One of the reasons I love blogging and writing in general is the whole aspect of “sharing”. Sure, I tend to “share” my opinion a lot. I won’t dare argue that one. I put myself out there on the blog, and while at several points I’m wincing as I hit “publish” and sort of praying that I don’t end up at a public flogging ceremony somewhere, the whole point is to be brave and move forward. Funny. It’s the exact opposite of how I am in person. I’m mostly shy and quiet unless I’m comfortable. Blogging and writing is how I share a little of myself. I like seeing the reactions to the blog, even if they aren’t always favorable, because that’s also how I learn. I really enjoy the social aspect to the internet. It’s incredibly easy to become closed off these days. We can order virtually anything we wish via the internet and never need to leave our homes. We have iPods or iPhones that can download music at the blink of an eye. There’s never a need to leave the house, even for new music.
I miss the days of going to the record store, and I do mean record store. Just this past weekend was Record Store Day. Independent record stores all over the world celebrated the day, and there were several limited releases available. I have to admit, I didn’t take advantage and go shopping. I suppose it’s a well-meant idea by having a day to highlight vinyl and encourage music lovers to check out their local record store(My closest record store is about 20 minutes from my home.), but I’m one of those people that also believes the idea is just a little bit absurd. It’s just a tad pathetic that we need to drive people out of their homes with the promise of special purchase limited editions and whatnot. I guess what I’m trying to say is that for the life of me I can’t understand why someone wouldn’t want to go to a record store on any other day of the year. There is something very special about record stores. When you walk in, your senses are immediately put on high alert. The colors. The boxes, the smell of cardboard. Used records are the best. I love holding them in my hand and seeing the dogeared corners. No, those aren’t good for the value of the cover art, but I look at those marks as signs of a well-loved album. Those bent corners and worn edges whisper (and sometimes shout) their past. I used to enjoy going to Tower Records and spending hours going through the racks. Occasionally I’d talk to someone who would turn me on to something new, and I’d undoubtedly come out of the store excited about my new purchases and run home to hear them. With the iPod, it’s not quite the same. There’s no real exchange between people and I do miss that social exchange that goes along with sharing music.
Even John Lydon agrees with me to a certain extent. He believes that iPods definitely won’t unite us. MP3’s can be a very individual thing, and when you add in the whole earbud aspect – it’s very individualizing. You see them all the time – those people who walk around, virtually everywhere with the telltale earbud cords running from their ears into their jacket. Sometimes I wonder if they’re really listening to anything at all or if they’ve just got the earbuds as a prop or sign that says “Please leave me alone.” Is our society getting to the point where we just don’t wish to connect with anyone, or are we just in the middle of a cultural shift?
There are signs that I’m not the only one out there missing that social aspect. While it would be relatively easy to retreat from the world and hide behind a computer screen each day (That declaration sounds extraordinarily familiar…), it’s important to learn and remember that the world wide web is only a tool meant to be used in conjunction with our lives, not AS our life. Lately I’ve been seeing a lot of discussion about curated playlists, and I’ve mentioned them here in the blog a few times. I can’t tell you how excited I became this morning when I saw a tweet from none other than John Taylor suggesting that we check out the playlist he curated for @skaisttaylor on Spotify. This is GOOD. I applaud your efforts, John…and they did not go unnoticed. I was especially overjoyed because he created the playlist on Spotify. I hope he finds the time to do this more often. I actually found some new music to check out, and I love that!!
To anyone who is trying to find his playlist that is not on Facebook, allow me to share the link here. If you’re not currently a member of Spotify – I’m honestly not sure what it will do, so if you can’t reach it and want to at least know his playlist, I’ll go ahead and add the details in a comment below.
