musicality, hardly about music

hey, hi, howdy, hello

there’s hardly any chance that i could be enjoying this summer more.

it consists of reading, listening, watching, thinking, working (in moderation), and more thinking.

I’ve learnt a lot about random things. figured out just how much love i loudspeakers and hifi equipment – and how much more i love television.

so, here’s just a run down of some things i’ve had the chance to enjoy. music and other

Burn Notice

There is no greater badass than Michael Westen. Seriously, there can be no bigger badass than that dude. And the character is played perfectly by Jeffrey Donovan. I know this show ain’t high drama but it’s an amazingly executed show. The show has a very particular visual style that has matured and is gorgeously produced this season. There are hiccups with the HD broadcast but they aren’t so distracting that you’d be pulled away from the magic of our super spy in his quest to help himself but, first, help others. Honestly, early on this show was just a passing distraction – it was visually appealing but the storyline wasn’t pulling it’s weight in the first half season. It’s turned into this smart and wry tale about a man that really is trying to do the best he can in some very strange situations. It’s worth checking out and, I’d say, getting hooked.

Hulu (here) the latest 5 episodes – new ones show up with a week’s delay -

Ha Ha Tonka’s Novel Sounds of the Noveau South

Southern Rock. It’s something. This album and this band are news to me. I’d heard of them in passing – with a Kings of Leon reference in tow and passed on listening to them. Forgive me, I loved Kings of Leon way back when but the wheels came off that wagon a while back (like what happened to Oasis post-Morning Glory) . This is an album that has almost everything I look for in pop music – smart songwriting, well-done vocals, and beautiful production quality. It might run low, as a whole, on innovation but “Hold My Feet to the Fire” in itself makes up for that lacking in the any of the other songs.

Bluray

I think fidelity to recordings is the most important thing when presenting any media – a movie, a song, or a television series. Bluray is as close as we are to getting absolute fidelity in AV terms. Sure, there’s better resolution stuff that will come – oh, I’ll tell you easily that I know all too well the limitations of bluray – but it’s the best we’ve got right now. And, boy, is it something. It provides the best sound out there  - in fact, what little it lacks in it’s capacity far as video quality is concerned it more than makes up for in it’s capacity to provide near-perfect information when encoded correctly.

I’m not championing running out and buying an expensive system – in this economy I’d be a douchebag to suggest that (disclosure: I haven’t made any hi-fi related investment for myself recently either). I’m saying that when you get a chance go and grab a well priced player – and don’t buy discs right now, go get a Netflix subscription if you don’t have one. Disc prices will come down and I’m going to recommend waiting the year or two to start amassing a size-able collection. However, it’s easy to see that player prices are going to plateau because we’re already hitting remarkably low prices – the tech in more expensive players is better but it’ll become available at a better price point soon enough. So, invest in a cheap player for now and pass it on in a few years – it’ll definitely keep for two years if you buy anything slightly above the lowest end of the market

Here are two very capable players around the $200 price point on amazon: Samsung BDP-1500 and Panasonic DMP-60.  Here’s an LG that gives you the ability to stream Netflix titles that are available to watch instantly – a slightly higher price point but still well under $300 – LG BD370.  Oh, and for those that may dare and have the accompanying equipment to really use such a player, I’d say get the Denon DVD-3800BDCI (it is surely in a higher price range and not for those faint of heart in hifi matters) – it’s Denon’s flgaship and is most definitely prosumer King of Bluray Players right now (also, I’m in love with this machine – it performs as well as something three times as expensive far as audio quality is concerned. It’s way more than a Bluray player – it’s a bluray/cd/dvd/dvd-audio player that can really do it all exceptionally well.)

You don’t even have to go out and buy an HDTV – you can enjoy the upscaling of DVDs (that almost all players now do in a competent, if not always remarkable, manner) and enjoy bluray discs sized to fit your resolution since players will generally play nice with non full-hd tv’s through HDMI, RCA, or Component video connections.

Hell, I’d say wait till christmas and get a small HDTV/Monitor to boot (not even necessarily something 1080P) – size really isn’t everything and, in all honesty, having the utility of hooking up something around 24 inches to use as a laptop/computer monitor and as a reasonably sized TV is just better sense than investing in tech that might not be worth the investment since new standards in display technology are around the corner (well, post-recession corner, anyhow).

