The 1in5
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Top Ten for DY2007 - Intro
A year ago this week, I subscribed to Last.fm. I have found it to be a bit useful in finding new music to listen, but it also serves as a record my listening habits. So this week I will mark my top five or ten or howevermany Albums/Artists/Songs for Dutcher Year 2007 (out of 6000 tracks recorded).
A few notes on the data:
1. The music on my charts is only music I have listened to on my iPod or on my computer. When I rip a CD to iTunes, I usually let it play, and then listen to it again within a day or so at work, so it shows up at least twice in a week.
2. The CDDB / Gracenote database is woefully inconsistent. For example, I have tracks by The Mekons that are labeled as Mekon, Mekons and The Mekons. I believe Last.fm has changed some of their code recently to correct these errors.
3. ID3 tag limitations - If a track cannot be readily identified by Title / Artist / Album (which is usually adequate for your pop and rock 'n roll), you are at the mercy of the ID3 tags and caprice of the Gracenote submitter. Therefore, there is no way of telling how much I really listened to Liszt, Schumann or Chopin when they are all played by Helene Grimaud on the same CD.
4. The Last.fm data doesn't include my drivetime music (mostly Bikini Red by The Screaming Blue Messiahs, Tribal Thunder by Dick Dale or Vision Thing by Sisters of Mercy - all recommended for rush hour traffic) or music played on the Big Stereo in the Living Room.
5. Artists with many short tracks are disproportionately represented.
So, with that caveat, here's the chart, with individual posts on the bests of to follow:
A few notes on the data:
1. The music on my charts is only music I have listened to on my iPod or on my computer. When I rip a CD to iTunes, I usually let it play, and then listen to it again within a day or so at work, so it shows up at least twice in a week.
2. The CDDB / Gracenote database is woefully inconsistent. For example, I have tracks by The Mekons that are labeled as Mekon, Mekons and The Mekons. I believe Last.fm has changed some of their code recently to correct these errors.
3. ID3 tag limitations - If a track cannot be readily identified by Title / Artist / Album (which is usually adequate for your pop and rock 'n roll), you are at the mercy of the ID3 tags and caprice of the Gracenote submitter. Therefore, there is no way of telling how much I really listened to Liszt, Schumann or Chopin when they are all played by Helene Grimaud on the same CD.
4. The Last.fm data doesn't include my drivetime music (mostly Bikini Red by The Screaming Blue Messiahs, Tribal Thunder by Dick Dale or Vision Thing by Sisters of Mercy - all recommended for rush hour traffic) or music played on the Big Stereo in the Living Room.
5. Artists with many short tracks are disproportionately represented.
So, with that caveat, here's the chart, with individual posts on the bests of to follow:
Kirk Rudstrom RIP
Kirk Rundstrom died at age 38 last Thursday. Kirk was a member of Split Lip Rayfield, a Bloodshot band, who saw his cancer diagnosis as a race to perform and record as much as possible in his time remaining on the planet.
My memories of SLR are in the Yard Dog's back yard on March afternoons, wailing away in hillbilly frenzy to a crowd drunk on free beer.
Photos of their last show in Austin from La Suprema.
Kirk Rundstrom died at age 38 last Thursday. Kirk was a member of Split Lip Rayfield, a Bloodshot band, who saw his cancer diagnosis as a race to perform and record as much as possible in his time remaining on the planet.
My memories of SLR are in the Yard Dog's back yard on March afternoons, wailing away in hillbilly frenzy to a crowd drunk on free beer.
Photos of their last show in Austin from La Suprema.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Book: Right as Rain by George Pelecanos
Wrapped up Pelecanos' Strange/Quinn story "Right as Rain" the other night. Nicely written, tightly plotted and reasonably gripping. And, not unlike myself, he digs music and is a gearhead. But it think that sometimes the music references seem more to be what should be playing as a soundtrack to the novel than a reflection of the characters taste. Everyone in the book has a musical taste (down to the old hillbilly who can't stand Allan Jackson), unlike in real life.
Worth reading, and I'll likely pick up another Pelecanos before too long.
Wrapped up Pelecanos' Strange/Quinn story "Right as Rain" the other night. Nicely written, tightly plotted and reasonably gripping. And, not unlike myself, he digs music and is a gearhead. But it think that sometimes the music references seem more to be what should be playing as a soundtrack to the novel than a reflection of the characters taste. Everyone in the book has a musical taste (down to the old hillbilly who can't stand Allan Jackson), unlike in real life.
