Music Futures

Wednesday, September 9, 2009 ~ 5 comments so far

Prompted by some questions about Spotify on Twitter, questions which sparked a heated debate that is still raging*, I thought I’d revisit my own music purchasing and usage habits and see where I sit in the consumer spectrum.

First things first then, I do purchase music mostly, these days, through iTunes. Mostly because it’s handy and I’m a total Apple fanboy (yeah, Windows SUCK!!). That last bit is a lie, of course, as my home PC runs Windows and I’m really enjoying using Windows 7 (something else I’ll be purchasing soon).

I digress.

I spent a long time digitally converting my CDs, and as they now reside in boxes in the loft I don’t see the need to purchase anything on physical media. I have bought a couple in the past few months, mainly band specific special releases though, so they aren’t available through iTunes. I’m sure there are other ways I could purchase music but for what I listen my system works for me.

Do I miss the act of going into a music shop, flipping through the stacks? Yes I do, but not so much that I’m losing sleep over it, although it’s easy to say that since my current office is miles from anywhere, whereas working in the city centre made access to places like Fopp an always entertaining lunchtime visit.

As for listening to music, well that mostly happens either at work (when time/task allow) or at home when I’m sitting at the PC or just generally faffing about upstairs. More recently I have started taking my iPod Shuffle to the gym.

So where does Spotify fit in all this? Well it should fit perfectly, at home at least (I’ve not tried but guessing company firewall restrictions would rule it out there). I do have it, I have an account yet, for some reason, I don’t use it. To be honest I’ve only used it a couple of times, and I do like the idea of sharing playlists with others but what about all that music that I have?

I LIKE all the music I have, well most of it**, except when it’s on shuffle of course, and whilst I am open to hearing new artists I only tend to use work as a backdrop so I’m not usually actively listening. With that in mind, it largely doesn’t matter where the music comes from, but I’m far more likely to put on something I know so I don’t HAVE to listen to it.

You know what I mean, right?

Perhaps I just need to give Spotify more of a try, perhaps I’m missing something fundamental but I really don’t see it as a game changer. Yet.

But then I said that about blogging, and Twitter so hey, what do I know?

* or perhaps just one or two polite replies, poetic license, innit
** the joys of a shared library of music and Last.fm listing tracks from Louise’s iPod, for the record I did not listen to Girls Aloud AT ALL that week

The joy of the lyric

Tuesday, June 30, 2009 ~ Comments Off

So, I posted a photo from it but I wanted to mention the Emiliana Torrini gig I attend last week. The venue, Oran Mor, is quite small and intimate, occupying the top floor of an old church and holding maybe 400-500 people, tops. The stage wasn’t set very high and, upon taking to it, the diminutive Ms. Torrini admitted she was a bit taken aback that everyone was ‘right there’.

Musically she’s a tricky one to pigeonhole. Her Icelandic roots make the leap to Bjork a bit too obvious and she’s certainly more grounded in traditional songwriting arrangements than her Icelandic counterpart, but that’s not to say it’s all acoustic guitars and winsome melodies. Her last album covers such tracks as well as a reggae tinged number as well as bringing a pop sensibility to things. It makes it her most accessible album and probably accounts for the range of ages in the audience.

But it’s her turn of phrase that caught my ear when I first chanced upon one of her tracks, and allows me to suggest that she’s not far short of Mr.Garvey (Elbow) for a nicely visioned lyric.

A good gig then, an excellent venue that was small enough to be intimate, and a pretty slick set from the band. Her voice, whilst sounding quite delicate at times, can certainly hold it’s own against 5 and 6 piece band, and her desire to give the audience the background story to most of the songs was endearing.

Not sure how she’d fair at a larger venue and whilst I hope she continues to build her fanbase (she’s released three albums so far) part of me hopes she sticks to this size of venue as it seems perfectly suited to her sound.

New music exclusive!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009 ~ Comments Off

Well, exclusive to my inbox at least, hey don’t look a gift horse and all that, right? I’m not troubled bloody diva, published everywhere and rubbing shoulders with the stars or anything, I takes what I gets!

So it was a very nice surprise to be able to receive an email in my inbox offering me a preview release of an upcoming EP featuring a band whose:

sound has grown stronger and surer as a result of their creative self-empowerment – alive with animalistic rage, suffused with emotive human spirit. Quite simply, it is enormous

Which sounds quite bloody impressive if you ask me.

