Hype Machine Radio for iPhone

Hype Machine, the music blog aggregator, has just launched a new iPhone app. So now if you want to listen to music from Flowering Toilet (or your favorite music blog) on the go, you can.

Here is how Hype Machine describes the app:

"The app is simple - it turns music blogs into mobile radio stations. You can listen to a skippable radio stream by every blog we monitor, as well as the popular or most recent posts across the site, and read each blog post. There are also genres and personalized features that create streams based on your usage of The Hype Machine and the blogs you follow. We've taken this radio approach because it offers a different experience from both browsing the site and reading a music blog on the go - in the app, the new stuff comes to you, instead of you having to search."

This isn't really my kind of thing, but I thought some of my readers might be interested to know about it, so there you go.

Tromsø, Kaptein

I feel like I have crossed some invisible--perhaps imaginary--threshold with my recent purchase of Robyn Hitchcock's new album, Tromsø, Kaptein. Rather than ordering the album on CD, I chose to buy the (lossless) FLAC download. For the first time, I skipped the physical release of a Robyn Hitchcock album. Of course I've bought digital albums in the past, but doing so for a major (for me) artist like Robyn Hitchcock feels somehow different.

It's a sensible choice, but it still somehow feels a little strange. But (with shipping) the CD would have cost me over $20 (there was no vinyl release of this album) and the FLAC download was $11. So purely from an economic standpoint, my decision makes sense.

The were other factors in play however. The last Hitchcock album I bought on vinyl, Goodnight Oslo, despite being well-mastered and virtually free of clicks and pops, was something of a disaster sonically. I pre-ordered it from Yep-Roc, and when I got the vinyl in the mail, I found side two was pressed well off-center, leading to audible warble. Yep Roc kindly mailed me a replacement copy, and I mailed the defective LP back to them. Unfortunately, my replacement copy had the exact same problem. I then bought another copy at my local record shop, and when it too featured an off-center side two, I gave up, and have mostly listened to the MP3 that came as a bonus with the vinyl.

It's hard not to think about the environmental impact of my old-fogeyism in this case. How much larger was the carbon footprint of my multiple vinyl purchases than if I had just settled for a download in the first place? There is the carbon emission associated with producing three slabs of vinyl, plus the emissions associated with shipping it back and forth. It's gotta add up, right? How many icebergs need to melt for me to continue feeding my vinyl habit when there are other options available?

After that experience, I passed on the vinyl edition of Robyn's next album, Propellor Time, and simply purchased the CD at my local record store. But I don't think I listened to the CD in the traditional sense once. Don't get me wrong, I've listened to the album numerous times, but that has either been on my laptop music server or on my iPod. The CD has done little more than gather dust in a drawer after being ripped (losslessly) to iTunes.

All of which left me questioning the wisdom of paying twice as much for a CD as for a FLAC download that is bit-for-bit identical to the data encoded on the CD. I had to convert the FLAC files to a format that iTunes recognizes in order for them to be useful to me, but that wasn't hard.

So now I have Robyn's new album with sound quality that is equal to the CD, and the carbon footprint of my purchase is much smaller than it would have been otherwise. Allow me to pat myself on the back in typical American self-congratulatory fashion for being a friend to the planet and a defender of the icecaps. I am the Greatest American Hero. I spit on the rest of you and your decadent, wasteful ways.

The downside is that I have no fucking clue who plays on the album. There are some enchanting female backing vocals as well as some lovely string bass, but I have no idea who is responsible. A Google search revealed all kinds of places to download the album illegally, but no details on who plays on it (Paul Noble produced, I can tell you that).

The album itself is fantastic. I would put Hitchcock's body of work from Spooked to the present up against any other period of his career. In fact, this may be the best stretch he's had overall, even if none of the albums quite match something like Underwater Moonlight. Highly recommended.

Abandoned Bible College

There's something horribly romantic and gothic about an abandoned Bible College. It's a subject that's ripe for all kinds of metaphors.

The truth in this case is actually rather prosaic. Zion Bible College decided to vacate their campus in Barrington, Rhode Island after the state instituted a stricter fire code in the wake of the Station Nightclub disaster. The school judged the costs of upgrading their facilities too expensive and moved to another town in Massachusetts.

The town of Barrington is now considering buying the property, so today the campus was open for public tours.

The photos below were taken by my son Will, and myself.

Photo by Will Bilderback

Photo by Will Bilderback

Photo by Will Bilderback

Photo by Will Bilderback

Photo by Will Bilderback

Photo by Will Bilderback

You can see more photos of the former Zion Bible School here.

R.I.P. Poly Styrene

Poly Styrene (aka Marianne Elliot Said) in a recent publicity photo

 

It took Poly Styrene (aka Marianne Elliot) all of 10 seconds to become an immortal legend.

"Some people think little girls should be seen and not heard,

But I think,

Oh Bondage up yours!

One, two, three, FOUR...."

Before the first notes of her band X-Ray Spex's first single were even played, Poly uttered those words from a mouth still full of braces in her little girl cockney accent, and she would never be forgotten, nor could she be.

