So, as I continue my encoding adventures (encoding my music collection on computer), I come to the F section.
When I got to Frankie Goes To Hollywood, I was having huge 80's flashbacks. There's something about the sweep of it and the paranoia over Cold War and nuclear armageddon that brought back the air of that time. It was all around us, and even in my totally oblivious way, I was aware of it. I've become so much more aware of and interested in politics like I never was back then - and I think a lot about how I could be so unaware back then of so many things.
Part of the encoding process for me involves adding it to my discogs collection ( http://www.discogs.com/user/dj_muse ) and it's a great source of information and amusement for me. This time around, I realized that some of the people from Art of Noise were involved with the sound of FGTH. They're incredibly talented musicians who have also done soundtracks and classical compositions. They have a knack for creating a sweeping mood and can do a mean string section arrangement. "The Power of Love" is this ridiculously gorgeous, over-the-top ballad that totally captured my heart as a barely-old-enough-to-drink girl (imagine, back in the stone ages). Music has such a power to transport you back to a certain time, especially when you put it in a sort of time capsule and bring it out again years later like this. Listening now reminds me I want to do some mixes that are more about the music composition than actual beatmatching skills - I'll try to get them up next week or the week after (when I'll be off from the Cantab duties for two weeks in a row). Maybe I'll make a goal now to do a mix due each Wednesday I'm off - yeah, that's it.
Need to redesign my web page to show an easily accessible link to my blog. The web page itself is djmuse.com in case you haven't been.
Anyone want to do some pictures for me? I suck at photography and would love some newer pictures for the site.
Other random enjoyable stuff in this section of my collection: Folk Implosion's "One Part Lullaby" (one of the guys from Dinosaur Jr. and Sebadoh in this early 2000's project), Fluke (specifically the "Puppy" album from this decade with the gorgeous "Blue Skies" which goes directly into my DJ laptop), and some of the Four Tet stuff.
So what's up with y'all?
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
Digital to digital via analog...
...so I've been encoding my music collection to my studio computer.
This project seems to be neverending, but that's fine by me. These days, I'm encoding CDs, having decided to embark on the project of putting "all" my music on computer. Since the records are going to take the longest, I've decided to dedicate myself to that after I've tackled the compact discs first. Digital to digital, but I'm incorporating the analog step of trying to listen to as much of it as I can - especially in the case of things I don't remember very well.
As you can imagine, it takes a lot of time.
I've got a lot of time to put into my studio work, so I'm working through it. Recently, I finished installing all the shelves for CDs, and I've organized (at least) the artist CDs alphabetically. When I say "artist" I mean releases from an artist as opposed to compilation, remix, and mix CDs. For my purposes, the classical collection (which is very small in comparison) and the soundtracks are also in "other" and remain unorganized on another set of shelves across the room. Each day, I take a stack of CDs and put them on the worktable next to the computer and dig in (or continue on the existing pile, depending). I'm up to the E's now so there's a huge pile of Erasure music. I already made it through the even larger selection of Depeche Mode discs - is anyone seeing a pattern here?
Actually, I got out of the habit of buying Erasure's stuff a while ago, but you can see how I started at the end of the 80's with them and was going strong in the 90's. Vince Clarke founded Depeche Mode, and their earliest synth sound bears his strong imprint. He's also got a sense of melody and a profound romanticism in his lyrics (which he shares credit for with Andy Bell). There's always a place in my heart for their music, and I'm reminded what appealed to me in the first place.
I'll always have enough of the romantic left in me to appreciate something like:
"Siren Song"
Ever faithful I endure
To listen for the sound of the siren song
Ragged whispers of imprisoned sisters
Cutting through real life drawing me nearer
The colors of the pure in soul
Like water shall fill the cloudless sky
Try to feel the splendor of it all
Embrace the honesty of nightfall
Try to feel the anguish of it all
Wrap yourself up
In every facet of emotion
Hearts that cry diamond tears
Spirits that walk for a thousand years
Hear them calling on that darkest morning
Pulling me under my thoughts disappear
Can you feel love
Can you feel joy
Can you feel pain
Yes, I can still feel those lyrics, and I'm not ashamed to say so. It's nice to have that place, even if sometimes I have to really look inside to find it again.
