(I was going to post an update on what I've been up to, what I've been listening to, and what I've been reading lately, but I ended up writing a lot more on music than I had planned. I'll post part two of my update in the next few days. That's right; if all goes well, you'll see two posts for April in the first week!)
What I've been listening to lately:
Eluveitie, which is a folk metal band from Switzerland. By "folk metal," think (in this particular case) Celtic music plus melodic death metal. They're pretty decent, but it's sort of hit-and-miss. "Inis Mona," from their album Slania, is an awesome mix of Irish flute(!), bagpipes(!!), hurdy gurdy(!!!), catchy chorus, and the Gothenburg sound, and definitely deserves an A on my list. But strip away the folk instrumentation from a song like "Bloodstained Ground," also from Slania, and you end up with pretty generic melodeath. I like Ensiferum a lot more for folk metal (check out the long but excellent "Victory Song"); they're much better at integrating the folk elements with metal. And if you want straight-up melodeath, then try "Twilight of the Thunder God," probably my favorite Amon Amarth song ever.
Excalion, a power metal band from Finland. I saw one site describe them as "melodic power metal," which sounds sort of redundant, since power metal by definition is very melodic, but in this case, I think it's quite apt. It's archetypal power metal times five, which may or may not be good; needless to say, if you don't like power metal (and it can be terribly grating sometimes, I'll admit), you'll probably hate Excalion. But for me, they're not bad, though sometimes it feels a bit like listening to a Sonata Arctica or Stratovarius knockoff. In fact, parts of "Quicksilver," from their latest album High Time, sound uncannily similar to Sonata Arctica's "FullMoon." (Ha! Looking at the YouTube comments, I'm not the only one who thinks that.)
Mortemia, a Gothic metal band (more accurately, one-man project) from Norway. Morten Veland, the guy behind Mortemia, seems to have a penchant for starting up new bands every so often. He was the frontman for Tristania, one of the best Gothic metal bands around, and then left to start another band, Sirenia, which unfortunately has never equalled Tristania in greatness. (The first two albums were pretty good, though.) With Sirenia having descended into ultra-saccharine poppiness that seems to plague the Gothic/symphonic metal scene today, and Tristania just never the same ever since Veland left, I was hoping for some redemption, especially since Veland said that Mortemia would be in the same vein as Tristania's Beyond the Veil, my favorite album of theirs, but my first impressions are disappointing; I haven't given it a thorough listen yet, so maybe my opinion will change, but it seems more Sirenia than early Tristania, unfortunately. (As an aside, that was an 84-word sentence! Sorry about that.) Not like Sirenia's The 13th Floor, fortunately, but Misere Mortem just sounds tired and uninspiring. You've been doing this for well over ten years; surely you can come up with something more original. Try Tristania's "Tender Trip on Earth" for what Gothic metal should be like.
After getting some HammerFall many, many months ago, I never bothered giving them a serious listen until recently. They're the sort of band that gives power metal a bad name: over-the-top epic sound with soaring choruses, excessive keyboards, emasculated singers, and lyrics about warriors fighting dragons. And after my listen I still think they're way too cheesy for their own good. But tell that to Hutaree, that Christian patriot militia group that's been in the news lately; they set one of their training videos to HammerFall. But as this French news site pointed out, HammerFall is from Sweden. Oops.
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Monday, April 5, 2010
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Ra-Ra-Rasputin
Friday, December 11, 2009
Nine Years and Counting
I have in my hands right now a CD that I have been looking for for nine years... or so I thought.
It was sometime in 2000. Microsoft released their WMA format and compared it to the MP3 format at the same bitrates. They used a 7-second sample of a song. I wanted to find out what that song was. Somehow, amazingly, over the years I learned that it was a sample from a somewhat obscure English classical music composer named Matthew Locke. Now that I knew what song it was from, I could begin the search of finding a file of that song. I came close one time when I found the streaming audio of the song, but no MP3.
Then last fall I discovered that Yale had a CD of Matthew Locke! But of course, I kept putting off getting the CD until just when I was about to graduate and leave, and then had no time to actually go get the CD. But a trip to Yale to see some friends meant I could finally move onto the next step of my quest.
I went up to the circulation desk, a little hesitant to give the attendant my ID, since I wasn't sure it would still work. But here I am, in the Irving S. Gilmore Music Library with Matthew Locke's Consort of Fower Parts on my desk next to my computer.
