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Many Things Musical
Dec. 21st, 2003 11:08 pmThis covers two different music things, and I'd really like your opinions on things, so please respond.
Firstly: Top Albums of 2003.
I think 2003 was a good musical year. I think my musical tastes drifted more in the bluegrass and country directions, with strong folk and rock influences along with small doses of pop and jazz.
My Top 10:
10 - Eastmountainsouth: Debut album from folk duo. Maybe a bit too produced, but very good nonetheless. The first track, a cover of Stephen Foster's 'Hard Times,' stands out.
9 - Grandaddy - Sumday: Probably the first album that can be classified as 'indie rock' that I really liked. Catchy, poppy songs with great harmonies.
8 - Erin McKeown - Grand: Erin leans towards the indie side of things, but also shows off her folk and jazz influences. Quite good, but not as good as Distillation.
7 - Chris Smither - Train Home: Awesome acoustic folk and blues. He's probably one of the few guys who can get away with using the tapping of his foot as a percussion effect - it's just solid and an amazing presence and anchors everything together. Also, major bonus points for the great cover of Dave Carter's 'Crocodile Man.'
6 - Eddie from Ohio - Three Rooms (live): I'd say this album pushed me over the edge and into the ranks of the ed-heads. A great perspective on their 10 year career of quirky folk-rock-country. Good versions of songs I like from Looking out the Fishbowl, and an amazing cover of Bob Dylan's 'Don't Think Twice.' The stuff I hadn't heard before this album is also very good.
5 - Kathleen Edwards - Failer: The debut of this aussie singer-songwriter sounds a lot like Lucinda Williams, but who said that's a bad thing? Really good country-tinged songs that are good for many a mood.
4 - Tim Easton - Break Your Mother's Heart: Folk with rock influences, Tim Easton is a better songwriter than people give him credit for. The album starts out rocking, and mellows way out by the end. I've liked 'Lexington Jail' ever since I heard it summer 2001 at singer-songwriter weekend, though I think I like the acoustic version better than the electric blues on the album.
3 - Los Lonely Boys: Amazing Mexican rock-pop. The three brothers from Texas just rock with a tex-mex groove, great harmonies, and catchy tunes.
2 - Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson, Ricky Skaggs - The Three Pickers: Anytime you get three legends on stage together (and Alison Krauss helps out on a few), you know the results are going to be amazing. This album does not dissappoint, with the three bluegrass all-stars leading their own bands and each other on romps through the Great Appalachian Songbook (my own phrase).
1 - The Jayhawks - Rainy Day Music: Veteran alt-country (I can't define it either, but it's what they are) group hits a home run with poppy, countryish songs with a good combination or lyrics and melody, and enough harmony to completely win me over. Strong all the way through, I'd say this defined my musical preferences for the year.
Other things I liked listening to:
John Hiatt - Beneath this Gruff Exterior
Jack Johnson - On and On
Fountains of Wayne - Welcome Interstate Managers
Guster - Keep it Together
The Thrills - So Much for the City
Did you like these albums? Are there albums that I would like that I missed? Do you just detest one of these albums? Have a top 10 (or 5 or any other number) favorite albums? Speak up and let me know.
Secondly: Computer Music Player
iTunes for Windows, WinAmp, Windows Media Player, MusicMatch. I have all of these on my computer. Any thoughts on which is the 'best'? The organizational features of iTunes are pretty hard to beat, though I really haven't played with the WinAmp Media Library in version 3 or recently released 5. I think for actually playing music, WinAmp may win because it's skinability is nice and it's slaved to my laptop media buttons and to my stereo remote control, which really trumps. If there were plugins for this in iTunes, that might throw the game to that. iTunes wins for ripping and burning, and I'm not really sure which music store (iTMS, MusicMatch) I like better. Selection in both is not as good as I would want it to be. The iTunes interface is really nice, but not so much that I can overlook things like price, which I think the edge falls to MM right now. Time shall tell, and since I haven't really used either much, it really doesn't matter.
