Sorry about the lack of reviews again; I promise I'll be back to it soon. For now, I have some comments to share regarding Amazon's recently released cloud-based music player.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Review: CMX - Talvikuningas
I'm going to take another break from the Bandcamp series for an overdue review of one of my Christmas presents.
Allow me to provide a little perspective: someone you know wants to give you a gift. This person knows you really like music, and may even recognize a particular genre you're into. Clearly, an album of such a genre would be an excellent gift.
In many cases, it'll be a friend who knows you like, say, 1990s alternative, but doesn't know anything about it. So they rely on web searches or the suggestion of the wannabe hipster at Sam Goody (does that store even still exist?). In all likelihood, they end up giving you something you already have, like Siamese Dream. Or worse, anything by Phish. The thought was there, so you thank them and try to figure out if you can exchange the thing somewhere (unless it was Phish, in which case you'd almost rather listen to it than be seen in public with it, and you're probably seriously reconsidering the whole "friends" thing).
Now imagine that instead of a friend, it's your significant other who's been living with you and your music collection for some years. She has unique interests in other areas (say, foreign languages) that might randomly lead to them finding reference to a band or album that you've never heard of and probably never would have. So on Christmas Day, you end up with a Finnish, progressive-metal, sci-fi concept album that's next to impossible to find in the US. Cool! I love you, honey!
Allow me to provide a little perspective: someone you know wants to give you a gift. This person knows you really like music, and may even recognize a particular genre you're into. Clearly, an album of such a genre would be an excellent gift.
In many cases, it'll be a friend who knows you like, say, 1990s alternative, but doesn't know anything about it. So they rely on web searches or the suggestion of the wannabe hipster at Sam Goody (does that store even still exist?). In all likelihood, they end up giving you something you already have, like Siamese Dream. Or worse, anything by Phish. The thought was there, so you thank them and try to figure out if you can exchange the thing somewhere (unless it was Phish, in which case you'd almost rather listen to it than be seen in public with it, and you're probably seriously reconsidering the whole "friends" thing).
Now imagine that instead of a friend, it's your significant other who's been living with you and your music collection for some years. She has unique interests in other areas (say, foreign languages) that might randomly lead to them finding reference to a band or album that you've never heard of and probably never would have. So on Christmas Day, you end up with a Finnish, progressive-metal, sci-fi concept album that's next to impossible to find in the US. Cool! I love you, honey!
Monday, January 31, 2011
*BC Series* Review: Cloudkicker - Beacons
Back to the Bandcamp releases. This was the album that made me aware of the site, having been recommended by some site that I found in a random search for free music. Clearly, I was impressed enough to take great interest in the site, so it would seem I owe a lot to this album.
Cloudkicker is a one-man, instrumental progressive rock/metal project out of Columbus, Ohio. While my preferences in prog-rock are typically based on high-quality instrumentation, I generally lean toward acts with talented vocalists and interesting lyrical themes. It's a genre in which instrumental projects are usually very pretentious, and often boring. Cloudkicker doesn't come off that way to me.
Cloudkicker is a one-man, instrumental progressive rock/metal project out of Columbus, Ohio. While my preferences in prog-rock are typically based on high-quality instrumentation, I generally lean toward acts with talented vocalists and interesting lyrical themes. It's a genre in which instrumental projects are usually very pretentious, and often boring. Cloudkicker doesn't come off that way to me.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Upcoming Release: Dragonfly Lingo - Flux
Monday, December 27, 2010
*BC series* New Release: Sanxion7 - red01.ruby
I'm always happy to give an artist a chance when he's a fellow Wisconsinite. The music scene in Madison is often overlooked for reasons I can't understand. For years, I've heard from a diverse assortment of very talented artists that fail to gain the exposure they deserve. Hopefully, the Bandcamp model is giving artists like Sanxion7 an opportunity they might not otherwise have.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
A quick clarification (i.e. "retcon")
I realized with that last post that I never really established what qualifies as a "new" release as opposed to a "retro." Initially I wanted to review new releases within a week or so of hitting stores, but since I tend to go for long periods without posting, that doesn't always apply. Also, I sometimes don't have time to let an album sink in during that amount of time.
