[rabite gets whacked!]

Speaking of the folks and the freaks, I picked up that new 4 cd package of The Trees Community you may have heard about recently. Now, it had me pretty worried; it's totally low budget, the liner notes are chock full of errors and bad photoshopping, plus it's very very Christian (none of the disguises Current 93 wears, but out and out preachy). But the music is really amazing. They just lifted instruments and styles from all over the world and mashed them all together in praise of Jesus, and it's fantastic in a surprisingly mature psych-folk manner.

[SplashBeats]

[Wall of Beef]

[SplashBeats]

It's noise Beach Boys if Brian Wilson was Japanese and grew up in the 1980s.

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[Focus]

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[chompers po pable]

listening to mountain goats get lonely. john darnielle is one of the best song writers i've ever heard. i like some of his more rough and energetic albums, where this one is more subdued and was probably recorded and mixed in a studio as opposed to a portable stereo's tape player in his living room; though it fits itself nicely.

[nocturnedelight]

I'm listening to the new Explosions in the Sky album.
It's the first album I've got by them (after already owning stuff by Mono, Godspeed, and Silver Mt. Zion), and I like it quite a lot. Currently, I like it more than any of the Mono I have, though, it could just be because it's fresh and also hitting the right spots that I'm currently feeling.


Independent shops and Temporary Residence should have an LE double CD set for all those that are interested. Though, you might want to email TR and ask them before ordering from them. It has a remix of each song, and they are fairly good from what I've heard thus far.
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[Wall of Beef]

[rabite gets whacked!]

If I was immensely, tragically bored by their first big album a couple years back, should I stay away from this one as well?

[Focus]

[Rud31]

Bad Astronaut's first two albums.
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[SplashBeats]

[rabite gets whacked!]

[Focus]

From hearing samples, I think this David Sylvian guy is going to be high up on my To Buy list.

Thanks!
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[rabite gets whacked!]

Just be aware that his post-blemish stuff (on the Samadhi Sound label, both solo and in his Nine Horses project) is quite different from his major label solo/Japan stuff. And in my mind, much better.

EDIT: And I forgot a big one. Karen Dalton only put out 2 albums of folk-blues-jazz covers (one of which was a secretly recorded jam session) back in the 70s, but they're both just incredible. She has the most weary, downtrodden voice I've ever heard. See if you can't find her cover of Katie Cruel, you'll see what I mean. She died homeless and addicted. Yee-haw!

[chompers po pable]

been listening to sunn o)))'s black one and hill/barr's shred earthship for the last couple of days.

shred earthship is one of a few albums that never leaves my ipod (TM).

[Wall of Beef]

[chompers po pable]

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[chompers po pable]

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[nocturnedelight]

[Wall of Beef]

In other Animal Collective member side project news, Avey Tare and his wife Kria Brekkan (from mum) have a record coming out. It has leaked, and all the songs are in reverse, and some songs are sped up.

They have performed I believe all of these songs live, and they are not in reverse. Everyone assumed it was some sort of trick for all those that download the album, but now Avey Tare has come out and said "This is how the album is intended. We arn't bummed, hope you arn't." He also refered to making the decision in December after seeing David Lynchs "Inland Empire"

People are really upset about it because they have been listening to the bootlegs and were expecting studio versions, but get studio versions with some wacky chipmunk vocals, and are in reverse. One song has all the lyrics removed.

Its still very possible that its all a hoax, but it has not prevented people from going in and correcting all the reverse/sped up audio. So both versions are out there.

I have only heard the version that Avey Tare says is official, and none of the bootlegs. So I only know that stuff, and personally I think its pretty rad. Should be interesting to see how this all turns out. Lots of AC fans are pissed.
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[Wall of Beef]

Fans of Comets on Fire, Lightning Bolt, Black Dice, Animal Collective, and things within those realms should check out: Racoo-oo-oon.

Sort of a blend of a lot of things from the bands listed above, I have been enjoying their album Cave of Spirits Forever. Check out some of their songs at their audio page.
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[rabite gets whacked!]

So rather than get behind on my yearly compiling like I do every december, I've decided to sort through music incrementally this year.

So here's some stuff I've enjoyed from the first two months of 2007. And I'd add Nadja's Thamogenesis to that mix also, if it weren't a single hour plus track.

[psiga]

I just bought a Turtle Beach USB sound card for my laptop. $26 from Amazon, free shipping.
http://www.amazon.com/TURTLE-BEACH-Audio-Advantage-Micro/dp/B0002ICGDY/

Anybody who is stuck using a laptop or computer with shitty, hissing sound chip should look into this. It plugged in and recognized on XP with no drivers, is capable of 24bit output, and has some built-in amplification.