When, and if, you do take the leap, I’d suggest you check out a few discs to see the magic of Bluray – “Wall-E”, “Casablanca” (yes – that Casablanca with Bogie and Ingrid Bergman), “Mad Men: Season 2,” and “Spiderman.”

there are other things that have kept me busy – one has been an obsessive pen-and-paper approach to designing a useful interface for an online publication. more on that, and other stuff, later.

for now – enjoy,

tanmay

musicality, oh me. oh my. the Photo Album

howdy,

i’m making a strange habit of saying howdy. it’s been going for a while. strange and, uh, interesting – in-ter-est-ing, pronounced incorrectly for effect.

haha, i need better things to do. i actually do have a lot of stuff to do. anyhow.

sort of listening to Death Cab for Cutie’s the Photo Album for the first time in about five or six months. it’s odd and amazing. it’s a distinct moment in the DCfC discography. it’s wonderful. give it a whirl as i’m sure you’ve got access.

anyhow. really just been thinking about overhauling that good ol’ reccommended listening page. rating more albums – listening to more albums.

this post serves no real purpose.

go listen to the photo album.

love, tanmay

musicality and this thing called pop music

howdy,

(good ol’ luckies. i miss them lucky strikes. i miss smoking.)

oh. jesus. i’m listening to songs with the dude from Hanson singing. haha

this album a friend told me to get a while back that i’d let just sit on my hdd till now – Tinted Windows self-titled. they’re a supergroup as it were – that’s what a lot of people describe them as and it’s fair enough.

they’re a pop supergroup. from what i know (and i could be wrong) it’s the dude from Hanson singing, the bassist from Fountains of Wayne, the drummer from Cheap Trick, and James Iha from the Smashing Pumpkins.

it’s a nice, riffy/catchy album. it will not change your life. but you’ll find a few songs that you’ll enjoy thoroughly enough to keep them in your mind for particular pop-heavy listening sessions.

worth a listen and you’ll probably find yourself hooked enough to listen to a few of these songs on repeat.

cover art-ness

and another thing.

a wonderful set of songs from texas. it’s an easy album to enjoy for the stories that are told and the simple arrangements. it’s New Songs for the Old Frontier Volume I by Ronnie Fauss. the production is clear-cut and clean, allowing the simple arrangements to come through without any debris.

it’s streaming on over @
http://newsongsfortheoldfrontier.com/

nice cover art too. there must be a story attached. go look, report back.

love & such,
tanmay

Musicality, never before in CA.

Howdy,

Musicality – for the first time in CA.

Summer is good. Strange to be back in the bay area.

love, tanmay

musicality, homesick, home – summer

howdy there.

(i miss school, fk. fk, i miss school.)

presently, i am
> watching animal house
> writing this
> reading a wonderful post on Edge by Lee Smolin, it’s old and i think i’ve read it before. but, hey, mostly reading is re-reading far as i am concerned. here it is, in case you’re wondering:
http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/smolin03/smolin03_index.html
> contemplating something i want to write. this stood out on looking it over.
“when everyday he thought of it, he had a pencil in his hand and he smiled to stop for a moment; everytime, he said a prayer while smiling.”
it’s mostly about science. hell… it is about science.

anyhow. music, yeah.

musicality an’ all.

record you should check out. (here anyone that has meandered over to musicality before will laugh for how obvious this is going to come off as)

yes, of course.

Wilco (The Album)
Wilco
Nonesuch, 2009
rating: 8.5/10

it’s good. it’s groovy. it’s beautiful. it’s got freakin awesome cover art. it’s markedly a wilco album. it’s pop music, too. it’s about how well a band can work together.

two of my favorite bands seem to be at very similar places in their careers. that’d be Wilco & Spoon. they have a sound – there is a Wilco sound and a Spoon sound. it has to do with the way they arrange their performance and the way they produce their records.

Wilco’s last was about plain and simple to the point recordings – here they’ve put in some of that good ol’ knack they’ve got for recording an album with overdubs.

remember YHF and A Ghost? course ya do. well, you’re going to see easily where moments here derive from that pair. Summerteeth can also be heard easily in a lot of these songs. This is, in fact, Wilco. That’s the easiest thing I can say about this record. It’s the best thing I can say, too – and the clearest. I didn’t mean to leave out the earliest records – that jangle that defines their sound at the very core (that and mr. tweedy’s voice and delicate delivery), in fact, does exist here as everywhere else in their discography.

Do you like Wilco? Well, then you’ll like this record.

I won’t get into what songs you’d want to hear the most because I don’t want to talk about ‘em. Just listen.

for now @ http://www.wilcoworld.net/records/disco.php

soon @ at an independent record store near you.

much love, yes.

tanmay

Musicality, Many Mornings Up All Night

hi, allo

it goes – i’ve been awake for days. or a day and some. gives you time to listen.

and here are things you should hear.

four records to listen to before april begins.

Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Better than It’s Never Been Like That. I kind of really dug It’s Never Been and I have to say stuff happens here that blows it out of the water. It’s a go at their earlier style on United and the mature way they developed as they got popular.
MUSICALITY CUT – Lisztomania, Girlfriend, Rome

John Vanderslice – Romanian Names
It’s no secret that I’m a JV fan. This is a beautiful record. It excels in keeping things simple – in that sense it’s the latter half of the record that succeeds more than the top half. JV & Scott Solter have developed a keen sense for what a JV record should sound like over the last few records. Textures come and go on this record and provide a nice grounding for the simply structured songs on here. Definitely grows on you, as well, so I feel like you should give it a few listens before deciding how you feel about the record as a whole.
MUSICALITY CUT - C & O Canal, Romanian Names

Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career
There’s something about the way they arrange their songs that really makes this album work. Let’s Get Out of This Country developed their mature style – setting them apart from big brother Belle & Sebastian. The first track really does it for me, but that isn’t to discount the quality of the rest of the album. It’s a great play and it’s immediate. There’s a bunch of detail and subtlety that comes through on repeated listens.
MUSICALITY CUT – French Navy, My Maudlin Career, The Sweetest Thing

Death – …For the Whole World To See
Sometimes the simplest thing is all you need. A clean sentence or just a simple rock and roll record. Something that works on the first play and goes on working play after play. Something that doesn’t necessarily ask for deeper listening as much as it asks for you to breathe it in with time. Take it in over some time just to enjoy the satisfaction – don’t make it passive. The only trouble with this record, it’s easy to overlook how well it works because it only plays about 25 minutes.
MUSICALITY CUT – Let the World Turn, Keep on Knocking

enjoy your sunday. hope you’re well and you’re having a good time.

love, tanmay

Musicality, Always Nice to Come Home

hi, hello

it’s always nice to come home. there’s a lot of reasons. we mostly lounge around at home. had three days of not going outside at all. it’s all kind of my bliss.

and can’t look over the fact that it allows for time with music. new and old. there’s things i reach for, everytime i’m alone. here’s some records  i focused on, this time around alone at home. sort of in order of how much they were played.

Spoon – Gimme Fiction

Julie  Doiron – I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day

Death Cab for Cutie – We Have the Facts and We’re Voting Yes

The Plastics – Welcome Back

Nada Surf – The Weight Is A Gift

Oasis – Definitely Maybe

Julie Doiron – Woke Myself Up

Sufjan Stevens – Illinois

Jim White – Transnormal Skipperoo

M. Ward – Hold Time

Mount Eerie – Lost Wisdom

Wilco – Summer Teeth

sort of fallen in love with “Summer Teeth” but waiting to get back to school so I can sit and listen to it at my desk. i’m trying to get a handle on all of the Wilco stuff that i’ve let stay in the background.

can’t wait for the next wilco cd.

oh and Death Cab EP in April. more to look forward to.

enjoy, tanmay

Musicality, DEMOCRATS!!!!

hi, hello

screenshot of nyt right when it was called for obama

OBAMA!

America endures. We persist.

“America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves — if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment.

This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.

Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America.”
- excerpt from president-elect obama’s acceptance speech

he gave the right speech. so did mccain.

this is a new era for america. we will repair our nation.

love, tanmay

Musicality and You & Me

hey,

(jon hamm is a god amongst men. don draper is badass. stop working! go watch mad men.)

so… being up all the time has an upside. i get to sit and listen to wonderfully, incredible vast amounts of music.

there’s this show that i love that you might love, tis called Mad Men.

there’s this new album by the Walkmen, You & Me (Gigantic, 2008). there’s this song called “Canadian Girl” that I think should be retitled “(Don Draper’s Song For) Canadian Girl.”

this record is a pleasure to listen to and it’s a much stronger show than the Walkmen’s last two outings. it might even be better than their debut. i like it better than their debut a day after listening to it for the first time.

the band’s fascination with the vintage is clear on this record. it’s always been clear, in case you haven’t heard their records before. but the textures on this record are glazed in a particular way that i really enjoy – it’s the sound of something done lo-fi the right way. it’s a terribly well produced album.

as an album, the songs come together a lot better than their last two efforts. sonically this is immediately pleasing. the flourishes of any odd instrumentation work perfectly. the texture of Hamilton Leithauser’s voice has always been particular and his voice shines on this record – yes, he does sound like a drunker Bob Dylan but there is something special about his delivery that makes him more than a dylan sound-alike.

get it. somehow.

<hypem> click, scroll, click play, listen.

love, tanmay

Musicality, Julie Doiron + Mount Eerie

hello, hi

just an update. just a nod.

check out this spectacular new record by Mount Eerie featuring Julie Doiron (vocals) & Fred Squire (guitars).

mount eerie featuring julie doiron & fred squire, lost wisdom

if you have never before had a chance to listen to phil elverum, as mount eerie or the microphones, then you should definitely check this record. if you’d had the pleasure, you’ll enjoy this record. it’s delicate and quiet. it doesn’t have patches of noise that play with the other lo-fi sounds. it is clean and works to put the male (phil) and female (julie) voices at the fore. it’s a beautiful record.

here’s a pdf from phil elverum’s record label about the record.

< http://pwelverumandsun.com/images/ELV019onesheet_southern.pdf >

take a look. get it at amazon or wherever you can.

here’s a hypem search for you: <go hypem>

scroll down on the hypem search to listen to a few picks from the record. i suggest the title track, “Lost Wisdom.” it’s beautiful and satiating in a way music can ever so often become but isn’t often enough.

love, tanmay