Now that's what I call a 'box set'

Mute records always seem to know what the punter desires. When I laid eyes on the new box set for the Depeche Mode album ‘Sounds of the Universe’ I was impressed. Indeed, I was so impressed I spent nearly £60 on the thing. Mute appear know that if you get the content and quality right, fans will simply ‘have’ to own their latest release. Loading digital files onto your iPod might be cheap and tidy, but you simply do not get the thrill of owning such great physical products such as this.

There is a long history of Mute ‘getting it right’. The Depeche Mode and Erasure singles ‘box sets’ of the last few years are just one example of this. This latest release is packed with goodies for fans and has me almost as excited as the release of ‘Yes’. It also makes me wish that EMI’s other subsidiary, Parlophone would do something similar for the upcoming Pet Shop Boys album (and ‘box set(s)’ for Neil and Chris’s singles/remixes are long overdue). So, as much as the record industry might bemoan the advent of the mp3 they should also learn that the physical product must be of a superior quality (regardless of cost) if they wish to sell CD’s to the hardcore fans that keep them afloat.

Another great Last.fm app

Yet another great last.fm application has caught my eye this week. Open Minded Radio (or OMR) is another statistic driven website that aims to indicate how diverse your music tastes are.

On inputting my own data I found no great surprises. I was pleased to see 'electronic' the top tag in every one of my charts! With an 'open minded rating' of 81 it appears I am quite diverse in my tastes. The website also promises us a statistics page which is 'coming soon'.

At present the data generated is offered in a pie chart which can be pasted onto your last.fm page. There are several similar apps to this one but OMR offers the clearest graphical illustrations by far. Geeky but fun.

Innovative music doesn't have to be rubbish

One of the biggest thrills for me is finding new music that I enjoy. Whilst it is easy to discover music I have not heard before, it is very difficult to discover music that I actually like. However, since joining Last.fm I have discovered innumerable artists that have open my eyes and ears in a way that I never thought possible. One such recent discovery is the artist MaJiKer. 

Listening to MaJiKer’s inventive and quite unique style, led me to consider the process of innovation in music. You see, there are many artists out there who are experimenting with sound. The internet is full of new music that pushes boundaries and drives modern styles. The only problem being that the majority of it is plain rubbish. Yet by pushing boundaries, such artists leave the way open for those who actually know how to take this innovation and mould it into something exciting. Where would we be if Elvis decided to stand still whilst performing? Imagine if DJ Pierre had decided not to bother using that little silver doormat to create “Acid Tracks”. Where would music be if Kraftwerk decided to stick with their flute, bass guitar and drum kit? What would have happened if the Pet Shop Boys had never recorded Release? (Oh, sorry that was just wishful thinking on my part).

To me there is little to admire in music that is innovative other than the innovation itself. Yet there is everything to admire in music that is both innovative and good to listen to. So get to MaJiKer’s artist page on Last.fm, download his free tracks and treat yourself to some great new music.

Too much of anything is never enough

I can't seem to stop listening to Love Etc. It's one of those songs that doesn't impress on first listening, but slowly grows until it becomes lodged in your head. I really can't stop playing it.

The only trouble with this situation is that by the time their new album comes out, I run the risk of being tired of the track. When Home and Dry was released some years ago, I played a promo copy of the single none stop for weeks proclaiming it their best in years. Once the travesty that was Release came out the track was tainted by the rest of the rubbish on the album and consequently I don't like the track much. The same happened with Before and its parent disc Bilingual and other albums too.

I sincerely hope Yes is going to be as good as I anticipate and that Love Etc hasn't brought about false hope of a superb album of electronic music by master songwriters.

Pet Shop Boys: Love Etc.

Any new Pet Shop Boys release gets top priority in my house, so finding their new single "Love Etc." became my obsession in the last few days.

Happily I found it and you can preview it here.

Great title but I'm not quite convinced of this tracks merits yet. Not very catchy and the vocal is buried in the muddy mix. Some nice synth riffs from Mr Lowe as usual. Still I hope it does well.

Music on web pages... STOP IT!

Ok its time for another rant. Whilst browsing the net recently I have encountered an annoying practice which I thought had all but died out: web pages that play music. Whether it be a MIDI file or an embedded mp3 there is nothing more annoying to me than a web page that insists you listen to music.

Music is so important to me that I am always listening to it. If I’m driving my car, I’m listening to music. If I’m cooking a meal, I’m listening to music. If I’m taking a bath, I’m listening to music. If I’m browsing the internet, I’m listening to music. So when a web page starts playing music I close it immediately. Even if the page is one that I am interested in, I close it instantly as a matter of principle. Consequently, I have no idea of what artists like Simian Mobile Disco or Mike Oldfield are up to as their respective ‘official’ web pages insist on playing their music as soon as you open them.

Many such pages allow you to turn off the music but by the time you find the tiny flash application to stop it the damage has been done. Music really should be off by default on web pages and the practice outlawed by some code of conduct. Ok finished now.

Louder is not better

Whilst listening to a CD compilation of my own creation the other day I became conscious of the varying signal to noise ration of the various sources I had used. Some tracks were light and filled with subtle bass tones whilst others were harsh, loud and caused the speakers in my car to vibrate annoyingly.

It seemed I had forgotten to master the CD with any sort of ‘normalization’ in the way I normally do. What struck me was the fact that all of the harsh and ‘loud’ tracks were from recent CD’s and the warmer and dynamic tracks were from CD’s created in the 80’s or 90’s.

My recent laments over the inadequacies of remastered CD’s also serve to highlight the decreasing quality of the product record companies present to us. Whilst the majority of people may well be satisfied with the ‘louder is better’ philosophy, I am not.


So I am now re-assessing the majority of the high bit rate files on my hard drive with a view to restoring original recordings in favour of their ‘louder is better’ remastered versions.

In researching this topic I found this very interesting article.