Beers and weekend music

[Davey]

Haven't had a chance to listen much lately so there's a few things that I'd like to spend some more time with. That new Decemberists is really sounding good. Love "The Bagman's Gambit", but I just don't know the whole disc very well yet. Gonna be fun to gradually get to know it. Also in the same boat with the new British Sea Power. Managed to listen to parts of it and it is a lot different, but there's some very good music there. Man is it mellow, though. Finally snagged a copy of the 4-disc Joy Division box just recently but haven't even read the whole book yet that comes with it, let alone listened to all the discs, although I'm already very familiar with Unknown Pleasures and Closer. Gonna be a lot of fun exploring that one. And some recent mathy rock from an Austrian band called Valina, recorded by Steve Albini, that might make it onto CRS, but I'm thinking that I also may want to go for more mass appeal. And tons of new stuff keeps coming in from all my buddies here, but so far it's only been trickling through my player. No fair!

And I think there's only one or two bottles of Beck's in the fridge so I gotta stop by the store on the way home to fill my prescription for hoppy malt. Any suggestions? They've got Sam Adams 12-packs on sale for $9.99 at the big label grocery store so I may just grab one of those. But something more exotic from the indie store sure would taste good. What do you have on deck for soothing the beast?

[ForeverAutumn]

I'm nursing a bad cold and have pumped my veins full of cold meds so, no alcohol for me this weekend.

Musically, I'll be listening to lots of Al Stewart this weekend as I prepare to see him live on May 5.

I may try to pick up the new British Sea Power and maybe the new Jann Arden this weekend. I've decided that The Killers deserve a spin this weekend since it's been about a month since their last spin. I'm also was interested in hearing what Kasabian has to offer, so they will be under investigation over the next day or two to see whether they are worthy of a purchase.

I have a collection of disks recently received from my friend Elf Pee and am also hoping to give them a spin. Hmmmm. I may be hard pressed to find all of that listening time. But I'll do my best.

[Swish]

I always keep a variety of beer at my house, and tonight is no exception. I have Amstel Light for those who want light beer, Corona, Blue Moon Belgian White, Guinness Stout, Brooklyn Brewery Chocalate Stout, Heineken, Yuengling Lager, Spatten, Stoudt's Pale Ale, and I think one or two more but I can't remember what else. Oh, I still have some Sam Adams Winter Lager that I hope someone will finish off (I didn't like the '04 batch), and some Victory HopDevil. I also have a wet bar that's pretty well stocked with booze and wine, and I'll be mixing some Mango Tango and Apple Martinis for the ladies. I'll stick with beer, but by the end o' the night I'll prolly be forced to sip some Johnny Walker green label scotch or something like that.

As for music, I don't have a playlist or anything, but my carousel changer will have Earlimart, Snow Patrol, Les Savy Fav (both the Inches cd and the DVD) and Pinback to start. A few of the guys coming over play guitar, so I'm sure we'll be jamming some as well, and that's always a ton of fun, especially after the alcohol kicks in. We're gonna have us some fun tonight!

Swish Baby

[Slosh]

Oh, I still have some Sam Adams Winter Lager that I hope someone will finish off.

Yeah, me too. I really like the plain old Boston Lager but the wintery mix has been sitting in my fridge for months. Got me some St. Pauli Girl cooling down now.

As for music, I don't have a playlist or anything, but my carousel changer will have Earlimart, Snow Patrol, Les Savy Fav (both of the Inches cds) and Pinback to start. A few of the guys coming over play guitar, so I'm sure we'll be jamming some as well, and that's always a ton of fun, especially after the alcohol kicks in. We're gonna have us some fun tonight!

Both Inches CDs?
Good list ya got there 'cept I've yet to listen to any Snow Patrol.

That new Decemberists disc sounding really good. Love "The Bagman's Gambit", but I just don't know the whole disc very well yet.

How can you not know the whole disc very well at this point in time? It's only the best thing they've ever done (and that's really saying something).