But it's the wrong edition. I gave it a listen, and though it was clearly the right song, I could tell that it wasn't the same. Nevertheless, I've now figured out what edition I need to look for, so though today was a failure, I am still one step closer to completing my quest.
After nine years, I can wait a few more.
It was sometime in 2000. Microsoft released their WMA format and compared it to the MP3 format at the same bitrates. They used a 7-second sample of a song. I wanted to find out what that song was. Somehow, amazingly, over the years I learned that it was a sample from a somewhat obscure English classical music composer named Matthew Locke. Now that I knew what song it was from, I could begin the search of finding a file of that song. I came close one time when I found the streaming audio of the song, but no MP3.
Then last fall I discovered that Yale had a CD of Matthew Locke! But of course, I kept putting off getting the CD until just when I was about to graduate and leave, and then had no time to actually go get the CD. But a trip to Yale to see some friends meant I could finally move onto the next step of my quest.
I went up to the circulation desk, a little hesitant to give the attendant my ID, since I wasn't sure it would still work. But here I am, in the Irving S. Gilmore Music Library with Matthew Locke's Consort of Fower Parts on my desk next to my computer.
But it's the wrong edition. I gave it a listen, and though it was clearly the right song, I could tell that it wasn't the same. Nevertheless, I've now figured out what edition I need to look for, so though today was a failure, I am still one step closer to completing my quest.
After nine years, I can wait a few more.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
"Free" Music
Recently I received an email advertising 10 free songs if you spend $100 or more at this particular website. I also got $5 from Amazon not too long ago that I can use to "buy" any MP3s I'd like. Am I the only one who thinks these are completely worthless?
It's not because I believe music should be free (somebody put a lot of effort into making music), and it's not merely because it costs no money whatsoever to make an additional MP3 file, though at least with a CD you get something tangible. With an MP3 file you get nothing more than a "license" that allows you listen to a song; you don't own the file itself. With a CD you get to own a physical disc, a booklet with artwork, and importantly, several legal rights that you don't get with MP3s, like the right to lend your CD to a friend or the right to sell your CD to somebody (both covered under the first-sale doctrine). Both of these actions are expressly prohibited by sites that sell MP3s because "all Products are sublicensed to you and not sold," meaning that the first-sale doctrine does not apply to your MP3 file. In fact, the way this agreement is worded is such that you may only "play ... Products as much as reasonably necessary (emphasis added) for personal, non-commercial use," so technically you don't have even have the right to play your music as much as you want!
There's a reason why MP3s usually cost less than CDs. It's not just because it costs less to make an MP3 file (i.e., nothing) than to press a CD, and it's not just because it costs less to distribute an electronic MP3 file than it is to distribute a physical CD. It's because you're getting something that's inherently less valuable.
But don't tell that to the iTunes crowd happy to pay $11.99 for the license to listen to a collection of "Products" that gives them fewer rights than the identical CD album that they can own for $10.99.
It's not because I believe music should be free (somebody put a lot of effort into making music), and it's not merely because it costs no money whatsoever to make an additional MP3 file, though at least with a CD you get something tangible. With an MP3 file you get nothing more than a "license" that allows you listen to a song; you don't own the file itself. With a CD you get to own a physical disc, a booklet with artwork, and importantly, several legal rights that you don't get with MP3s, like the right to lend your CD to a friend or the right to sell your CD to somebody (both covered under the first-sale doctrine). Both of these actions are expressly prohibited by sites that sell MP3s because "all Products are sublicensed to you and not sold," meaning that the first-sale doctrine does not apply to your MP3 file. In fact, the way this agreement is worded is such that you may only "play ... Products as much as reasonably necessary (emphasis added) for personal, non-commercial use," so technically you don't have even have the right to play your music as much as you want!
There's a reason why MP3s usually cost less than CDs. It's not just because it costs less to make an MP3 file (i.e., nothing) than to press a CD, and it's not just because it costs less to distribute an electronic MP3 file than it is to distribute a physical CD. It's because you're getting something that's inherently less valuable.
But don't tell that to the iTunes crowd happy to pay $11.99 for the license to listen to a collection of "Products" that gives them fewer rights than the identical CD album that they can own for $10.99.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Making a List and Checking It Twice... or Three Times... or More
I seem to have a lot of trouble following a list. Case in point: I have a list of music albums I want to listen to. I just spent the past few hours listening to some new music. How many albums on that list did I listen to? None. So I get to cross off five albums that weren't on my list.