This project seems to be neverending, but that's fine by me. These days, I'm encoding CDs, having decided to embark on the project of putting "all" my music on computer. Since the records are going to take the longest, I've decided to dedicate myself to that after I've tackled the compact discs first. Digital to digital, but I'm incorporating the analog step of trying to listen to as much of it as I can - especially in the case of things I don't remember very well.
As you can imagine, it takes a lot of time.
I've got a lot of time to put into my studio work, so I'm working through it. Recently, I finished installing all the shelves for CDs, and I've organized (at least) the artist CDs alphabetically. When I say "artist" I mean releases from an artist as opposed to compilation, remix, and mix CDs. For my purposes, the classical collection (which is very small in comparison) and the soundtracks are also in "other" and remain unorganized on another set of shelves across the room. Each day, I take a stack of CDs and put them on the worktable next to the computer and dig in (or continue on the existing pile, depending). I'm up to the E's now so there's a huge pile of Erasure music. I already made it through the even larger selection of Depeche Mode discs - is anyone seeing a pattern here?
Actually, I got out of the habit of buying Erasure's stuff a while ago, but you can see how I started at the end of the 80's with them and was going strong in the 90's. Vince Clarke founded Depeche Mode, and their earliest synth sound bears his strong imprint. He's also got a sense of melody and a profound romanticism in his lyrics (which he shares credit for with Andy Bell). There's always a place in my heart for their music, and I'm reminded what appealed to me in the first place.
I'll always have enough of the romantic left in me to appreciate something like:
"Siren Song"
Ever faithful I endure
To listen for the sound of the siren song
Ragged whispers of imprisoned sisters
Cutting through real life drawing me nearer
The colors of the pure in soul
Like water shall fill the cloudless sky
Try to feel the splendor of it all
Embrace the honesty of nightfall
Try to feel the anguish of it all
Wrap yourself up
In every facet of emotion
Hearts that cry diamond tears
Spirits that walk for a thousand years
Hear them calling on that darkest morning
Pulling me under my thoughts disappear
Can you feel love
Can you feel joy
Can you feel pain
Yes, I can still feel those lyrics, and I'm not ashamed to say so. It's nice to have that place, even if sometimes I have to really look inside to find it again.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
This is where the title goes...
...and this is the body.
Yes, it's me. I should be a bit leery of promising to "update more often" I suppose. Sheesh, it's a trip down memory lane to look back at some of those entries, but it's nice to be back. You know it's been a while when you have to do a "legacy" login and actually associate your blog with a google account that you've had for a while now. Kind of amusing.
So, it's me. Hi. I'm DJ Muse, and these days I'm doing the weekly thing at the Boston Poetry Slam at the Cantab Lounge in Cambridge, MA. Check out the link for all the pertinent details and such.
Posting here is a part of getting my musical side moving again. I've been doing the DJ thing at the Cantab for over a year now (damn, how time flies), and it's an interesting venue for my musical inclinations. Since I'm also a sometime poet and writer, I'm seeing creative outlets complement each other. Since I'm a huge slacker, I'm at least getting the musical side worked out every week (I play music before the slam and between the poets on the open mic and also run sound).
These days I've got the studio in my house. It's now equipped with the turntables, CD decks, computers (mac and PC, how geeky is that), mixers (DJ and Alesis MultiMix16) and other assorted goodies. I've gotten really comfortable with Apple computers since my days at the New England Institute of Art (NEIA) and I really can tell my preference when I'm "forced" to use the PC. It's old, loud and has all those PC quirks that have me using it mostly to remove old music and projects from it when I need them.
