The Way I Am

I've been meaning to download The Way I Am, but I have it up and work and forget when I get home.

The Curse

Here's an oddly haunting and sweet song...

Music tips

Greg asked for music tips... Lately I've really enjoyed Eric Hutchinson. I'm surprised how much I enjoy his cd. And The Fray are very good, too. And Colbie Caillat. And the song Under Control by Parachute is one of my current favorites. I'll try to come back with links when I get a minute.

Misc thoughts

Well, I've been neglecting the blog a bit lately thanks to the lazy random postings on Facebook instead. But just a few thoughts here ...

Lately, I'm feeling more and more like a music junkie again. I got a few iTunes gift cards for Christmas and started visiting the iTunes store more, and taking my iPod with me. Surprise, surprise ... there's actually some good new music out there afterall. I've found a lot thanks to my XM radio. I can't tell you how much I like the satellite radio. Much more than I ever imagined. It's worth the mild monthly rate to not have commercials constantly. Plus I'm hearing music that local commercial radio would never have introduced me to. So thank you, XM.

We were very happy to have LOST back, even if they insist on introducing even more new characters in the final season. As for favorite TV shows, I think 24 has run its course. I'm convinced that the writers have some sort of Jack Bauer Mad Lib that they are using to write the show now because it all seems so formulaic. I keep watching, but this is definitely my time to iron my clothes for the week, because I surely don't have to pay attention anymore.

I had another thought, but I lost it somewhere between the last sentence and this one. Bummer.

More music thoughts

OK, sorry for all the music talk. Greg made an interesting comment about how the iPod trend has changed how we listen to music. I agree with Greg a lot about how music has changed. I know a lot of my favorite songs are the odd ones on the CD that most people don't listen to, or that get no radio play. This article talks about how music recording has changed, too (an old link from a post a while back that is worth revisiting).

The proprietary nature of the iTunes music format used to bother me, until I realized that everyone is doing it (maybe because of iTunes, maybe not). I was offered some free downloads through some perk (airline miles, credit card points -- can't remember) but to play them I had to download their player (something junky), so I downloaded it, burned the songs to disc, and ripped them back into my format of choice. Windows Media Player gives us wmp files, not mp3 (although wmp can be played on other devices, which I think is Greg's point). Than again, Apple has always been proprietary with their stuff, which was almost their downfall in the late 80s/early 90s. But I digress.

What I do like about the evolution of how music is delivered is that I now do have access to music that I otherwise might not have been exposed to. I can download Human Radio's unreleased second album (although the link has gone bad), or go to the Fabulist and get exposed to bands that I might never listen to (some good, some bad, but still music), or get Ben Folds' fake leaked album. And some bands, like Coldplay, that I like one or two songs, but have learned that the rest just fade on the album, I can get those songs without having to buy them all. (Greg, I remember you bought Extreme's album for "More Than Words" just to realize how bad the album really was.)

But like Greg said, "Technology is not making our lives any easier. It's just raising expectations, speeding everything up, and dumbing us all down."

I see the impact on the upcoming generation, where we are more connected, yet less interpersonal. Back when Y2K was rolling around, I wondered if it would really be all that bad if we had to go without all our technology for a while. I think I'll put my iPod on, tune out, and think about that for a while.

Zero attention span radio

I used to blame They Might Be Giants for my loss of attention span when it comes to music, with songs like Rabid Child (19 seconds), you get used to a song starting and stopping quickly. And now, with the iPod and XM radio I can jump from song to song, genre to genre, quickly -- it's hard to make it through an entire song anymore.

Fake album

The reason I go to the Fabulist is because they do all the hard work to find cool things, so I don't have to. In a recent post, they pointed out this fun album that Ben Folds "leaked" ... but not really. He has a new album coming out, so he recorded six fake tracks for the album, and leaked the fake songs. Problem is, they're not awful and are kinda fun. (You can find them here, or better yet, here. And read about it here. Thanks Fabulist...)

They also have a link to an old, rough John Lennon recording, which is pretty cool, too.

Viva la Vida

I'm not a huge Coldplay fan. If they come on, it's not I'll say, "ugh, Coldplay," and change the station, but I usually don't seek out Coldplay either (although I really like Green Eyes). But then there's Viva la Vida. I can't get this song out of my head. It's been a while since there was a song that I just felt like I had to listen to, but this one keeps coming back to me. (OK, I really like Two Sisters by Fiction Plane, but it didn't have this kind of staying power.) Coldplay has two videos for the song. One is a new, high res video, which is OK, but the other video is a Depeche Mode video tribute and really has so much more character.

Fiction Plane

I don't know what made me think of this the other day, but for some reason I looked up Sting's son's band -- Fiction Plane. I knew Sting's son, Joe Sumner*, was in a band, and he sounded a lot like his dad, but the last time I listened to some of their songs I don't remember them knocking my socks off. But the other day one of the songs (Two Sisters) just stuck in my head, and now it's there, bouncing around over and over again. I imagine that if The Police were new today, this is what they'd probably sound like.

[You can hear Two Sisters on their MySpace page, and a few other songs on Last.fm]

*As for the name Joe, it just boggles my mind that you are "Sting" but you name your son Joe. But I guess since Sting's given name is Gordon that Joe isn't all bad, just vanilla when compared to Apple, Moxy Crimefighter or Kal-el.

No more mixed tapes

I remember when I was in high school, and early in college, there was something about a mixed tape. It was a labor of love. I'd spend hours deciding on the right songs, in the right order, sorting them and timing them out to fill the tape as fully as possible while still getting the feel of the tape just right. Then it got to be so easy with CD burners. You just make a playlist, drag a few songs over. It even tells you if you've gone over. Now, with iPods you don't even have a limit of how many songs ... you just keep dragging them over. Now, don't get me wrong, I love my iPod, but there was something about that mixed tape that iPods and burnt CDs just don't capture.

The other day I saw the link to Cassette From My Ex. This is a website from the people who do Found Magazine. I discovered Found Magazine years ago. It was such a neat online magazine, publishing items people had literally found -- old photos, other people's post cards, love letters, hate mail, random notes. It was always fun to see the photos and try to figure out what the story was behind it. With Cassette From My Ex, people have given them old mixed tapes an ex had made for them, along with the story behind the tape, and you can actually listen to the mix. The saddest part is the comments from people who had never made a mix tape before. But it is funny to see what people put on their mixes.

Fiction Plane

I just learned that Sting's son has a band ... amazing how much he sounds like his dad. (I guess everyone has a MySpace page now...)