Another example: I have a list of people I need to send emails to. Me being me, I should have responded weeks ago. And of course, me being me, instead of responding to those first, I decided to write another email that could be sent any time, but to be fair, I then felt bad and stopped... and then didn't write the ones I was supposed to.
Yet another example is this blog. I've got around ten draft entries when I should be working on writing something econ-related, since I haven't written one in a month and a half now.
My total failure at making lists and following them is nothing new. I've got planners and agendas and loose leaf paper filled with half-completed lists.
...So why am I still making lists?
Another example: I have a list of people I need to send emails to. Me being me, I should have responded weeks ago. And of course, me being me, instead of responding to those first, I decided to write another email that could be sent any time, but to be fair, I then felt bad and stopped... and then didn't write the ones I was supposed to.
Yet another example is this blog. I've got around ten draft entries when I should be working on writing something econ-related, since I haven't written one in a month and a half now.
My total failure at making lists and following them is nothing new. I've got planners and agendas and loose leaf paper filled with half-completed lists.
...So why am I still making lists?
Friday, October 9, 2009
Good Things Come to Those Who Wait
After nine years of waiting, I have finally bought Dream Theater's A Change of Seasons. I've had the MP3 for the past nine years, but the title track is such a good song that I've always wanted to buy the CD. Lest you think I bought a CD just because I liked one song on it, "A Change of Seasons" is 23 minutes long and is basically the CD; the other songs are all live covers.
Maybe I'm a little strange, but if I like the artist and like the album, I'll buy the CD. It might not be right after I listen to the MP3, but it'll happen eventually. In this case, it took nine years. But if the RIAA had its way, I would never have listened to "A Change of Seasons" to begin with, or for that matter most other stuff that I listen to, and consequently, I would never have spent the $10.99 now lining the coffers of an organization too narrow-minded to see it's rapidly becoming obsolete.
Would there be no more music if no one bought CDs or songs from iTunes? In China, piracy is rampant, and yet somehow they happen to have a thriving music industry. How do they do it? Instead of relying on record sales, artists make their money from concerts, memorabilia, and so on. This way isn't better or worse than what artists in America do; it's just a different way of making a living, for both the artist and the music industry. Obviously the RIAA will want to stop people from file sharing; it represents a threat to their current business model. But instead of realizing that things can't stay the same anymore, they seem to hope that if they just push hard enough, everything will be all right. In other words, we're not facing the end of music, but just maybe the end of the RIAA.
Maybe I'm a little strange, but if I like the artist and like the album, I'll buy the CD. It might not be right after I listen to the MP3, but it'll happen eventually. In this case, it took nine years. But if the RIAA had its way, I would never have listened to "A Change of Seasons" to begin with, or for that matter most other stuff that I listen to, and consequently, I would never have spent the $10.99 now lining the coffers of an organization too narrow-minded to see it's rapidly becoming obsolete.
Would there be no more music if no one bought CDs or songs from iTunes? In China, piracy is rampant, and yet somehow they happen to have a thriving music industry. How do they do it? Instead of relying on record sales, artists make their money from concerts, memorabilia, and so on. This way isn't better or worse than what artists in America do; it's just a different way of making a living, for both the artist and the music industry. Obviously the RIAA will want to stop people from file sharing; it represents a threat to their current business model. But instead of realizing that things can't stay the same anymore, they seem to hope that if they just push hard enough, everything will be all right. In other words, we're not facing the end of music, but just maybe the end of the RIAA.
Friday, August 28, 2009
A Knowing Nod
Today while driving, I heard the oddest thing. While at a red light at State Street, I heard the song "Slaying the Dreamer" by Nightwish playing from the car next to me. For those of you who don't know (i.e., all of you), Nightwish is a symphonic power metal band popular in Europe but not especially well known in the United States. From my experience, metalheads seem to be a rarity, so it was quite a surprise to hear it emanating from somebody's car, let alone for that to have happened in Saginaw, Michigan.
And for it to have been a song I recognized too? What a strange and serendipitous coincidence. Soon I'll be hearing 80s Chinese pop music on the radio.
And for it to have been a song I recognized too? What a strange and serendipitous coincidence. Soon I'll be hearing 80s Chinese pop music on the radio.
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