NP: Sepultura - Roots (that'll get the blood pumping )

[nobody]

Just picked up the new John Doe, which I would say is easily his best solo work to date. It's a raggedy, mostly country affair that calls for some cheap American beer, which I will be going to pick up shortly.

[Ex Lion Tamer]

Haven't had a chance to listen much lately so there's a few things that I'd like to spend some more time with. That new Decemberists is really sounding good. Love "The Bagman's Gambit", but I just don't know the whole disc very well yet. Gonna be fun to gradually get to know it. Also in the same boat with the new British Sea Power. Managed to listen to parts of it and it is a lot different, but there's some very good music there. Man is it mellow, though. Finally snagged a copy of the 4-disc Joy Division box just recently but haven't even read the whole book yet that comes with it, let alone listened to all the discs, although I'm already very familiar with Unknown Pleasures and Closer. Gonna be a lot of fun exploring that one. And some recent mathy rock from an Austrian band called Valina, recorded by Steve Albini, that might make it onto CRS, but I'm thinking that I also may want to go for more mass appeal. And tons of new stuff keeps coming in from all my buddies here, but so far it's only been trickling through my player. No fair!

And I think there's only one or two bottles of Beck's in the fridge so I gotta stop by the store on the way home to fill my prescription for hoppy malt. Any suggestions? They've got Sam Adams 12-packs on sale for $9.99 at the big label grocery store so I may just grab one of those. But something more exotic from the indie store sure would taste good. What do you have on deck for soothing the beast?

Music: I've got the new BSP too and haven't given it more than a couple of distracted listens. Mellow seems to be a good descriptor. Hopefully once the weekend is don I'll have more to say. I picked up the triple-vinyl BLOC PARTY album at the same time. I've paid more attention to this album than I have to "Open Season", and it really is an attention grabber. High energy that may bear a closer resemblance to British Sea Power's first than does British Sea Power's second. Go figure. I'll also find some time for some older classics...not sure what though...

Beer: I have a few bottle's of Belle Geule (Quebec) and Staropramen and that's it, so a beer run is definitely in order.

Davey, I was late getting my tunes for CRSv? out but they are now officially en route.

[Davey]

How can you not know the whole disc very well at this point in time? It's only the best thing they've ever done (and that's really saying something).

Just haven't listened to much lately, but it's fun to have so much to look forward to. Kind of daunting too, like Suzy pointed out in her ADHD poll. That Decemberists disc is kind of a strange recording. Have you noticed anything unusual about it? Highly compressed like their others, but this one has some phasiness to it that seems to mess with the soundstaging. I was listening to it the other night and Meloy's voice just seemed to far forward. To the point that it became a littlel irritating and I was having trouble really falling into it, even though the music made me want to. I think it was Darren who mentioned something about the vocals in a post a while back. Anyway, there seems to be a backing track or something tied between the guitar and vocal that is almost like a distorted background buzz too. But I was determined to find the "zone" so I moved back a little ways and closed my eyes and leaned back and...wow! Meloy fell back behind the speakers and the whole thing came snapping into focus and the atmosphere really came alive and I fell in head first. Very nice. Funny recording. So, if you're listening to this latest Decemberists CD and the vocal seems a little bit strident and forward, try moving back a little and closing your eyes and just relax into it. Might help open it up for you too

[Davey]

Just picked up the new John Doe, which I would say is easily his best solo work to date.

Yeah, I was tempted to check that one out myself after reading some of the promos, but then remembered how unremarkable his other solo album was. "Easily his best solo work" doesn't say much to me I only have one though, Kissingsohard. Sounds like he does have some more distinctive people with him this time, like Neko Case! Wish he and Exene coulda found some of that magic again, at least for more than a song or two. There were a couple pretty good ones on that early 90s Hey Zeus CD, but I kind of gave up after that and the John Doe album from right after. One of my favorite bands back in the day.

[Swish]

Both Inches CDs?
NP: Sepultura - Roots (that'll get the blood pumping )

I meant to type "both the Inches cd and the DVD. My HT will be pumping out some DVD jams as well with that and Richard Thompson's excellent Rumor and Sigh, and I'll also pop in Rings Around the World that you (and I) love so much.

