The taste of drying paint...
...and the sound of air slowly leaking into vacuum.
Thanks to their recent "record label? who needs a record label?!" stunt, Radiohead not only has $7 (or more like 3 pound 49 pence) of my dosh, but has also been more or less permanently lodged in the car stereo and on iTunes at home. I still can't bring myself to listen to Pablo Honey, but its two successors (the rockatharsis The Bends and the reach-for-the-razorblade OK Computer) have become my soundtrack.
And then there were the "oh, no, we're not cashing in on the Ian Curtis biopic" reissues of the three Joy Division albums which are notable for (a) remastering that's marginally more immediate than the "oh my God, couldn't they find a better cover photo" Heart and Soul box set, (b) interviews and liner notes that essentially seem to say that the band, save Curtis, were clueless rockers who achieved immortality through the mad vision of Martin "gimme back Precioussss, or I'll shoot you!" Hannett and the unfortunate "ascension" of Saint Ian, and (c) a second disc containing an appropriately grubby and feral live recording to contrast with the claustrophobic austerity of the studio albums.
Greater than the sum of its parts and circumstances.
I just reminded myself of the ~$90 deluxe box set for Radiohead's In Rainbows. Nothing mutters objet d'art like this multi-disc package, and I'm sure it'd be nice to have the whole album (and then some) at something more hi-fi than 160 kbps*. Do I or don't I? Eeeny, meeny, miney....
* But then, I'm listening to The Bends as 224 kbps mp3 files, and it sounds thornily majestic through a pair of low end Grado headphones (the best $80 I've spent on a pair of cans). In comparison, the double-LP of OK Computersounded disappointingly thin on the home stereo system. Okay, enough heresy. Moving along.
Oh, and speaking of objets d'art, here are some snapshots:
Uno con Dos. Technically, this is catalogued as "Greengage 1," the first release on nan's handmade record label. One side is a version of Buddha on the Moon's "Losing" performed by Two Sun Tears (a Brit and an Aussie transplanted to Osaka, Ian Masters and Cailan Burns), and the other is a version of Friendly Science Orchestra's "I'll Never Dream Again" performed by Buddha on the Moon (a reclusive Texan, although not as reclusive as that other, actually famous Texas recluse...). An edition of 40, lettered from "a" to "nn".
And I still continue to drift away from song, continue to lose interest. Here's the latest example.
Yet, the other night, I decided to drive to Brookshire, windows down, Unknown Pleasures and Closer on the stereo. Other peoples' misery are shards of a broken mirror - distortingly reflective and hungry for blood should you handle without care. Perhaps it's time for another drive to the country.
Thanks to their recent "record label? who needs a record label?!" stunt, Radiohead not only has $7 (or more like 3 pound 49 pence) of my dosh, but has also been more or less permanently lodged in the car stereo and on iTunes at home. I still can't bring myself to listen to Pablo Honey, but its two successors (the rockatharsis The Bends and the reach-for-the-razorblade OK Computer) have become my soundtrack.
And then there were the "oh, no, we're not cashing in on the Ian Curtis biopic" reissues of the three Joy Division albums which are notable for (a) remastering that's marginally more immediate than the "oh my God, couldn't they find a better cover photo" Heart and Soul box set, (b) interviews and liner notes that essentially seem to say that the band, save Curtis, were clueless rockers who achieved immortality through the mad vision of Martin "gimme back Precioussss, or I'll shoot you!" Hannett and the unfortunate "ascension" of Saint Ian, and (c) a second disc containing an appropriately grubby and feral live recording to contrast with the claustrophobic austerity of the studio albums.
Greater than the sum of its parts and circumstances.
I just reminded myself of the ~$90 deluxe box set for Radiohead's In Rainbows. Nothing mutters objet d'art like this multi-disc package, and I'm sure it'd be nice to have the whole album (and then some) at something more hi-fi than 160 kbps*. Do I or don't I? Eeeny, meeny, miney....
* But then, I'm listening to The Bends as 224 kbps mp3 files, and it sounds thornily majestic through a pair of low end Grado headphones (the best $80 I've spent on a pair of cans). In comparison, the double-LP of OK Computersounded disappointingly thin on the home stereo system. Okay, enough heresy. Moving along.
Oh, and speaking of objets d'art, here are some snapshots:
Uno con Dos. Technically, this is catalogued as "Greengage 1," the first release on nan's handmade record label. One side is a version of Buddha on the Moon's "Losing" performed by Two Sun Tears (a Brit and an Aussie transplanted to Osaka, Ian Masters and Cailan Burns), and the other is a version of Friendly Science Orchestra's "I'll Never Dream Again" performed by Buddha on the Moon (a reclusive Texan, although not as reclusive as that other, actually famous Texas recluse...). An edition of 40, lettered from "a" to "nn".
And I still continue to drift away from song, continue to lose interest. Here's the latest example.
Yet, the other night, I decided to drive to Brookshire, windows down, Unknown Pleasures and Closer on the stereo. Other peoples' misery are shards of a broken mirror - distortingly reflective and hungry for blood should you handle without care. Perhaps it's time for another drive to the country.