Well, sort of. I was at Green Apple books for the first time a week or two ago, and discovered their wall of $2 CDs- two bucks each! That explanation probably wasn't really necessary. But anyway, I managed to pick up a couple of classic albums from my high school days for super cheap. While I was ripping them to MP3s the next day (who listens to uncompressed audio anymore?! LAME*) I figured I'd throw on a few other oldies that I hadn't yet converted to some intangible digital format. And so began my aural journey back in time to the days of my youth. Oh, the sour times!
Really though, it was a trip down memory lane. It's kind of amazing how well I remembered all these tracks considering that it'd been literally a decade since I listened to some of the stuff. And I know this makes me sound a little "grumpy grandpa," but a decade ago CDs were all we had! None of these fancy MyPods or co-decks or internets what're corrupting youngsters these days! Why, my friend Oliver and I used to rummage through the used bins at Rockaway Records in eighteen feet of snow- and this was LA in the summer! We're talking 105 degrees F in the shade! But it kept us out of trouble. If not out of hot LA wintry mix.
Back in reality though, I'm happy to announce that most of these rediscovered gems appeal to me as much now as they did then, which is a nice feeling. After all, if I assume that my taste now is impeccable (which it obviously is), I can logically conclude that my taste was also impeccable many years ago. And THAT leads me to conclude that I'm right and that Lindsey Lohan should never have recorded an album, because I know what's good and that is NOT good. Actually I'm not sure that she recorded anything, but if she didn't it's only a matter of time. Mark my words.
Was I going somewhere with all of this? I guess I really just wanted to pat myself (and my high school cohorts- you know who you are) on the back for liking some good stuff way back when. It's nice to get the opportunity to revisit fondnesses from one's past, and I really enjoyed the memories that listening to these "old" favorites evoked. Perhaps I'll do it again in another decade... unless my taste sucks by then. I guess we'll just have to wait and see!
Oh, and for the trainspotters, the specific albums that inspired this diatribe were:
Purple Penguin - "Detuned"
The Orb - "Orblivion"
Statik Sound System - "Tempesta II"
Baxter - "Baxter"
Crustacean - "Bloom"
...all worth a listen if you can find them. More on my own struggles to make something worthwhile next time. I promise.
---
* I didn't want to nest parentheticals, but I couldn't help pointing out how incredibly clever I am for coming up with this pun. CS types will understand.
Showing posts with label reminiscences. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reminiscences. Show all posts
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Monday, April 30, 2007
I Knew It!
The summer before my senior year of college (way back in '02, believe it or not- I choose not), I "borrowed" my dad's old record player, a Luxman PD272 that had been gathering dust for decades in a storage warehouse. I then accessorized with a big stack of aging vinyl, which, despite weighing in at what must have been at least fifty pounds, barely scratched the surface of the mountains of dusty gems he had hidden away- but that's another story. Thus I acquired a complete "Baby's First Deck!" beginner set, and all was good in the world. Reduce, reuse, recycle, right?
Cut to Berkeley a few months later. I was walking past Amoeba Records on Telegraph when I noticed a big cardboard box full of vinyl 12's sitting on the street. The box itself looked like it might have been peed on, and the entire stack of record sleeves inside had been unflatteringly spray-painted with a big pink stripe across their tops. I wasn't sure what to make of any of this, but I decided to do what any self respecting citizen would, and whisked the whole mess back to my apartment. I'm a hopeless public servant, always have been.
As it turns out, the box hadn't been peed on (that I could tell). It had, however, been filled to the brim with crap: musical crap! All the records that wouldn't sell even after being marked down to the magical price of $0.99. Obviously I was pleased to no end. If you think browsing random stuff on YouTube is fun, you should try sifting through the aural detritus of generations past! I carefully filed my newfound treasures away, brushed my teeth, and proceeded to dream sweet dreams of crackly barbershop quartets and rico/suave country crooners of yore. Or at least that's what I would have done had this been the dramatic re-enactment of that night. In reality I probably dreamed something much weirder and then forgot it fifteen seconds after waking up the next morning. But I digress.
