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/NemesisVex/journal The Last.fm journal for NemesisVex. Last.fm journals are a place to talk about all things music. http://www.last.fm/user/NemesisVex/journal/2007/12/10/4zxn_favorite_edition_2007 Mon, 10 Dec 2007 06:02:02 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/NemesisVex/journal/2007/12/10/4zxn_favorite_edition_2007 I may as well cross-post this from main my music gl0b.

Musicwhore.org Favorite Edition 2007

1. Explosions in the Sky - All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone
2. UA - Golden Green
3. Björk - Volta
4. unkie - the Price of Fame
5. Nico Muhly - Speaks Volumes
6. Soundtrack - Once
7. Smashing Pumpkins - Zeitgeist
8. Rufus Wainwright - Release The Stars
9. 笹川美和 - 迷いなく
10. 東京事変 - 娯楽

I list many more runners up on my site, so head on over there, if you're curious.

I have to say the release schedule this year was incredibly weak domestically. The fall, when labels usually ramp up for Q4 holiday shopping, was particularly lackluster. When James Blunt and Foo Fighters are the biggest names on a release schedule, the recording industry is just ... frakked.

I don't think I've been this bored with a release schedule since 2005, but the difference between 2005 and 2007 is that the good releases really were good. (Making a year-end list in 2005 was a chore.)

The spiraling fortunes of the recording industry seems to leave all the talent shell-shocked, as if no amount of effort creatively is going to stem the hemorrhaging. Or perhaps listeners have just become more selective shoppers.

Also, I think perhaps the best music event to happen this year is the publication of a book -- namely The Rest Is Noise by Alex Ross. I was already on something of 20th Century classical trip this year, but reading this book has gotten me more enthusiastic. I'm not the only one ... ask John Taylor of Duran Duran.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/NemesisVex/journal/2007/08/20/4zxm_do_i_get_an_%27a%27_in_eclecticism%3F Mon, 20 Aug 2007 05:30:51 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/NemesisVex/journal/2007/08/20/4zxm_do_i_get_an_%27a%27_in_eclecticism%3F (I don't usually do Last.fm memes, but I'll make an exception for this one. Because I was never much of an "A" student.)

Take your top 20 artists. For each of these artists, collect the top 5 similar artists. The resulting number of unique artists is your eclectic score. If the score is small (extreme = 5) your musical preferences are very limited, and if it is large (larger than 80, extreme = 100), then you have an eclectic musical preference. You can compute your own score at http://anthony.liekens.net/pub/scripts/last.fm/eclectic.php

My eclectic score is currently

92/100

The 92 related artists for my profile are A Silver Mt. Zion, Akron/Family, Ani DiFranco, Animal Collective, Arnold Schönberg, Arvo Pärt (2), BONNIE PINK, Beirut, Blazecock Pileon, Bloc Party, Boom Boom Satellites, Béla Bartók, Capsule, Chara, Cocco (2), Culture Club, Danielson, Dar Williams (2), Death From Above 1979, Dmitri Shostakovich, Do As Infinity, Do Make Say Think, Eastmountainsouth, Erin McKeown, Eurythmics, Explosions in the Sky, GO!GO!7188, Gillian Welch, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Gustav Mahler, Hammock, Iannis Xenakis, Igor Stravinsky, Interpol, JUDY AND MARY, Johann Sebastian Bach, John Adams, John Cage, Kathleen Edwards, Library Tapes, Luciano Berio, Lucinda Williams (2), MO'SOME TONEBENDER, Mindy Smith, Modest Mouse, Mogwai, NUMBER GIRL, Neko Case, OLIVIA, Olivier Messiaen, Panda Bear, Patty Griffin, Philip Glass (2), SINGER SONGER, SPARTA LOCALS, Scott Reynen, Sergei Prokofiev, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Sigur Rós, Simple Minds, Stars of the Lid, Steve Reich, Supercar, Tears for Fears, Teebor, Terry Riley, Tha Blue Herb, The Arcade Fire, The Be Good Tanyas, The Dead Texan, Tom McRae, Tommy february6, UA, YUKI, Zazen Boys (2), a-ha, aiko, bloodthirsty butchers, edlundart, the brilliant green, vampire deer, Дмитрий Шостакович, くるり (3), クラムボン, スピッツ, フジファブリック, 中村一義, 大塚愛, 小谷美紗子, 木村カエラ, 東京事変, 椎名林檎]]> http://www.last.fm/user/NemesisVex/journal/2007/07/23/4zxl_may_i_to_scrobble_again%3F Mon, 23 Jul 2007 22:35:27 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/NemesisVex/journal/2007/07/23/4zxl_may_i_to_scrobble_again%3F Well, will you look at that ...

I've been using the old-school plugin since I was too lazy to install the client when it was released. The reports of its Unicode instability kept me away, not that it mattered since Unicode support in Winamp was so not where it is now.

I've just played OSCA, and the client is so far working out for me. I guess just have install it and the new plugin on the home machine, and I'll be Scrobbling once again.

