Alright, I'll apologize for the Star Wars title. It just felt necessary.
So, I've picked up a couple marvelous new toys this week. Numero uno (that's 'Number one' for those of you who don't speak Spanish) is a typewriter. Specifically, an early 1960's Remington Streamliner. Matt let me borrow his (a remarkable Olympia SM-9) for a few hours and I fell in love. It seems to add so much gravitas to the words you write...you really learn to appreciate spellcheck, the backspace key, and the immediacy of gramatical correction of the Personal Computing age. I sincerely think everyone should have to take their high school typing classes on manual typewriters...
Next up is my most recent purchase, a Denon DP-37F turntable. I got this used on consignment at the local audiophile shop down in Bismarck. I'll have to replace the cartridge (already have one picked out, a Shure M-97xe) and repair/replace the mounting bracket on the tonearm, but it's supposedly one of the best entry-level audiophile turntables out there, and I got it for a pretty amazingly low price. Something about pure analog music turns my bones.
Which made me think aloud today: Maybe I'm turning into a luddite. (technically speaking, a "neo-luddite" as I'm perfectly happy with the English textile processes of the early 19th century). Obviously since you're reading this on a blog, created from a computer, uploaded onto a network of connected computers and stored on server in some large city, I'm not anti-technology at all. In fact, I welcome technicological change. I think I'm just romantically drawn to technologies that I was not around to appreciate. I loved hearing my dad tell me how to care for my turntable and LPs...and opening a new LP has once again, that heafty feel to it. Somehow it feels more real and immediate than simply downloading a new album and having it portably stored on your iPod/Zune/Sansa/etc straight away. The smell of a new pressing of vinyl, the large and colorful artwork, the grooves of the record...it's just a much more gratifying experience in my opinion.
So far, I only have 3 albums but this number will soon inflate, as I'm now bound to checking out all used record shops/yard sales/vinyl dealers for the albums that I have to own. But I think I have a pretty good first three: Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd, In Rainbows by Radiohead, and No Deliverance by the Toadies. I'm thinking of ordering Kind of Blue by Miles Davis and Imagine by John Lennon, both on 180g virgin vinyl later this week at that.
So, chances are within the next few weeks, should one of you pop on by my place for a cup, we'll have some great tunes to listen to, in their intended format!
Happy listening to me!
-w-
"You've taken your first steps into a much larger world."
The best Beatles tune you've (probably) never heard.
So, if you know me (and if you're reading this, you more than likely do), you probably know that I'm a huge Beatles fan. The first Compact Disc I ever owned was a Beatles disc (Anthology 1- as a Christmas gift from my grandmother) and consequently the next 8 discs I purchased were Beatles discs. I've read countless books on the band, their lives, even the individual recording sessions. Somehow....well, not really somehow, I know exactly how it happened...I missed a track. (Not counting the *hopefully* forthcoming yet-unreleased avant-garde art track "Carnival of Light")
So during the same sessions where the band recorded "Lady Madonna" they also recorded a quick Lennon tune "Hey Bulldog"- The title was originally "Hey Bullfrog" but during recording Paul suddenly started barking like a dog, Lennon quickly changed the next verse to "Bulldog" and changed the title. This track is supposedly one of the last tunes in which the whole group was in the studio together, and recorded as a unit...a few days after the session, they left for their maligned trip to India. This track was then submitted for the animated "Yellow Submarine" but only made the UK version. So, when I was younger and forcing my parents to rent the VHS from the CashWise Supermarket video store ad nauseum, I never saw (or heard) the track. When I was purchasing the Beatles discography, I'd see the Yellow Submarine soundtrack and glance at the tracklisting...mentally skipping over the track and just seeing half a disc of George Martin scores from the film and previously released tracks (mostly from the best three albums, Revolver, Rubber Soul, and Sgt Pepper's - which I already owned and adored).
The other day, whilst ripping all my Beatles CD's into a higher quality bitrate (what's the use of good headphones if the source music sounds terrible?) I was randomly searching through Wiki and found that a particular artist had covered the "rare Beatles' gem Hey Bulldog". Jesus H. I've never heard of that! Quickly searched the Beatles Bible online for facts about it and stumbled upon what's now probably one of my favorite tracks. It's Lennon to a T, and the whole group just having a blast in the studio. What's even more astounding is they allowed footage of them recording the track to be shot....so Apple a few years back found this, realized that instead of the Promo-material for the Lady Madonna single, it was them recording Bulldog. Great video. I particularly like seeing John at the piano and George with a Gibson SG. Anyway, I've ameliorated my mistake, purchased the Yellow Submarine "Songtrack" (the remastered version from 1999) and fallen in love with my "new" Beatles track. Enjoy.
Lyrics:
Sheepdog
Standing in the rain
Bullfrog
Doing it again
Some kind of happiness is measured out in miles
What makes you think you're something special when you smile?