One important warning: It is made for USB 2.0

If you use USB 1.0 then it will pop and click and so forth. But USB 2.0 has given me exceptionally clean audio with no problems at all.

I'm an audio snob; high bit-rate encoding, 24bit decoding, 64bit mastering filter. All of my stuff comes together to breathe more life into music than it'd have normally, so your mileage may vary -- but for me, my laptop is finally playing music that gives me goosebumps. This Turtle Beach USB bastard is exactly what I needed.

If you're on a desktop system with a beefy late-era Sound Blaster or the like, then this probably isn't worth your trouble. But if you've got a laptop which was made with the cheapest sound chip available, and have wondered how to make it better, this is the solution.
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[Rud31]

Interested in this product Psiga.
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[psiga]

I'm thinking it's about time to join head-fi forum and decide on some new headphones. Really grown accustomed to the way that the Koss KSC-75 sounds, and would like an upgrade on that. Would also prefer to avoid headbands or plugs, so I'm looking at clip-ons.

Might be getting a free pair of Bang & Olufsen A8 headphones though I've read that they're merely Phillips phones with B&O styling. Kinda interested in things from Audio-Technica. ATH-EM9? Maybe ATH-EC700?

I'm really drawn to the light clip-ons with no headband, since I've got the hair thing going on. But are $140 Audio-Technica headphones really $125 better than $15 KSC-75s?
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[psiga]

WHAT IS SPINNIN ON MY RECORD PLAYER:
I'm breaking out a bunch of wildly varied older songs to tweak my Ozone 3 settings for the new soundcard. From Mastodon to Snow Patrol, Rolling Stones to BT, Yoko Kanno to Sepultura. Korean idol pop, Lumines, one of Glitch's tracks that she shared with us.

Oh, and now I'm listening to some of the stuff that rabite put up. Thanks for that. Are any of your previous compilations still floating around? You clearly listen to many kinds of music that I'd be afraid to sort through the hard way in order to find some of the gems that you found.
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[SplashBeats]

[Hot Stott Bot]

Man psiga, why don't you just get some cans? Seriously, cans are just great! And there's a lot better selection in terms of high end products.

[parkbench]

Lesse. I've been revisiting my lovely post-rock recently, in the form of Dirty Three, Do Make Say Think, and Tristeza.

And, realizing I'd been neglecting the IDM section of my collection, put that genre on 'shuffle' on my ipod. Holy crap, I didn't even realize I had some of this stuff! I'll have to go dredge up the names later.

Otherwise, I've been laying low ever since I got a letter from my ISP for a-downloading too much :(. I'll get back into it in a little while.
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metafilter vs. youtube comments

[rabite gets whacked!]

[SplashBeats]

I find my Grados rather wonderful, and I think their bass response is the best thing about them. Maybe yours are broken?

I'm told you can buy different kinds of tips for those Shure phones, to make them easier to keep into your ear.

[Hot Stott Bot]

I am impressed. So far this is the most drama free headphone discussion on IC/SB yet!

[rabite gets whacked!]

Oh, make no mistake, I really love my Grados (SR125s), and the bass is fine, just not up to the bar set by the treble. If they were as comfortable as my Senns they'd definitely be my primary use cans, cause I think they present a more interesting sound than the workhorse representation of the HD590s.

The other thing about Shures (and Etys, too) though, is that when they're isolating they're severely isolating, and I'd never consider them for casual or moving use. They're great alone in a room, or on an airplane, or sitting and reading in the park, but they make your effectively deaf to the outside world and I wouldn't want that while walking down the street, and my girlfriend doesn't appreciate having to wave her arms and stamp her feet to get my attention.

I should look into different Shure tips; none of the various ones that came with the phones have helped me. I have weird ears, I think, and ear wax problems. I really need to do some research into dewaxification, seriously.

[psiga]

Plugs tend to have really nice range and really small soundstage. I've heard that even the best canalphones have small soundstages compared to fuller headphones.

I once got some $100 canalphones which had bass that sounded like thunder. Didn't FEEL like thunder, but it was probably the best reproduction of bass I'd ever heard from a personal unit of anything. It fucked up the position and size of everything totally, though. Sad.

Tried some Senn HD595s once. Either they were broken or shit. Just not acceptable.

Been considering the Grado SR125s, I'll admit! If I got regular cans, I'd probably jump on those.

Rabite! Hey, Rabite!
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[Rud31]

I can offer no defense of this song
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[Wall of Beef]

Check out this video for the song "Atlas" by the band Battles. The song rips, and the video is pretty slick.

Battles is a group composed of John Stanier (ex-Helmet/Tomahwak drummer), Ian Williams (ex-Don Caballero guitarist) , Dave Konopka (ex-Lynx guitarist), and Tyondai Braxton (son of Avantgarde Jazz musician Anthony Braxton).
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