My favorite music, running on decades now, has been instrumental music — electric guitar by Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Yngwie Malmsteen, etc., — or at least vocal music in non-English like hippy hare krishna music by Rasa, or new age music by Kevin Wood. I’d prefer to listen to the music without being distracted by the words. However, I have an eMusic subscription and decided to check out the alternative world, with real live English lyrics. Continue reading ‘How the Other Half Lives’ »
Archive for the ‘Music’ Category
After starting working at a company that’s very strict about desktop software, I’m now just storing and listening to my music from my new Sprint Moto Q cell phone. Problems crept up quickly (not including the 6! visits to Sprint stores): large MP3 files skip! That is, a 15-minute song will get 7 minutes or so into it and then skip to the next song. From what I’ve seen on the Sprint forums, this is due to the caching strategy Windows Media Player uses. Also a 1GB mini-SD card doesn’t hold that many MP3′s.
Solution: don’t use Windows Media Player, and don’t use MP3′s. Instead, use CorePlayer to play Ogg Vorbis files. There’s no skipping, they sound better, and you can fit more in the same space. To rip from CD, use the good ol’ standby AudioGrabber, following Tom’s Audio Guide instructions. Converting from MP3 to .ogg won’t do any good, but CorePlayer should handle them better than WMP.
On eMusic, I have a basic account. For $10 a month, I get 30 MP3 downloads (they don’t offer Vorbis, shame on them).� Now, some downloads are worth downloading just because they’re great. The Crash Test Dummies have a few albums available there. And I still contend that The Ghosts That Haunt Me is one of the best albums ever. But after the CTD downloads were done, I concentrated on getting more bang for my buck; that is, I want the longest palatable songs I can find. How far can you stretch 33 cents per song?
Here are some good, long MP3′s from eMusic:
- 56:11 – Ustad Amjad Ali Khan’s “Raag – Ahir Bhairav.” Good sarod and violin. The memorable theme at 32 minutes or so is great.
- 41:58 – Tom Heasley’s “Thonis,” from “On the Sensations of Tone.” Ambient tuba music, if you can believe it. Get “Prelude,” too.
- 21:27 – Robert Henke’s “Studies for Thunder,” from “Signal to Noise.” The other two tracks are great, too.
- 15:17 – Yngwie Malmsteen’s “Trilogy Suite (Includes Red House and Badingere) ” from “Double Live.” I saw Yngwie with Joe Satriani and Steve Vai on the G3 tour a few years back. Yngwie kept tossing his guitar around his body, and one time he came about a foot away from spearing Billy Sheehan with it. Funniest thing I’d seen in a while. Several of his albums are available on eMusic, the best being “Concerto Suite for Electric Guitar and Orchestra in E Flat Minor Op. 1.” Great listening.
- 10:19 – Nina Simone’s “Sinnerman.” Straight-up awesome.
- 25:40, 25:03, 25:37 – Ambient Music Therapy’s “Ultimate Sleep System.” Impressive ambient music. It’s tough to be non-intrusive.
Here’s a 5-string banjo version of (more or less) Bach’s Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme – Sleepers Awake! (BWV 140). The whole cantata is available for free download at the Wikipedia link above (this is from the 4th movement).
I’ve been poking around at this for a while, but nobody else in the family likes hearing me practice. So, this is from sneaking picking time. It’s not a full rendition, but the two major themes are there. And I don’t know why, but the microphone makes me nervous, and all that. Here it is. Next on my list is Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring.
The “Gregorian Chant” CD, from the Monks Of The Abbey Of Notre Dame, is one of my constant companions. Kyrie Eleison is the most memorable piece. Very pretty.
This is a minimalist banjo version, with just a cheap mic hooked up to the computer. So the sound quality isn’t great — just imagine it’s an old Folkways recording.
I got a wild hair to start playing classical music on the banjo a while back.
I’ll add more songs as I learn them.
MP3 recording of Bach’s Prelude in C Major (BWV 846) on the 5-string banjo