Happy Celebration of the Decimalization of Time!

So I've been thinking about the past decade in music, and I figured I should put up my own personal list, to add to the myriad of "best of the decade" lists out there. Before I start, I must honor my late, great, wonderful father by pointing out, as he would have, that it is not actually the end of the decade yet, and that we'll all have to wait another year before doing the best of the decade lists. Most people don't consider the fact that there was no Year Zero, and therefore each decade of ten years begins with the "1" and ends at the end of the "0" year, so really 2010 is the last year of the decade.

But no matter!! The mass media feels otherwise, and so I will indulge those who want to look back on this first "completed" decade of the new century and talk about what it all meant. Among all the incredibly fucked-up things that occurred over the past 10 years, thankfully there was some great music, and here is my list of the top 10 albums of the decade (sorry, Dad)!

1. In Rainbows - Radiohead

2. Back To Black - Amy Winehouse

3. Kid A - Radiohead

4. Is This It? - The Strokes

5. Turn On The Bright Lights - Interpol

6. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots - The Flaming Lips

7. Elephant - The White Stripes

8. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - Wilco

9. The Blueprint - Jay Z

10. Lateralus - Tool

I can honestly say that each of these albums was very important to me, and that I explored every inch of them, many times, as a FULL album, and they became part of my soundtrack as a result.

Ok it's hard to stop at 10, so here's the next bunch, in no particular order:

O - Damien Rice

Come On Feel The Illinoise - Sufjan Stevens

Figure 8 - Elliott Smith

Her Majesty - The Decemberists

The Grey Album - DJ Danger Mouse + Jay Z

The Milk-Eyed Mender - Joanna Newsom

Relationship of Command - At The Drive-In

The Libertines - Up The Bracket

Lifted, or the Story in the Soil... - Bright Eyes

Gold - Ryan Adams

Return to Cookie Mountain - TV on the Radio

The Marshall Mathers LP - Eminem

TransAtlanticism - Death Cab For Cutie

Chutes Too Narros - The Shins

Sky Blue Sky - Wilco

Amnesiac - Radiohead

Hail To The Thief - Radiohead

Greatest Album No One Heard of or bought:

Eyes Adrift - Eyes Adrift

Album I wish I had made:

Here We Stand - The Fratellis

I will have to create a site for these albums to spread the word beyond this humble blog, but if you read this and have any comments, arguments, citations, etc, please let me know. Happy Decade!

The Zen of Scale Model Trains

I have not been blogging much about songwriting lately, as I've been distracted with some job-related duties and some self-educational processes regarding digital media and marketing. To that end, I've been doing some article writing on the subject of model trains. It's a training exercise, of sorts, done for the purpose of learning more about internet marketing. In the course of doing this, I've actually become fascinated with reading about the model train hobby that so many people seem to indulge in. It's one of those hobbies that you hear about but don't realize how deep people are into it, and how much of an underground subculture exists around this topic.

Go to any scale model train forum on the web and you'll see people talking about the subject using jargon and buzzwords that don't mean anything to the average person. Who knew there was so much different equipment, train types, and ways to build the train set? I'm finding it a little difficult to write about this without knowing everything, but I'm learning at a rapid rate. Here are some of my articles, setup as Squidoo lenses:

The first one I did was about N Scale Model Trains, and it gives some advice to those working in this popular scale of model trains. Here's the link: N Scale Train Layouts

or you can also go here:N Gauge Train Layouts

The next one was on Z scale model trains, which is the next size down from N scale. This scale is popular in Japan, and among people with serious space limitations, because the trains are at a small 1:220 ratio, so you can fit a large and complex layout in a small space. The site is here: Z Scale Model Trains

Oddly, the Z Scale train page I did is receiving the least amount of traffic out of four scale model train lenses I did, despite the fact that it's been up for awhile, and that Z Scale is trending upward in popularity among model train enthusiasts. I'll have to work on ranking for this a little more.

Another lens is called Model Train Repair: Starts and Stops. This is my attempt to provide some practical advice that I've learned from my research on some of the most common problems you find in model train repair, such as derailment issues and the like. The site is here, and I particularly like how this one came out: Model Train Repair

The last is called Model Train Layouts, and it is the most general of all the resources I've put together, providing basic info geared more towards those just starting in model railroading. It talks about the differences between the scales and how to choose which one you want to work in, etc. Take a look here: Model Train Layouts.

I'll blog more about music soon enough, so stay tuned!

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Songwriter's Dilemma

About to turn 40 next week. Trying to write another song before I hit that milestone.

Let's see, if it doesn't come easy by now, does that mean I'll never do this effortlessly?

Hmm.... moon, june..... spoon?

Wish me luck.

J

Beatles Ear Candy

So much hullaballoo on the Web about the Beatles remastered albums. I posted on an audiophile forum with one little comment about the Beatles USB apple and I got something like 70 people clicking through to my blog on the subject. Just unreal, but I think people who know audio and who care deeply about preserving classic recordings for future generations are really interested in what the Beatles have done with their remasters.

It works like this... vinyl sucked. We all know that, despite our fondness for the records we grew up with. The feel of them, the look of those big covers, the smell of them...mmmm oh, too much.... But seriously, even back then we knew there was something inherently imperfect about a format that skipped like it did, and was so susceptible to scratching, hissing, static, pops, clicks, that weird sound the needle made when you rubbed it with your fingers, etc.

So along comes digital... the CD... and we are just happy to have it, at first. It's clear, pure, and easy to use. So we buy everything on CD. Then we get our iPods, and mp3s become the compromise that you have to live with in order to carry your entire record collection around in your pocket. But how fucking cool is it to carry your fucking record collection around in your pocket? Never mind that Neil Young tells us that mp3 is evil because it's like looking at a Picasso through a mesh screen. We want our iPods. But for some of us, and for some music, like the Beatles (and Neil Young, if he's lucky), we do want a better format. We'll carry around the mp3s, but we need to know that there is something available to us, that we can put on at home, pour a glass of wine, sit in the recliner, set the bass and treble just right, and just listen, in a way that melts the soul. No digitization, no resolution issues, and no scratchy vinyl. The Beatles, dammit, should be oozing into my brain directly from theirs... format should not be an obstacle.

So CDs weren't cutting it in that regard, and mp3s... well, we sold our souls on that one. So what's next? The fact is that all formats are going to be digital from now on. Even if you were to buy an analog format, the stuff was probably recorded in digital. You can't even find any recording engineers anymore who know how to use the analog equipment, let alone find a studio that is still using it. So it's not about format, it's about resolution. Give me my Beatles and Zeppelin in a format with as few of the bits and bytes taken out of it.

The Beatles have done the best they can so far with the USB product. Made for audiophiles who know, or for people who have the $240 and just want to buy the whole collection in one handy package, this device has all the files to all the Beatles albums in 24 bit FLAC audio, the highest resolution Beatle product ever released.

Please will someone buy me this for Christmas?

Read review here: http://www.squidoo.com/buy-beatles-usb

And if you're at it, see the other Squidoo lenses I like....

http://www.scale-model-trains.info/

http://www.squidoo.com/z-scale-model-trains