Therefore, let me state for the record (no pun intended) that I will generally use the term "New Release" to apply to an album that has come out within the last 2-3 months, that I started listening to shortly after release. If a review is backlogged anymore than that, it will just be a "Review." I'll limit "Retro Reviews" to anything around 4+ years old. Sound like a deal? Too bad, it wasn't an offer. My house, my rules. :-P
Therefore, let me state for the record (no pun intended) that I will generally use the term "New Release" to apply to an album that has come out within the last 2-3 months, that I started listening to shortly after release. If a review is backlogged anymore than that, it will just be a "Review." I'll limit "Retro Reviews" to anything around 4+ years old. Sound like a deal? Too bad, it wasn't an offer. My house, my rules. :-P
*BC series* New Release: Dragonfly Lingo - Offscreen
I'm starting off my series of Bandcamp reviews with what is so far my favorite work amongst the electronic stuff I've checked out.
Having designed sound for stage productions and at least one piece for an independent film (which unfortunately didn't make the final cut) gives Dragonfly Lingo's Mitia Wexler a bit of an edge in implementing the concept for his debut album, Offscreen.
Having designed sound for stage productions and at least one piece for an independent film (which unfortunately didn't make the final cut) gives Dragonfly Lingo's Mitia Wexler a bit of an edge in implementing the concept for his debut album, Offscreen.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Bandcamp review mini-series
So, what do you* really want to know about this magical, cheap website, Bandcamp? The same thing as with any other such site. I know exactly what you're expecting: all that cheap and free music in one place...the music is pure SHIT, isn't it? Fear not, for I am preparing to answer that question in a few future reviews.
It seems to be a fairly common perception that cheap/free = crap, and that's often quite accurate. But bear in mind that due to BC's pricing model, the artist is likely making MORE from sales than with a major label! Don't assume that an artist on a site like this isn't talented enough to get on a major label. There's some quality shit here; it's not all amateur-hour, basement-recorded, glorified karaoke garbage.
Now I'm sure there doesn't need to be another rant like this on the Internet, but I'm going there anyway. Most major labels are bullshit. Everyone should know by now that big labels don't sign artists based on their talent, but based on how well they will sell. That is a financially sensible strategy, but it's also a weakness. There's a lot of talent not signed to major labels, and a lot of it is on BC. And yes, there's shit as well. This is equal opportunity, just as the Internet should be. This model is not an alternative, not just a place for artists to go when they can't make it to a major label. It's a replacement. It's what the future of this fucking industry should be.
If you need recommendations to get you started, keep an eye out during the next week or two. I have at least 4 BC albums that need reviewing, and I'll be looking for more as well. The first one is coming tonight.
It seems to be a fairly common perception that cheap/free = crap, and that's often quite accurate. But bear in mind that due to BC's pricing model, the artist is likely making MORE from sales than with a major label! Don't assume that an artist on a site like this isn't talented enough to get on a major label. There's some quality shit here; it's not all amateur-hour, basement-recorded, glorified karaoke garbage.
Now I'm sure there doesn't need to be another rant like this on the Internet, but I'm going there anyway. Most major labels are bullshit. Everyone should know by now that big labels don't sign artists based on their talent, but based on how well they will sell. That is a financially sensible strategy, but it's also a weakness. There's a lot of talent not signed to major labels, and a lot of it is on BC. And yes, there's shit as well. This is equal opportunity, just as the Internet should be. This model is not an alternative, not just a place for artists to go when they can't make it to a major label. It's a replacement. It's what the future of this fucking industry should be.
If you need recommendations to get you started, keep an eye out during the next week or two. I have at least 4 BC albums that need reviewing, and I'll be looking for more as well. The first one is coming tonight.
