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Urp. Okay. Going back to work now.

13

Comments

  • captqitncaptqitn Posts: 3,624
    Sorry for that feeling you have.

    Pete Shelley's Homosapien was big to me. Buzzcocks was mostly just music I heard at friends' houses.
  • LefunesteLefuneste Posts: 7,989
    edited December 2018
    When I was growing up, back in the old country, in the days before the World Wide Waste of time, I had to walk barefooted for at least 10 Km or more to school in the sweltering heat, and I had to get all my music through a primitive device called a radio. Because the UK was much closer than the US, I was much more exposed to british rock than to american music. I only really got into american rock'n'roll after I came over.
  • LefunesteLefuneste Posts: 7,989
    edited December 2018
    The thing I like about streaming services is that I don't have to let the feeling that I invested money in something make me stick with it. If a record is bad, I just cut bait. I don't spend seven days playing it anyway, hoping it will get better.
    As far as I'm concerned, feeling like one has to stick with it is a good thing!

    You've probably noticed that a lot of the music I like isn't catchy: I tend to gravitate towards the hypnotic, you know, long winded, repetitive and droney stuff. Plenty of records that I love take time to get into.

    Yeah, I agree, sometimes I do waste too much time trying to like stuff, and I do own a few records that were mistakes. I don't mind it: the mistake is a story in itself. I think that, so far, the rewards of my approach have been greater than the losses. Music is very important to me, I try not to treat it as if it was yet another disposable consumer good, even if that's what it is, basically.
  • moetownmoetown Posts: 3,276
    Music is like chewing gum to me. I’ll listen to someting till it loses it’s flavor. If I really like something, I’ll stick a whole pack in my mouth at once. Occasionally, I come across an Everlasting Gobstopper that never loses it’s flavor and still manages to surprise after years and years of chewing.
  • Jurf_WurburJurf_Wurbur Posts: 5,475
    Dan, I'm not saying I'm unwilling to invest time in challenging music.

    I'm saying I no longer bang my head against the wall when music turns out to suck just because I paid for it.
  • captqitncaptqitn Posts: 3,624
    There are a few artists that I'll put an entire tin of big league chew in my mouth for, then practically forgot about for a few years, then another entire tin.
  • Jurf_WurburJurf_Wurbur Posts: 5,475
    edited December 2018
    Streaming has also made me far more adventurous in what I'll try because I can take in a broader survey/deep dive of a genre/artist without having to commit money to get started.

    In the days of CDs, I'd wander into the store desperately wanting to hear something good, but not knowing what to get. I'd often cop out and just buy whatever new release was out from the bands I already knew.

    These days, I can say things to myself like "I have heard that 1970s afro-pop is pretty cool. Let's listen to that all day."

    I'd have never done that in 1998.
  • captqitncaptqitn Posts: 3,624
    I don't want streaming to go away. Although I don't understand why the publishers and copyright holders are not able to join forces and demand higher royalty rates.
  • Jurf_WurburJurf_Wurbur Posts: 5,475
    If Spotify cost $39.99 a month instead of $9.99, I would still pay it. I want people to get their money, but I hate buying and storing hunks of plastic.

    This is why I buy so many band shirts. I want them to have some of my money, but I'm not buying any CD's or records.
  • LefunesteLefuneste Posts: 7,989
    edited December 2018
    I like buying and storing those "hunks of plastic". I particularly like playing them while I look at them. I find it a more sensuous experience than listening to MP3s. Keep in mind that I still download stuff, but it's mostly music I get with the download codes that came with the records. If I'm cooking or working, I'll listen to MP3s.

    But if I really wanna listen to music, I'll plop something on the turntable, sit down on my listening chair and I won't do anything else for the next 30 to 40 minutes. It's the closest thing I have to a ritual.
  • LefunesteLefuneste Posts: 7,989
    edited December 2018
    I bought an old vinyl through discogs (It was Penguin Eggs, by a british folkie called Nick Jones) from a gentleman in the UK. To my surprise, it was signed by Nick Jones himself. That made my day.

    I don't claim it's rational, but those hunks of plastic have been a great source of pleasure and happiness through the years, and they've become my little fetishes.
  • LefunesteLefuneste Posts: 7,989
    edited December 2018
    I have hurt myself in one of the dumbest ways imaginable... You remember we have a kitten, right? Well, I was doing some exercises for my back, really into it, when the little motherfucker starts meowing. He was stuck in the garage: he likes to follow me there, this time I didn't notice and I locked him inside. So I got up and opened the door. Then little motherfucker bothers me again by scratching some boxes next to me. I got up, picked him up and got him out of the room. Then he starts loudly meowing again because he wants to come in. I didn't close the door properly, so he managed to push it open, entered the room where I'm working out and starts scratching those damn boxes again. At this point, I'm loosing it. I start chasing him around the room in order to either strangle him, or get him out of the room.

    I'm in my undies. My toes are exposed. I violently stubbed my right little toe in a chair or a sofa, I don't even know where exactly.

    Excruciating pain, to the point that I thought I had broken something!

    Fortunately, the pain subsided relatively quickly, so nothing broken. I limped a bit for a couple of days, but it's gone now.

