For a person who does most of his listening on a software media player, I have not adopted the ala carte model of digital downloading. As I’ve expounded before, the labels want people to purchase the same content on multiple formats, and I don’t want to drop cash on a format which can essentially be derived from an existing one.
In short, why would I pay for a bunch of files, when I can create them myself and have a backup at the same time?
The economics of such a practice, however, are becoming increasingly moot. CDs haven’t come down in price — at least anything not on Universal Music — and if the only place in which I’ll spin a disc is my car, is it really worth the investment? I’m also going to start addressing some personal finance issues, which makes buying CDs seem extravagant.
CDs are so in trouble if ever I get around to connecting my iPod to the car stereo. (It’s an old factory unit not equipped to connect by default.)
In the years since paid digital downloads have become something of a norm, I’ve developed certain … perceptions about digital formats. I’ll own an album only as digital files if I don’t like it enough to get a CD. The digital file, in essence, becomes the preview copy that may eventually become a full-fledged purchase.
It’s practically November, the end of which is when I pretty much settle on my year-end favorite list. I’ve been looking at that list and checking it multiple times, and it seems pretty solid. But November is when labels ramp up the release schedule in time for the holiday season. As much as I’d like to put a lid on the year now, I don’t want to shut anything out prematurely.
So what between now and the start of December can affect the outcome of the Musicwhore.org Favorite Edition 2008 Final?
Samamidon, All Is Well Nico Muhly’s gorgeous and understated orchestration puts this album head and shoulders above Amidon’s first outing, But This Chicken Proved Falsehearted. His casual delivery would probably appeal to anyone who thought Sufjan Stevens’ Illinois was remotely impressive.
Spangle call Lilli line, ISOLATION I’m almost inclined not to pay much attention to the forthcoming PURPLE because this album has a surplus of beauty. I keep raving about the piano work, and I think the band made a terrific decision emphasizing that instrument on this album.
Girl Talk, Feed the Animals When MC Hammer commandeered Rick James for his own ends, it came across as crass and lazy. Nor did it do anything to forward the idea of sampling as a legitimate creative expression. Fast forward nearly 20 years, and Girl Talk rebukes that first impression. Feed the Animals is a breathtaking endeavor, the sheer volume of co-opted material impressive enough to overshadow the brilliance of how it’s all put together. The two words I’m looking for are "Holy fuck …"
Ivri Lider, Beketzev A’hid Batnu’ot Shell Haguf (The Steady Rhythm Of Body Movements) I think I made a mistake trying to take in all of Ivri Lider’s albums at one time, because now I can’t seem to pinpoint one from the other. This latest album, however, seems to rock harder than anything he’s done before. The opening track and single "Rak Tevakesh (Just Ask )" starts off sounding pop but by the end, Lider unleashes the guitars and a passionate roar. Nice.
It’s now Q4, and the Favorite Edition list for 2008 is pretty much unchanged from Q2. I did spend a lot of last quarter listening to classical, catalog and reissues, but the release schedule for Q3 did seem a bit lightweight. If anything, the biggest releases of that quarter were catalog: a slew of remastered U2 and a b-side collection from Shiina Ringo.
Perhaps the biggest Q3 release — for this site, anyway — is one I’m a bit too broke to get: ZAZEN BOYS’ ZAZEN BOYS 4. Here’s hoping the banking crisis won’t cut too deeply into raises or profit-sharing this year. (Right.)
The half-way point of the year is approximately July 2, since 365 days divided in half is roughly 183. 2008 was a leap year, so July 3 would be the midpoint.
All that to say it’s close enough to the perfect time to evaluate the Favorite Edition 2008 list thus far.
The first quarter had an unusually impressive number of memorable releases, but the second quarter absolutely dropped the ball. So far the domestic release schedule of Q3 hasn’t offered anything to grab my attention, but in Japan, a lot of interesting activity is coming up. (It’ll be interesting to see how polarizing the next ZAZEN BOYS album will be.)
A few second quarter releases do manage to scrape into the Favorite Edition list, and a few titles from Q1 get a stronger endorsement after further evaluation.
The weblog you see now did not really exist till 2005.
