[ music | Sara Bareilles - Gravity ]

Oh my god. Yes. Twice.

That is all.

[ music | Badly Drawn Boy - Say It Again ]

The imminently talented (and cute as a button, redheaded) Neko Case was interviewed by Pitchfork back in April, I just now found it thanks to fak3r. In the interview she goes off on the rampant cheating of both artists and audiences by the prolific use of pitch-shifting and autotuning in modern pop.

Now, frankly, I think modern pop is crap anyway, but the point here is rather than actually working on their vocals, the artsts are both being cheated, and cheating their audience, by letting producers tweak the recordings with the equivalent of sonic Photoshop. Why is this cheating? Because these singers aren't writing their material to start with, the lest they could do is actually learn to perform it, but they don't. And you can hear the difference. It's no longer even anything close to art, it's just artificial. In the course of my life so far I have spent incredibly amounts of time practicing my singing, and it shows. I remember in high school I worked for weeks just to hit a single note in a song for an audition rather than change the key. And it paid off. I was a better performer for it.

You see, this cheats the audience too, because on tour these performers are just lip-synching to recordings, they're not actually singing, because they can't do it without the help of post-production. They didn't put in the sweat-equity to be able to actually do the material justice, they faked it, and can't back it up. So when you go to see a show, you're being stiffed because you're not getting what your'e paying for, you're just paying to see them fake it for two hours.

And other artists who have put in the time and energy to better themselves get shafted because it no longer takes talent to break into the business, it just takes good marketing. And who wants to invest in creating a new brand when the old one can just be repackaged and autotuned into shape again?

[ music | Depeche Mode - Precious ]

I have it, and it's awesome.

This has an awesome sound, you can hear a lot of Violator influence in it again, and if you heard the "Enjoy the Silence 04" remix you can hear the influence from that too. It's a lot cleaner like Violator and less dirty/distorted like SOFAD and subsequent albums. Now, I LOVED SOFAD, Ultra was great, and Exciter was good, but neither lived up to SOFAD. It's good to hear the older sound back though. I can't wait for the full album.

[ music | Imogen Heap - Hide and Seek ]

I just can not keep from sharing this. Imogen Heap is absolutely the most brilliant artist I've found in a long time. She's like the best of Tori Amos fused with the best of Depeche Mode, with a little bit of suger stirred in for good measure. The latest album, Speak for Yourself, is just astoundingly awesome. I can not give it high enough marks. The track "Hide and Seek" is the best use of gang voices and a vocoder in history, bar none. The fact they also use Antares Auto-Tune in this track does not bother me at all, because they use the effect brilliantly, unlike the nerve-grating "Believe" by Cher a few years back. Check out I Megaphone too, it's almost as good, but still a 9. If you're a completist, check out the band Frou Frou for more of her. Incredible.

[ music | Depeche Mode - Songs of Faith and Devotion ]

It was a really crappy day most of the day. Once my obligations were taken care of, I came back, sat down, read some email, and opened up Photoshop. The greatest program of all time, even eclipsing my beloved Mozilla. Then I decided to spin up Depeche Mode's "Songs of Faith and Devotion". Oh god, this is exactly what I needed. It's got the same black sensuality of "Violator" but with a much rougher sound, not nearly as polished and clean sounding. Tonight this is what soothes this savage breast. Delicious.

And with DM putting out a new album and tour this fall, I can grab a few DM shirts while I'm at the concert. The last DM concerts I went to were in '92 or '93 (or around there). They swung through Pittsburgh once in the summer, but added a second date in that November, both of which I attended. I sadly have neither shirt after all these years, just a few photos. Come hell or high water, I'll be at the Boston shows if I have to sell a kidney.

You can help me get there and help Reboot My Life too. ;)

[ music | Michael Buble - How Sweet It Is ]

I'm telling you people, you must buy this album, Michael Buble - It's Time. This is guy is amazing. He's got the same kick that Frank had, with a smooth soulful voice that melts into whatever style or emotion of song he's singing. This guy's going places.

[ music | The Postal Service - Nothing Better ]

Somehow, a mind blowingly cool band has completely escaped my attention. This band is The Postal Service Click To Buy. One of my best friends has smacked me in the head with a shovel, and on the end of this shovel is this band's album "Give Up". It's core indie-rock infused with synthpop instrumentation, samples ripped straight from the old 8-bit Nintendo, moody atmospheres, "Pet Shop Boys" styled lyrics, and "They Might Be Giants" vocals. Really awesome stuff. I just can't figure out how the hell I missed this. Don't make the same mistake.

