My Own Biggest Fan

Ping. Apple’s new musical social media experiment. It would be an interesting add-on to iTunes, but it falls far short of actually being useful. It reminds me a ton of Facebook, with it’s hard to read timeline and the vague “Like” function, and reminds me not-at-all of Last.fm, who got this exact idea exactly right. Apple has utterly ignored what Last.fm got right because of their desire to use Ping primarily as a way to sell songs through the iTunes Music Store and not as a fun and cool place for their customers to find new music.

How does Ping fail in both usability and in usefulness? Let me count the ways.

1: If it’s not int the iTMS, it’s not allowed. Ridiculous. Some of my favourite albums are not available there. Major label albums. Suede have zero songs there. Pulp’s final album? Like it never existed. All of the 12″ and bootleg remixes I find on mp3 blogs? Won’t find them here. Apple’s little network is so embarassingly MOR that it’s primary goal “To help people find new music” is laughably unobtainable.
2: No real-time display of what’s being listened to.
3: Can’t right click a song in my music library and add to Ping (have to add in iTMS).
4: No easy way to find friends.
5: The genres are too broad. (“Alternative”? REALLY?) / No sub-genres.
6:The “Music I Like” area isn’t self explanatory. At first I didn’t know it only pertained to that bit in the top right corner of my profile, I thought it managed all the info that went through my profile. How about calling it: “My Favourite Songs”?
7: No explicit notification when someone comments on one of your Posts.
8: What the heck is the difference between a Like and a Post anyway? A Post lets you comment, so why would I just Like something then?
9: Once I Like something, either an album or someone’s activity, there is no way for me to find it again, it just goes into the ether. If it’s meant to be a bookmark for later reference, it fails miserably at it.

What the hell is this?:

Where do you suppose the logic is in being able to Like the fact that I Liked an album? I’m amazed I can’t Like me Liking my Like. I can’t believe that sentence was something I felt I needed to write. I can even Like me Liking someone else’s Like of a song. The ability to do THAT is exactly what the internet has been waiting for!

Ping will probably to be something I play around for maybe the next week or so and then forget about. The first two items I mention are reason enough for me to not care about it. So, if you want, you can friend me there under Mason Hastie. Or if you want to ACTUALLY trade info about what we ACTUALLY listen to, you can go to my Last.fm profile.

Last night I was asked to choose five albums to be stranded on a desert island with. I’ve played this game before and my list always comes up short. It’s a tough one.

Last night I accidentally denied myself Suede’s Dog Man Star, which I’d replace my last item with (sorry, Boss):

1: Spiritualized — Ladies and Gentlemen We are Floating in Space
2: David Bowie — Low
3: Scott Walker — Scott 4
4: Beastie Boys — Check Your Head
5: Bruce Springsteen — Nebraska
5: Suede — Dog Man Star

The only reason I chose the Beasties over Bruce is because I needed something upbeat. Check Your Head is the only hip hop/funk album I’ve listened to for over 15 years and not gotten sick of.

What are the albums YOU can’t live without?

The Month of New Music ended long ago, but listening to this album feels like a continuation of my futile exorcise in listening . I’m a big fan of Sly Stone, The Spinners, etc. — I like the funk. I’m probably an unlikely funk fan, considering how whitebread my upbringing was and also my nature in general. I’m pretty sure that anyone who hangs out with me for a moderate amount of time would consider me completely unfunky. (my good friends know just how unapologetically off my music tastes divert sometimes, into territory that many of them find embarassing)

I received this album from Mark Hamilton, main man in Woodpigeon. A man as unlikely as any to feel the funk. He was trimming his collection and he told me to take this album in particular. (considering he was giving away this album tells us that he probably isn’t a closet funkmeister) If there’s one thing I trust Mark on, it’s his musical advice. He recommends things that he thinks I’ll like, not the things he does. I’m grateful for this recommendation especially, this is at least as good as Sly and the Family Stone’s earlier albums like A Whole New Thing or Life. I’ve only listened to it once through, (¾ of the way as of writing this sentence) but I’m certain that on relistening there will be stand out tracks.

One song in particular grabbed me, “I Have Changed” and it’s one fun fricking funk anthem. Coincidentally it started just as I was considering what I was going to say before writing this paragraph. It’s the lone survivor of this album within the digital milieu because it was put on the compilation Super Cool California Soul 2. Hence, it’s singular availability. Something else I learned while researching this post, HP Riot has auspicious beginnings that speak to me directly. Here’s an excerpt from the informative blog post found here.

Despite several attempts to uncover details about the band and the recording session, this LP remains one of the most mysterious in my entire collection. The band (known as H.P. Riot) was named after its San Francisco home neighbourhood that was marred by race riots in 1966. The band has often been confused as being Canadian because they spent much of their time touring western Canada. Concept Records was based in Regina, Saskatchewan – not exactly a funk music hotbed. It almost appears like this band signed a record deal while on tour.

I’m originally from Regina and the fact that a funk band from San Francisco, a REALLY good funk band, could come out to western Canada and feel at home (one member even stayed in Edmonton after playing in H.P. Riot) says something to me. What that is, I’ve no idea, but it borders curiosity, pride and amusement. Anyway, go over to The Basement Rug and download the album if you are so inclined. If you at all like Sly Stone, James Brown, The Spinners, even early Stevie Wonder, you’ll probably enjoy H.P. Riot.

I don’t know about you, but I have certain albums and songs that I habitually listen to when I get home at 3am from a late night boozing it up with friends — most likely louder than I should expect my neighbours to deal with politely. I’ve put together a sampler of music I tend to listen to in the wee hours, when I’ve had more than my share of libations and am feeling particularly sentimental, introspective or melancholic. For the record, I’ve done this tonight because I’ve had libations and I’ve been feeling particularly sentimental, introspective or melancholic.