Now I may go ahead and start retagging my Japanese files so that there are no more redundancies when I Scrobble Romaji-tagged files. I'm nice that way.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/NemesisVex/journal/2007/05/04/4zxk_why_i_scrobble_no_longer_%28for_now%29 Fri, 4 May 2007 00:01:47 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/NemesisVex/journal/2007/05/04/4zxk_why_i_scrobble_no_longer_%28for_now%29 I am a slavish Winamp user. I like its unobtrusiveness, and as left-brained as the interface can be, it's something to which I'm accustomed.

I've even gone so far as to pay for a Pro license, and I'm going to start moving away from CDEx to Winamp as my ripper of choice. Also great -- I don't need to launch iTunes to interface with my iPod Nano, since Winamp can do it for me.

For all of Winamp's Swiss army knife functionality, one thing it has been miserable at doing is supporting Unicode. I got into the habit a long time ago of Romanizing all my Japanese files just to avoid seeing mojibake on my display.

Well, the release of Winamp 5.34 pretty much ushers in an era of Unicode, and I can actually code my Japanese files in Japanese. Unfortunately, that means I have to stop Scrobbling.

Winamp 5.34 fixes the problem of question marks appearing in the Windows XP taskbar, which is what gets transmitted to AudioScrobbler. Thing is, third-party plugins need to be updated to take advantage of this fix. If not, Winamp reverts to the old behavior of displaying question marks, unless the plugin is uninstalled. At the moment, the Scrobbler plug-in is not ready.

I'm sure it will be ready eventually, and I could wait before I embark on naming my tags and files in Japanese. Instead, I'm starting to use Japanese in my tags, and I'll wait for the AudioScrobbler client to catch up.

So that means I've uninstalled Scrobbler for the time being. Yes, I could just use a player that won't have a problem with Unicode, but that's research I'm unwilling to perform right now. I was raised not to fix what isn't broken, and in point of fact, what was broken is actually fixed. So any onus on me to switch has been mitigated.

That, and I bought a license.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/NemesisVex/journal/2007/01/28/4zxj_%E6%A4%8E%E5%90%8D%E6%9E%97%E6%AA%8E_wishlist Sun, 28 Jan 2007 21:12:58 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/NemesisVex/journal/2007/01/28/4zxj_%E6%A4%8E%E5%90%8D%E6%9E%97%E6%AA%8E_wishlist With the impending release of 平成風俗, I've been listening to some rare Shiina Ringo tracks. Those single b-sides are excellent, and the tracks she wrote for Tomosaka Rie deserve to be in print.

(Tomosaka's discography is pretty much out of print.)

I've got something of a wishlist for 林檎ちゃん ...

-- A b-sides collection containing the extra tracks from 幸福論 to 罪と罰 and ギブス. Sequenced just so, those 11 tracks make for a good album.

-- Self covers of her songs for ともさかりえ and 広末涼子. I know she's done 少女ロボット, いけない子, and 日本に生まれて with 東京事変 live. I'd just love to hear new studio versions of those songs.

-- A studio version of the songs featured on the DVD 「発育ステータス　御起立ジャポン」. The smattering on 絶頂集 isn't enough.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/NemesisVex/journal/2006/12/29/4zxi_favorite_edition_2006_final_%28redundant_cross-post%29 Fri, 29 Dec 2006 01:57:30 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/NemesisVex/journal/2006/12/29/4zxi_favorite_edition_2006_final_%28redundant_cross-post%29 If you read my main music gl0b, you probably already saw this list.

But since last.fm has that wonderful connections feature, I may as well cross-post that list here and link accordingly. I figure I may as well add my bit of noise to the signal. Seems like everyone has a list.

1. 四角いVISION
2. 宇多田ヒカル - Ultra Blue
3. VOLA & THE ORIENTAL MACHINE - Waiting for My Food
4. フルカワミキ - Mirrors
5. 大人
6. mask
7. St. Elsewhere
8. Now It's Overhead - Dark Light Daybreak
9. Dear John
10. What's Left Of Me]]> http://www.last.fm/user/NemesisVex/journal/2006/12/09/4zxh_how_i_disposed_of_my_income_in_2006 Sat, 9 Dec 2006 15:57:12 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/NemesisVex/journal/2006/12/09/4zxh_how_i_disposed_of_my_income_in_2006 I have a piece of software that allows me to keep track of my music collection. It has a field for purchase date, which I leave blank. I would like to think I'm not so compulsive as to track that level of minutiae. (I do admit to feeling the urge. Shut up.)

I can, however, manipulate the software into sorting by database index number, which gives an approximate record of my purchasing habits. Weed out any anomalies, and I have a convenient list of my purchases from 2006.

If I had all the time in the world, I would like to write about each of them. The world works not in such a manner.

I want to attempt to link as many of these albums as possible, but I know the Last.fm database, thorough though it may be, is not exactly complete.

In descending order of most recent purchase, which means I have another three weeks to add to this list.