Wow. Ok, I finally found my long lost CD of Heather Nova's Oyster. I bought this album back in high school after hearing "Walk This World" once. A lot like how my Tori Amos fandom began. Well, I haven't been able to listen to this album since 1999 when I misplaced it. I forgot how emotionally raw this album is. Dear god, it's like this woman found some magic lantern and wished for a direct pipe to the brain via sound, and uses this pipe to send 50,000 volts (carrying at least 100 amperes) of pure, unfiltered, unavoidably narcotic emotion directly into your amygdala. Or maybe this is just tapping into what I put into it as a teenager. I always have been some deep running waters. Scares the hell out of me sometimes. Anyway, I'm sitting here as it flows from track to track, so high on some tracks I'm literally dizzy; so low on others that there is an elephant on my chest; so incredibly tortured on some that I want to scream out so this icy hand will stop squeezing my heart. I actually had to pause the album because my heart was racing and skipping beats.

I haven't felt like this in years. It's magnificent to feel so tortured again. I've been dead for far too long.

[04:26] * jX is currently spinning: Nelly Furtado - Saturdays
[04:26] <jX> See, this is why I know I'm right in going back to arts. this song turns me into a fyrating retard.
[04:26] <jX> You can't fake that.
[04:26] <jX> yes, that's right, FYRATING.
[04:27] <jX> It's like Ray Charles, but standing, and without any kind of piano anywhere near by.
[04:27] * MightyMu can't handle the fyrating!
[04:28] * jX spins around like the bee girl in the "No Rain" video.

Thanks to Sander, Tristor, and Jesse. I have been smacked upside the head with a baton. A musical baton that is, not the kind the cheerleaders or majorettes have. It's an interesting moment for self-analysis though...

Total volume of music files on my computer:

1,905 Files, 8,341,171,980 bytes (7.77GB).
The vast majority of which is legal, ripped from my own CD collection. This still only represents about half of my CD collection. Roughly a hundred files are singles, half of which I ripped from CD collections, leaving about 50 or so of questionable origin. I do not recall how they got into my collection, I swear.

Last CD I bought:

Hmm, I'll go one better. Well, three better.

• Latest artist repeat-buy: U2's How to dismantle an Atomic Bomb.
• Latest artist-first-buy: Dido's Life for Rent (then No Angel shortly afterwards)
• The actual Latest CD purchased: Sequentia/Choral Ensemble of the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis Chill to the Chant, although this is a replacement for the original I bought in 1995 that has been lost in the mists of time and moving, repurchased April 30 for $1.96.

Playing right now:

Tony Bennett Unplugged

Five songs that mean a lot to me (in no particular order):

• Depeche Mode's One Caress - I've sung this for exactly one person, although I've sung it in front of many more. It's just four minutes of purple velvet from my soul.
• Frank Sinatra, It Was A Very Good Year - So bittersweet and honest, it tells a story with no regrets.
• Samuel Barber, Adagio for Strings (Opus 11) - It just rips my heart out every time.
• The theme from the original The Legend of Zelda - Why? if you need ask why, then you also need to listen to an orchestral version. To me, it's a soaring theme with a simple but bold melody. It brings to mind being eight years old playing in a lush, verdant field and rolling hills, and infinite adventures beyond the horizon.
• Phantom of the Opera, Music of the Night - Again, for exactly one person. It's a sweet pain that reminds you what it is to live life to it's fullest.

Five albums that mean a lot to me (also in no particular order):

I've added this section because coming up with those five songs reminded me how I feel about albums. I agree with the artists that still cling to the artistry that is an entire album. With these five choices, the album is a masterwork of flowing moods. For me, choosing one song from these would be like picking a single color from a Van Gogh, or a single word from Shakespeare.

• U2's Achtung Baby - The entire album just fits me like a second skin.
• Tori Amos' Little Earthquakes - Incredibly revealing, you just can't turn away. You're forced to share yourself in return.
• REM's Automatic for the People - A long look back at the life you've lived so far, coming to terms with it, accepting it, holding on to it, and finally accepting who you are. And that's ok.
• Depeche Mode's Violator - Peeling back the veneer of civility to reveal the base desires in us all. A cool yet smouldering passion.
• The Cranberries' Everyone Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We? - A time of many firsts and many loves. The memories attached to this are so strong I literally couldn't listen to it for about seven years. And yet I could never forget it, or let it go.

Five people to whom I'm passing the baton (still in no particular order):

• ct^ - He's just freakin' cool.
• MightyMu - The second best non-native-Pennsylvanian you'll never meet.
• Wil Wheaton - I hope I can get Uncle Willie to reply in his "Big Willie" style...
• Nosebleed - Don't drip on the carpet, it's new!
• Asa Dotzler - Just to see if I can get him to reply. About as likely as Wil...

Now it's your turn. (Some linkage below if you're interested...) [Read More]