I miss the days of going to the record store, and I do mean record store. Just this past weekend was Record Store Day. Independent record stores all over the world celebrated the day, and there were several limited releases available. I have to admit, I didn’t take advantage and go shopping. I suppose it’s a well-meant idea by having a day to highlight vinyl and encourage music lovers to check out their local record store(My closest record store is about 20 minutes from my home.), but I’m one of those people that also believes the idea is just a little bit absurd. It’s just a tad pathetic that we need to drive people out of their homes with the promise of special purchase limited editions and whatnot. I guess what I’m trying to say is that for the life of me I can’t understand why someone wouldn’t want to go to a record store on any other day of the year. There is something very special about record stores. When you walk in, your senses are immediately put on high alert. The colors. The boxes, the smell of cardboard. Used records are the best. I love holding them in my hand and seeing the dogeared corners. No, those aren’t good for the value of the cover art, but I look at those marks as signs of a well-loved album. Those bent corners and worn edges whisper (and sometimes shout) their past. I used to enjoy going to Tower Records and spending hours going through the racks. Occasionally I’d talk to someone who would turn me on to something new, and I’d undoubtedly come out of the store excited about my new purchases and run home to hear them. With the iPod, it’s not quite the same. There’s no real exchange between people and I do miss that social exchange that goes along with sharing music.
Even John Lydon agrees with me to a certain extent. He believes that iPods definitely won’t unite us. MP3’s can be a very individual thing, and when you add in the whole earbud aspect – it’s very individualizing. You see them all the time – those people who walk around, virtually everywhere with the telltale earbud cords running from their ears into their jacket. Sometimes I wonder if they’re really listening to anything at all or if they’ve just got the earbuds as a prop or sign that says “Please leave me alone.” Is our society getting to the point where we just don’t wish to connect with anyone, or are we just in the middle of a cultural shift?
There are signs that I’m not the only one out there missing that social aspect. While it would be relatively easy to retreat from the world and hide behind a computer screen each day (That declaration sounds extraordinarily familiar…), it’s important to learn and remember that the world wide web is only a tool meant to be used in conjunction with our lives, not AS our life. Lately I’ve been seeing a lot of discussion about curated playlists, and I’ve mentioned them here in the blog a few times. I can’t tell you how excited I became this morning when I saw a tweet from none other than John Taylor suggesting that we check out the playlist he curated for @skaisttaylor on Spotify. This is GOOD. I applaud your efforts, John…and they did not go unnoticed. I was especially overjoyed because he created the playlist on Spotify. I hope he finds the time to do this more often. I actually found some new music to check out, and I love that!!
To anyone who is trying to find his playlist that is not on Facebook, allow me to share the link here. If you’re not currently a member of Spotify – I’m honestly not sure what it will do, so if you can’t reach it and want to at least know his playlist, I’ll go ahead and add the details in a comment below.
On the other end of the spectrum entirely, but still in that “sharing” theme, I’ve been reading a lot about a new application being developed by the group Anonymous. They aren’t a music group, they’re a group of “hackivists”, basically! I don’t want to get into a lot of detail about the group itself (primarily because my head swims whenever my son – who is nearly 13 – tries to explain their purpose to me. I start hearing “Charlie Brown” adult-speak whenever he starts in about them, and the whole discussion goes downhill from there), but I have to admit some curiosity about their project in general. They have developed an app that is still in beta-stage called Anontune. Many, many bloggers out there are casting the app aside, but I think they should probably hold off on the judgement just yet. In the most basic terms (for my benefit!), I’ll quote directly from Alan Cross and his blog from today on the subject,“….an app that scans your music library and then augments it by sourcing out more tunes from YouTube, SoundCloud and other online resources, AnonTune works much the same.” You can read the rest of Alan’s blog here.
The good folks planning the DDUK Convention have scoured their cabinets and drawers and have come up with just a few extra tickets to the convention in November. If you don’t already have tickets to this event and are able to make the trip to Birmingham, I highly encourage you to grab a ticket while you can (once these are sold they’re gone forever!). Daily Duranie will be in attendance, and we’re even going to plan a get together at a nearby pub and go clubbing on Friday night! Only After Dark will also be taking place that weekend (A dance club in the same basic vein as Rum Runner)…and you don’t want to miss out! Go to the convention site for tickets and info, we’ll see you there!!!
One last item to “share”…have you bought your copy of Blue to Brown yet??? These are still in pre-release, so hurry!! Go to Dom’s website and grab one while you can!