Over the next year or so, I came across a number of similar boxes of free records outside of Amoeba and Rasputin, never failing to rescue them and add them to my growing collection of reject history. Every now and then I'd pull one out for laughs, but for the most part they just sat there masquerading as "real" music and making me look cool for having oh so many impractical yet charmingly-retro petroleum products. They gathered dust and took up space, and I loved them for it. And I dreamed of their limitless potential... or probably just of weird stuff that, again, I forgot upon waking. But for the story's sake, let's say I dreamed of potential because it seems more poetic that way.
The point of all this rambling is that, over the last few days, I actually, finally, started pulling out, wiping off, and going to work on my flock of orphan recordings. And lo and behold, they have potential! Whoa, and I have WYSIWYG formatting, that's pretty cool. Italic and bold text in one paragraph? I really did major in Computer Science!
OK sorry about that, I get a little excited sometimes.
Anyway yeah, I ended up finding quite a lot of interesting tidbits, and have a few new pieces I'm working on that incorporate what I've found so far. I know sampling vinyl is the oldest idea in the electronic music book , but it's an exciting "discovery" for me! And so I can't help but share a couple of very early clips- all disclaimers apply, but I think I like where they're headed.
(Side note: I'm writing Clip B for the eventual incorporation of vocals. I don't know by whom, but if you'd like to give it a shot please let me know! If you live in Germany and are related to me you get automatic first-dibs.)
Clip A
Clip B
I'm pretty tired, so I'll leave it at that for now. Away I go, to dream of... well, something I'll probably forget.
Cut to Berkeley a few months later. I was walking past Amoeba Records on Telegraph when I noticed a big cardboard box full of vinyl 12's sitting on the street. The box itself looked like it might have been peed on, and the entire stack of record sleeves inside had been unflatteringly spray-painted with a big pink stripe across their tops. I wasn't sure what to make of any of this, but I decided to do what any self respecting citizen would, and whisked the whole mess back to my apartment. I'm a hopeless public servant, always have been.
As it turns out, the box hadn't been peed on (that I could tell). It had, however, been filled to the brim with crap: musical crap! All the records that wouldn't sell even after being marked down to the magical price of $0.99. Obviously I was pleased to no end. If you think browsing random stuff on YouTube is fun, you should try sifting through the aural detritus of generations past! I carefully filed my newfound treasures away, brushed my teeth, and proceeded to dream sweet dreams of crackly barbershop quartets and rico/suave country crooners of yore. Or at least that's what I would have done had this been the dramatic re-enactment of that night. In reality I probably dreamed something much weirder and then forgot it fifteen seconds after waking up the next morning. But I digress.
Over the next year or so, I came across a number of similar boxes of free records outside of Amoeba and Rasputin, never failing to rescue them and add them to my growing collection of reject history. Every now and then I'd pull one out for laughs, but for the most part they just sat there masquerading as "real" music and making me look cool for having oh so many impractical yet charmingly-retro petroleum products. They gathered dust and took up space, and I loved them for it. And I dreamed of their limitless potential... or probably just of weird stuff that, again, I forgot upon waking. But for the story's sake, let's say I dreamed of potential because it seems more poetic that way.
The point of all this rambling is that, over the last few days, I actually, finally, started pulling out, wiping off, and going to work on my flock of orphan recordings. And lo and behold, they have potential! Whoa, and I have WYSIWYG formatting, that's pretty cool. Italic and bold text in one paragraph? I really did major in Computer Science!
OK sorry about that, I get a little excited sometimes.
Anyway yeah, I ended up finding quite a lot of interesting tidbits, and have a few new pieces I'm working on that incorporate what I've found so far. I know sampling vinyl is the oldest idea in the electronic music book , but it's an exciting "discovery" for me! And so I can't help but share a couple of very early clips- all disclaimers apply, but I think I like where they're headed.
(Side note: I'm writing Clip B for the eventual incorporation of vocals. I don't know by whom, but if you'd like to give it a shot please let me know! If you live in Germany and are related to me you get automatic first-dibs.)
Clip A
Clip B
I'm pretty tired, so I'll leave it at that for now. Away I go, to dream of... well, something I'll probably forget.
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