Music

[Tiller]

For anyone that likes electronic music, Monstercat will be releasing their 22nd album, "Contact", tomorrow!

One place you should be able to find it:
https://www.youtube.com/user/MonstercatMedia

Also their kickass business model:
http://www.billboard.com/articles/colum ... lion-sales

(I made a thread since there wasn't a general music thread yet)

[David Greene]

Cool! Music is a huge passion of mine. Since you started the thread, I'm curious what people listen to and if anyone sings or plays.

I'm what you'd probably call "Old School." '10's, '20's, '30's mainly. I'd say Fats Waller and Fletcher Henderson are my two biggest influences though I listen to stuff from a LOT of different bands and performers.

I do love modern stuff too (all genres), so I'm not a pre-war snob by any means. I mostly listen to the early recordings because it's what I'm at least somewhat good and competent at playing (stride piano mostly). I'm also fascinated by early recording technology. I've got a cool Ellington CD with a stereo track produced in 1932, long before stereo playback was even possible.

I was part of a swing band in grad school composed of engineers, a neuroscientist and a couple of psych Ph.D. candidates. When we started, maybe two of us (not me) knew anything at all about playing jazz. What a time.

A few years ago we picked up a 1928 Chickering Ampico reproducing piano from Barton Player Piano in Minneapolis. If anyone is at all interested in mechanical music, I can hook you up with the right people. Player pianos, band organs, music boxes, you name it, someone is out there fixing them up and selling them.

[mattaudio]

My next drumming gig is at the Contented Cow in Northfield on Saturday night, June 13. #roadtrip

[Chava]

Good to see some other musicians on here!

David, cool stuff. I'm going to check out some of that music.

On a slightly different note, does anyone know of a band seeking a roommate at their rehearsal/practice space? My gear is outgrowing my loft and I'd like to be able to record some demos at fuller volume without disturbing my wife and neighbors.

[seamonster]

Diversion from the Uptown Retail and Restaurant thread (Cheapo moving and the merits of vinyl) - my $.02:

I grew up buying used cassettes at Know Name and Northern Lights Records. $3 - $4 a pop. Yeah, tapes sucked. Warping, stretching, getting caught in the playback mechanism, the constant hiss (Dolby noise reduction be damned). But it was cheap and sometimes you'd get promotional copies that felt vaguely rebellious ("This cassette is the property of Warner Brothers Music and must be returned upon request...") and you could always sell them back for a buck if they were truly awful. We'd take these tapes and dub them for our friends (at an even lower quality than the original) and make special mixes that required some precision so as not to go past the 45 minute mark.

The first time I heard CD's I was blown away with the perfect clarity of the recording and playback. I never bought another cassette.

When you could finally rip your CDs to a computer, again, I was blown away. When you could burn your own CDs: mind blown. Napster? Kaboom. Pandora, iTunes, all of it amazing.

But what I've rediscovered with buying vinyl is that it has made me a more thoughtful and engaged listener. I listen to full records again one side at a time. (It kind of reminds me of my youth flipping over cassettes.) It's way more fun at parties than clicking play on an iTunes playlist. With a nice system, the sound is really, really good. Not better than CDs but much better than cassettes or low quality MP3s. And, heck, with the new releases, you often get a download card for high quality MP3s or even better lossless formats: you can make as many CDs as you want.

The value of what I get when I buy vinyl is worth it to me. I'm glad to see Cheapo moving.

[David Greene]

That's a great bit of thoughtful posting there, thank you!

It's definitely true that CDs and MP3s have made it easier to slip into "casual" listening. I'm reminded of some liner notes from a jazz reissue that talked about how with 78s, people couldn't afford many and therefore got very intimate with their recordings, playing them over and over again.

On the other hand, I'm reminded of the recording history text that lays the blame for our short attention spans and (in the author's opinion, too short) 3-minute standard for songs squarely at the feet of the limitations imposed by early player piano rolls!

[seamonster]

I'd never heard of the player piano roll being held responsible for our collective ADHD before. Consider me skeptical - I'd think 7" 45 rpm records play a far greater roll in determining the typical length of a song.

I found this quiz to be kind of interesting: http://www.sporcle.com/games/jmsr525/th ... eshortofit It's a list of the longest and shortest number one hits.

[David Greene]

I'd never heard of the player piano roll being held responsible for our collective ADHD before. Consider me skeptical - I'd think 7" 45 rpm records play a far greater roll in determining the typical length of a song.

78s were limited to about three minutes a side and I'd always thought that was the source of today's song length. As for the ADHD thing, I think the author was more lamenting our lack of ability to listen to long pieces of music than making a statement about more generic attention deficits, though he phrased it as the latter.

Having purchased a player piano a couple years ago, I now know that it is indeed true that most of the rolls are about 3 minutes. Later technology allowed them to expand to about six minutes and even to 20-30 minutes for late-production stuff.

i found this quiz to be kind of interesting: http://www.sporcle.com/games/jmsr525/th ... eshortofit It's a list of the longest and shortest number one hits.

Cool list! My sense is that song length has grown, especially in the last decade or so. I'm curious as to whether my perception reflects reality.

[David Greene]

So after ranting about vinyl, I went out and got a portable Victrola (2-65 in case you're interested).

Cannot wait for it to arrive! Guess I'll be making lots of trips to Vintage Music now.

If you've never been in that shop - go! They have absolutely amazing stuff.

[seanrichardryan]

Aw, and I've got a Phonograph for sale.