The Best Of...
Don't You Know Who I Think I Was?
And I Feel Fine ... The Best Of The I.R.S. Years 1982 - 1987
Symphony No. 5 & Quintet for Strings
...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead
So Divided
Ultimate Collection
Insomniac Doze
Dark Light Daybreak
Living With Ghosts
Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever
The Piano-the Composers Cut
Piano Music (Versano, Entremont)
When I Live By The Garden And The Sea
Songs From The Labyrinth
Sam's Town
Long Island Shores
The Late String Quartets
The String Quartets
St. Elsewhere
Mirrors
Funnel Cloud
Standing in the Way of Control
Wonder Wheel
An Accidental Memory in the Case of Death
What's Left Of Me
cure jazz
Vaquero
John Brown's Body
ザンサイアン
Brokeback Mountain
ULTRA BLUE
Songs From The Big Chair - Deluxe Edition
Where Joy Kills Sorrow
Space Under Sun
Shadowed
Études: Livres I & II (1-14a) (Idil Biret)
Way out East
String Quartets and Duets
blue bird
日の照りながら雨の降る
Wandering Eyes
右も左も支配する頭は今日も肉を食いヨダレを垂らす。
ハナダイロ
Songs From The Big Chair (remastered)
Elemental
The Seeds Of Love (remastered)
The Hurting (remastered)
Robotech -- The Original Soundtrack: 20th Anniversary Edition
SXSW 2005 Japan Music Now Sound Sampler
SXSW 2006 Japan Music Now: New Sounds From Way Out East
Dear John
リフレクション
All the Roadrunning
You Are There
The Powerstation (remastered)
I Am a Bird Now
Inside Out
Across the Sky
Chitosedori
Full of Elevating Pleasures
Ringleader Of The Tormentors
Eleven Stories
Turn Back The Clock
The Visitors
(Who's Afraid Of?) The Art of Noise!
Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)
At War With The Mystics
Red Sails In The Sunset
Drop You Vivid Colours
Information Society
Franz Josef Haydn - Symphonies 92, 94 & 96
WAITING FOR MY FOOD
Be My Last
mask
夜明け
音速パンチ
October
Treasure
Whispers Hymns and a Murmur
四角いVISION
No Word From Tom
大人
Zazen Boys III
The Queen Is Dead
OMOIDE IN MY HEAD4 珍 NG and RARE TRACKS(初回生産限定盤)
Skylarking]]> http://www.last.fm/user/NemesisVex/journal/2006/11/06/4zxg_i_am_... Mon, 6 Nov 2006 06:49:05 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/NemesisVex/journal/2006/11/06/4zxg_i_am_... I am ...

... quite on a Temporary Residence kick lately. Some of my most recent purchases include Insomniac Doze, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever and When I Live By The Garden And The Sea. I just realized all those bands start with the letter "E".

... really amazed by the Geinoh Yamashirogumi torrent I grabbed from the JPOPSUKI tracker a few weeks back. This groups does some amazing stuff, and they're all non-professional musicians.

... not as into the late quartets of Ludwig van Beethoven as much as I was into the complete quartets of Dmitri Shostakovich.

... getting a lot of classical these days. Part of it is due to the fact I'm participating alongside National Solo Album Month, and I'm working on a solo piano album. I'm drawing inspiration from Eluvium, Michael Nyman and Erik Satie. That's why you seem them on my Scrobbler lately.

... frustrated I couldn't find My Aim Is True during the Waterloo Records storewide sale this weekend. Piano Works was also out of stock. I ended up with a collection of piano works by Ernesto Lecuona, Living With Ghosts and Dark Light Daybreak.

... ready to go to bed now.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/NemesisVex/journal/2006/07/12/4zxf_need_new_body_..._of_reading_recommendations Wed, 12 Jul 2006 03:05:06 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/NemesisVex/journal/2006/07/12/4zxf_need_new_body_..._of_reading_recommendations I've been trying to play some albums I haven't listened to in a while, in the hopes that if people perchance write about Caitlin Cary, Bruce Robison, Throwing Muses, Hem or The Sundays -- to name a few artists I've spun recently -- it may stem the onslaught of recommended reading mentioning Sigur Rós, Rufus Wainwright and Sonic Youth.

I mean, I love Sigur Rós, but that name has overrun my recommended reading.

Then again, if everyone is writing about Sigur Rós, there's a great chance someone mentioning Stephen Sondheim would be totally buried. I think I've spun the Van Tomiko album quite a bit, but no one's mentioned her.

Still, the wider I cast a net ...]]> http://www.last.fm/user/NemesisVex/journal/2006/07/01/4zxe_favorite_edition_2005_late-comer Sat, 1 Jul 2006 04:22:47 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/NemesisVex/journal/2006/07/01/4zxe_favorite_edition_2005_late-comer As I wrote before, it's impossible to listen to all 35,000 some odd new releases in a single year. So it's inevitable something comes out in a previous year that I only discovered recently.

So here are some favorites of 2006 not necessarily released in 2006.

Wandering Eyes
Dylan Rice has a wonderful voice and writes terrific songs. He's also, um, kinda hot. I like him a lot.

Shadowed
Sasha Sacket gets saddled with Tori Amos comparrisons, but his music has far more versatility.

I Am a Bird Now
Yeah, I'm a hipster now.

An Accidental Memory in the Case of Death
I caught Eluvium at SXSW a few years back, and I like the piano pieces Matthew Cooper played. So I figured I'd start with this album.]]>