The band in question are called Lupen Crook & The Murderbirds, and this is their first self-published work and also marks the first time I’ve heard anything by them. I’ve listened to the EP a couple of times now and I’ll happily admit that it’s good if not quite as startlingly original as the press release makes out but hey, when did a press release ever resemble reality?

Folk-Punk is the genre, apparently (yeah, new one on me too) and at first listen it sounds fairly derivative, some punk-lite melodies and an ‘authentic’ voice. Nothing out of the ordinary. A second, closer, listen reveals more depth and a nice grasp of rhythm and lyric, and I have to admit that it is growing on me. A third and fourth listen immediately followed and already the songs feel comfortable, like older friends. There is a definite quality to the tracks which hints at grander things to come.

The band are ploughing their own path and seem to embracing all forms of media in their quest for artistic expression. Whether or not that will stand them in good stead only time will tell but, based on the music, there is no reason why they can’t push on to bigger and brighter things. Whether they want to do that or not remains to be seen.

Either way, this is definitely a band to watch.

The EP is out on 4th July, more details available on the band website: www.lupencrookandthemurderbirds.co.uk.

Switching off

Saturday, May 23, 2009 ~ Comments Off

Nothing of substance. Truth be told I’m killing time whilst I wait for some software to install. Aren’t you lucky, dear reader, that I’m so thoughtful.

I’m installing software because I’m working today, which from the looks of the weather doesn’t seem like a bad option now, typically holiday weekend weather outside. In other words, it’s chucking it down. Mind you, I’ll be in again on Monday as well so, frankly, the weather is the least of my concerns.

The office is quiet, so I’ve got my new XMI X-Mini Max speakers hooked up to my laptop to test them and have to admit that, for such a teeny tiny speaker system, the sounds is pretty acceptable. Perfect for taking on holiday.

Speaking of which, I’m starting to realise that I’ve only got a week left to pack… ohh wait, what am I thinking, it’ll take me all of 20 mins, 10 of which will be deciding which t-shirts to take.

What will take more time will be making sure I’ve got the right movies and music ready on my iPhone (and a new iPod Touch that some will be getting as an early birthday present… ssshhhhh). Never an easy task that one, although I do tend towards Soul, RnB and Pop and away from my usual fare. That said I can’t NOT have the new Prodigy album on there… but I’m open to suggestions.

What’s your favourite sunshine album?

I’ll start that task tomorrow, as well as nipping to the gym for a while (yeah, I do that now!) although that depends wholly on the state of my hangover as we are visiting my tequila monster friend this evening. I swear the woman is determined to destroy my liver.

So that’ll be the sum total of my day tomorrow, a day off which will be spent sorting out the various gadgets that accompany us to Spain, watching the Grand Prix, some footie and generally not doing a whole lot. I can’t bloody wait.

Rip it up

Tuesday, February 3, 2009 ~ Comments Off

There is a part of me that is destructive. A part of me that says fuck you to all and sundry. A part of me that questions and challenges everything.

That part of me hides in the shadows waiting for the moment to reveal itself, to rise up and strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger.

Or something like that.

Actually it’s the part of me that really does, sometimes, think ‘You know what, fuck this’.

It’s usually aimed at something I either don’t fully understand or with which I can’t really be bothered. My previous post is an example of the latter, computers usually a large part of the former.

So right now I’m toying with deleting my Facebook account for, despite some valid uses cropping up in my comments, I just don’t use it. I’m also restraining myself from throwing a laptop across the room as it doesn’t belong to me it belongs to my employer.

Anyway, that’s enough of that… ohh wait, no it’s not.

Remember how I was wittering on about MP3 tags and how I really want them all to be uniformly complete? Well Pete Ashton has stumbled across a solution!

Yeah yeah, he’s talking about Twitter but the approach is what I was interested in, the idea of having a pool of [stuff] into which you can dip as and when you want, why don’t I do the same with my MP3s? I have reams of MP3 files that I don’t listen to all that often and which could easily be moved to a larger pool, leaving my ‘everyday’ tracks in their own library.

That’ll let me concentrate on those ones first (the ‘important’ ones, if you will) and I can tackle the rest as and when the notion strikes me to shuffle some albums in to/out of the pool.