I was greatly saddened to learn of Marianne Elliot Said's passing after a battle with breast cancer at the age of 54. She lived a life as bright as her signature day-glo fashions, but one that was tragically cut too short.

Strip away the obscenity and titillation, and "Oh Bondage Up Yours!" is very simply a song about refusing the chains that other people would put on you. Widely embraced as a feminist anthem, the message is also universal. The obscenity of the metaphor, the shocking quality of hearing it shouted so forcefully from the mouth of someone who was barely more than a little girl herself at the time, only amplified the power inherent in the refusal. The song is at once potently nihilistic and forcefully affirmative. In many ways "Oh Bondage Up Yours!" is the punk-rock single, and I rank it up there in importance with The Sex Pistol's "God Save The Queen," or anything else to come out of the English punk rock explosion of the late 70s. It might be the greatest one of them all.

Likewise, I consider X-Ray Spex's first album, Germfree Adolescents, to be one of the very best UK punk rock albums, and just as vital as the debut albums by The Clash, The Damned or The Sex Pistols. With her day-glo fashion, bi-racial beauty, and mouth full of braces, Styrene cut a smashing figure across the punk rock scene, one that no doubt has served as inspiration to the hundreds of rebellious female (and male) musicians who followed in the trail she blazed so brightly.

Styrene quickly refused the shackles imposed by punk rock, releasing the decidedly non-punk solo album Translucence, then dropped out of the music scene altogether to join a London based Hare Krishna sect. She would periodically reappear on the music scene, most recently with Generation Indigo, which was released earlier this year.

According to her BBC obituary, Styrene recently said, "I know I'll probably be remembered for 'Oh Bondage Up Yours!' ... I'd like to remembered for something a bit more spiritual." I know nothing of the spirit world Poly now belongs to, but I don't think there is much better advice for living in the material world than that contained in "Oh Bondage Up Yours!"

"Oh bondage, no more!"

Everything Is Right - Audio Updated

When I first posted this song, it featured a different take of "Everything Is Right" than the one that appeared on the cassette. I've since replaced the older version of the song with the newly remastered 1981 cassette version that will be released digitally on June 7th. Take a listen. It sounds terrific!

Don Fleming

I had a good chat with Don Fleming this morning. I believe I am getting closer than ever to finding out the true story of what happened to Dr. Rhythm, the elusive "Missing Link" in the Velvet Monkeys' story. More details to follow. Stay tuned.

New Robyn Hitchcock Album, Tromsø, Kaptein, Available for Pre-Oder/Download

  

Robyn Hitchcock - Light Blue Afternoon by Hype City Recordings

A new album from Robyn Hichcock, Tromsø, Kaptein, is being released by Norwegian label Hype City Recordings. It is currently available for pre-order at Robyn Hitchcock's website. If you buy it now, you will immediately get an MP3 download of the entire album.

Details:

Robyn Hitchcock's new album is sung in English for Norwegian ears.

We are excited to announce that Norwegian label Hype City are all set to release a new collection of songs by Robyn Hitchcock on April 8th [May 3rd in USA], Tromsø, Kaptein on CD. Produced by Paul Noble, the record features 8 new original compositions from Robyn as well as a re-recording of "Raining Twilight Coast" from Eye and a new Norwegian language version of the title track from Goodnight Oslo.

Exclusively at the Robyn Hitchcock Webshop, we are giving fans the chance to pre-order the CD now and get the full MP3 digital album instantly for FREE. CD will ship and FLAC download available for purchase 5/3/2011.

Robyn says:

"In the late summer of 1982 I first visited Norway. A yellow van containing the London band Motor Boys Motor, my own rock trio, a sound engineer and our tour guide set off from Oslo up to the Sognefjord, down through Lillehammer, back to Bergen and through the Sognefjord again, and returning again to Oslo. We played in fallout shelters to AC/DC fans, in small town festivals in the rain, in beautiful wooden hotels by the water's edge, and sometimes in actual clubs. Our yellow van drove through endless tunnels that finally emerged onto fjord-side roads with 1000-meter drops to the water on one side, and cliffs that vanished in the clouds on the other. Ferries took us across stretches of water where the rain seemed to be falling up into the sky. Mist and alcohol were everywhere. One morning I was wakened by a man who was wearing nothing but an air pilot's cap and clutching a glass of moonshine. It was 7:42 by his watch.

Since 2005 I've visited regularly, making new friends in Bergen and beyond. In Egersund, I met Frode Strømstrad whose band I Was A King were playing there. He very kindly offered to release a record of mine in Norway on his Hype City label. So I went home and disappeared into myself, as if I was roaming the fjords; I let one side of myself argue with the other, as if I was roaming the fjords with a therapist. I let the songs come out of me, and here is the result - sung in English for Norwegian ears."

~ Robyn Hitchcock - London, 2011

Robyn has been on something of a hot streak lately, releasing one outstanding album after another in quick succession with a variety of line-ups and in a wide array of Hitchcockian styles. On first listen Tromsø, Kaptein sounds like another winner. Perhaps I have "Norwegian ears."

