Month: February 2015

Use Spotify? Let’s Connect!

/ David James / 1 Comment

Spotify has become ubiquitous among my music loving peers, so I figured I’d share my profile in the hopes that some of you may want to follow myself and each other on the streaming service.

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My Spotify Profile

I’m not a paid user, for several reasons. First and foremost is that I spend enough money on music as it is. Vinyl is expensive. Second is the fact that albums can arbitrarily disappear; I won’t pay hard earned cash for something I can’t guarantee I can use in the way I intend to. Finally, I use it as a glorified mp3 player half the time anyway. I bring a handful of my personal music to work on a thumb drive and load it into the desktop client. It’s way easier than booting up iTunes, and I can stream a lot of the new releases that I haven’t purchased yet. Also it scrobbles to last.fm flawlessly, which is important to me.

I have to deal with ads, but it’s a small price to pay for having a vast collection of decent-quality streaming music for free.

I’m interested in the conversation around the morality of Spotify as it pertains to compensating artists. I know it’s not the best solution for lesser known artists, yet at the same time can expose them to a much wider audience than anything short of paid advertising could achieve. What do you think? I’d love to hear what my thoughtful and intelligent readers think!

What are your thoughts and experiences with Spotify? If you’re a subscriber, does the arbitrarily shifting library bother you at all? Do you use the program socially or simply as an internet radio? The app is truly robust and offers a wealth of tools beyond mere listening, and I’m curious about how everyone uses it.

I love talking and sharing about music, obviously. I use the built-in messenger every day, trading and recommending tracks with several friends. I try to maximize my experience, using everything the service offers, including collaborative playlists. If you’re interested in talking, trading tunes, or making a playlist with me, please follow and say hello!

I wanted a decent image on this post, so here’s my Spotify avatar, my reflection in the window of Vertigo Music:

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Kendrick Lamar – The Blacker The Berry

/ David James / Leave a comment

Kendrick Lamar is back and pulling absolutely no fucking punches.

Marching on an over-driven martial drumbeat, the new single from my favorite rapper stomps directly into your ears from the get go. After the scene’s set, Kendrick enters, all righteous anger and heavy swagger. This is hard talk, with a sudden shot to the gut before the outro rolls on a funk groove groove.

If this doesn’t get your blood pumping, raise the hair on your neck, I don’t know what will. This song hits the post-Michael Brown, post-I can’t breathe violent American zeitgeist harder than anything I’ve yet experienced. These lyrics will be analyzed for weeks going forward.

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I just want to get this out to all my music friends as soon as possible. Thanks to my friend Lou for the tip-off! Amazing surprise, coming home from work to find this. I can’t wait to hear what he brings us next. good kid, m.A.A.d. City is one of the best albums of the past couple decades. Can he top it?

Best Music Of 2014: Honorable Mention

/ David James / 9 Comments

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Welcome to Part 1 of the Best Of 2014. Part 2, the very best albums of the year, can be found here: The Best Music of 2014

For my official Best Of 2014 list, I wanted to be concise and honest, brutally direct. I trimmed the full list to just 14 albums that affected me in some grand fashion. This did not leave much room for the most of the amazing music I heard last year, became addicted to, and still listen to today. So, instead of making some sprawling list, I’ve crafted a full breakdown of my “Honorable Mention” albums of 2014. The music here is astounding, through and through. I just happened to love a handful of music even more than this. That list is coming soon.

I’ve included one song from each album, choosing a music video when available, and audio-only tracks for the rest. Click play and listen to these, especially if you’re totally unfamiliar. This is how new favorites are born!

Please let me know in the comments what albums you feel I may have missed, or share how you feel about what is here. I’d love the feedback.

Albums are listed by artist and title, with the record label below.

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Brian Eno’s Windows 95 startup sound, slowed down 23x

/ David James / Leave a comment

Oh wow. This is suddenly wonderful.

Today at work, the Mac OS startup sound was mentioned, and I offered that I always liked the original Windows 95 sound, created by Brian Eno. Besides; I associate that sound more with Wall-E than my office computer. It’s true; the godfather of ambient music has been in more ears than even the biggest pop stars. Searching youtube for the clip, however, brought me this little treasure.

I hope you’ve already hit play.

There’s really nothing much to say about this other than: listen to the massive difference that a simple, yet drastic change of tempo can to do a song. Suddenly we’re in echoing-angel, gossamer synth territory, and it feels great.

I hope some of my friends see this and get the same kick that I did.

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에프엑스 – Red Light music video

/ David James / 5 Comments

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I’m new to k-pop but I’ve often enjoyed what little I have heard in the past, far more than American counterparts in the sugary pop game. Other than Taylor Swift, there’s nothing currently on Top 40 radio that I’m remotely interested in. I like to hear pop that crackles with audacity.

This brings me to the earworm-worthy tune below: Red Light, the first song I heard by Korean pop stars 에프엑스 – aka f(x).

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Seashore (DJ Sprinkles Ambient Ballroom)

/ David James / 1 Comment

DJ Sprinkles

“It’s so easy to be confused.”

DJ Sprinkles (Terre Thaemlitz) has made it a mission to reclaim house music from the blandly hedonistic masses. As we’re reminded on the opening to 2009’s insanely perfect Midtown 120 Blues, “the house nation likes to pretend clubs are an oasis from suffering; but suffering is in here, with us.” His (Terre is “she” and Sprinkles is “he”) dreamlike house undulations evoke a distinct melancholy while oozing comfort and acceptance.

This track is a beating heart at the center of what people mean when they say emotional dance music. It can destroy anyone who’s paying attention, but it’s also incredibly addictive, a spiked dopamine drip at the center of my nervous system for 12 consecutive minutes.

Listen here:

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CFCF – You Hear Colours [incredible video]

/ David James / Leave a comment

“This seems really poppy/upbeat for you. Of course I’m always imagining you listening to weird post breakbeat Croatian footwork jazz with Russian metal and Japanese house influences”

The above works were spoken to me by a friend as I shared this fantastic video for an old CFCF track.

While the artist has evolved into something far more weirdly specific and perfect for my tastes (see his last album and Night Bus mixes, which have obviously influenced my own mixtapes), this is the song that started it all. I was immediately hooked and never looked back.

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I don’t really have anything else to say. Ed said it best. Enjoy!