Worth reading, and I'll likely pick up another Pelecanos before too long.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Why I Am A Colin Edwards Fan Now
1. He's fast on the 800. Wicked fast on two continents.
2. The carbon black and red Yamaha with the black and red leathers looks bad ass.
3. He's a Texan.
4. After watching The Doctor, The Tornado and the Kentucky Kid, and listening to some interviews with him, he seems like he has his head screwed on right.
5. He sounds uncannily like an accordion player I know. The accordion player is an alright guy too.
6. Nicky is a bit too Hollywood.
Now, who to root for in WSBK? Because Biaggi makes such a good villian.
1. He's fast on the 800. Wicked fast on two continents.
2. The carbon black and red Yamaha with the black and red leathers looks bad ass.
3. He's a Texan.
4. After watching The Doctor, The Tornado and the Kentucky Kid, and listening to some interviews with him, he seems like he has his head screwed on right.
5. He sounds uncannily like an accordion player I know. The accordion player is an alright guy too.
6. Nicky is a bit too Hollywood.
Now, who to root for in WSBK? Because Biaggi makes such a good villian.
Labels: Colin Edwards, MotoGP
Terrifying
Last night I was wigged out whilst watching the dog show. The winner was a Dandie Dimont terrier, and I freaked, imagining it singing showtunes at me. Singing them VERY POORLY.
"JUNE IS BUSTING OUT ALL OVER!"
Just thought I'd let you know.
It's o.k. to freak out.
Last night I was wigged out whilst watching the dog show. The winner was a Dandie Dimont terrier, and I freaked, imagining it singing showtunes at me. Singing them VERY POORLY.
"JUNE IS BUSTING OUT ALL OVER!"
Just thought I'd let you know.
It's o.k. to freak out.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Nina Simone
From the O'Reilly Radar
Nina Simone vs. Aardman.
Only a little creepy in parts, but mostly charming.
Nina Simone vs. Aardman.
Only a little creepy in parts, but mostly charming.
Labels: aardman, nina simone
This Week's Top Music Listening Objects
Number One, with 21 listens - Grand Ol Opry. From a couple of recordings downloaded from the Dime. Transcriptions originally made for Armed Forces radio, likely in the late sixties/early seventies. Oddly, though, it was ID3 tagged with Grand Ol Opry as the artist, and the artist and song name in the artist tag. So go figure. Soon, taxonomy will be taught in the elementary schools in a way that most pleases me!
#2 - The first of two entries composed of non-latin characters/symbol/ideograms. Дмитрий Дмитриевич Шостакович, or Dmitri Shostakovich from the CD New Babylon Film Music & Song Cycle from Jewish Poetry. The song cycle is top notch, with "The thoughtful mother and child." I recall hearing this in a recital several years ago at The Off Center.
#3 Paul Bowles - Virgil Thompson once wrote that Mr. Bowles slept through harmony class.
#4 坂本龍一 (or Ryuichi Sakamoto) Mostly from BTTB, because this was a difficult week at work. (tied with Mekons)
#5 Delta 5 - Why? MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS! And who makes homebrew with lots of sediment? YOU YOU YOU YOU.
Number One, with 21 listens - Grand Ol Opry. From a couple of recordings downloaded from the Dime. Transcriptions originally made for Armed Forces radio, likely in the late sixties/early seventies. Oddly, though, it was ID3 tagged with Grand Ol Opry as the artist, and the artist and song name in the artist tag. So go figure. Soon, taxonomy will be taught in the elementary schools in a way that most pleases me!
#2 - The first of two entries composed of non-latin characters/symbol/ideograms. Дмитрий Дмитриевич Шостакович, or Dmitri Shostakovich from the CD New Babylon Film Music & Song Cycle from Jewish Poetry. The song cycle is top notch, with "The thoughtful mother and child." I recall hearing this in a recital several years ago at The Off Center.
#3 Paul Bowles - Virgil Thompson once wrote that Mr. Bowles slept through harmony class.
#4 坂本龍一 (or Ryuichi Sakamoto) Mostly from BTTB, because this was a difficult week at work. (tied with Mekons)
#5 Delta 5 - Why? MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS! And who makes homebrew with lots of sediment? YOU YOU YOU YOU.
Protest
Some snapshots from the anti-Wal-Mart protest at Northcross Mall are available at Julie's flickr.
Some observations:
The organizers asked everyone to wear red. Enough people did that it gave a feeling of an organized effort rather than a random bunch of loiterers who got lost on their way to Denny's.
No singing or chanting where I was. Protest singing and chanting should be reserved for events higher up on the protest scale (civil rights, death penalty, peace). Wal-Mart taking over a mall doesn't (and shouldn't) drive that level of emotion. And besides, what are you going to say?
