en http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/ Thu, 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 Thu, 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 60 http://www.audioscrobbler.net/data/webservices http://www.last.fm/user/DiscordantOne/journal The Last.fm journal for DiscordantOne. Last.fm journals are a place to talk about all things music. http://www.last.fm/user/DiscordantOne/journal/2009/04/13/2n6wb6_illumination Mon, 13 Apr 2009 03:12:30 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/DiscordantOne/journal/2009/04/13/2n6wb6_illumination It's kind of like we are in a small room with all of the lights turned on. Every once in a while a new dim light turns on, but it doesn't really make a difference. It's already bright in here. What else can be done to illuminate the situation?]]> http://www.last.fm/user/DiscordantOne/journal/2008/10/16/283zxn_mix_tape Thu, 16 Oct 2008 16:32:50 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/DiscordantOne/journal/2008/10/16/283zxn_mix_tape I recently worked for a friend of mine, Steve, who almost exclusively listens to jazz. He has the same passion for music that most of us on this site have, but he keeps it in one genre. (By the way, he is not on this site, because his wife banned him from their computer. He invited too many viruses and spyware with his excessive downloading.)

Steve had just returned from a trip to Oakland were he visited an old friend of his. He was introduced to various indie and "alternative" bands and was very excited to tell me about it. He said to me, "For example, have you ever heard of Yo La Tengo?" You can imagine my smile. My history with YLT started in 1995 with Electr-o-pura.

Keeping in mind that Steve is a jazz aficionado who does not know what is out there right now (or recently) in the indie and electronica scene, I made him a playlist. He enjoyed it, and I did, too. So, I decided to share it here with anyone who cares.

1. Yo La Tengo - Pass The Hatchet, I Think I`m Goodkind
2. The Octopus Project - Black Blizzard/Red Umbrella
3. The Books - Tokyo
4. Dengue Fever - Seeing Hands
5. Dungen - Det du tänker idag är du morgon
6. Caribou - Handelschnapp
7. Beck - Modern Guilt
8. Manitoba - Crayon
9. Bablicon - Francis Locrius
10. Blockhead - grape nuts and chalk sauce
11. Calexico - Frontera
12. The Flaming Lips - Fight Test
13. Kid Koala - Shanky Panky
14. Juana Molina - Quiero
15. The Beta Band - Broken Up Adingdong]]> http://www.last.fm/user/DiscordantOne/journal/2008/07/15/22i6rc_10%2C000_and_few_surprises Tue, 15 Jul 2008 02:24:01 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/DiscordantOne/journal/2008/07/15/22i6rc_10%2C000_and_few_surprises So, after almost one year at Last.fm, I finally made it to 10,000. It's a rather false number considering how long I have been listening to music. I'm just glad that I can't scrobble my selection from the early 90's. I have no idea what happened to that guy, and I'm glad he's gone.

After a brief review of my top 50, I have very few surprises about the list. As I mentioned in a previous article, most of my listening is via my iPod while it's on shuffle. Here are my thoughts about many of the artist on the list in their current standings.

1. Yo La Tengo - I have all of their albums and an EP or 2. The only one I left out is Summer Sun (yawn). Also, they are probably my favorite band, so there is no surprise that they are at the top of my list. I never get bored of them.
2. The White Stripes - I also have all of their albums and a collection of B-Sides. Considering they have fewer albums than YLT, there is no surprise that they are #2.
3. gbv - It is somewhat of a surprise that they are in the 3rd spot since I rarely play an album of theirs. Pollard just puts out an ungodly amount of songs. So many melodies; not enough time.
4. Broadcast - If this was 3 years ago, they would likely be at the top. Tender Buttons and The Ha Ha Sound are brilliant ablums.
5. The Microphones - Phil can write a song about taking a crap and I would listen to it.
6. Radiohead - In Rainbows was fun, and Kid A is fantastic, but #6??? I guess I have most of their catalog, as well.
7. Pavement - Like GBV, I rarely play a full album these days, but I still enjoy.
8. The Eels - Such wonderful songwriting and so many songs.
9. The Beatles - Yes, I like good music.
9. The Books - They are the only band to put me to sleep at a show (it was rather boring), but their sense of cut & paste is wonderful. I can't get enough of "Lemon of Pink".
11. The Beta Band - Why oh why couldn't they just get along and continue producing? They were truly at the top of their game at the end.
38. Stereolab - I'm getting ready to remove them from the collection. Why are they on the top 50 anyway? see also #49
49. Sufjan Stevens - This guy needs to go away.