The amusement I’m getting from repetition as a joke is a red flag, so I’ll leave you with a link to the mix and wish you goodnight. Enjoy, and please let me know what you think in the comments.

Feeling it.

You know what I think is an entirely reasonable thing to do?

Buy this book:

And then for shits and giggles attempt to download each piece of music recommended and listen to them in order.

I’ve spent the past two days attempting to find and download music from The Medieval, Renaissance, and Elizabethan Ages (chapter 1) on Bittorrent. It is as easy to find as you might expect. Short term goal: I’m hoping that when I’m done this chapter, Enigma won’t be my only point of reference when I hear a Latin mass being sung.

It’s a 700 page book, it seems to average about five recommendations per page. At the rate of — at most — three pieces per week… well, this isn’t a project I expect to finish anytime soon.

I was fully prepared for this to be a disappointment, but luckily I was pleasantly surprised. Eyes of a Stranger is one of my favourite songs, and I had emotionally prepared myself for it to be surrounded by crap, the same way that Animotion did with Language of Attraction.

I’m happy to declare that it was all for nothing! I should have looked closer at the album’s back cover. The words “Produced by Mick Ronson” would have set my mind at ease like nothing else could. Another fact that I only found out just now as I was researching the album; Bob Rock, super-producer of Northern Lights and Metallica, was a member of the Payola$. Crazy.

This album is everything that new wave and power pop should be. It’s punchy and energetic, even in the slower songs. There are a couple of ska tinged tunes on here, which is par for the course in this genre, and more than a few instant favourites. I love this album. I’m finding myself with very little to say about this one, either because I’ve already done a MONM entry tonight, or maybe because I don’t feel I have to sell something this good.

Youth

It’s pretty egotistical of me of me to think I could “fix” an album that went double platinum, but the sequencing of Tusk really bugs me. It’s no secret that the songs were written and recorded in a couple different ways by different people, mostly under the supervision of Lindsey Buckingham. It’s a shame that his bedroom experiments didn’t push a little bit more into the other’s songs, as the transitions are quite jarring. At first I thought that a simple song sequence change could iron out the problems, but Lindsey’s songs just stick out too far. If his sound influenced the other’s compositions more, and if we had Nicks singing lead on one of Buckingham’s loud, experimental rockers, then this could be a perfect album. Walk a Thin Line and Tusk both come close to bridging the gap, but both are at the end of the album. It’s as if you are listening to two camps coming from either end of a spectrum to finally meet in the end. This sounds great in theory, but it feels like an unclear vision.

I’m pointing out the flaws, but what we do have here is two great albums, trying to live on the same two slabs of vinyl together. It’s like the Odd Couple, and in some ways they work, but I do plan on dividing the album up in iTunes, just to see if I can either I can make two great albums of these songs, or maybe just one that allows me to go on a journey with it, rather than having it boss me around in every direction.

I’m putting up two songs in sequence of the album (tracks 8 and 9) so you can hear both personalities of Tusk.

That’s All For Everyone

Not That Funny

Imagine the worlds best Roxy Music tribute band.

Now imagine they decided they didn’t want to do covers any more.

You might think that a review this brief has negative connotations, but no. If Roxy Music or Bryan Ferry is your thing, seek this out.

All Your Time

Energy? To quote Sick Boy: “What a fucking misnomer.” I was hoping that this would be an album of disco, or funk or anything but what I got here. What do we have here? Wikipedia calls it, “an album of west coast soft rock.” And look at that cover! How energetic can you get? Nothing says excitement more than milling about a construction site looking mildly bored.

I made the mistake of thinking that since everything I knew of the Pointer Sisters was some sort of dance or electro, then I’d at least get something upbeat, funky even. To be fair, there are a couple of good tracks, buried in the second side. And of course, you can’t deny that their voices are amazing. They do a decent cover of Springsteen’s “Fire” which would be at home on an MOR Yacht Rock compilation. I’ll reserve final judgement since I’m not sure I’ve heard the original. But then they spend any capital they earned with that by managing to drain all the funk out of Sly Stone’s “Everybody is a Star” All in all, an adequate, but forgettable album.

Fire

An aside: Break Out, the album which contains the most hits by Pointer Sisters (mostly cocaine-club dance tunes) was recorded after one of the ladies had become a grandmother.

Bit of a delay on this one. Glad I had a couple buffer reviews under my belt or I might not be able to keep up.

Ok, so I’d been recommended YMO my whole life as a band I’d like. More often than not, when someone tells me I’d like a band I end up never listening to them. I don’t really know what my problem is, it’s like if I don’t stumble on them on my own (whatever that means) then I don’t get the attachment to form a bond with the music. So here we go, my first listen to YMO, and…

It’s great! Of course it’s great, so many people that know my tastes have told me to listen to them. Why would people tell me I’d like this? They are the Japanese Kraftwerk, what the hell’s not to like? I like Japanese music, I like Kraftwerk. Then, just when I’ve been charmed enough to think I’ve been a fool not to have listened earlier, they do a crazy cover of Day Tripper! Fun!

Ok, so this isn’t the longest blog entry. I’m going to try and do a second one before the night is through, so I’m going to ration my words. To make up for it, here’s a shot of the back of the album.

Check out that crotch grab!

And here’s RYDEEN, which was their biggest hit, according to Wikipedia. It’s a perfect blending of Japanese melodies with Kraftwerk like sound and song structure.

RYDEEN