Consider this Part I of a three-part post I’ll be doing on my opinion of the best radio options available today.

I grew up listening to the local rock/mainstream radio stations alongside classic oldies stations that my dad was listening to. As I got older, I lost interest in the mainstream because I was starting to discover more underground, experimental music that I believed was much more unique and enjoyable than the hits crap on eMpTeeVee.

About a year ago I discovered a service called Pandora. (Read this post from an article I wrote on music discovery services to learn how Pandora works). I can listen to streaming music until my hear was content and at absolutely no cost. Things have changed a bit since then and you have a 40 hr/month free listening allowance. After that, you can pay a dollar or two and get to listen for an unlimited amount for the rest of the month – Not a bad deal!

I use Pandora all the time to discover new music and find obscure artists that wouldn’t ever get played on a local radio station. Here are some of my favorite channels on Pandora:

“Tortoise Radio” – Artists similar to the band Tortoise
“Teardrop Radio” – Songs similar to “Teardrop” by Massive Attack
“Jon Hopkins Radio” – Artists similar to Jon Hopkins
“Brandford Marsalis Quintet Radio” – Artists similar to the Branford Marsalis Quintet

Among these four stations, I rarely get repeated tracks over a 5 hour period (sometimes more).

Over the past few months I’ve become very interested in documentary films. Part of this is that I’m kind of sick of the Hollywood work of late. The same story, the same ending, the same explosions, it’s like listening to mainstream radio- the same thing over and over. I’ll still watch a new movie, but I’d rather check out something with a good story behind it. The following two trailers caught my attention. I’m anxiously awaiting their release.

Porcupine Tree has released the first single from their upcoming album, The Incident (due out 9.15.09).  ”Time Flies” is a nostalgic, catchy song in 6/8 that is quite reminiscent of “Trains” (In Absentia). Hopefully this will help to tide us over until the release date. An accompanying music video was created by videographer/visual artist Lasse Hoile but has yet to be streamed from a consistent source on the web since it’s debut on Monday at Muzu TV.

Listen to “Time Flies” here.

Following Thom Yorke’s comments about the decision to stop releasing full length albums, Radiohead has released a new song, “These Are My Twisted Words,” for free download.

Johnny Greenwood posted on the bands website this morning;

“So here’s a new song, called ‘These Are My Twisted Words’.

We’ve been recording for a while, and this was one of the first we finished.
We’re pretty proud of it.

There’s other stuff in various states of completion, but this is one we’ve been practicing, and which we’ll probably play at this summer’s concerts. Hope you like it.”

If anyone were to know the answer, it would be sculptor Villu Jaanisoo. Jaanisoo is the creator of an art installation at the Art Museum of Estonia. Wave features hundreds of speakers on poles. All of the speakers are in working condition and are wired up to play sounds of crashing ocean waves. The best part about the installation is that the sound actually moves along the speakers as the waves move.

Jaanisoo has created similar art installations in the past, featuring many speakers wired up to play pre-recorded audio in the ultimate surround sound setup.

Though a video of the installation would certainly be cool to see, I doubt it would capture the essence of the installation. Instead, the following pictures will have to suffice.

I wonder if there are any phase coherency issues as a result of all those speakers…

(Thanks to Steve Guttenberg @ The Audiophiliac blog for the reference)

A glorious day has finally come; WordPress now supports the embedding of SoundCloud sound files. For those of you who aren’t familiar, SoundCloud is a website that allows you to upload audio, embed it, share it (publicly or privately) and interact with other users in a social networking scenario. Not to sound like a fanboy or something, but it’s simple, easy to use and, best of all, it’s FREE*

*You can pay to upgrade your account and have unlimited uploads, more space, etc.

With the free account you can upload up to 5 files per month. They accept the following formats:

• AIFF
• WAV
• FLAC
• OGG
• MP3
• ACC

WordPress now allows you to embed a SoundCloud player just like you can embed a YouTube player in your posts. The result looks something like this:

I’m a huge fan of this and will likely be posting new music on my blog using this format.

Edit: Official announcement by WordPress: http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2009/08/13/soundcloud/

I’ve been really enjoying my camera this summer and, recently, I’ve been very interested in outdoor photography. I’ve been taking hikes, going for walks, drives, etc. with my camera and taking shots of anything that I thought I might want to look at again. Here are a few of my photos from the past few days.