more later]]> http://www.last.fm/user/DiscordantOne/journal/2008/06/04/20boo6_what_happened%3F Wed, 4 Jun 2008 02:22:51 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/DiscordantOne/journal/2008/06/04/20boo6_what_happened%3F I'm bored. I have a rather large music collection, and it is starting to bore me. I find myself skipping far more songs than I did in the recent past. I don't turn the shuffle on as much while I'm doing other things on line. Scrolling through the over 250 artists in my collection results in me turning on NPR or college radio. In the last 8 months, I picked up close to 90 albums. Did I overload? Could I have reached a saturation point?

I still explore this site and the mp3 blogs. I can't seem interested in anything new and exciting in any genre. Could I be in a funk? Is it the change of seasons?

The last time I got excited is when I discovered Black Moth Super Rainbow, The Octopus Project, and their joint LP, The House of Apples and Eyeballs. That was back in February. In March, I thought Dengue Fever was curiously fun, but that did not last long.

Does this happen to you? Do you simply lose interest and engage in futile exploration?]]> http://www.last.fm/user/DiscordantOne/journal/2008/01/18/b957o_do_you_actually_remember_the_first_time_you_heard_the_beatles%3F Fri, 18 Jan 2008 21:52:24 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/DiscordantOne/journal/2008/01/18/b957o_do_you_actually_remember_the_first_time_you_heard_the_beatles%3F Syncing my ipod to itunes and letting run on shuffle all day has been a good thing. I have been rediscovering music that has been sitting on my computer waiting to be heard again. Mazarin, who I do not really like, popped up today. Massive Attack has also been neglected for quite some time until yesterday.

The one that blew my mind today was hearing Custard Pie for the first time in several years. I remember the first time I heard Physical Graffiti from start to finish. It was one of the first physical CDs I bought more than 20 years ago. (Incidentally, the last physical CD I bought was Juana Molina's Son). It was in one of those clunky and unnecessary cardboard boxes that were used before the "industry" knew what to do with CDs. I brought it over to my friend Rich's house and the way I listened to music changed forever.

I re-experienced that excitement today. I felt that adolescent angst that I am so glad is long gone. Like millions of other boys, Jimmy Page inspired me to want to play the guitar. Like millions of other boys, I never quite got his technique down. Never being a fan, I somehow sounded more like Peter Buck from R.E.M. while being a member of Sleepy Company.

It's funny that the last time I got that excited about a band is in c. 2000 when I walked into The Last Drop in Philadelphia and heard The White Stripes for the first time. After Icky Thump came out a friend told me "the reason that almost all Zep imitators aren't that good is that they made the mistake of imitating Zep. Instead, the Stripes imitate the same people that Zep imitated and arrive at a similar place organically."

By the way...I don't remember hearing the Beatles for the first time. They have just always been there.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/DiscordantOne/journal/2008/01/16/b957n_i_listen_to_music_that_i_don%27t_like Wed, 16 Jan 2008 02:47:16 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/DiscordantOne/journal/2008/01/16/b957n_i_listen_to_music_that_i_don%27t_like I know that only two people may read this, but here it goes anyway...

I spend most of my days listening to music all day. I take my ipod with me to job sites and I leave it on shuffle most of the time. I may go through 50 or 100 songs in a day. Those songs never get scrobbled, because I have been reluctant to sync my ipod with itunes. I just did it tonight and I now understand the hesitation.

My wife stopped her music education somewhere in the 90's with the Cocteau Twins, This Mortal Coil, and Bjork. Granted, she also has PJ Harvey, Radiohead, and Beth Orton, but I now have Coldplay, Justin Timberlake, and Gwen Stefani on my ipod. There is plenty of room, but I simply don't want to see those names on my ipod just so I can keep an online record of what I listen to during the day. Fortunately, it is easy to make sure certain songs do not get put into a shuffle.

However, I also listen to a lot of music that I don't like. I don't know why Devendra Banhart, His Name Is Alive, and The Ladybug Transistor are in my collection. For some reason, I can't remove them or Ladytron from itunes regardless of how many times I skip those artists in a shuffle at home. It is now difficult to justify getting down from a ladder, taking off my gloves, or stopping work to walk across a room just to skip a song. So you may see Bob Marley, The Beastie Boys, or other aforementioned artists in my list of recent tracks. We'll see if I soon have a change of heart.]]>