Month: November 2006

Beck – Lloyd Price Express

where it's at single

Beck’s song Where It’s At took the world by storm in 1996, forever banishing the idea that he was a one hit wonder and showing that he was an innovative and exciting musician. Several singles of the song were released during the year, each featuring a different set of remixes (for a total of seven), including an infamously lame version by Oasis’ Noel Gallagher.

That’s OK though, the Make Out City version more than makes up for it, full of horns and bombast. But here we’re going to get a little funky: the John King remix of Where It’s At, entitled Lloyd Price Express:

[audio:061110LloydPriceExpress.mp3]

Cosmic Wonder: Songs like this are why I can’t decide about Puffy (amiyumi)

PuffySpike.png

Puffy Amiyumi is a very mixed bag musically. Despite the girls’ massive popularity in Japan (and moderate success in the States), I often find myself highly conflicted about their music. I can’t decide whether it’s superficial pop or subtle Japanese brilliance. Some of it is downright annoying and I occasionally consider purging it from the library.

But damn, these girls like to toy with my emotions, and put together something wonderful. With flashes of inspiration like this, I can’t help but give them another chance.

[audio:061107CosmicWonder.mp3]

The song is COSMIC Wonder from the album Spike.

Migrate Your iTunes Library from Windows to Mac (and keep your ratings, play counts and date added)

Note: This article was written with iTunes 7 in mind. However, the principle holds for moving comparable versions (ie iTunes 6 Win to iTunes 6 mac) or for moving upstream (iTunes 6 to iTunes 7). Also, the procedure should work for moving your iTunes library from one computer to another, Mac-to-Mac, PC-to-PC, or any combination of the two. You can even use this method to clone an iTunes library from one computer to many others.

windows iTunes migration
Apple’s market share has been growing dramatically. Many observers attribute that growth to the introduction of the Intel-based Macintosh as well as the so-called “halo effect” of the iTunes-iPod phenomenon. If you’re one of those users who have made the switch from Windows to Mac OS X because of said halo then you probably have already established an iTunes Library (with valuable hours spent creating playlists, rating songs and increasing play counts).

It would be a shame to lose all that hard work and data when switching platforms. Fortunately, it is a rather simple* procedure to move all your music to your new Mac while preserving all that precious, gooey metadata. Some guides say to export your existing library to XML and re-import it one the new machine. But that’s a bit complicated and it doesn’t really work. Since both the Mac and Windows versions of iTunes use the same file format for the library file, all you need to do is copy the library files from one computer to the other, while making sure iTunes doesn’t forget where the songs are located.

Continue reading →

Jerry Goldsmith’s genius: The Russia House

The Russia House - Jerry Goldsmith

Always the maestro; always the master. The track is Introductions from The Russia House. Jazzy and smooth, Goldsmith plays it cool for you. I generally find the timbre of a solo saxophone rather grating. Plus, it’s usually too “adult contemporary/smooth jazz” *ahem-kennyG-ahem* for my tastes. But that melody that starts around 2:11 is addictive as all get out. Pure genius.

[audio:061101Introductions.mp3]

Underwater music from the National Skyline

A Night at the Drugstore, found on National Skyline’s 2001 album This=Everything. The band started by Hum’s bassist after that band’s demise. This song is smooth and laid back with a looping, but grounded ethereal quality.

[audio:061031NightAtTheDrugstore.mp3]

I think it belongs on your iPod; I know it’s happy on mine.

National Skyline - This = Everything - A Night At the Drugstore