Saturday, March 04, 2006

Digital Revolution

After years of being an LP guy, meaning being able to enjoy an entire LP worth of music vs a single or two, the advent of digitized music and itunes/ipod in particular, has not only changed the way people listen to music, but the way they LISTEN to music.

I've gone from feeling unfulfilled about listening if I can't hear the entire album front to back to feeling unfullfilled about listening if it doesn't have a random feature. Do you know what I mean? Since I started buying music (Eighteen With a Bullet from K-tel) I haven't been a radio fan. For a couple of reasons really. 1. I didn't particularly enjoy what was being played on the radio. 2. Radio was too frenetic, too many bites, not a full meal.

And now, for the love of God, I'd almost rather hear a mix instead of a full album. Mixes were, for me, enjoyed only for the creation of the mix and the satisfaction of giving. Never to be listened to by me.

Now I play this game. I hit random on itunes and see what 5 or 10 songs pop up. A fun game if you enjoy the entire universe of possibilities. (If I was forced to have Ronnie Milsap in my itunes, I might not enjoy this so much.) I'm in the process of loading my new 160gb external drive with my cd collection. I have no idea how long this will take, but currently I have 23gb and that's only 584 cd's, 7122 songs, by 775 artists and counting!! That may be 1/3 of the way finished, I'm not sure. I've been avoiding buying an ipod just like I avoided buying that first cd. I'm really afraid that listening to an album will completely disappear. But with an impending business trip to San Francisco, I'm going to buy one.

Here's a random list for the last 5 songs played while typing:

Far Out Crops by Robert Pollard (from Kid Marine) Oh what a great song live
Today Could Be The Day by the dB's I always wished I could play this song in a live band
Cortez the Killer by Built to Spill All 20 minutes worth!
Everything is Broken by R.L. Burnside A worthy Bob Dylan cover from the Big Bad Love Sndtrk
Big Bottom by Hayseed Dixie Ah a bluegrass version of a Spinal Tap classic

I guess this is why I'm moving towards the ipod age. If I can load 'my music' (this is how Amy & Katie refer to music in our house "your music" "Dad's music"), then I should hear a great selection each time. The last place to listen to cd's will be in the car. But man an ipod roadtrip on random sounds pretty good!

Coffee with Neko

This morning I rolled out at 7a and made the first pot of coffee. I stopped by Indy's best independent music shop, Luna, after work last night and bought a couple of new cd's; Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, Centro-Matic - Fort Recovery, and Flaming Lips - 20 Years of Weird(Fearless Freaks SXSW cd handout w/live tracks + 1 new song from the Mystics). I'm appreciative of the Luna gents that they will sell something before the street date if you ask them. I hate my commute to the office every day, but if I didn't work there, I wouldn't drive by Luna.

Back to coffee, very good this morning, put Neko in the player, and then signed in to see what's going on in the world. I checked out Jeff Stepp's blog and left him a message. Being a blog novice, I need to figure out pictures and managing format of this site.

I gotta tell you Neko sounds great. The cd case does not have a picture of her, anywhere. Also the cover is only artwork. The spine is the only place with the name of the album and artist. I see she's on Anti now. This cd sounds very organic, acoustic guitars, with fat electric guitars courtesy of the Sadies, sounds dusty courtesy of Jon & Joey from Calexico. Of course Kelly Hogan's lovely voice is present and surprise Garth Hudson plays some keys. I must see Neko live sometime. I've missed her three times here in Indy, once with New Pornographers (balls!)

I've heard a couple of the Centro-Matic songs and can't wait to dig into that. Their cd Redo the Stacks is one of my Top 20 all time favorites.

Thursday, March 02, 2006

Leisure Kings Review

Spontaneous trip with John & MJ last night to Agio to see the Leisure Kings, Indy's premier lounge act. Sean Baker was unable to make it, so Trout recruited Joe, Ben & Matt to accompany him on an array of funk, R&B, Soul & Disco favorites. So it turns out it was an 'unplugged' Mr. Sparkle set! These gents are so talented. No lounge, but great music nonetheless.

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

What's moving me?

I try to spend time in the visual arts. One of my best friends in the world is an actor (If you are an agent and are reading this, Ben Livingston is your man). We used to spend hours, talking movies. Movies challenge me. No, theatre challenges me. Movies I can enjoy, when in the mood. I'm really a binge movie watcher. Here's the recent binge list from the last couple of weeks:

Grizzly Man - Holy crap, what a sad and beautiful movie.
Lubbock Lights - Look this up. If you enjoy Texas songwriting and the "myth of texas."
The Aristocrats - doot. I'm gonna buy this one.
The Dreamers - doot doot
Stevie - Anyone from backwoods midwest should watch this. hide liquor and weapons whilst.
First Person (collection) - Errol Morris' foray into 1/2 hour cable. I loved it.
Batman Begins - better than Daredevil, Fantastic Four, and the Hulk. Combined.
40 Year Old Virgin - Steve Carrell for President.
End of the Century - Ramones Documentary - Makes me wish I lived in NY in 1976-77 There are a couple of live shots from CBGB's the shed no doubt on who invented punk. Johhny, Dee Dee and Joey did. Period.

