Untitled
There are certain albums of music I refuse to pause, stop or skip songs on. I can do it if I'm looking for a bit of sound, trying to remember lyrics, melodies or if I'm just messing with it for my own amusement. In general though if I've got my nice listening headphones on and I put one of these albums on then I have to know I can sit there and listen through it without having to hit the pause button even once, I just have to know it before I can get to the business of listening.
For example if my leg were to spontaneously burst into flame all of the sudden I'd be shocked and do my utmost to stamp the hot fucker out, but I'd also try and keep from disturbing the music.
This level of 'respect' is reserved for albums like Radiohead's 'Kid A', Pink Floyd's 'The Wall' or ELP's 'Brain Salad Surgery' to name a few. This music was made so people would listen to it, suck the noise into their minds and just let their conciousness float around among it, and having it on as background noise just isn't acceptable to me. I suppose I can do it and I don't object to other people skipping through the tracks or even having one favourite off of albums like this. I can't though.
While it does add some amount of ritual and tedium to listening to certain albums it has an added side effect; I appreciate the music more. I've listened to Radiohead's 'Kid A' perhaps a dozen times since I got it and every single time I do there's something new in there, it's a really strange and wonderful album in itself, but because I've listened to it so few times it feels new every time. Every time I hear the songs I have to stop and listen, I barely pay attention to the things around me and my mind just focuses on the music...
And in return it feels like the music is focused on me. When I listen to it I feel like it's wrapped around me, not just in my mind being processed by my brain as raw audio data being actively converted into emotion, memory and sensation but something my whole body experiences. With the right set of headphones (A nice pair of Grado's or mdr-v6's which seem to be going extinct?) you can really get lost in it.
This throws me on a bit of a tangent. Why don't folks get good cans? It seems pretty inevitable that whenever a friend of mine says they're going to buy a 'nice' pair of headphones they'll have gotten a pair of Bose headphones. Look, I try and not get into audiophilia too hard because inevitably I'll end up arguing with some simp over solid-state electronics vs vacuum tubes and it ends up spinning into a whole new dimension of ridiculous because the 'effects' that are being argued about are about as measurable as ghosts farts. However, Bose is rubbish. If you like listening to audio that sounds like it's coming from underneath a soggy blanket then buy Bose.
Get a pair of Grado's or Sennheiser's or just the v6's. The v6's are sort of a workhorse for me, I've always been fond of them like I'm fond of the F-4 Phantom. They're just trusty old dogs and they serve well. Anything but Bose, really. Well not anything, that's the thing - there are a lot models and brands that make truly exceptional headphones and all I see is people getting the thumpa-pods that strap to their heads. Why? Yeah, I appreciate bass and it's nice but not at the cost of every subtlety and nuance being pounded out of the music just so you can have the bass equivalent of fat ladies falling on their arses in an empty gym. Ka-thump. Ka-thump. Ka-thump.
Just get some nice cans, okay? It's not hard, ask a friend and don't buy Bose. And don't buy some random no-name brand because they'll be crap. I know people who've had their mdr-v6's for over a decade if not more and other than the pads falling to pieces they're still excellent; you're not going to get this with HappyEarFuckSounds! or whatever brand of plasticrap is out on offer with big discount prices.
See this is the thing people tend to not understand, while it seem ludicrous to drop anything from 60-600$ USD on a pair of headphones, when shopping at the high end of headphones - cream of the crop here (ruling out Stax and such that's really really expensive) - you're still only spending a fraction of the money you'd spend on just a 'decent' stereo. This isn't even getting on the point of how most people make a hash of setting up their stereos anyway.
This strayed pretty far off-topic. The point was that after listening to 'Kid A' once again I realized how I've spoiled certain songs and certain albums completely for myself in way by over listening to them, how Johnny Cash's 'At Folsom Prison' is one of the worst victims, how certain music really does deserve the appreciation and also my search for ambient music. But I'm sleepy, so fuck it.
Actually on the note of ambient music, I really want some. I have no clue where to start though.
For example if my leg were to spontaneously burst into flame all of the sudden I'd be shocked and do my utmost to stamp the hot fucker out, but I'd also try and keep from disturbing the music.
This level of 'respect' is reserved for albums like Radiohead's 'Kid A', Pink Floyd's 'The Wall' or ELP's 'Brain Salad Surgery' to name a few. This music was made so people would listen to it, suck the noise into their minds and just let their conciousness float around among it, and having it on as background noise just isn't acceptable to me. I suppose I can do it and I don't object to other people skipping through the tracks or even having one favourite off of albums like this. I can't though.
While it does add some amount of ritual and tedium to listening to certain albums it has an added side effect; I appreciate the music more. I've listened to Radiohead's 'Kid A' perhaps a dozen times since I got it and every single time I do there's something new in there, it's a really strange and wonderful album in itself, but because I've listened to it so few times it feels new every time. Every time I hear the songs I have to stop and listen, I barely pay attention to the things around me and my mind just focuses on the music...
And in return it feels like the music is focused on me. When I listen to it I feel like it's wrapped around me, not just in my mind being processed by my brain as raw audio data being actively converted into emotion, memory and sensation but something my whole body experiences. With the right set of headphones (A nice pair of Grado's or mdr-v6's which seem to be going extinct?) you can really get lost in it.
This throws me on a bit of a tangent. Why don't folks get good cans? It seems pretty inevitable that whenever a friend of mine says they're going to buy a 'nice' pair of headphones they'll have gotten a pair of Bose headphones. Look, I try and not get into audiophilia too hard because inevitably I'll end up arguing with some simp over solid-state electronics vs vacuum tubes and it ends up spinning into a whole new dimension of ridiculous because the 'effects' that are being argued about are about as measurable as ghosts farts. However, Bose is rubbish. If you like listening to audio that sounds like it's coming from underneath a soggy blanket then buy Bose.
Get a pair of Grado's or Sennheiser's or just the v6's. The v6's are sort of a workhorse for me, I've always been fond of them like I'm fond of the F-4 Phantom. They're just trusty old dogs and they serve well. Anything but Bose, really. Well not anything, that's the thing - there are a lot models and brands that make truly exceptional headphones and all I see is people getting the thumpa-pods that strap to their heads. Why? Yeah, I appreciate bass and it's nice but not at the cost of every subtlety and nuance being pounded out of the music just so you can have the bass equivalent of fat ladies falling on their arses in an empty gym. Ka-thump. Ka-thump. Ka-thump.
Just get some nice cans, okay? It's not hard, ask a friend and don't buy Bose. And don't buy some random no-name brand because they'll be crap. I know people who've had their mdr-v6's for over a decade if not more and other than the pads falling to pieces they're still excellent; you're not going to get this with HappyEarFuckSounds! or whatever brand of plasticrap is out on offer with big discount prices.
See this is the thing people tend to not understand, while it seem ludicrous to drop anything from 60-600$ USD on a pair of headphones, when shopping at the high end of headphones - cream of the crop here (ruling out Stax and such that's really really expensive) - you're still only spending a fraction of the money you'd spend on just a 'decent' stereo. This isn't even getting on the point of how most people make a hash of setting up their stereos anyway.
This strayed pretty far off-topic. The point was that after listening to 'Kid A' once again I realized how I've spoiled certain songs and certain albums completely for myself in way by over listening to them, how Johnny Cash's 'At Folsom Prison' is one of the worst victims, how certain music really does deserve the appreciation and also my search for ambient music. But I'm sleepy, so fuck it.
Actually on the note of ambient music, I really want some. I have no clue where to start though.