Child-like
No one understands
Jack knife
In your sweaty hands
Some kind of innocence is measured out in years
You don't know what it's like to listen to your fears
You can talk to me
You can talk to me
You can talk to me, if you're lonely you can talk to me.
Yeah hey, oh!
Ho, ho!
Yeah!
Ho, ho, ho, ho!
Ho, ho!
Big man (Yeah)
Walking in the park
Wigwam
Frightened of the dark
Some kind of solitude is measured out in you
You think you know me but you haven't got a clue.
You can talk to me
You can talk to me
You can talk to me, if you're lonely you can talk to me.
Hey!
Wahoo woof! Woof!
Hey bulldog! Hey bulldog!
Hey bulldog! Hey bulldog!
-w-
As promised, the A/V section!
Once again, this is all in my own subjective opinion. (But most views are backed up vociferously online :D ) Keep in mind, low-bitrate mp3's will stick out even more on a good source/headphone. I basically re-ripped my entire collection in a higher bitrate after I tried listening to the standard 128Kbps rip I had of Dark Side of the Moon on a good pair of headphones. I recommend either ripping with LAME or Vorbis encoders at a decent bitrate. (read 256 kb/s or higher).
For MP3 players: The ubiquitous iPod is virtually laughed at in every respectable hi-fi corner. A few great versions came out - the first-gen Shuffle and the 5.5-gen Video (with the GUI replaced with RockBox) are the two biggies, but anything since then, including the gorgeous iPod Touch are pretty well substandard in terms of pure audio-quality. So, the big winners here (all in my opinion, mind you) are:
Sansa Clip - for $30-50, this veritable Shuffle killer is king, with pricing and one of the best sounding players available. A recent update allows for playback of lossless "Flac" encoded files and the lossy (albeit vastly better than mp3) Ogg Vorbis. I've seen pics of people using this little bastard with $1,000 headphones and portable amps. Seriously. Pick one of these up for the gym.
Sansa Fuze - A bit better than the clip in every way, but a bit pricier and bigger. This is my new DAP. Same sound signature as the Clip, but with a bigger screen, expandable memory via the microSD/SDHC port, and larger internal memory versions. Also supports playback of FLAC and Vorbis. Got mine on Black Friday from Radio Shack for $50 (reg. $99) along with an 8Gb Sandisk microSDHC card from amazon.com for $20. Want an iPod Nano killer? Here's the real deal and it will save you some cashmonies!
Cowon D2 - Haven't pulled the trigger on this one yet, but I'm seriously jonesing for one. A 2.5" touch screen with a sound-quality equal to that of the Sansas. Supposedly the GUI is a bit quirky, but if you can get past that, everyone who owns one raves about the SQ and infinitely changeable EQ. Also supports the widest array of audio codecs, FLAC and Vorbis, as well as expandable memory with miniSD/SDHC cards. Downside? At least $150 with less peripherals available.
Headphones.
All these great DAPs will do you exactly squat if you're listening through the earbuds that typically come packaged with them. Unfortunatley, most people don't know that, but a growing few do, and I've sifted the pages of head-fi.org and anythingbutipod.com and grabbed a few good nods.
IEMs - "In Ear Monitors". Sounds scary. But if you're serious about your hearing, your music, and isolation. This is probably the best solution for you. The fit can be kind of alarming at first, as IEMs (also dubbed "Canalphones") are designed to fit snuggly into your ear canal. Mind you, not painfully so. Foam tips, rubber/silicone tips, and others are usually packaged with them to let you find the best fitting and comfortable wear. Why's the fit so important? Because if you don't have them snuggly and tightly in place, you'll lose all concept of isolation and soundstage. Buy a cheap pair of IEMs to see if you don't mind the fit before jumping into the abyss.
JVC FX-33/34s "Marshmallows" - For 15 American Dollars or so, these are a great entry level canalphone. Do a little bit of modification to them to open up the sparkle of the highs, and these are affordable beauts after a bit of burn-in.
JLAudio J2's - These are remarkably new phones, and I haven't quite received the 2 pairs (B1G1!) I ordered from amazon.com, but by all accounts can be compared to the bigger players in the iem world, including some 10 times the price. 25 bucks isn't bad, if they're this good. I'll report back.
SoundMagic PL-30s - Same goes as above, though they've been around a bit longer. Some seem to prefer J2's to these, but it's all subjective. And at $20, they're a virtual steal and will blow the Marshmallows out of the water as well. My father ordered a pair of these, so I'll give them a listen and once again, report back.
Now, if you're doing the listening in a quiet area and don't need the isolation, and won't bother people with sound leakage, you may as well go with full sized "cans". For that, you don't have to spend hundreds of dollars, unless you want truly "audiophile-quality" sounds.
First off, the can that everyone should own.