Sounds like a plan.

Which is really not what I was going to write about but then that’s all part and parcel of the nonsense that is this blog. If nothing else, it helps me!

Music to work by

Monday, January 26, 2009 ~ 7 comments so far

I have a thing for loud, chord heavy rock music. It is why I still enjoy tracks from The Cult, why Puddle of Mudd, Eagles of Death Metal, Aerosmith and the like feature heavily on my playlists.

None of those acts (with perhaps the exception of Aerosmith) would claim that they are at the pinnacle of song writing, I doubt they’re expecting an Ivor Novello anytime soon but they do write some catchy, if simple, melodies. Ideal stuff to whack on in the background whilst I’m getting my head down to work.

On a separate note, is this a generational thing? The need to have a source of ‘noise’ to help focus?

Anyway, riff-tastic rock is a tried and tested accompaniment to my working habits. I do veer into electronica on occasion, but ultimately the Sigur Ros’s and Portisheads of this world are too varied in tone and pace and end up disturbing trains of thought. Rap music is about the only other alternative for me, with Jay-Z and Q-Tip jostling with long time favourites Cypress Hill for ear time.

I’ve tried Classical music, Jazz, Folk, Pop, and everything in-between but nothing works as well as good ole fashioned rock ‘n’ fuckin’ roll! Maybe that’s my predeliction towards rock music, brought up on a diet of Queen and Status Quo, peppered with Simon & Garfunkel, Manilow and Sedaka, it’s understandable that I favour the pop side of rock music, and generally appreciate a well crafted song regardless of genre.

But for music to work by? Gimme chords, heavy riffs, a chugging bass and thumping drums and I’m happy. Lyrics are not important, subject matter makes no difference, as long as I can keep if banging away in the background I’m a happy and productive bunny.

This post was brought to you by the Foo Fighters track All my Life, the Eagles of Death Metal track Cherry Cola and Puddle of Mudd’s Nobody Told Me.

What music do you work by?

MP3 Tags

Tuesday, January 20, 2009 ~ 6 comments so far

MP3 Tags

“You spin me right round baby, right round, like a record baby” … Cue several of my younger readers to ask “what’s a record?”

When I first started ripping CDs to MP3 I was very careful when tagging the information. I used Tag & Rename to make sure they all (ALL) had complete fields. I didn’t bother, back then, with album art as my MP3 player didn’t support it. A few years on Apple release iTunes for Windows and, after a few false starts, I decide to forego my compulsion and let iTunes do what it does best. Take care of my MP3s.

Except it didn’t. Whilst I’m happy that iTunes manages where the files live (within a directory chosen by me) it isn’t really up to the re-tagging of MP3s.

And yes, for those of a nervous disposition, I am talking about illegally downloaded MP3s, and yes, if I like an album I will buy it at a later date. In fact this post is entirely due to the fact that I’m going through my library deleting albums I don’t want and checking what I have purchased.

Where was I? Oh yes.

The problem is one of album art. My older MP3s (mainly those ripped from CD) vary when it comes to the quality of the MP3 tagging. Some have embedded album art, some don’t. Some have track numbering, some don’t. I’m guessing that my switch over iTunes, many years ago now, is to blame but that doesn’t help me at the moment.

Whilst it’s not a big hassle to add album art, one thing that does seem to have gotten out of kilter is the fact that not only does an MP3 tag have an Artist field, it also has an Album Artist field. It seems that, for one or two tracks across most albums, this field is filled in whereas, for the rest of the tracks, it’s blank. So, when playing an album in iTunes (I’m still very album-centric) the track appear out of order as iTunes thinks they are DIFFERENT ALBUMS.

This is a royal pain in the ass and so I’ve been trying to fix it. I have a large library of music so I thought it would be a good idea to find some way of automating this, as much as possible. I’ve tried MediaMonkey on the suggestion of Lifehacker but that only does one album at a time and, I think, has actually introduced the same issue.

So it looks like I’ll be going through all of my music by hand, tagging it properly (although maybe therein lies the real problem, there is no standard to adhere to, just an open set of fields that can be (and are) abused). That’s over 20,000 MP3 individual files.

I’m seriously thinking of hiring a student to do this in the summer.