"What do you want?"
"Mixed used area with green space, a grocery store that's better than the HEB down at Northland and Burnet, and maybe a cool record store!"
"When do you want it?"
"Sometime in the next six to eighteen months!"
The event was scheduled for ten minutes. A big steam whistle or something would have been helpful in indentifying the commencement and cessation of protesting activities. When I first heard about this protest I figured the red clad folks would be trying to levitate the Mall, Pentagon style. But no. Probably didn't get past the RG4N lawyers, no doubt due to the skating rink risk.
We had delightful kolaches afterwards, provided by LOCALLY OWNED AND OPERATED KOLACHE DEALERSHIP! FIGHT THE POWER OF CORPORATE KOLACHE!
Some snapshots from the anti-Wal-Mart protest at Northcross Mall are available at Julie's flickr.
Some observations:
The organizers asked everyone to wear red. Enough people did that it gave a feeling of an organized effort rather than a random bunch of loiterers who got lost on their way to Denny's.
No singing or chanting where I was. Protest singing and chanting should be reserved for events higher up on the protest scale (civil rights, death penalty, peace). Wal-Mart taking over a mall doesn't (and shouldn't) drive that level of emotion. And besides, what are you going to say?
"What do you want?"
"Mixed used area with green space, a grocery store that's better than the HEB down at Northland and Burnet, and maybe a cool record store!"
"When do you want it?"
"Sometime in the next six to eighteen months!"
The event was scheduled for ten minutes. A big steam whistle or something would have been helpful in indentifying the commencement and cessation of protesting activities. When I first heard about this protest I figured the red clad folks would be trying to levitate the Mall, Pentagon style. But no. Probably didn't get past the RG4N lawyers, no doubt due to the skating rink risk.
We had delightful kolaches afterwards, provided by LOCALLY OWNED AND OPERATED KOLACHE DEALERSHIP! FIGHT THE POWER OF CORPORATE KOLACHE!
Sunday, February 4, 2007
The Weekly List
My weekly top artists according to Last.Fm.
Some notes on the entries for last week:
1. Flaming Lips (17) Not much of a Flaming lips fan, but these tunes were downloaded off the iTunes store via a gift card as a courtesy to The Casting Couch who will be participating in a Flaming Lips hoot nite in a couple of weeks. TCC may come out of hibernation soon.
2. The Good, The Bad and the Queen (12) I've actually listened to it two other times. Maybe one more listen. I really dig Albarn, but there is a missing component of drive and rockitude. I'll give it another listen or so, maybe something will pop.
3. The Sadies (10) Great stuff, mostly from their live album that was released last year. I prefer the version of Neko's "Hold On, Hold On" because it sounds a little more ragged and the guitars a little more desperate.
4. The Mekons (6) Because a day without the Mekons is like night.
5. London Symphony Orchestra (5) Mahler's Second Symphony. This recording is maddening in its format. Two CDs, one of the symphony, the other of "alternate takes" and "deleted chords." Each has the artist listed differently (LSO on one, Gilbert Kaplan on the other). And the tracks are divided into submovement portions. So if you want to hear "Urlicht" it takes some digging through tracks named "Three bars before Trombones" or "Flutes, then molto assai." Urgh. But performance is top notch, otherwise it wouldn't show up.
Some notes on the entries for last week:
1. Flaming Lips (17) Not much of a Flaming lips fan, but these tunes were downloaded off the iTunes store via a gift card as a courtesy to The Casting Couch who will be participating in a Flaming Lips hoot nite in a couple of weeks. TCC may come out of hibernation soon.
2. The Good, The Bad and the Queen (12) I've actually listened to it two other times. Maybe one more listen. I really dig Albarn, but there is a missing component of drive and rockitude. I'll give it another listen or so, maybe something will pop.
3. The Sadies (10) Great stuff, mostly from their live album that was released last year. I prefer the version of Neko's "Hold On, Hold On" because it sounds a little more ragged and the guitars a little more desperate.
4. The Mekons (6) Because a day without the Mekons is like night.
5. London Symphony Orchestra (5) Mahler's Second Symphony. This recording is maddening in its format. Two CDs, one of the symphony, the other of "alternate takes" and "deleted chords." Each has the artist listed differently (LSO on one, Gilbert Kaplan on the other). And the tracks are divided into submovement portions. So if you want to hear "Urlicht" it takes some digging through tracks named "Three bars before Trombones" or "Flutes, then molto assai." Urgh. But performance is top notch, otherwise it wouldn't show up.