Firstly: Top Albums of 2003.
I think 2003 was a good musical year. I think my musical tastes drifted more in the bluegrass and country directions, with strong folk and rock influences along with small doses of pop and jazz.
My Top 10:
10 - Eastmountainsouth: Debut album from folk duo. Maybe a bit too produced, but very good nonetheless. The first track, a cover of Stephen Foster's 'Hard Times,' stands out.
9 - Grandaddy - Sumday: Probably the first album that can be classified as 'indie rock' that I really liked. Catchy, poppy songs with great harmonies.
8 - Erin McKeown - Grand: Erin leans towards the indie side of things, but also shows off her folk and jazz influences. Quite good, but not as good as Distillation.
7 - Chris Smither - Train Home: Awesome acoustic folk and blues. He's probably one of the few guys who can get away with using the tapping of his foot as a percussion effect - it's just solid and an amazing presence and anchors everything together. Also, major bonus points for the great cover of Dave Carter's 'Crocodile Man.'
6 - Eddie from Ohio - Three Rooms (live): I'd say this album pushed me over the edge and into the ranks of the ed-heads. A great perspective on their 10 year career of quirky folk-rock-country. Good versions of songs I like from Looking out the Fishbowl, and an amazing cover of Bob Dylan's 'Don't Think Twice.' The stuff I hadn't heard before this album is also very good.
5 - Kathleen Edwards - Failer: The debut of this aussie singer-songwriter sounds a lot like Lucinda Williams, but who said that's a bad thing? Really good country-tinged songs that are good for many a mood.
4 - Tim Easton - Break Your Mother's Heart: Folk with rock influences, Tim Easton is a better songwriter than people give him credit for. The album starts out rocking, and mellows way out by the end. I've liked 'Lexington Jail' ever since I heard it summer 2001 at singer-songwriter weekend, though I think I like the acoustic version better than the electric blues on the album.
3 - Los Lonely Boys: Amazing Mexican rock-pop. The three brothers from Texas just rock with a tex-mex groove, great harmonies, and catchy tunes.
2 - Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson, Ricky Skaggs - The Three Pickers: Anytime you get three legends on stage together (and Alison Krauss helps out on a few), you know the results are going to be amazing. This album does not dissappoint, with the three bluegrass all-stars leading their own bands and each other on romps through the Great Appalachian Songbook (my own phrase).
1 - The Jayhawks - Rainy Day Music: Veteran alt-country (I can't define it either, but it's what they are) group hits a home run with poppy, countryish songs with a good combination or lyrics and melody, and enough harmony to completely win me over. Strong all the way through, I'd say this defined my musical preferences for the year.
Other things I liked listening to:
John Hiatt - Beneath this Gruff Exterior
Jack Johnson - On and On
Fountains of Wayne - Welcome Interstate Managers
Guster - Keep it Together
The Thrills - So Much for the City
Did you like these albums? Are there albums that I would like that I missed? Do you just detest one of these albums? Have a top 10 (or 5 or any other number) favorite albums? Speak up and let me know.
Secondly: Computer Music Player
iTunes for Windows, WinAmp, Windows Media Player, MusicMatch. I have all of these on my computer. Any thoughts on which is the 'best'? The organizational features of iTunes are pretty hard to beat, though I really haven't played with the WinAmp Media Library in version 3 or recently released 5. I think for actually playing music, WinAmp may win because it's skinability is nice and it's slaved to my laptop media buttons and to my stereo remote control, which really trumps. If there were plugins for this in iTunes, that might throw the game to that. iTunes wins for ripping and burning, and I'm not really sure which music store (iTMS, MusicMatch) I like better. Selection in both is not as good as I would want it to be. The iTunes interface is really nice, but not so much that I can overlook things like price, which I think the edge falls to MM right now. Time shall tell, and since I haven't really used either much, it really doesn't matter.