The good folks planning the DDUK Convention have scoured their cabinets and drawers and have come up with just a few extra tickets to the convention in November. If you don’t already have tickets to this event and are able to make the trip to Birmingham, I highly encourage you to grab a ticket while you can (once these are sold they’re gone forever!). Daily Duranie will be in attendance, and we’re even going to plan a get together at a nearby pub and go clubbing on Friday night! Only After Dark will also be taking place that weekend (A dance club in the same basic vein as Rum Runner)…and you don’t want to miss out! Go to the convention site for tickets and info, we’ll see you there!!!
One last item to “share”…have you bought your copy of Blue to Brown yet??? These are still in pre-release, so hurry!! Go to Dom’s website and grab one while you can!
Sharing is good.
-R
Well, I was saddened that I could not access JT's playlist on spotify because I am not on FB. It's a personal choice of why twitter and blogs but not FB. There is a lot out there. And as you blogged today, online is not my life.
I have several record stores in my college town that my daughter frequents. I only occasionally go when my brain can handle it. Lots of things sometimes uncategorized, small stores. But the conversations are amazing, more so than searching for things. I have several pictures taken the week before our DD concert in Oct., us listening with the headphones and vinyl DD albums playing! Perfection!
We went store to store, searching for DD, camera in hand. A big smile is now on my face thinking of that treasure hunt, and yes, it was exactly that.
I will wrap up my disjointed comment with an urban dictionary term. Since I specialize in middle school aged and upwards, I would see students at school in the morning, either bff's (girls who are best friends forever) or bf (boyfriend)and gf (girlfriend) “bipodding” –essentially, each wearing one earbud but listening to the same ipod.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bipodding
While I don't see this phenomenon outside of middle or high school, it tells me that music can still be shared on a personal device 🙂 Beyond that? Don't see this becoming widespread. Solo listening more the norm. But it is cute to watch.
Deb
John Taylor's SkaistTaylor playlist on Spotify:
Selfcontrol — Super700
I Follow Rivers — Lykke Li
You Don't Own Me — Dusty Springfield
Holocene — Bon Iver
Jesus Fever — Kurt Vile
Some Written — Metronomy
Keep Me There — Nicholas Jaar
Paradise Circus — Massive Attack
Amor Fati — Washed Out
National Anthem — Lana Del Rey
Heart is a Beating Drum — The Kills
Eventually — The Phoenix Foundation
These Days — Maria Minerva
Youth Knows No Pain — Lykke Li
Hiway/Fevers — A.A. Bondy
All the Sun that Shines — Peaking Lights
Ode to L.A. — The Raveonettes
Puppet to the Man — Kurt Vile
Harsh Realm — Widowspeak
Natalia's Song — Zomby/Reark
Eyes Be Closed — Washed Out
Flock of Hearts — The Phoenix Foundation
The Look — Metronomy
Future Starts Slow — The Kills
Son of a Preacher Man — Dusty Springfield
Wow — Kate Bush
Diet Mountain Dew — Lana Del Rey
Luvcool — Maria Minerva
Nightcrawlers — Widowspeak
Echoes — Washed Out
Witch Hunt — Zomby
California — Joni Mitchell
I had to type all of these in by hand (no copy/paste function), and it was late my time – so please excuse any possible errors!
-R
Omg Rhonda, I can't thank you enough! The tough part, without being on FB and therefore not able to use spotify to listen, the search mission will be yet another challenge. Maybe one song, one day at a time. You're amazing. Wonder why copy and paste didn't work? That bites.
Deb
With the address I gave you, Deb – you should be able to at least access Spotify. That isn't connected to Facebook and you need not have a Facebook account in order to use Spotify. That said, Spotify does require a membership – and I think you'd need to request an account (they have both free and premium accounts) in order to hear the playlist. I encourage you to give it a listen though, it's quite good overall.
My favorites?? Well, I absolutely ADORE the band Washed Out. I'm so glad he put that band in his playlist so that I could find it! I also really like The Phoenix Foundation and Super700. Funny because I don't typically go for the more mellow stuff, but this is just perfect for blogging music! 🙂
I hope he does more of them. Perhaps a more upbeat list for those of us who need to be kept awake at the keyboard…. ;D -R
Yeah, I tried the link and it safari couldn't open it as it was invalid, so I'll try with my laptop to see if I fare better there.