Last night I decided to watch a movie that I’d heard some great things about but managed to slip past me when it was in theaters. I loaded The Soloist into my DVD drive and sat back. The following 117 minutes were filled by a genuinely honest film about a musician and journalist who were the most unlikely friends.

The movie is based on a book by L.A. Times journalist Steve Lopez (played by Robert Downey Jr.) about a homeless musician by the name of Nathaniel Ayers (played by Jamie Foxx). The book came from a series of articles written by Lopez for the Times. Both Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx manage to present their characters with great personal detail. Foxx does a particularly spectacular job of portraying an extremely gifted musician (he’s actually playing cello and violin in the movie) as well as a man who is mentally ill.

The film ends in a very realistic way that won’t make you roll your eyes. Creating a fitting ending for a film based on a true story is often quite difficult yet it is carried out in a very honest way in The Soloist.

After I finished watching the film, I took a deep breath and decided I wanted to watch all of the special features as well. I watched interviews with Nathaniel Ayers himself and deleted scenes from the film. I was enthralled.

I am drawn to this story. I have been researching it more and more. I found the following 60 minutes story on the LA Times website: Steve Lopez on Nathaniel Ayers :: 60 Minutes

I’m in the process of reading the original columns by Steve Lopez that first brought Ayers’ story to light. The first was published on April 17th, 2005:

Violinist Has the World on 2 Strings
A Cello Backdrop for Voices Inside
Twilight Concert for Rats and Cello
A New Stage for Homeless Musician
Vicious Circle of Hope, Despair
A Ray of Hope for Future Nathaniels
From Skid Row to Disney Hall
Now Comes the Heavy Lifting
Stakes Are So High, It’s Hard To Wait
Man of the Streets, In Three Suites
The Best Present for Nathaniel: A Future
A Musician of the Streets

This story is meant to be heard. While the film includes bits of fiction that seem to exist within any film based on truth, The Soloist tells the story of an unlikely friendship that improved the lives of both friends.

Last night was a night to remember (and certainly not a night easily forgotten). Dweezil Zappa and the gang of talented musicians known as “Zappa Plays Zappa” performed a 2 hour 45 minute set without break. They were so tight and well rehearsed it was mind boggling. Having seen the group perform at the same venue almost exactly a year ago, I thought I was already prepared for the amazing evening of music. It turns out I was wrong. I was in no way prepared for such an awesome reproduction of music by the late great Frank Zappa. The highlight of the evening for me was the performance of Black Page #1 (the drum solo) and Black Page #2 (the melodic version). Singer Ben Thomas (the new guy) even provided interpretive dance accompaniment. Wish I could have had my DSLR camera with me. Alas, the P&S photos will have to suffice.

Dweezil Zappa | Higher Ground 8.10.09

Zappa Plays Zappa | Higher Ground 8.10.09

Zappa Plays Zappa | Higher Ground 8.10.09

Today was likely the hottest day we’ve had this summer in Vermont. I decided to take advantage of the partly cloudy sky (nicely diffused lighting) and do some outdoor photography. I was first inspired by the fresh vegetables in our raised bed gardens. After taking a few photos and swatting off mosquitos, I loaded up on some sunscreen and bug spray and ventured off into the woods. At this time of year, the plant growth is near its peak and I have to wade through it slowly to avoid making a wrong step. I’ve been back there several times earlier this summer and managed to come upon a baby deer laying no more than 5 ft. from my position. It was perfectly hidden in the plants until I disturbed it.

I took care to walk extremely slowly and to look all around in order to not miss a good shot. As I was walking along, a dragonfly landed atop a plant directly in front of me. I carefully composed my shot and dialed in my settings. Sadly, I hadn’t charged my battery recently and it died about 20 min. into my walk. It’s on the charger now though and I may  go out again tomorrow if the weather is cooperative.

Tonight I’m off to see Dweezil Zappa with Zappa Plays Zappa at Higher Ground. I’ll post some photos tomorrow.

The Dragonfly | 8.10.09

Mushrooms in the Woods | 8.10.09

Tomatoes in the Garden | 8.10.09