    Dumb!
  • Jurf_WurburJurf_Wurbur Posts: 5,475
    Oof. PMAs to your toe, sir.
  • captqitncaptqitn Posts: 3,624
    Fucking cats, amirite?
  • captqitncaptqitn Posts: 3,624
    Ours decided to slam dunk on a hanging fern in our living room, brought the whole thing down and left a massive hole in the drywall. So that was how I spent my Saturday.
  • Jurf_WurburJurf_Wurbur Posts: 5,475
    edited December 2018
    that was how I spent my Saturday.
    Murdering the cat? Probably justified.
  • KimKim Posts: 624
    edited December 2018
    Ditto Dan. I love hunks of plastic or vinyl. I love studying liner notes and pictures while listening. I love going to independently owned record stores to find too on a boring afternoon. I love looking through my hunks of plastic to find something I forgot I had and having the same feeling over again by listening to and studying said liner notes...
  • captqitncaptqitn Posts: 3,624
    I still spin my records plenty. I enjoy that ritual. I also have a large collection of "mixtape' CDs. Mostly themed collections that are fun to spin at various times of the year.

    But two weeks ago I put all of our normal CDs into storage. Spotify is just so much easier because it's searchable and because I can connect it to whatever room I'm in.

    But I'm glad y'all are keeping the faith.
  • Jurf_WurburJurf_Wurbur Posts: 5,475
    The only physical objects I still have the "ah, the smell/feel of them!" fetish for is books. ebooks don't work for me at all. But even then, my aversion to physical media holds. I get nearly everything from the library and anything I do buy/receive, I am likely to give away after I've read it.
  • KimKim Posts: 624
    edited December 2018
    I like real books and newspapers too. I know I’m going to de disappointed soon because papers will be like dinosaurs. I just get tired of looking at a screen all the time
  • Jurf_WurburJurf_Wurbur Posts: 5,475
    How was your birthday, Kim?
  • LefunesteLefuneste Posts: 7,989
    edited December 2018
    The only physical objects I still have the "ah, the smell/feel of them!" fetish for is books. ebooks don't work for me at all. But even then, my aversion to physical media holds. I get nearly everything from the library and anything I do buy/receive, I am likely to give away after I've read it.
    I agree! Except that I still buy plenty of books, but the vast majority are used, either from a used books store or from abebooks. I do get all the comics and graphic novels at the library, though. It's not worth spending 20 bucks or so on something that takes a couple of hours to read. Most of the books, records and instruments I own were bought second hand.

    I have trouble giving stuff away. I have to be keep my collector scum tendencies under control, or I'll end up on one of those sad TV shows about hoarders.

    Wifey sometimes throws (or gives) stuff away behind my back, the evil wench!
  • LefunesteLefuneste Posts: 7,989
    edited December 2018
    But two weeks ago I put all of our normal CDs into storage. Spotify is just so much easier because it's searchable and because I can connect it to whatever room I'm in.
    Although I mostly acquire vinyl these days, I still buy CDs: they've become dirt cheap! Not everyone can pay for a vinlyl pressing, CDs are still the physical medium of choice for a lot of obscure artists. There is plenty of music that was recorded specifically with the CD in mind. Plus, if I want to get a certain record but I'm not willing to spend a lot on it, I'll probably get it on CD.

    For instance, I've just bought Portishead's Dummy and Rush's Fly By Night for peanuts. I feel it would be weird to get Dummy on vinyl, it's a product of the mid-90s, it was probably conceived for the CD. And there are only a couple of songs on Fly By Night that I really like.

    And I still listen to my old CDs, I grew up with them, I think they sound fine, and I have hundreds of them. I will not give them away nor replace them with vinyl or mp3s ever.

    But I'm getting rid of all my old cassette tapes. I had a number of them back in the days of the walkman and I haven't listened to them in 20 years. But because I'm a neurotic hoarder, they're still in a couple of small boxes in my garage. I'm going to probably put them on ebay soon.
  • LefunesteLefuneste Posts: 7,989
    edited December 2018
    Funny thing is, when it comes to movies and TV series, I much prefer streaming and downloading, and I consider the DVD and Blu-ray to be obsolete. I don't quite understand why. Why do I think it's cool to have CDs and vinyls, but not DVDs and Blu-rays? Dunno.

    Could you guys help me find some clever rationalisation?
  • captqitncaptqitn Posts: 3,624
    Is your CD collection alphabetized or organized in some fashion?
  • LefunesteLefuneste Posts: 7,989
    edited December 2018
    Two levels of organisation: first alphabetized by name of artist or band, and then by date of release. I don't separate by type of music: Mozart is after Modest Mouse and Moon Duo.
  • LefunesteLefuneste Posts: 7,989
    edited December 2018
    I know it's a bit anal, but I own something like 1000 CDs, more or less. My step-daughter once borrowed XTC's Skylarking, and then put it back in the wrong place. It took me a long time to find it. The collection has to be organized, or I won't find anything.
  • KimKim Posts: 624
    Thank you for the birthday wishes and it was really good. A lot of people I haven’t talked to in a while wished me hbd on Facebook and got flowers and beer from my neighbor, went to breakfast at a really good restaurant called Milktooth with my best friend. Talked to my boys. It was really nice hearing from everyone and prob my best birthday in awhile. I hung out with some friends and drank beer that night at my house
  • KimKim Posts: 624
    I’m reading a book Eric would prob be interested in called Florida Soul. It’s about soul singers from Florida obviously. Never knew Ray Charles, Sam And Dave, and KC and the Sunshine Band and others are from Florida.

    Are you from Tampa, Eric?
  • captqitncaptqitn Posts: 3,624
    Two levels of organisation: first alphabetized by name of artist or band, and then by date of release. I don't separate by type of music: Mozart is after Modest Mouse and Moon Duo.
    There you go. I never had that discipline. I could not access a particular CD on demand. It would always be more "what's the closest thing I can find to what I want before I get frustrated and bored of looking at CD spines"

    Sort of a precursor to Pandora. Not actually what I want, but in the neighborhood.
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