Stagnation
Everyone who knows me will tell you that I have long suffered from a deep and abiding addiction to music. I rant about this every now and again right here on this blog (which I have admittedly ignored for over a month now). While my tunes jones is still in full bloom, I've been forced into a sort of musical 12 step program by two things.
First, my job.
For many years I've listened to music while at work. In fact, I find I'm much more efficient when I'm plugged in than when I'm not. Nothing like a little death metal, trance, or breakcore to get the blood pumping and the mind cranking. However, I've been encouraged by my new boss to cast aside the earphones and join the larger world. He feels it makes me more accessible to, and approachable by, people. I have to say I agree with him. I'm not wild about it, but I do agree. So from about 7:30 in the morning to sometime around 5 in the afternoon (at least on most days), I go cold turkey.
This hurts.
Previously, it was my morning ritual to pick four or five CDs to bring with me to work. Since my collection is fairly vast (2664 releases as of this writing), this usually proved to be a pleasant challenge. Susan also benefited because I would foist a CD or two on her as well, although this sometimes got tricky because the people she works with actually play music so that everybody can hear it, thus eliminating certain choices. Suffice to say that Amputated, Throbbing Gristle and the like would no doubt go over like a lead balloon in her office.
However, now that I don't tune in during the day, I do not tend to put as much effort into selecting tunes for my commute. And that's where the second evil comes into play.
The iPod.
I'd resisted acquiring one of the monstrous devices for a long time. Much like a classic DJ clutching his vinyl like grim death ("From my cold, dead hands, mother fucker!"), I stayed faithful to my own chosen media, the CD. There's something nice about being able to hold it in your hand. Also, as a DJ, I need to be able to pitch shift for the sake of beat matching. Until they come up with something that can do this well with MP3s, I'm not interested (I'm sure there is something out there, but I don't presently give a fuck; "From my cold, dead..." etc., etc.). Lastly, MP3s don't yet come with extensive liner notes, a commodity I've always used to expand my music horizons. Band A gives a shout out to Band B in their CD jacket. I like Band A, so I investigate Band B. They turn out to be as good as, maybe even better than, Band A, so I read into them. And they told two friends and they told two friends and so on and so on and so on. Ministry -> Pigface -> Neubauten.
Anyway, now that I'm picking less music in the mornings, it's easy to fall into the habit of just grabbing the ol' iPod. Admittedly I've got about 850 songs loaded right now, but it's such a pain to move stuff from CD onto the damn thing that I rarely add anything new. Therefore I end up listening to a lot of the same stuff day after day. Lately it's been Royksopp, Beef Terminal, and Panzerchrist; those and a couple of my DJ mixes.
So I'm stuck in a bit of a rut.
But I plan to fight.
I pulled a bunch of CDs this morning (but neglected to snag anything for my lady; sorry, Susan). I listened to one of them on the way to work and plan on trying to listen to the others OUT LOUD at low volume via my computer. Am I a daring dude or what? Either way, I hope this will force me out of my sonic funk.
Damn. Speaking of funk, I should have thought to bring some Funky President.
Not now, James, we're busy with:
Various - Don't Fuck With Us
(Digital Hardcore Recordings beats in your face)
Burial - Untrue
(best album of the year? best dubstep album... of the entire genre?)
Bitter:Sweet - The Mating Game
(makes me wanna...)
Black The Sky - Simplistic Mechanics Of Deformable Bodies
(best track title ever: "I Slept With A Member Of Black The Sky And All I Got Was Rope Burn And A Bloody Asshole")
Goldfrapp - Black Cherry
(completely beyond sexy)
First, my job.
For many years I've listened to music while at work. In fact, I find I'm much more efficient when I'm plugged in than when I'm not. Nothing like a little death metal, trance, or breakcore to get the blood pumping and the mind cranking. However, I've been encouraged by my new boss to cast aside the earphones and join the larger world. He feels it makes me more accessible to, and approachable by, people. I have to say I agree with him. I'm not wild about it, but I do agree. So from about 7:30 in the morning to sometime around 5 in the afternoon (at least on most days), I go cold turkey.
This hurts.
Previously, it was my morning ritual to pick four or five CDs to bring with me to work. Since my collection is fairly vast (2664 releases as of this writing), this usually proved to be a pleasant challenge. Susan also benefited because I would foist a CD or two on her as well, although this sometimes got tricky because the people she works with actually play music so that everybody can hear it, thus eliminating certain choices. Suffice to say that Amputated, Throbbing Gristle and the like would no doubt go over like a lead balloon in her office.
However, now that I don't tune in during the day, I do not tend to put as much effort into selecting tunes for my commute. And that's where the second evil comes into play.
The iPod.
I'd resisted acquiring one of the monstrous devices for a long time. Much like a classic DJ clutching his vinyl like grim death ("From my cold, dead hands, mother fucker!"), I stayed faithful to my own chosen media, the CD. There's something nice about being able to hold it in your hand. Also, as a DJ, I need to be able to pitch shift for the sake of beat matching. Until they come up with something that can do this well with MP3s, I'm not interested (I'm sure there is something out there, but I don't presently give a fuck; "From my cold, dead..." etc., etc.). Lastly, MP3s don't yet come with extensive liner notes, a commodity I've always used to expand my music horizons. Band A gives a shout out to Band B in their CD jacket. I like Band A, so I investigate Band B. They turn out to be as good as, maybe even better than, Band A, so I read into them. And they told two friends and they told two friends and so on and so on and so on. Ministry -> Pigface -> Neubauten.
Anyway, now that I'm picking less music in the mornings, it's easy to fall into the habit of just grabbing the ol' iPod. Admittedly I've got about 850 songs loaded right now, but it's such a pain to move stuff from CD onto the damn thing that I rarely add anything new. Therefore I end up listening to a lot of the same stuff day after day. Lately it's been Royksopp, Beef Terminal, and Panzerchrist; those and a couple of my DJ mixes.
So I'm stuck in a bit of a rut.
But I plan to fight.
I pulled a bunch of CDs this morning (but neglected to snag anything for my lady; sorry, Susan). I listened to one of them on the way to work and plan on trying to listen to the others OUT LOUD at low volume via my computer. Am I a daring dude or what? Either way, I hope this will force me out of my sonic funk.
Damn. Speaking of funk, I should have thought to bring some Funky President.
Not now, James, we're busy with:
Various - Don't Fuck With Us
(Digital Hardcore Recordings beats in your face)
Burial - Untrue
(best album of the year? best dubstep album... of the entire genre?)
Bitter:Sweet - The Mating Game
(makes me wanna...)
Black The Sky - Simplistic Mechanics Of Deformable Bodies
(best track title ever: "I Slept With A Member Of Black The Sky And All I Got Was Rope Burn And A Bloody Asshole")
Goldfrapp - Black Cherry
(completely beyond sexy)
posted by Ben at 8:59 AM
1 Comments:
oh man...painful. i can relate all too well. "from my cold dead hands..." indeed.
but i'm fighting back too. just ordered a pile of CD's, so in the tradition of your liner note recoomendations, here's what i have on the way.
artist D likes:
Murcof - Cosmos (NeoClassical IDM)
Distance - My Demons (DubStep/Grime)
Inland Empire (Original Soundtrack)
Deathprod [4CD Box set] (Deeeeeeeeep Ambient)
and today a large heavy square object arrived encased in granite (ok it only looks like that) with the words "in rainbows" on the booklike object within. looking forward to some headphone-and-linernotes action as soon as possible. :)
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