Koss KSC-75 - For a really low cost headphone these things sound brilliant. Once again an inexpensive mod (The so-called "Kramer" mod after the most read and one of the first poster of the mod on head-fi.org) really opens these phones up. At 60 ohms, they're a little under-driven by the typical DAP, so an amp can really make these things sing. Granted, none is really needed, but you'll find battery power goes down drastically without a dedicated headphone amp. (More on that later!) Also, if you don't like the "sporty" clip-on styling or fit, the same drivers that push these is in the Koss "PortaPro's" with a headband, which also beefs up the bass a bit. Granted, an extra 20 bucks for a headband without much change in SQ doesn't appeal to me.
Sennheiser PX-100 - These are almost the next step up from the KSC-75s, although some (myself included) prefer the former. At $30 they're pretty inexpensive but with a great sound. A good alternative to the people biased against Koss. They are collapsible and quite portable. Sennheiser's virtually always won't disappoint.
Okay, for the things I haven't tried out yet......but will eventually ;)
Grado SR-60/SR-80 - Grado, an American maker of audiophile quality headphones and cartridges came out with the SR-60 as an affordable step into high quality cans 20 plus years back and haven't changed a thing. The look tells this (although I kind of like the old-school styling) , but if you aren't set back by this these are reputably some of the best price-point/performance cans available. The 80 model changes a little, with the same drivers, but a larger, more spacious earpad and increased bass-responsiveness. A bit forward sounding to some, these are suposedly deadly for rock.
Granted, now we're moving out of the "affordable-to-starving-music-student" price range so I'll stop there. Sennheiser makes great can's in this range too, the HD515 and HD555. But I haven't had the opportunity to sample these either, but I have a sneaking suspicion you can't go wrong with either choice.
With the bigger headphones, more power will be needed to fully take advantage of the sound. Portable headphone amps come in all shapes and sizes, but two styles stick out with price in mind. The hand-made "CMoy" amps vary from maker to maker, but are relatively cheap and in large avail on eBay. Or, a new affordable alternative has recently reared it's head. FiiO, a Chinese manufacturer has released extremely affordable and portable amps, the E3 and more recently, the E5. Google those for the best prices, but they both have garnered relative praise from among the good folk from head-fi.org. I'll post my review of the E3 as soon as they arrive!
Happy Solstice!
Live vid from PK!
Here's a vid, albeit not the one I promised (still trying to find a decent video editor for that one) from the First Annual Dia De Los Toadies that Ross and I went to.
Also, I promise to post more often!
-w-
Toadies "No Deliverance" Live
Apologies for the wait!
Wow. It's been a long time since I've posted on here. So, I guess I'll have to start doing so again.
First off, I saw the Toadies once again on the same tour, granted, this time there was no 50+ hours of driving involved. Just a mere 14, to Minneapolis. We surprised Andy with tickets a week after he returned from Europe, and he had a blast. Great show, but they didn't play Dollskin, always a favorite of mine live.
I'm helping out at a local video game store for the holiday season, or as I like to say, "I've rejoined the circus." Seriously. If another over-weight middle aged woman yells at me for not having the WiiFit in stock, I'll shoot myself.
It's strange. I really don't play any games anymore, much less anything on the three "next-gen" systems...so I kinda feel really old when people are asking me about games that game out "a long time ago" that I've never even heard of. Granted, in the game business, "a long time ago" typically refers to a few months back. But, I'm still amazed at the graphics these systems can push out. Also, I still find myself wanting to play the really old classics. After watching a particular episode of the British Channel 4 series "Spaced" I found myself looking up if we had in stock Resident Evil 2. I think I may check it out and borrow my ASM's GameCube and play it. I remember me and my brother staying up late to play that creepy game....It'll pass the time before Starcraft 2 comes out, anyway.
It's now getting close to officially being winter, so alas, there's no frolfing anywhere near Minot. I'm finding I miss my daily walks in the park. I suppose I could go walk in the park now, but losing frolf discs in the snow, not to mention personal extremities to the bitter cold, somehow doesn't sound appealing.
Also, I'm trying desperately not to become a de facto audiophile, for fear of my wallet. But I've become somewhat knowledgeable in the fields of MP3 players (of the non-fruity kind) and affordable audiophile-quality headphone gear. So, in a little bit of a winter solstice gift to you all, I'll share some links to some decent stuff which would make excellent gifts/stocking stuffers!
(in the next post, of course!)
-w-
Evidence.
Here are some assorted pictures from the trip, to hold you over until I have a bit of downtime to arrange a proper viewing. (plus a great video I have yet to edit!)
-w-
What's that?!
Yup, so, if you're reading this now, the new timer to the right of this post is counting down to the moment the gates open at the 1st annual "Dia De Los Toadies" festival in Graham, Texas. Actually, it's not in Graham per se, but instead on the shores of Possum Kingdom Lake. Ross and I are making the long drive to see this amazing show. Pictures and I'm sure a long-winded story are to follow this, on my journey to the heart of the American Dream. Rock on.
-w-