Swish

[Slosh]

That Decemberists disc is kind of a strange recording. Have you noticed anything unusual about it? Highly compressed like their others, but this one has some phasiness to it that seems to mess with the soundstaging. I was listening to it the other night and Meloy's voice just seemed to far forward.

Other than the compression I never noticed anything odd and I've listened to it on probably a dozen systems (if you're including my cars, and I am) by now. I think I need to stop buying CDs when vinyl or hi-rez is available just because of this stupid fucking peg-everything-to-digital-full-scale trend

I did notice this CD decodes quite nicely to surround via Dolby Pro Logic II and the like. Maybe this is on purpose and that's where the phasiness is coming from?

Perhaps the best thing about SACD isn't the resolution per se but the increased dynamic range that most of the recordings seem to be mastered at. Of course if Sony, et al ever got their act together and actually stopped producing CDs and only made hybrid SACDs instead they'd probably compress the piss out of the SACD layer too

[Davey]

Other than the compression I never noticed anything odd and I've listened to it on probably a dozen systems (if you're including my cars, and I am) by now. I think I need to stop buying CDs when vinyl or hi-rez is available just because of this stupid fucking peg-everything-to-digital-full-scale trend

Yeah, I'd love to hear it with a little bit of dynamic range. It's a shame, but I think the extreme amounts of compression are being applied in the recording/mixing stages as well as the mastering nowadays, so vinyl or SACD doesn't always help much. Just idiotic for bands and engineers to do this, or let this happen, for indie releases. Walla never pumped up his stuff for DCFC this much, did he? I always thought their CDs sounded pretty good. Not great, but pretty nice. And they even did a hybrid SACD for the last one. Did both layers seem to be about the same? All of the Decemberists CDs are too loud and compressed, but they don't seem to be poorly mastered like some of the ones I've mentioned in the past with loads of clipping, such as that last Modest Mouse we talked about before. Still, hard to believe they would sound a lot better on vinyl or SACD unless remixed without so much compression. But ya never know. Maybe they did do it in the mastering. Maybe we can talk Mark into buying the vinyl and then one of us send him a copy of the CD to compare?

[Slosh]

The SACD layer of Transatlanticism definitely has more dynamic range than the CD layer, although that also is still too compressed in my opinion. It sounds to me like this was an attempt just to make the SACD layer sound different, as this really isn't anything close to an audiophile recording to begin with.

I have Kill The Moonlight (for example) on vinyl and compared to the various CD-sourced CD-R tracks that have come my way the vinyl has quite a bit more dynamic range even though this is an obviously compressed recording from the get-go. Ironic since CD's potential dynamic headroom absolutely kills vinyl's ability.

Not long ago I was at a friend's house who is not at all an audiodork and he played "Sultan's of Swing" from his old, original LP. I'm not much of a Dire Straights fan but man, this is how you record rock music. I'll bet this song sounds nearly as good on one of the original CD releases as well. How anyone can think a modern compressed recording sounds better is beyond me.

[newtrix1]

beer: I really don't enjoy regular (green bottle) Heiney, but the dark stuff is great. Better than St. Pauli Girl Dark or Becks Dark too. Bummer that it's never on sale

tunes: Filpping thru the channels late last night, I came across Jethro Tull at the Isle of Wight concert (circa 1970?). I watched about 10 minutes but had to hit the sack early. Oh well, it'll be on cable a dozen or more times this month . Anyhow, it inspired me to pull out my DCC copy of "Original Masters". Always good to go back and revisit an old classic.

[Hawkeye]

IMusically, I'll be listening to lots of Al Stewart this weekend as I prepare to see him live on May 5.

Forever Autumn you lucky dog, enjoy the show. My wife and I had the pleasure of seeing him open for Blunstone and Argent (The Zombies), a couple years ago, after "Down in the Cellar" was released. We thoroughly enjoyed both acts that evening. Stewart is a gifted song-writer, a very engrossing story-teller, and surprisingly, at least to me, very good with an acoustic guitar. That night it was just him and his guitar and he had the audience eating out of his hand. I came away very impressed. I'm sure you'll have a great time.

