I just realized the last and only time I made a quarterly music post was back in May of 2008. That’s not so quarterly.

I’ve been on a major of Montreal kick for the last few months:

Skeletal Lamping — of Montreal

Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? — of Montreal

Satanic Panic in the Attic — of Montreal

Sunlandic Twins — of Montreal

And I know it’s lame to post albums from the same group to represent a lengthy amount of time, so here are a few other great albums to make up for that just in case of Montreal isn’t for you:

In Rainbows — Radiohead

Get Away From Me — Nellie McKay

Moving Pictures — Rush

What’s Going On — Marvin Gaye

Browsing old posts from a previous blog, I came across Michal Levy’s wonderful Giant Steps animation. And then I learned of a new film of Michal’s entitled One (though I’m a year late). I love the idea of visualizing music in terms of colors and shapes. His visual representation of Coltrane’s Giant Steps is amazing, and now I can say the same of his work on One.

Battles — Mirrored

The National — Boxer

Continue reading →

Every couple of months I find myself listening to a different core set of albums, usually 4-5 in constant rotation with others intermingled. I thought it would be interesting to post the albums that I’ve been listening to most during the last few months.

Babylon By Bus — Bob Marley & the Wailers

Grace — Jeff Buckley

Peeping Tom — Peeping Tom

Rockin’ the Suburbs — Ben Folds

The Rodeo Eroded — Tin Hat Trio

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And the previous rotation:

Survival — Bob Marley & the Wailers

Friendly Fire — Sean Lennon

Sky Blue Sky — Wilco

Mama’s Gun — Erykah Badu

Momento — Bebel Gilberto

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And tonight, I’ve been listening to several albums. One, vividly reminding me of a road-trip I took in college:

A Go Go — John Scofield

And two other great albums:

The Guitar Trio — Paco de Lucia, John McLaughlin & Al Di Meola

Miles in the Sky — Miles Davis

As for my impressions of each album. Does it even matter? I honestly wouldn’t know what to write about any of them. Music, like any other type of art, means vastly different things to every individual. I’ll let you decide for yourself what these albums mean to you.

And for where to get them, new albums are usually available cheapest from Amazon.com. But, whenever possible, I like to buy used from local CD stores or online at SecondSpin.com. Also, support the artists you love by attending local shows, they make more for their efforts in concert than they ever will selling CDs through major record labels (see: The Problem with Music). Now, go enjoy the music you love.

If you listen to an iPod, or any other MP3 player, and you’re still using the stock earbuds supplied in the original package, you’re missing out. There is far better audio quality to be had on the cheap.

Enter the Koss KSC-75 headphones. These wonderful sounding headphones rival the sound of those costing much, much more. They’re a bargain, really. Check out the Amazon reviews and see for yourself. For a mere $20 or so, coupled with your MP3 player, you too can be enjoying the sweet sounds of the music you love to a much higher degree.

I’ve had a mild interest in headphone systems for the last seven years, cutting my teeth in the world on the forums at HeadWize, and soon after, Head-Fi. Head-Fi now hosts the forums of choice for any type of headphone related discussions you could possibly imagine. I don’t spend much time there anymore because I’m too busy listening to so much great music. Really in to music? There are a great group of people discussing some very interesting music at Head-Fi.

My point in telling you all of this, is that I’ve listened to headphone systems costing many, many thousands of dollars, to the point where in my opinion, it gets ridiculous. And yes, I realize that you’re probably thinking that spending ANY extra money on headphones is ridiculous in itself. But, having listened to some wonderful music on this yummy equipment, the Koss KSC-75 headphones give you a nice introduction to what is possible for a really cheap price. Did you see that? REALLY CHEAP.

Try them out. If you’re not satisfied, you’ve only lost out on $20 — the cost of a few drinks, a night at the movies, a cheap dinner, a new-release at the store, two or three used CDs, a puppy from the local neighborhood kid whose dog just had puppies from the stray that impregnated her two months ago (they must have never watched The Price is Right) — okay, I think you get my point.