Here’s to a first step towards a better track record of do things I want to be doing with better regularity. So without further unnecessary commentary, I present you with Listening in Blue Shift 03: Somewhere in Clip. A collection of songs to turn the volume up to…

Listening In Blue Shift 03
Somewhere in Clip

• [00:00] The Black Spoons: Marie Curie
  [from My Dear Radium]
  I can’t say enough good things about these guys. Hailing from NYC, originally a trio, currently a duo, making straight forward rock music with insight and intelligence that is not often found in music. Tom Sean, the guitarist, lead singer, and song writer, has assured me they are working on their 3rd album currently.
• [04:02] The Secret Machines: Lightning Blue Eyes
  [from Ten Silver Drops]
  When I first started this site the first article I wrote (and summarily NEVER published) was for The Secret Machines, Ten Silver Drop, which I had manged to get an advance release of. Now the album is 2 years old, but still lives in heavy rotation on my playlist. Yet another previous trio, now a duo from Dallas, TX making music that can best describes as “Arena Big” (without the irony).
• [09:26] British Sea Power: Lights Out For Darker Skies
  [from Do You Like Rock Music?]
  The album title pretty much sums it up. No clichés. No pretense. This album is on my list for one of the best albums of 2008.
• [16:01] Okkervil River: Unless it Kicks
  [from Stage Names]
  I can’t escape the urgency in Will Chefff voice. His pure, raw emotion is splayed out for all to see, and the music follows suit.
• [20:38] Ringo Deathstarr: Starrsha
  [from the self-titled ep, Ringo Deathstarr]
  If anyone was to improve on the Jesus & Mary Chain, I’d put my money on these guys from Austin. Not simply imitating, Ringo Deathstarr (clever name, no?) have mastered the “Wall of Sound” made famous by JaMC, My Bloody Valentine, etc., while keeping their own unique sound in it.
• [22:44] Hallelujah the Hills: Effie’s On the Other Side
  [from Collective Psychosis Begone]
  This album has been a difficult listen for me; one that I’ve had to walk away from several times, but I keep going back and finding new things that I didn’t catch the first time. I’m torn in regards to challenging albums like this; whether it’s worth the effort required to really catch the nuances or whether I can just accept it for what I like on a surface level and move on, losing no sleep. Regardless, there are some standout tracks like this one that took no effort to engage me, and didn’t simply prey on a catchy melody or what have you.
• [25:42] Think About Life: Paul Cries
  [from the self-titled, Think About Life]
  How can you go wrong with highly dance-able and distorted, raw pop music?
• [28:56] Parts & Labor: Fractured Skies
  [from Maps]
  Chest Pounding Vocals, Impossibly metronomic drums, driving rhythm, and all of that and they don’t even use any guitars. These guys make music that no else has thought to make before and do so with astounding success. High volume listening is a must, though likely to do some very serious damage.

Technorati Tags: The Black Spoons, The Secret Machines, British Sea Power, Okkervil River, Ringo Deathstarr, Jesus & Mary Chain, Hallelujah the Hills, Think About Life, Parts & Labor, Music, Rock, Listening in Blue Shift

 

 Listening in Blue Shift 03: Somewhere in Clip [32:55m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (82)

Podcast #3 (still lacking a title) is about 95% finished. I had the intent of doing the final edit today while at the office, but in my only vague-lucidity as I left the house this morning, I left my external HD @ home; without which I can do nothing of substance as it holds my music collection.

Then again, it seems the day has quickly tightened its reigns on me, as I spent the better half of my morning pawing through security footage to determine which employee of the restaurant walked out of the building last night with several hundred dollars worth of someone else’s stuff. Festive, I tell you.

And my previously scheduled morning appointment has since been time shifted to 3 PM, thus timeshifting the rest of my day.

And I still need to go to the grocery…

Be that as it may, expect a new podcast later tonight or in the very wee hours of tomorrow morning.

And in no way related, but a little something to tide you over until the podcast… DJ Lobsterdust: Jenny’s Superstitious [Stevie Wonder vs. The Killers]

 

 DJ Lobsterdust -- Jenny's Superstitious [Stevie Wonder vs. The Killers] [4:24m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (62)

Technorati Tags: Podcast, music, DJ Lobsterdust

It seems, that much like the road to hell, this blog is becoming paved with good intentions. Be that as it may, work is being done.

Podcast #3 is largely complete and I’m toying with the idea of both doing a weekly ShoutCAST stream, as well getting a proper microphone and a small mixer and actually APPEARING on my own damn podcast (Novel, I know…)

I’m also trying to objectively look at my time commitments before I consider adding a tLog to Living in Blue Shift [dot] com. My rational being:

1. I have an unhealthy fascination with Micro-blogging and this seems like an interesting adaptation of it.
2. It would allow me to post more regularly than I do currently, do to the nature of the system.
3. Generating more content would, in turn, present me with the possibility of higher visibility on “the grid” (aka: the internet).

But, my hang up is, I struggle to maintain this site as much as I’d like due to equal parts exhaustion, more pressing responsibilities, lack of inspiration/motivation, and of course laziness. I’d rather not take the time to create a framework for more content only to let it collect dust.

With all of this, I’m also looking at diddling around with Yahoo! Pipes [wiki description]service to effectively lifestream my online activities. While it might be of some interest to others, I feel that largely this is for my own academic gratification (Which I then question, why the hell I’d need a lifestream, I’m the one living it… But I digress). Somehow the idea of a long string of aggregated RSS entries being my lasting scrawl seems fitting.

This all leads up to a series of entries I’ve been semi-writing for months now regarding the integration of so-called Web2.0 technologies into our lifestyles on and off the grid. If I get my ass in gear, part one could actually be up soon, assuming I don’t get distracted as usual.

Technorati Tags: podcast, tLog, Micro-blogging, Yahoo! Pipes, Web2.0, Aggregation, technology, blogging, procrastination