Village Of Spaces In Store At Analog Underground Today

I had previously, mistakenly, posted that Village of Spaces and Mona Nash would be doing an in store at Analog Underground on Record Store Day. In fact, the performance is today (April 21) starting at 3:00 PM at Analog Underground, 504 Broadway, Providence, RI.

I would go, but will be busy discussing Schrödinger's Cat's at that time instead. No cats will be harmed in the course of this discussion.

Daddy, this music is not making me feel happy.

"Daddy, this music is not making me feel happy." That's what my four year old daughter said to me as I played my new prized-possession, a limited edition reproduction test pressing of Big Star's Third, an album I've listened to regularly in one form or another since the age of fifteen. It's a pretty sensible statement. Really, what other reaction could a normal four year old have?

You're a wasted face

You're a sad-eyed lie

You're a holocaust

I doubt my daughter was specifically responding to the lyrics of "Holocaust," but rather to the overall tone of exquisite melancholy that pervades the album. Nobody ever accused Big Star's Third of being "the feel good album of the summer." Alex and Jody couldn't even find a label willing to release it when the original test pressing was cut in 1975.

But why should we enjoy (or even listen to) music that doesn't make us happy? Or is it possible that incredibly sad music can--on some level--make us happy under the right circumstances? I don't have any easy answers to those questions, other than to say that as we move past the age of four, some of us learn to embrace music that covers the full spectrum of human emotion (love, happiness and ecstatic joy, yes, but also anger, fear and even depression). Maybe you get to a certain age and you're happy just to still be able to feel anything at all, and sometimes you need art (musical or otherwise) to provoke an emotional response to remind you that you're alive, that you're a human being.

You're eyes are almost dead
Can't get out of bed
And you can't sleep

Maybe you have to have been there once or twice to find any comfort in lyrics like that.

I didn't try to explain any of this to my daughter. She'll have to find out for herself.

Beach Boys "Good Vibrations" 78 RPM Screw Up?

After playing around with the Beach Boys 10" a bit, I suspect Capitol may have cut this in odd way (shocking, I know).

What I suspect they did was cut the record on the lathe at 45 RPM while playing the tape back slowly. Since Capitol hasn't been cutting 78s for a half century or more, it would not surprise me if their lathe can't spin at 78 RPM (I'm trying to find out whether that is the case or not). But no problem right? Play the tape (or digital file) back at around 57.7% speed, and spin the lathe at 45 RPM and everything should work, right? Not exactly. The problem comes when introducing the RIAA compensation curve, and if that is applied as the tape runs at the slower speed, it also shifts the RIAA crossover points. If that is the case, and the RIAA curve is off, the frequency response will be a bit off when actually played at 78 RPM.

How do I know this you ask? Well, I don't, it's a somewhat educated guess. I recorded my copy while playing at 45. Then I sped it up the proper amount using the method outlined in the post below. But when I used the EQ program I suggested (using the 45 > 78 setting) the frequency response sounded off (too bass heavy and muffled in the treble). But if I didn't apply the EQ change, it sounded right. When I recorded at 33.3 and applied the appropriate speed changes and EQ correction in Equalizer, the resulting file sounded even more off than when I recorded at 45 and applied the changes. I've used Equalizer to adjust EQ under similar circumstances dozens of times in the past, and this is the first time I've found the results unsatisfactory.

It was also interesting to me that on the EQ corrected copy I could see the brickwall frequency cut off appears to have been mostly shifted down to around 17 kHz, whereas without the correction I see the brickwall cutoff around 22 kHz (which is right were I would expect it to be if they used a 44.1 kHz digital source, or had a 44.1 digital delay head in their cutting set up). Also when I inspected the re-EQ'd file I recorded at 33.3 RPM, the brickwall filter appeared to have mostly been shifted down even further than that (to around 15 kHz).

So my revised advise--in this case only--is to skip the EQ step I outlined below for best sound quality. Just record at 45, speed it up, and don't worry about correcting the EQ. It will sound fine that way. The difference between the two is not so huge anyway, but the uncorrected version sounded more right to my ears. Or you can do it both ways (it's a free program and works quickly) and decide which way it sounds best for yourself.

I just want to emphasize that in other cases, I have found the Equalizer program to work perfectly for transcribing vintage 78s. Brian Davies, the author of the program knows 78s inside out and backward in his sleep. I highly recommend Equalizer in general both for transcribing vintage 78s at 45 RPM, or for recording 45 RPM singles at 33.3 (which is sometimes a useful technique if you have a noisy 45, but that's another story). And as I have noted in the past, Click Repair (also by Davies), is the single best vinyl restoration program I have used, and I recommend it highly to anyone who wants to digitize any kind of record (78s, 45s, LPs, flexi-discs, whatever...).

All of this is assuming Capitol used the RIAA curve to cut the record, and since the release doesn't indicate any other curve was utilized (Decca, Columbia, Westrex, etc.), I think it is reasonable to assume they used RIAA, although I could be wrong about that.

I have a few inquiries out, and I'll see what I can find out what actually happened. Although, honestly, I think I've wasted more than enough time on this already.

**Update: I revised this post for the sake of clarity. The original post was written quite quickly, and may not have been as clear as I hoped it would be.