I talked up “Diva” so much last time that a sense of proper decency came over me. I should be an honest man, show a genuine commitment, and put down some money for the cause. Even though it is far beyond its shelf life I wanted to put in my own small affirmation that the record today is worth some merit and holds value to me. I thought I’d just go out and buy a copy of the album, but it raised the question of how do I convey that value back to Annie Lennox, or any other artist, without just paving a row of intermediary fees that falls short of my intentions? Continue reading
Author Archives: DanW
Happierness That Might Have Been
Now that I’ve got such a great setup for hearing music closer to the way the recording engineers originally intended, I’m hearing a lot more of the intricate artistic and technical expression. Not only can I boggle at the discovery of, “Oh, there’s a bass player on this record,” but now I can marvel at, “Intriguing choice to accent the rhythm with castinettes!” I’ve really been drawn into one record lately since it so well-produced and engineered (Stephen Lipson is involved), and it’s something that has been around a long time already. Annie Lennox came out big in the early 80’s, cool and intimidating with short, orange hair and slapping a riding crop. It turns out she was always really nice and a phenomenal soul singer, and not a dominatrix robot. I liked the Eurythmics a lot in the 80’s, but I guess I wasn’t ready until this last weekend to try Annie’s solo “Diva” from 1992. I just listened through a few times – now I’m deeply impacted and hooked. Continue reading
A Bad Ampitude
If you’re deploying decent phones onto your head, the tweaky little amplpifier on your iPod is going to be an issue – it will let you down! It has a tiny equalizer and ‘loudness’ feature, but at the other end it will sound tinny and hollow or just nasty and blown out if you turn the gain up on anything with a bassline. I’m using a little intermediary gadget as a headphone amplifier; thank goodness it’s not as massive as a full-sized stereo amplifier with 15 lb magnets. So here’s a rare product placement (though I’m not getting paid), look up the FiiO E5 Headphone Amplifier. It works great. I actually did not originally buy this for headphones, but for my car stereo. That’s another long story, but with the same problem: Trying to plug my iPod into an aux jack without an amplifier, and it still doesn’t help. If I want to listen to something I hate and make it sound even worse I load it in my car with that setup.
Round And Round It Goes
“When I’m alone, in my phones…” Well I can relate to that (thanks St. Etienne) and even say my new headphones are a life saver. Bolted down to a chair in the middle of a bustling software development department, perfectly positioned for the acoustics to amplify the sounds of programming babble and nasal snot sucking, it’s hard to block out the noise and concentrate on my own work. I usually just plug in dangly cheap earbuds, but unless I really crank it I can’t hear much detail from the music, and I get a ton of detail from all the chatter outside of the music. I know the clunky headphones are great for getting deep into the atmosphere, opening up nuances, and blocking out the outside. But I must have geothermal earlobes because they start to bake like a pan of hot fudge brownies after a few minutes. Has anyone invented liquid nitrogen cooled head cans yet? Continue reading
If I Were a Cool Kid
For my birthday I received the perfect gift, a gift card. The giver can make a gesture without really committing. It reminds me of the Asian custom to graciously receive a gift without opening it in public. The shame and disgrace of letting pass a slight but uncontrollable wince when you see it’s a tasteless Walmart reject is unbearable for everyone, and must be resolved through self-immolation at a minimum. Thank goodness this gift card was from Amazon, so I could rack up more items from my old wish list without the need for senseless self-destruct just because I’m quietly picky. My Amazon Wish List has gotten dusty, considering how it can take me years to go ahead with purchases, but I was able to go deep and dig up some good material. By an interesting coincidence, I bought a bunch of records (The Clash, Siouxsie, Gang of Four) from right around 1979, when I was a kid. It makes me wonder what could have been if I were savvy and loaded with spending money when I was eleven. Continue reading