On the playlist, or in an 18th century mood

The playlist is slowly inching back to the 40-hour threshold, which means I really ought to do some writing in the next few weeks.

I haven’t bought much in the way of CDs this past month — one title, that’s it — and I only recently blew through this month’s eMusic quota.

I’m concerned about a persistent ringing in my left ear. It’s not anything painful, but it’s a level of audible that’s difficult to ignore. At first, I thought it was just all the electronics in my apartment giving off some sort of high frequency, but when I cover my ears, the ringing doesn’t die down.

So I’m going to spend the next few weeks with a mostly 18th Century playlist to see how much I can mitigate it. I hope I don’t have to give up my iPod during workouts.

  • ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION, Imada Minu Asu ni I’m really starting to warm up to the idea of ranking World World World as one of the favorite albums of 2008.
  • Emmylou Harris, All I Intended to Be It’s been a while since Emmylou Harris sounded more like country singer than an indie artist. Red Dirt Girl and Stumble Into Grace were pretty much made in the shadow of Wrecking Ball.
  • Franz Josef Haydn, Symphonies Nos. 82, 96, 100 (Capella Istropolitana, Barry Wordsworth) I clicked the wrong button on the eMusic interface — I wanted to listen to this disc, not download it. I already have Symphony No. 96.
  • Franz Josef Haydn, String Quartets, Op. 20 Nos. 1-3, "Sun Quartets" (Kodály Quartet) Wikipedia cites these quartets as embodying Haydn’s sturm und drang period. Haydn strikes me often as being overly even keeled, so I wanted to hear what he sounded like writing with "storm and stress". Isn’t it cute how Tim Gunn can incorporate sturm und drang in normal conversation?
  • GO!GO!7188, Tora no Ana 2 I’m not familiar with the source material for most of this cover album, but I do remember Pink Ladies’ "Nagisa no SINBAD". And I have heard SPITZ’s "Spider".
  • KAREN, MAGGOT IN TEARS ART-SCHOOL’s Kinoshita Riki wears his Cure and Smiths influences on his sleeve on this side project with former members of downy.
  • Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 5, "Emperor" (Rudolf Serkin, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa) I disliked the soundtrack to Immortal Beloved because it butchered the pieces, one of which figured prominently was the "Emperor" concerto.
  • Ludwig van Beethoven, String Quartets, Op. 59 Nos. 1-3, "Razumovsky" (Tokyo String Quartet) What I love about eMusic — for $0.26 a track, I can get hybrid SACDs that usually cost about $25.
  • Nico Muhly, Mothertongue The CD release isn’t till July 22, but it’s now available for download at eMusic.
  • Tsu*Shi*Ma*Mi*Re, Tsu*Shi*Ma*Mi*Re to Rock to Beer I haven’t listened to them since Souzou Ninshin, and I have to say I’m impressed with just how weirder this band has gotten.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Piano Concertos Nos. 20 and 22 (John O’Connor, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Sir Charles Mackerras) I’m familiar with specific movements of these pieces from the Amadeus soundtrack, so now I want to hear the pieces in full.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Symphonies Nos. 41, 25 and 32 (Capella Istropolitana, Barry Wordsworth) Most recordings of Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 seem to be paired with Symphony No. 41. Of course, I bought one back in the early ’90s that wasn’t. So, no, I haven’t listened to the "Jupiter" symphony till now.