Sep2009
I Am Music
Well for all the talk about this being a blog about people and music, the music based posts have been somewhere between thin on the ground and non-existent. This lamentable situation ends here.
In reality, my situation at the moment is a touch difficult, music-wise. My mp3 player seems to be importing albums backwards, which is novel for a while, but has taken a bit of the fun out of some of my favourite records and obviously completely ruined any mix album with the tracks separated. (If you can’t imagine this, try getting a mix CD, skipping forward to track 10 and listening until it mixes seamlessly into track 11 at which point you immediately skip back two tracks to track 9. Then when 9 becomes 10 skip to 8 etc. You’ll soon discover it’s fairly frustrating.)
As a result, I’ve been a bit put off buying albums, and the majority of my listening revolves around downloaded DJ mixes. There have been some damn good ones already this year (those that spring to mind include the Jamie Vex’d Sunday Walkman, Ben UFO Hessle Audio Fabric Takeover, Two Fingers 25 Minute and Stoaty Freestyle Volume 5 mixes) and I have a sizable list of those that I still need to download.
The problem with this approach however, aside from the fact that it’s perhaps slightly narrowing the range of music that I’m listening to, is that downloading here in Iquitos (with a broadband connection) is both temperamental and mind-shreddingly slow.
For the entertainment of the geek readers amongst you, I’m averaging a download speed of approximately 6kbps. For those who haven’t got a foggiest what the means, yesterday I started downloading a by-no-means-massive DJ mix at around 0930 in the morning. Due to the occasional issues with the connection and my laptop, I felt I had to pause it a various points during the day, pretty much whenever I was going to abandon the computer (I have already lost too many files mid-download to risk it). Anyway, at 1830 our internet connection was shut off, and I still had 3 minutes to go on the download. Happily, I managed to pick up and complete the download this morning (which saved the guy who switched off the internet after I’d specifically asked if it could be left running for a few minutes from an unhinged mauling) and on first listen, the mix is sounding rather tasty. I might even put some kind of brief review up here soon.
So it’s a massive pain. However, as I go a bit weird without a fresh supply of tasty music, it’s a pain I have to live with.
As such, because music news doesn’t filter out here unless I hunt for it online, and there are absolutely no record shops, the music I do write about might not always be the newest, but hopefully I’ll still be able to point you in the way of a few treats, or at least explain a bit about some noises that are exciting me.
In the meantime, I’d better get back to downloading another mix, and suppressing my feverish anticipation for the Hyperdub 5th anniversary album, which:
a) is a compilation album, so it doesn’t really matter if the tracks are played in the wrong order,
b) contains “Aidy’s Girl is a Computer” by Darkstar, a song I’ve desperately wanted a copy of ever since I first heard it a couple of years ago, and
c) being a selection of some of the greatest tracks from what is quite possibly the finest record label of the moment, cannot fail to be outstandingly excellent.
Want. Want. Want.
2 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL
Leave a comment
© 2009 Tom Schrieber. Website by (Mark Ross). Valid XHTML Strict
Maybe carrier pidgeon would be faster. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8248056.stm
Comment by Mark Ross — September 10, 2009 @ 7:08 am
Allo. Slightly random, but I follow another blog of a MATILDA friend who’s now doing a PhD in Miami. Thought you might enjoy his stuff:
http://nick-miami.blogspot.com/2008/04/high-class-clubbing.html
http://nick-miami.blogspot.com/2009/04/wmc.html
…. the travails of a sheffielder looking for clubbing kicks in the land of Crockett and Tubs. Oh, and lots of other interesting Miami things too.
Comment by Dan — September 11, 2009 @ 11:56 am