More notes on Music, etc.

Recently I’ve been acquiring music from a couple of new (legitimate, mind you) sources. I’ve been buying from iTunes for a long time now, but I also just discovered that Amazon is offering mp3 downloads of albums and individual songs at the same price and sometimes cheaper than iTunes. I don’t know how I missed that they started this, but it is nice. I haven’t bought much there yet – but it is a nice feature and they offer hi-quality DRM free mp3s. Unlike iTunes, which are not DRM free and are AAC format – Which is good, just limited in where you can play it. If you have an iPod, no worries, but if I want to burn a cd of mp3s and listen to them on the car stereo, fugetabouttit.

Anyway another source I’ve been using is eMusic.com. I went ahead and signed up with them for the huge lump of downloads you get as a signing bonus. The bad thing about eMusic is that they rarely have mainstream stuff. It is all small labels. They are adding to is all the time, though. I have gotten some gems however.

One of those gems is Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings’ 100 Days and 100 Nights. It is a great album! It is a retro R&B album that came out last year. According to Wikipedia they record using old equipment for an authentic 70’s sound. All I know is she has a fantastic voice and the songs are catchy, soulful and fun. At times she seems to channel Tina Turner.

I’ve also been a fan of Stereo MC’s for a long time and I found their new album (Paradise) on eMusic too. It isn’t revolutionary or anything, but if you like them, this album is quite good.

I’ve mentioned Ian Brown before and they also have all of his albums, but, sadly, not his latest.

I also checked out Stereophonics most recent album (Language. Sex. Violence. Other?) and it also has a good British pop rock sound.

And speaking of R&B/Soul – I also was able to get The Ultimate Jackie Wilson
which is a huge collection of 2 disks worth of his songs.

If you like Lyrics Born, as I do, you can get his stuff there. Also in the L’s is Lamb – which is kind of in the same vein as Portishead, but faster and not nearly as sad. Maybe Portishead mixed with Moloko. I REALLY like Portishead, but I am still deciding on Lamb.

On the subject of music, but not about any in particular, I wanted to share a life-improving gadget I got a couple of months ago. If a product can improve your quality of life I can say that this one has mine. In October when I went to the HighEd WebDev conference in Rochester, NY, the hotel I stayed at had an iHome Clock Radio for your iPod in the rooms. I used it while I was there and decided that I had to have one for home. I had a plain ‘ol clock radio with an annoying blaring alarm that tortured me every morning and – honestly – was not starting my days out very well. The iHome was so refreshing it starts playing whatever song you want it to play very softly and gets progressively louder as well as turning on a soft light that gets brighter. It is SO much better than the alarm clock. I FEEL better when the songs play and being able to choose WHICH song I hear is very nice. I found that waking up to Deee-Lite or Erasure – while seriously dating me – really are pleasant ways to wake up. My favorite so far is wakign up to Erasure’s version of Take a Chance on Me. I’ve really come to appreciate Andy’s beautiful voice. The song itself is also very upbeat and a nice way to welcome the day.

What song(s) would you/do you like to wake up to? Why?