Website: Bandcamp
Every now and then, a music-oriented website comes to my attention and really impresses me. MySpace started out as a nifty idea for the independent artist, but the potential for abuse and shift in direction was obvious from the get-go. When I first found mp3.com over a decade ago, it was a fantastic site for discovering lesser-known artists, but they whored themselves out pretty quickly.I finally found the perfect spiritual successor to mp3.com, and it looks like they've implemented a solid model with great potential. It's the perfect example for the direction the music industry should be taking in the age of the Internet. The name of the site is Bandcamp, and when I first discovered it about two months ago, I decided right away that it should be the subject of my first website review. After giving it some time and thought, here are my observations.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
New Release: Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine (remastered)
It's been a while since I posted a review. A long while. I guess new releases just haven't been impressing me a whole lot lately. There are some things that have grabbed my interest and given me some ideas for new directions to go with a blog. Until those are fully-formed, though, I really must wax ecstatic about what I got in the mail today.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Linux audio players suck
OK, I can't stand it anymore; I have to bitch about this. In the world of open-source software, you'd think it would be easy to find a decent media player. Indeed, there are dozens of them, and the best video player ever (VLC) even has multiple Linux packages available.
But what of audio players? Well, if you like bloatware like iTunes and Winamp (recent versions), then you can be happy. If you don't mind sacrificing half of the features you're used to, this is the jackpot. If you like fighting with bugs and inconsistency, you don't have to look hard. If you want all the features in a nice little package taking up minimal real estate, then you're fucked.
But what of audio players? Well, if you like bloatware like iTunes and Winamp (recent versions), then you can be happy. If you don't mind sacrificing half of the features you're used to, this is the jackpot. If you like fighting with bugs and inconsistency, you don't have to look hard. If you want all the features in a nice little package taking up minimal real estate, then you're fucked.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Tiwtter and stuff
Twitter has its quirks, as I've discovered, but what bothers me more is the fact that many developers seem to take a "whatever" kind of approach to using the APIs. My previous post expressed disgust in the widget available through Blogspot (I'm sure there are better ones out there). I've now also discovered that the KDE "microblogging" desktop widget could use some work. My account is currently locked for an hour because I fat-fingered my password, and the widget gave no error message. I thought it had just flaked out, so I switched tabs back and forth once or twice to refresh, which attempts to log in again even though it clearly had a bad password given to it. I love the most recent versions of KDE, but come on, folks...password failure is a pretty simple thing to pop up a quick error message for.
In other news, I'm about to undertake a full-on case mod, which you can see on my other blog (link on the right). I'll post pics and info there as it progresses. Check it out if you're interested.
And finally, something music-related (!) for my music blog: I may be almost convinced that Slacker Personal Radio is even better than Pandora. Keep an eye out sometime in the next few weeks for a review, after I've given it a very thorough test-drive.
In other news, I'm about to undertake a full-on case mod, which you can see on my other blog (link on the right). I'll post pics and info there as it progresses. Check it out if you're interested.
And finally, something music-related (!) for my music blog: I may be almost convinced that Slacker Personal Radio is even better than Pandora. Keep an eye out sometime in the next few weeks for a review, after I've given it a very thorough test-drive.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Gadget removal
OK, had to do away with the Twitter gadget already.
Apparently, Twitter places a limit of 350 API calls per hour on a given account. This is a perfectly reasonable number; I don't think I could make 350 queries from my Droid in an hour if I tried.
Yet, after posting once around 10AM and doing nothing more for the next 6 hours, I was still getting an error message from Touiteur saying I'd exceeded my API call rate limit. Turns out the blog gadget is making those calls. That's way too many calls in an hour for a blog gadget. Especially for a blog that no one actually reads (or posts to). :-P Guess I'll have to figure something else out if I want the posts to show up here; I can't have my blog effectively blocking access from my phone, now, can I?
Apparently, Twitter places a limit of 350 API calls per hour on a given account. This is a perfectly reasonable number; I don't think I could make 350 queries from my Droid in an hour if I tried.
Yet, after posting once around 10AM and doing nothing more for the next 6 hours, I was still getting an error message from Touiteur saying I'd exceeded my API call rate limit. Turns out the blog gadget is making those calls. That's way too many calls in an hour for a blog gadget. Especially for a blog that no one actually reads (or posts to). :-P Guess I'll have to figure something else out if I want the posts to show up here; I can't have my blog effectively blocking access from my phone, now, can I?