[Hawkeye]

Music: I think most music sounds a bit better with your favorite beer. Be it blues (SRV, KWS, Clapton), jazz, rock, or whatever suits your fancy. Its kind of like pie with ice cream, both are fine in their own rite, but something special happens when served together.

Beer: My favorites include two from Samuel Smith: Nut Brown Ale, and Taddy Porter; Young's Oatmeal Stout (all from England). Nostradamus (Belgium); Labatts (Canada); Saranac Adirondack Ale, and Yuengling Lager (from the US). These are a few that I drink more than most other beers given a choice.

[Davey]

Music: I've got the new BSP too and haven't given it more than a couple of distracted listens. Mellow seems to be a good descriptor. Hopefully once the weekend is don I'll have more to say. I picked up the triple-vinyl BLOC PARTY album at the same time. I've paid more attention to this album than I have to "Open Season", and it really is an attention grabber. High energy that may bear a closer resemblance to British Sea Power's first than does British Sea Power's second. Go figure. I'll also find some time for some older classics...not sure what though...

Yeah, I'm actually pretty disappointed with the BSP disc. Thought with a couple more listens it would start to get better, but no. Some good music, but not very memorable and the "singing" is pretty weak this time. Oh well, doesn't mean that the debut wasn't still a lot of fun.

Triple vinyl for the Bloc Party? Are there some bonus tracks? I just have a CD-R copy of the UK version and mine is just 54 minutes.

BLOC PARTY
Silent Alarm

1 Like Eating Glass
2 Helicopter
3 Positive Tension
4 Banquet
5 Blue Light
6 She's Hearing Voices
7 This Modern Love
8 The Pioneers
9 Price of Gasoline
10 So Here We Are
11 Luno
12 Plans
13 Compliments

Thanks for getting the CRS stuff out. They're all comig in pretty fast this time. Got some goodies from both Mr. MidFi and tentoze in the last couple days bringing it up to a half dozen or so in already.

[Davey]

Not long ago I was at a friend's house who is not at all an audiodork and he played "Sultan's of Swing" from his old, original LP. I'm not much of a Dire Straights fan but man, this is how you record rock music. I'll bet this song sounds nearly as good on one of the original CD releases as well. How anyone can think a modern compressed recording sounds better is beyond me.

Yeah, that first Dire Straits LP is very nice, both musicaly and sonically. A real treat. You should really try to snag a nice minty copy of it. They sold a million so don't bother with a beat up one. You can get a mint copy for a buck. It's a tiny bit bright but the soundstage and tone is just beautiful. Put of "Water of Love" and listen to the spread of voices and guitars. Fun stuff. "Down to the Waterline", "Wild West End", "Six Blade Knife", lots of good stuf on there. They never came close to this good again, at least for my taste.

[Ex Lion Tamer]

Yeah, I'm actually pretty disappointed with the BSP disc. Thought with a couple more listens it would start to get better, but no. Some good music, but not very memorable and the "singing" is pretty weak this time. Oh well, doesn't mean that the debut wasn't still a lot of fun.

I just lost a post that I've been writing for 15 minutes so I'll give you the abridged version of it. Three or four un-distracted spins this weekend have given me a higher appreciation for the album. Though I'm still dissapointed in it's lack of edge, I do think that the middle section has some fine songs, starting at "How Will I Ever Find My Way Home" through to "Oh Larsen B" which has some of the epic feel of a song like "Fear of Drowning". Over all a pretty consistent album, if not the stunner the debut was. I also think a BIG mistake was made in the choice of lead-off songs, which I think is among the worst on the album.

Triple vinyl for the Bloc Party? Are there some bonus tracks? I just have a CD-R copy of the UK version and mine is just 54 minutes.

2-albums make up the regular relaes including all the songs you list, plus one that you don't; "Little Thoughts". Too bad it's a great song. The third album contains too remixes of each of "The Price of Gas" and "Positive Tension". Haven't had the time/patience to listen to this yet.