via Geof

Amount of music on your computer?

iTunes sez 2774 songs, 7.7 days, 15.04 GB of AAC files. This is with… 3/4ths of my CD collection ripped into iTunes at 192kbps (so it takes up a huge amount of space.) I have an additional 8.8 GB (1997 files) of mp3s in various directories of my hard drive; much of that is stuff I’ve already ripped into iTunes so there is some duplication. I spend about an hour or two a month organizing my musical collection on my hard drive, and it shows.

Amount of music on my computer is not a good metric for me. Anyone with half an oz. of sense can look at my Audioscrobbler profile and tell that I tend to be obsessive when I listen to music. (Back in the days before computers and digital music (or cheap CDs for that matter) I had a tape with Celebration by Kool and the Gang on it. I knew *exactly* how fast it would take to rewind that tape back exactly one song. I spent an entire week listening to just that song. I eventually made several tapes like so: first, record a song, then flip the tape over and record that same song onto side b. Then listen to the song on side A. Record a new song, flip, record again. Keep going until the tape is full. Then if I wanted to listen to the same song over and over again, I’d just keep flipping the tape over and over.

You might conclude that I’m very boring, but that’s not an entirely fair assessment. As I was explaining to a friend of mine earlier, when I’m cleaning or driving or doing dishes or gardening or any other kind of manual labor, I want to listen to a variety of music. I want shuffle! When I’m coding or writing or surfing the web, doing intellectual manual labor, I want predictable, repeat-every-hour-or-so playlists. Of course, Audioscrobbler only ever picks up on music played on my computer; it never gets the mp3 CDs played in the car.

Currently listening to?

Literally? “Maps”, by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. (I started writing this post listening to it, and I will predict that I will end this post listening to it, having listened to nothing else besides it. [UPDATE: I came really really close; I had to listen to a few seconds of some Waterdeep songs to make some careful judgements below.]) Also on my current obsession list is Since U Been Gone (the Ted Leo acoustic-falsetto version), various songs by the Magnetic Fields, Superstition by Stevie Wonder, Make My Head Go Pop by Roxette, and a few songs off of Rubber Factory by the Black Keys. For CDs, I’ve been putting Apostrophe by Frank Zappa through the musical paces, as well as My Own Boogie by Blind John Davis. Of course, I need a whole seperate section for Waterdeep obsessions, and for that I’ll pick We’re All Dying Tracy James (groove++!!!), Whether Or Not (current favorite), Psalm 131 (wish I could play this on my guitar), Let’s Get Into A Fight (only Waterdeep could get away with this one), and If I Wanted To (amazing lyrics).

Five songs that mean a lot to you?

I’m going to take five “slots” and fill the slots with either single songs or groups of songs that I associate with each other and all have equal meaning to me.

“Whether or Not” by Waterdeep, which you can find (and buy mp3s of, at waterdeep.com) on their albums Waterdeep Live at the New Earth and Waterdeep Live 3.26.03—Muncie, IN.

“On a Night That Felt Outdated” by Waterdeep, on To Chase Away The Birds.

To Chase Away The Birds, Scared, Get Me Clear, The Razor Light, My Little Hands, Instead, also on To Chase Away The Birds (a steal at only 10 dollars, or 7.50 if you just want the mp3s.)

Have You Fallen on the Cornerstone, Gloom Higherway, Completely Known (!!), Such a Shallow Pool by Don Chaffer on his first solo CD (Don Chaffer being, of course, the front man for Waterdeep.)

And I only have one more slot and I have to pick between some older Don and Lori Chaffer music, or the newer Waterdeep stuff. Hmm, I’ll go newer, despite the fact that I think that Old Stuff is seriously under-rated. (Don’t miss My Baby Keeps Me Sane Sometimes, The Day, Peace, and The Animal and Big Word Tyranny are fun, raw, undisciplined musical rants (especially the former!)). For my fifth slot I’ll pick We’re All Dying, Tracy James, On Our Way To Crazy, Worried Man Blues, Let’s Get Into A Fight, Build The Tower Tall (this is one of Peggy’s all time fav. songs), and [Finding Reasons To Live] off of Whole ‘Nother Deal, and Luckiest Man On The Face Of The Earth, If I Wanted To, Bring The Sadness Back In, Man I’m Gonna Sing, John Henry Where’d You Go, and What You Don’t Know on Don Chaffer’s newest CD, What You Don’t Know. I should point out that there are a couple of live recordings of “Long on Diagnosis, Short on Cure”, and At Least I Got A Car which are far superior to the versions on What You Don’t Know and Whole ‘Nother Deal.

What? ONLY five songs? Okay, fine: Whether Or Not, On A Night That Felt Outdated, My Little Hands, What You Don’t Know, and Long On Diagnosis, Short On Cure.

Top five albums?

This one is easier. Waterdeep’s To Chase Away The Birds is quite possibly my all time favorite album, ever (two of my top five favorite songs of all time are on it). Add to the list Whole ‘Nother Deal and Don Chaffer’s What You Don’t Know. I’ll throw in Apostrophe by Frank Zappa, and Masters of the Universe by Binary Star (This is a hip-hop album, which should tell you how good I think it is, given that I don’t really like hip-hop and yet it’s on my top five albums list.)

Last album bought?

Take Me Home by Zox. You can download their song Canon here, and if you can listen to that and avoid buying the album then something is wrong with you.

Recent discoveries?

Zox, see above. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs is another one. Also I’ve been listening to lots of stuff by Matisyahu (an orthodox Jewish guy doing reggae, it rules.) In the previous round of obsessions, I was grooving to this six disk set of music and sermons almost exclusively for 3 or 4 months.

Passing on the musical baton…

Keir and Corey, your turn.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 1st, 2005 at 12:03 pm and is filed under general foofiness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.