One of my projects is encoding all my music on my studio machine (the Mac Pro). For the Cantab gig I'm running Traktor Scratch which I crossgraded from Final Scratch (don't get me started on Stanton's whole clusterfuck with the way they abandoned their software, please) on a PowerBook. I've got an external hard drive where I'm storing things I think I might use in different types of playing out gigs, and I'm going to start integrating it into my weekly gear that I bring to the Cantab. The other hardware for the Cantab gig includes a Stanton M.505 DJ Mixer (I bring the MultiMix if we're doing any events that require more than one or two mics), Stanton C.314 CD player, a Bose L-1 PA system and some assorted mics. The Cantab's venue is in the cellar, and there's a bar band that plays upstairs who usually start right about the time the feature's about to go on (after the open). I've tried a few mics before finding one that seems to record the poet well without getting a lot of bass bleedthrough from upstairs. The tradeoff is that they have to get close to the mic, so it's not as good for the open when the poets have varying degrees of success with remembering to get close to the mic. Since I'm usually not recording the open, I use a different, more forgiving mic for that. Think your basic SM-58.
So, that's where I'm at these days. What about you? Bueller? Bueller?
Also FYI - I've got a LiveJournal, too. It's pretty much how I communicate with a lot of online friends. If I know you I'll friend you, if not, you still get some stuff. Feel free to check it out.
Yes, it's me. I should be a bit leery of promising to "update more often" I suppose. Sheesh, it's a trip down memory lane to look back at some of those entries, but it's nice to be back. You know it's been a while when you have to do a "legacy" login and actually associate your blog with a google account that you've had for a while now. Kind of amusing.
So, it's me. Hi. I'm DJ Muse, and these days I'm doing the weekly thing at the Boston Poetry Slam at the Cantab Lounge in Cambridge, MA. Check out the link for all the pertinent details and such.
Posting here is a part of getting my musical side moving again. I've been doing the DJ thing at the Cantab for over a year now (damn, how time flies), and it's an interesting venue for my musical inclinations. Since I'm also a sometime poet and writer, I'm seeing creative outlets complement each other. Since I'm a huge slacker, I'm at least getting the musical side worked out every week (I play music before the slam and between the poets on the open mic and also run sound).
These days I've got the studio in my house. It's now equipped with the turntables, CD decks, computers (mac and PC, how geeky is that), mixers (DJ and Alesis MultiMix16) and other assorted goodies. I've gotten really comfortable with Apple computers since my days at the New England Institute of Art (NEIA) and I really can tell my preference when I'm "forced" to use the PC. It's old, loud and has all those PC quirks that have me using it mostly to remove old music and projects from it when I need them.
One of my projects is encoding all my music on my studio machine (the Mac Pro). For the Cantab gig I'm running Traktor Scratch which I crossgraded from Final Scratch (don't get me started on Stanton's whole clusterfuck with the way they abandoned their software, please) on a PowerBook. I've got an external hard drive where I'm storing things I think I might use in different types of playing out gigs, and I'm going to start integrating it into my weekly gear that I bring to the Cantab. The other hardware for the Cantab gig includes a Stanton M.505 DJ Mixer (I bring the MultiMix if we're doing any events that require more than one or two mics), Stanton C.314 CD player, a Bose L-1 PA system and some assorted mics. The Cantab's venue is in the cellar, and there's a bar band that plays upstairs who usually start right about the time the feature's about to go on (after the open). I've tried a few mics before finding one that seems to record the poet well without getting a lot of bass bleedthrough from upstairs. The tradeoff is that they have to get close to the mic, so it's not as good for the open when the poets have varying degrees of success with remembering to get close to the mic. Since I'm usually not recording the open, I use a different, more forgiving mic for that. Think your basic SM-58.
So, that's where I'm at these days. What about you? Bueller? Bueller?
Also FYI - I've got a LiveJournal, too. It's pretty much how I communicate with a lot of online friends. If I know you I'll friend you, if not, you still get some stuff. Feel free to check it out.
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