The previous incarnation of Musicwhore.org was far more extensive, remnants of which can be found over at the archive. I did a lot of data entry for that site, developed the entire administrative backend and wrote all the content. The site had gotten somewhat popular, and I could have asked for more help to expand.
At the same time, all the Japanese music coverage pigeonholed the site. I had wanted it to reflect my own music tastes, and that was getting lost. So in 2004, I expanded the editorial scope of the site to include more catalog and classical releases. (Sound familiar?) It would be another 3/4 of a year before the weblog you read now was launched.
This list shows a shift in my listening. The Japanese titles started to make room for more domestic acts, a growing number indie in nature. With the 2005 relaunch, the Favorite Edition lists were introduced, so this list also concludes a 20-year exploration of listening.
I had to rearrange this list and the 2004 a list a bit. Two titles from 2003 made it on to the 2004 list, so I’m putting them back to where they’re supposed to be. Likewise, a few 2004 titles showed up on the 2005 list, et cetera.
Honestly, Shiina Ringo’s Karuki Zaamen Kuri no Hana just about overshadows every other title on the list, which is a big deal given the number of really quality releases that came out in 2003. I’m almost wondering if 2003 is the pinnacle year of this decade. It sure isn’t 2005.
In 2003, I made way back to the corporate world, taking a job with another technology company, while still working at Waterloo Records. If anything, the next two years would be dominated by work.
After working in the Internet industry for five years, I joked that if I ever got laid off, I would go to work at Waterloo Records, but even as I said it, it felt more like a prediction than a joke.
Well, guess what?
Waterloo Records, believe it or not, was the first retail job I ever had. In college, I did mostly office work, with a stint of library circulation for about a year. I’m not a "people person", but when it came to guiding customers to the music they didn’t know they wanted, I was in my element.
The employee discount also guaranteed a steady musical fix, although my dependence on file sharing would actually increase at this time. My minimum wage salary still went mostly to bills.
Waterloo also honed my tastes a lot more. I became much more dismissive, and I lost patience with anything that required too much work on my part. As much of a music lover I am, I don’t have to love everything.
The first three-quarters of 2001 would be the most prosperous I would experience. The last quarter of 2001 was the polar opposite.
Most folks would set the turning point at 9/11. Mine was 8/31, the day I lost my job. Till then, I was burning my cash on Japanese CDs with a sense the other shoe was about ready to drop at any time.
File sharing was starting to put a chink in the irrationally exuberant sales of recordings, and my own exploration of Japanese music would signify a larger change in music consumption on the whole. Listeners sought what they wanted to hear, whether it be Japanese pop, Italian film soundtracks, indie rock from the UK or old Roberta Flack hits. Strong-arming a song onto a radio playlist was no guarantee for success.
The Internet allowed me to ignore the domestic market that year. That wasn’t possible before.
In February 2000, I took a trip back home to Honolulu that would permanently shift the focus of this website. I came back from that trip with CDs from the brilliant green, Utada Hikaru, L’Arc~en~Ciel and Shiina Ringo. The following month, I picked up more CDs by NUMBER GIRL, Dr.StrangeLove and FEED at various SXSW showcases.
My fascination with the Japanese music scene began in earnest.
That summer, I would order regularly from online shops overseas, and I would eventually embark on relearning a language I went through the motions of studying back in high school and college.
That period of discovery was pretty fertile, and most of my favorite albums stem from the early part of the decade. I’m a lot more skeptical of newer artists these days, so that adventurousness has significantly waned.
But its coverage of music from Japan that makes this site somewhat distinct. I’m hoping newcomers still find it somewhat useful.
The original draft of this list contained a number of very unlikely titles, including ones by Robbie Williams, Jordan Knight and the Damnations TX. That list reflected what I was listening to at the time.
This new list is completely revisionist, with albums I would discover later outranking what I had listened to before. Thing is, I wasn’t terribly attached to the original list, and I had a sense most of what I put there was placeholder to start. The newer list now includes titles that make it incredibly difficult to put a revisionist spin further down the line.
It looks as if my burgeoning interest in Japanese music started that year. No, it was really February 2000 during a trip back home to Honolulu that spurred it on. But that’s early enough in the year for 1999 still to be pivotal.