • Interesting electronica out of LA. Nice varied beat patterns that make some layered funky rhythms.
•  Keith Jarrett - The Koln Concert
  • Beautiful solo piano from a master. Hadn't really listened to him much before.
• Q-Tip - The Renaissance
  • Q-Tip finally releases (or gets released) a solid solo album.
• Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend
  • I bought this when it came out, loved it, but must have overplayed it 'cause I sold it a while back. Well, I finally got another copy of it and am not sure how I tired of this awesome album. Pure perfect power pop.

• Foreign Exchange - Leave It All Behind
  •  Another solid neo-soul release from the trans-atlantic paring of Phonte and Nicolay. Not quite the classic that their first album together was, but we're talking a matter of degrees here. Lots of good tracks, lots of good vocalists on this release.
• Dangermouse & Sparklehorse - Dark Night of the Soul
  • (Not yet) released due to issues with his (Dangermouse's) record label, this album was created with a set of photos by David Lynch that supposedly illustrate the story of the songs, probably in an very abstract way. Not that I have a copy, which one could probably obtain very easily on this here interweb, but I've heard it's quite good. I'm going to get the book (which contains the photos and a blank CD-R for one's own use), though.
• Tosca - No Hassle
  • A good release from our Austrian friends. The title fits, very mellow, a bit of ambient, a bit of lounge, a bit of this, etc... Similar to their last album J.A.C. but I like this one better.
• Ray Charles - Genius + Soul = Jazz
  • A gem in my 12" collection that I bought several years ago and never actually listened to that much - and have now re-discovered. Ray on the Hammond B3, with a big band backing, arrangements by Quincy Jones, 1960 session on Impulse! vinyl. Serious!

I'm not satisfied with the sidebar music section. Don't ask me why. I'd rather throw my recent favorites up here in a post. I'll do it infrequently. Here we go...

• Matrix & Futurebound - Universal Truth
  • From 2007, a great straight-ahead drum&bass album with some subtly but interesting sounds/samples. Well selected MCs on a few tracks.
• Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
  • Enough has been written about this, it's just a beautiful album.
• The Berg Sans Nipple - Along the Quai
  • Warm and soft sounding electronic/post-rock mix.
• London Elektricity - Syncopated City
  • One of my two all time favorite dnb producers (the other is LTJ Bukem), Tony Coleman puts together another good full-length. I'm not sure I quite like his singing lead, but good in all other areas.
• The Slapped Eyeballers - Sloppy Future Manipulations
  • A one-off EP Dimlite and Balt Mirczok, with Balt's achingly beautiful, breathy vocals. And yes, the title track is in waltz time.
• Home Cooking: Soulfood Served by Jazzanova and Friends
  • Jazzanova put together a soulful, loungey mix that is a definite must have.
• High Contrast - Tough Guys Don't Dance
  • A solid drum&bass album. Has a retro sound (tell me you don't hear 'Timeless' in the first track), with a great epic quality to many of the tracks.

 By way of The Medium, I found this Israeli producer who chopped up YouTube videos and made - good music. Not that this hasn't been done before, but these tracks are good - enough that you can ignore the video and still like them. The official site while cool is a bit flakey, you can check out at least one video here.