What you should go find if you haven't seen recently:
Fearless Freaks - Documentary on the Flaming Lips, as real people, not just punk rockers
No Direction Home - Bobby Dylan - what else do you need to know?
The Elecrifying C0nclusion - the entire 4 hours of the final Guided by Voices show at the Metro in Chicago. You may have to be a real fan to watch, but moments (probly 2 hours worth of moments!!) show the brilliance of the songwriting of Bob Pollard.

Diggit's CarTunes

I commute about 80 minutes/day. That of course gives me quite a bit of time to think and listen to music. I'll post who/what I've been listening to in the car here. My listening takes place in a variety of settings. In the car, hand-picked cd's play front to back. At work, Itunes scrolls through about 7,000 songs randomly every day. At home I've been listening to vinyl recently. I'm in the market for an ipod, taking a trip to San Francisco next month and will have one by then. I'm sorta bucking the ipod like I bucked the cd. Unfortunately, the itunes/digital revolution has really changed my listening habits. More on that in another post. Now CarTunes:

Tobin Sprout - Carnival Boy
Fresh from the classic GBV lineup, Tobey kills on his first solo shot. Released simultaneously with Pollard's, Not in My Airforce, this stands up track to track. Every song is top o' the lungs sing-a-long. Very highly recommended.

Tom Russell - Cowboy Real
My first Russell album. Still one of my faves. This is a collection of cowboy tales, as you might have guessed. I've often dreamed of being able to play these on my guitar, around a campfire, with a dutch oven of beef stew or chili, simmering over the fire. One of these days......Includes Gallo del Cielo - the best song about cock-fighting ever!

Jenny Lewis w/the Watson Twins - Rabbit Fur Coat
I've never listened to Rilo Kiley, but this solo shot by Jenny is great. Guests include M.Ward, Ben Gibbard, and Connor Oberst. Her voice sounds like a really fine white russian on this disc.

Steve Wynn & the Miracle Three - Tick, Tick, Tick
O.K. those who know me well, understand I've been a Steve Wynn fan since Days of Wine and Roses came out in what? 82 or 83? Steve's last 3 albums with this fab band have been scary good. Forget Pluto. Steve is the 9th planet in our solar system. If you ever have the chance to see this band live, do it I say. I saw them at Twangfest in St. Louis a couple years back, and I gotta tell you, it was one of the best 1 hour performances I've ever witnessed. Ask Beatle Bob.

Terry Anderson & the Olympic Ass-Kickin Team
Go straight to Milesofmusic.com and buy this. Now. Pay for next day air. You'll thank me.

Robert Pollard - From A Compound Eye (FaCE)
26 amazing songs. Arranged like a double LP, this one just kicks it. Absolutely makes me get over the end of GBV. Bobby Pop is perhaps the greatest living rock songwriter. The first of 5 original releases in 2006, ranks with the White Album and Double Nickels on the Dime as genre-shaking original. Pay for next day air on this one if only to hear every blissful 68 seconds of I am a Strong Lion as soon as you possibly can. I can honestly say I've played this 3-400 times. I have vinyl too, and it sounds soooo good.

Tuesday, February 28, 2006


Derek & Adrian, July 2005, atop The Tooth of Time in Cimmaron, New Mexico. Posted by Picasa

Serious as a heart attack.......

O.K. - Bro' Brett showed me a minutemen video today when I dropped by his house. It was a terrific version of the the song The Anchor from What Makes a Man Start Fires? that you can see on the web-site youtube.com. (i think thats it) d boon completely rocks (note present tense). A true American original. Look close cause this footage is from a boat cruise. Can you imagine seeing the freakin Minutemen on a boat cruise???? I wish We Jam Econo would get released on dvd already.

So this somehow reminded me of an article Brett once wrote for a fledgling college newspaper (The Platypus, published at Eastern Illinois Univ. in Charleston, Il) wherein he set about discussing how he heard about the minutemen and that their music changed his life. That same paper was started by our dear old buddy Jeff Stepp. Jeff, too, loves the minutemen. I believe that same issue reprinted a letter that Jeff's cousin, Jon, wrote about his affinity for this same band. (I have a copy somewhere in the basement) All of this leads me to asking Brett if he had heard from Jeff. Yes he had and that he had a myspace.com page, which I located when I signed on tonight. This led me to Jeff's blogspot, which inspired me to join the blogging nation.

Thanks to Brett, d boon, mike watt, Jon, Jeff and the multitudes of dudes who have inspired me for the past 20 years.