Monday, July 5, 2010
Something must be wrong with me. I was sure I'd never have a blog. I made one anyway, and the regular updates didn't last very long, just as I'd suspected. Then I started using Google Buzz here and there, which actually wasn't such a big deal since it's well-organized, and neatly integrated into Gmail. Now I have a fucking Twitter account, too.
I didn't understand Twitter for a long time. OK, I got that you could post to a blog-like thing via text message, which I guess is nifty. But I had a hard time following conversations on it, and thought it counter-intuitive to have something set up to read responses before what prompted them (and my blind [and/or apathetic] ass didn't see the "in reply to" links for a long time, meaning I was sifting through posts to find a corresponding date). Now that I've seriously checked it out, it makes a little more sense.
Noticing that not everyone uses Twitter to try and talk to each other had a lot to do with my coming around. Also, the ability to steer clear of high-schoolers comes easier than I'd expected. That helps even more. The icing on the cake, for me, has been Touiteur, an excellent application for the Android OS for viewing and posting to one's account. The pleasure of using that app alone is almost enough to justify having an account.
Anyway, if you're interested, you can probably see that I already added a gadget to the sidebar here showing recent "tweets" and a link. I'm not going to try harvesting followers since I don't even know what I'll use it for yet, but feel free if you have your own account and want to keep tabs.
I didn't understand Twitter for a long time. OK, I got that you could post to a blog-like thing via text message, which I guess is nifty. But I had a hard time following conversations on it, and thought it counter-intuitive to have something set up to read responses before what prompted them (and my blind [and/or apathetic] ass didn't see the "in reply to" links for a long time, meaning I was sifting through posts to find a corresponding date). Now that I've seriously checked it out, it makes a little more sense.
Noticing that not everyone uses Twitter to try and talk to each other had a lot to do with my coming around. Also, the ability to steer clear of high-schoolers comes easier than I'd expected. That helps even more. The icing on the cake, for me, has been Touiteur, an excellent application for the Android OS for viewing and posting to one's account. The pleasure of using that app alone is almost enough to justify having an account.
Anyway, if you're interested, you can probably see that I already added a gadget to the sidebar here showing recent "tweets" and a link. I'm not going to try harvesting followers since I don't even know what I'll use it for yet, but feel free if you have your own account and want to keep tabs.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
VirtualBox updates
Yeah, I know I'm not posting anything lately. This is totally unrelated to the blog, but I have to put it somewhere. I'll start making real posts again eventually.
I'm running Ubuntu 10.04 on my work laptop, and I need a Windows VM (mostly for IE stuff), so I use VirtualBox.
Problem is, every time I update my Ubuntu kernel, it breaks VirtualBox, and I always have a hell of a time on Google figuring out how to fix it. So by posting it here, hopefully I'll remember, or at least be able to find it again!
At any rate, the problem is that attempting to start a VM produces an error something like:
"Inexistent host networking interface, named 'vboxnet0'"
Ignoring the fact that "inexistent" is not actually a word, what has happened here is a problem. The real problem is not that the network interface has disappeared (although it looks that way), but that the vboxdrv kernel module isn't working properly anymore due to the kernel update. So the kernel module just needs to be recompiled, like so:
sudo /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup
So all of those people out there opening bug reports and telling people not to upgrade VirtualBox are just plain wrong. This should be fixed by the developer, but what needs to be done is to have some kind of trigger in place that recompiles this module any time the kernel is updated. Hopefully this post makes its way into the Google results for this problem so that it turns up an actual solution for someone.
**EDIT: My mistake: "inexistent" is indeed a word. Apparently it's just so rare that Google wants to auto-correct it every time.
I'm running Ubuntu 10.04 on my work laptop, and I need a Windows VM (mostly for IE stuff), so I use VirtualBox.
Problem is, every time I update my Ubuntu kernel, it breaks VirtualBox, and I always have a hell of a time on Google figuring out how to fix it. So by posting it here, hopefully I'll remember, or at least be able to find it again!
