The Music Thread
Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2008 1:01 pmOK, I know Charlie posted some bands in the "Gotta put this somewhere" thread, but I figured this sort of thing needed its own thread. Especially after this post. So feel free to add your own crap in here.
First, Darkest of the Hillside Thickets. Frickin' awesome. I may have to download some of their other stuff from Amazon. How can you resist an album called "Cthulhu Strikes Back," written in the Star Wars font? You can't, that's how.
Speaking of which: Amazon MP3 downloads. Freaking awesome. No DRM (screw you iTunes). 99 cents a song. Maybe it's better to buy the real thing if you're buying a full CD, but to pick up a song or two or buy an EP it's much cheaper. They're also linked in to that Pepsi Points promotion, so 5 points = 1 song. My only gripe is that song previews don't appear to work right in Firefox.
What's really interesting is you can dig up some really obscure stuff, especially if you listen to artists that have done single songs for compilations you wouldn't otherwise buy. Case in point:
I looked up the new Jars of Clay Closer EP. Which is good... slightly different style than their previous stuff. If I actually knew how to classify music I might be able to explain just what type of different... the closest comparison in my limited musical knowledge is probably Coldplay-ish. But apparently they released another EP around the time of Redemption Songs called Roots and Wings that i never heard of. And a rendition of "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" on the City on a Hill compilation, which I probably would never have looked at or bought otherwise.
They also did a cover of "If I Stand" on a Rich Mullins tribute CD, which, again, I would probably not buy otherwise. But from there, I noticed that Chris Rice did a cover of "Calling Out Your Name," which is a great song, and if you've heard it and you've listened to any Chris Rice you pretty much know that's a cover that goes together perfectly.
So I ended up buying a crap load of music just because (1) I could actually buy them on a song-by-song basis and (2) I could dig through a lot of obscure/compilation stuff that I wouldn't otherwise have known about. Marketing genius, I say. Call me a Luddite, but this buying music online thing is awesome... as long as there's no freaking DRM. (Yes, yes, I could pirate it, but I like being legal.) I'm impressed in part because I haven't gotten much good new music in a while.
Also, there's a new free Bob Dylan MP3 on his site (link on the right sidebar) called "Dreamin' of You." It's an unreleased song from Time Out of Mind from some new collection that's coming out. Kinda dark and bluesy. I like it. Just don't make the mistake of buying it from Amazon, just because they're promoting it on their MP3 downloads site. D'oh.
First, Darkest of the Hillside Thickets. Frickin' awesome. I may have to download some of their other stuff from Amazon. How can you resist an album called "Cthulhu Strikes Back," written in the Star Wars font? You can't, that's how.
Speaking of which: Amazon MP3 downloads. Freaking awesome. No DRM (screw you iTunes). 99 cents a song. Maybe it's better to buy the real thing if you're buying a full CD, but to pick up a song or two or buy an EP it's much cheaper. They're also linked in to that Pepsi Points promotion, so 5 points = 1 song. My only gripe is that song previews don't appear to work right in Firefox.
What's really interesting is you can dig up some really obscure stuff, especially if you listen to artists that have done single songs for compilations you wouldn't otherwise buy. Case in point:
I looked up the new Jars of Clay Closer EP. Which is good... slightly different style than their previous stuff. If I actually knew how to classify music I might be able to explain just what type of different... the closest comparison in my limited musical knowledge is probably Coldplay-ish. But apparently they released another EP around the time of Redemption Songs called Roots and Wings that i never heard of. And a rendition of "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" on the City on a Hill compilation, which I probably would never have looked at or bought otherwise.
They also did a cover of "If I Stand" on a Rich Mullins tribute CD, which, again, I would probably not buy otherwise. But from there, I noticed that Chris Rice did a cover of "Calling Out Your Name," which is a great song, and if you've heard it and you've listened to any Chris Rice you pretty much know that's a cover that goes together perfectly.
So I ended up buying a crap load of music just because (1) I could actually buy them on a song-by-song basis and (2) I could dig through a lot of obscure/compilation stuff that I wouldn't otherwise have known about. Marketing genius, I say. Call me a Luddite, but this buying music online thing is awesome... as long as there's no freaking DRM. (Yes, yes, I could pirate it, but I like being legal.) I'm impressed in part because I haven't gotten much good new music in a while.
Also, there's a new free Bob Dylan MP3 on his site (link on the right sidebar) called "Dreamin' of You." It's an unreleased song from Time Out of Mind from some new collection that's coming out. Kinda dark and bluesy. I like it. Just don't make the mistake of buying it from Amazon, just because they're promoting it on their MP3 downloads site. D'oh.