Been on a music buying binge the past couple of days. No particular reason, just the ache for some of the music that’s been lost over the years and for some of the shiny new pieces. Some of it was stuff I have on CDs around the house that I dug up to put in iTunes and on the iPod (which is named Emma for no reason I can’t explain). There’s a larger selection of rap than usual, but I was listening to some older rap recently and realized how much I miss the non-gangsta stuff.

Here’s what’s new:
“Since the Last Time” Arrested Development

Why didn’t I know these guys had put out another CD?! You’d think it would have been news.


“Game Theory” The Roots
‘cause you can never have too much Roots


“Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai - The Album” Forest Whitaker;


Ghost Dog was odd movie, staring Forest Whitaker as modern day follower of the ninja school of thought and fighting. The strange part wasn’t the black ninja, but the overweight ninja. What they couldn’t get him in a gym?



“Whites Off Earth Now!!” Cowboy Junkies
The first CD of one of my favorites bands, mostly covers though. But their rendition of Me and the Devil Blues by Robert Johnson still gives me chills.


“Dead Can Dance - Toward The Within” Brendan Perry
A really amazing recording from a live concert, recommended to mewhen I was talking voice lessons (hey Carol!).


“The Book of Secrets” Loreena McKennitt
This one replaces a lost CD. There’s lots of various goodies on this one, but the prize is her adaption of Alfred Noyes’ poem, “The Highwayman”


Foo Fighters Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace
It’s The Foo Fighers, why not buy it.


Musicology, Prince
I loved him back in the day, but the parting with The Revolution rubbed me wrong and the love dwindled. But dammit, it’s Prince, you know?


‘neath Your Covers, Pt. 1 Cowboy Junkies
A 5 song EP of covers from some of the artists that influenced the Junkies. Easily my favorite of the bunch.



I also went through my CD collection and pulled out Portishead’s Live: Roseland NYC and have been grokking that. The live version of Sour Times is incredible.

No, seriously, check out the new Amazon MP3 downloads. It’s a bit cheaper than iTunes, .89 versus .99 and the albums are either 5.99 or 8.99, depending on the artist. A quick browse for some older stuff, like Placebo or 16 horsepower reveals that they got it. Best of all, the MP3s are DRM FREE, meaning there are not restrictions on where and how they’re played. Once you buy, you can put it on your computer, iPod, work computer, your friend’s computer, etc. I’ve only bought one mp3 from iTunes, just to see how it works, but this Amazon thing makes has me reaching for my wallet.

Installed the Mperia player over there to your left. Press play to get a selection of tracks, though the length of the preview track is determined by the artist. Click to buy the track. No, I don’t get a kickback, dammit.

So, WOXY, that nice Internet only radio station, will shut down on September 15th. A few thoughts why.



The Space Shuttle STILL can’t launch.


And not even jail wants to keep Paris Hilton.


Not a fun day.

Got Early 21st Century Blues as an early birthday present. It’s mostly covers, which usually isn’t my thing, but it’s the Cowboy Junkies, so it’s good.

Except for the last track, where they cover “One” by U2. I don’t know what the hell it is about that song, but everyone seems to want to do some version of it, and now I’m just “Oned” out. I’ve never actually just rebelled from hearing Margo Timmins sing, but jeez, it sounded awful, in the sense that it wasn’t a song for them to do, but it was technically good. Just don’t make me listen to it.

Got in a Cowboy Junkies mood this weekend. No particular reason, the kid had asked me what I wanted for my birthday, so I mentioned their latest CD and that put them in my mind. Wandered over to their website and discovered that their offically unoffical archivist will make available a show of theirs available for download each month over at 4 the Llamas. Three shows have been uploaded so far, I’m downloading the first now, can’t wait.

J.D. Roth, over at folded space.com, has uploaded 20 songs from 1901 to 1920, in MP3 format. Even better, he has links to further info about some of the artists.

With the breakup of 16 Horsepower, I decided to pick up the this solo effort by Horsepower’s front man, David Eugene Edwards, called Woven Hand. Consider the Birds is the third CD from the Hand. I haven’t heard the other two CDDs yet.


It’s in the same neighborhood as 16 Horsepower, especially the later, more developed less raw sound, but it lacks a full richness that the group brought to the sound. Its stark sound isn’t bad, but it’s not memorable. 16 horsepower albums always had me listening to the damn things over and over, right from the get go. With Consider the Birds, the songs float though you like a warm wind, but it doesn’t linger.

Google now has music search at google.com/musicsearch. You can enter song tiles, artist, or album. Goggle tells you what album it came from or all the albums an artist to websites, artist photos, a link to various music starts. Damn useful.