At any rate, the problem is that attempting to start a VM produces an error something like:
"Inexistent host networking interface, named 'vboxnet0'"
Ignoring the fact that "inexistent" is not actually a word, what has happened here is a problem. The real problem is not that the network interface has disappeared (although it looks that way), but that the vboxdrv kernel module isn't working properly anymore due to the kernel update. So the kernel module just needs to be recompiled, like so:
sudo /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup
So all of those people out there opening bug reports and telling people not to upgrade VirtualBox are just plain wrong. This should be fixed by the developer, but what needs to be done is to have some kind of trigger in place that recompiles this module any time the kernel is updated. Hopefully this post makes its way into the Google results for this problem so that it turns up an actual solution for someone.
**EDIT: My mistake: "inexistent" is indeed a word. Apparently it's just so rare that Google wants to auto-correct it every time.
Friday, October 9, 2009
New gadget
I dislike that I have to display a big, ugly AT&T logo on my page, but Pandora Radio is awesome, so I'm willing to suck it up. I've played with the site in the past but only just created an account, so the selections you'll see aren't quite how I want them. I think it will pan out soon since I'll be using it a lot at work.
The gadget, which you'll see to the right, is pretty self-explanatory. I'm using their official widget because the regular RSS feed wasn't working properly. It didn't seem to update often enough, and Blogspot's feed gadget wasn't showing them in order of "newest first," so all you could read were the first 5 entries in the feed. Useless.
I added my Pandora stations as artist names in order to import them to Amie Street (since their field for manually adding artists seems to be made of fail); I don't think I'll be keeping them like that. Pandora's method of relating songs together is cool, but it keeps popping Incubus songs into the Coheed & Cambria station, despite my repeatedly moving them to the Incubus station. Do I even need to explain why that's incredibly silly? Really, now...
Aside from that, I think the site is so cool that I've decided to review it. That might turn into a regular thing; there are lots of music sites to either praise or castigate.
The gadget, which you'll see to the right, is pretty self-explanatory. I'm using their official widget because the regular RSS feed wasn't working properly. It didn't seem to update often enough, and Blogspot's feed gadget wasn't showing them in order of "newest first," so all you could read were the first 5 entries in the feed. Useless.
I added my Pandora stations as artist names in order to import them to Amie Street (since their field for manually adding artists seems to be made of fail); I don't think I'll be keeping them like that. Pandora's method of relating songs together is cool, but it keeps popping Incubus songs into the Coheed & Cambria station, despite my repeatedly moving them to the Incubus station. Do I even need to explain why that's incredibly silly? Really, now...
Aside from that, I think the site is so cool that I've decided to review it. That might turn into a regular thing; there are lots of music sites to either praise or castigate.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Moved
Well, all moved to Dubuque, finally. I'll try to contain my excitement.
I had taken the week off of work (which is where I tend to do my posting during downtime) for the move, thus the lack of posting this week. I'd like to get a review up this weekend, and there will be more to come. Some potentially great stuff came out this week, and I hope to do a lot of listening and writing tonight and tomorrow.
I'm also planning to start posting groups of "mini-reviews," which will consist of lists of several albums per post with brief remarks for each. Not everything warrants a full post, but I'd like to review as much of what I listen to as possible. I've pretty much just been doing the things that stand out to me; this does an injustice to the wide range of genres I listen to. I think keeping some of the reviews short and sweet will allow a more diverse assortment of reviews to come through. For now, the mini-reviews will just be for new releases.
Another idea that crossed my mind: it might be interesting to go back and listen to some of the mixtapes/CDs I've put together in years past, and write up a little something about them. More on that after an experimental run.
I had taken the week off of work (which is where I tend to do my posting during downtime) for the move, thus the lack of posting this week. I'd like to get a review up this weekend, and there will be more to come. Some potentially great stuff came out this week, and I hope to do a lot of listening and writing tonight and tomorrow.
I'm also planning to start posting groups of "mini-reviews," which will consist of lists of several albums per post with brief remarks for each. Not everything warrants a full post, but I'd like to review as much of what I listen to as possible. I've pretty much just been doing the things that stand out to me; this does an injustice to the wide range of genres I listen to. I think keeping some of the reviews short and sweet will allow a more diverse assortment of reviews to come through. For now, the mini-reviews will just be for new releases.
Another idea that crossed my mind: it might be interesting to go back and listen to some of the mixtapes/CDs I've put together in years past, and write up a little something about them. More on that after an experimental run.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
New Release: The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
Yay, indie pop. Any group of bands that willfully accepts the placement of the label "twee" on their genre has no right to complain if no one ever listens to them. Especially if they suck like this band.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
New Release: Muse - The Resistance
Muse is just plain awesome. I loved 2006's Black Holes And Revelations, so I was a little psyched about the new album. The band refuses to disappoint.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
New Release: Gnaw Their Tongues - All The Dread Magnificence Of Perversity
Originally posted 9/15/09I saw this album on a new release list; having never heard of the band, I thought I'd give it a shot. Turned out to be noise metal. That would have discouraged me from even trying it if I'd known beforehand. But it wasn't all bad...
Friday, September 11, 2009
New Release: Ensiferum - From Afar
Finnish metalists Ensiferum released their first album in 2001, and I hadn't heard of them until their 4th album was released just 2 days ago. Upon reading up a little, I discovered that they are considered to be "folk metal" or "viking metal," fusion metal genres I've only recently obtained more familiarity with than the simple knowledge of their existence. It sounded interesting, but I was merely expecting something similar to Amon Amarth or other bands of the genre. Not exactly so...
Future reviews...
I think my second review should be for a new album, to get into the habit early. For a while, the concentration is going to be heavier on the Retro side, since I have a large backlog to work with. Eventually, I'd like most of my reviews to be current or new releases, with maybe 1/4-1/3 being Retro Reviews. I'll see how it goes. It depends mostly on what I enjoy writing more, and partly on what people enjoy reading more (assuming I acquire an audience of some kind).
This morning I checked out a new album from a band I've not heard of before. I was impressed by it, and decided that will be the review that goes up next. Others will follow closely.
This morning I checked out a new album from a band I've not heard of before. I was impressed by it, and decided that will be the review that goes up next. Others will follow closely.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Retro Review: Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral
I have a very difficult time beginning to write about something so important to me. I think that's why I chose to review this one first--not because it's almost definitely my favorite album of all time, but because it will be the hardest one to write about.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Quick tip
I've been busy tweaking the look of the page, and needed to change some images to fit the new dimensions of the divs. In looking for a way to host the theme images, I ran across this post. The method involves saving the images you need in a draft post and copying the location to paste into your theme's CSS.
Great tip. Thanks, kranthi!
Great tip. Thanks, kranthi!
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
A (relatively) condensed bio
First things first. SaurianOverlord was a handle I adopted for chat rooms years ago. If you talked to someone online by that name between 1999-2005ish, it was probably me. The origin of the name is a story for another time. (I found out much later that it was apparently the name of a character on the short-lived Disney cartoon based on The Mighty Ducks; that has absolutely nothing to do with it.) These days, I usually just go by Saurian, or some variation thereof (Saurian3 on some forums, for example). Now that that's out of the way...
...and so it begins
Well, I finally did it. I created a blog. I wasn't sure I'd ever commit to an autonomous blog on a particular subject; I've had blog-like pages on my web sites, a LiveJournal (for about 2 months), etc., but I was never willing to focus on one subject to dedicate a blog to.
That's still pretty much the case. While I plan to use this blog primarily for yacking about music, there will be the occasional post about a video game, TV show, or movie that's outstanding in some way, as well as other general musings. It's really all experimental at this point; as much as possible, however, I'm going to stick to reviewing music albums.
That's still pretty much the case. While I plan to use this blog primarily for yacking about music, there will be the occasional post about a video game, TV show, or movie that's outstanding in some way, as well as other general musings. It's really all experimental at this point; as much as possible, however, I'm going to stick to reviewing music albums.
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