I know that I’ve made a few references to eMusic before, but I haven’t yet dedicated a post to it. That is all about to change right now.
Imaging all of the things you hate about iTunes. Start with the fact that it’s full of commercialized crap, add a dash of overpriced price point (99¢ a pop? wtf?) and mix in highly restrictive DRM-encoded files (although that’s just me being bitter – Apple no longer uses DRM in the iTunes store, thank god)… what do you get? Screwed every time you click this:
Don’t get me wrong, I love iTunes for its beautiful organization of my music library (it’s about the only part of my life that actually stays neat and tidy), but its music store is just not what the more advanced music listener is looking for. That, my friends, is where eMusic comes to the rescue.
eMusic is a web-based independent music store that focuses on music that the conglomerate corporations feeding iTunes would rather you not even know about. If you are looking for new, fresh music that hasn’t been picked over by hundreds of thousands of tone-deaf idiots looking for the current top 10 billboard listings, then this is the place you want to be. There’s hardly any commercially-signed music, and what’s there is the 2% that’s actually worth listening to. They have a massive selection of music from every genre you could think of, including an incredible section devoted to classical music and its sub-genres.
Now for the selling point. You get music that has no restrictions whatsoever, and you get it for a fraction of the price of iTunes. What’s a fraction? It’s a monthly subscription based system, and for the subscription that I pay for, I could buy 15 songs from iTunes. I get 50 from eMusic. That’s 30¢ a song. Eat that iTunes.
But wait, there’s more? Indeed. You get your first month for free. That’s 50 free downloads. If you don’t like it at the end, you don’t pay a thing and they give you the music. It’s yours. Forever. And that goes for anything you purchase on eMusic. Not a bad deal, is it?
If you consider yourself a person whose life revolves around music, it’s time to graduate to eMusic and really start listening. You’ll be amazed by the things that you discover.
Posted in music
Disclaimer: this is a non-creative post.
I came across this article (http://www.blogaboutbeer.com/2009/02/21/its-easier-to-reach-your-beer-when-your-blanket-has-sleeves/) talking about one of the most horrific things that could be known to man: a pub crawl. In snuggies.
These people have got to be shitting me. Perhaps you enjoy the economic and fuzzy warmth of the snuggie in your own home. But I don’t understand the appeal of stumbling about drunkenly in a major city looking like a klan member who sent their robes to a dyeing facility instead of the cleaners. Wtf, really? Fail.
Click here for my personal opinion on snuggies.
Posted in Rants
My family and I went to Micanopy and Paynes Prairie when I was home from FSU last month. Of course, my Canon wasn’t far behind.
As I try to find a reason to start working on my symphony again, I find a quote from Mahler, having to do with such an art:
Well isn’t that encouraging.
Posted in Quotations
Bluegrass kicks ass. Bottom line. There is nothing that is quite as pure as listening to bluegrass for the first time after a long absence. It’s a music that mixes the soulful use of good old fashioned lyricism and damn good musicianship. When’s the last time you heard some Top 25 hack “guitar player” play bluegrass? Thought so.
It’s also a music that puts things into perspective. In the midst of the current economic crisis, there’s something really good in knowing that we’re a hell of a lot better off than many of previous generations. As the owner of a music store in Waldo who went through the Great Depression recently said to me, “Y’all think you know about a recession? Your generation hasn’t got a clue what ‘recession’ even means. Y’all can start complaining when you’re eatin’ soup broth from an rusty old tin can on the street.”
In the spirit that music conquers all, I’ve selected Hard Time Blues on the album Rivers by the Scott Anderson Band as my song of the week. The Scott Anderson Band is a bluegrass band based in North Florida, and they’ve got plenty of the talent that bluegrass takes. Hard Time Blues is no exception, and those awesome close harmonies in the chorus and the tasteful musicianship make this a keeper.
(Although I can’t provide an eMusic or iTunes link, I can give you this link to Scott Anderson’s site on CD Baby – giving you samples of his music and mp3 downloads. Check it out.)
Posted in Song of the Week
There are about as many new pianists as there are new species of plants and animals being discovered. And then there are the Simone Dinnersteins.
I first heard about Simone Dinnerstein on the “recommended for you” section of my eMusic welcome page. I had recently had a hankering for some Bach keyboard works, and as fate would have it, her recording of the old guy’s Fifth French Suite popped up. “Who is this?” I thought to myself. I had never heard of her before, and after reading her bio it didn’t take long for me to realize why, or why I should have every recording she’s made.
There are very few people in the world of classical music as perseverant and tenacious as Dinnerstein. Like any other classical pianist in the lot of them all, she’s had a critically acclaimed recording made of the standard repertoire and a début at Carnegie Hall. Unlike other classical pianists, she recorded and raised the funds for her concert - in her spare time from being a piano teacher – by herself.
That’s not why you should listen to her though. You should listen to her because her interpretations of Bach’s music are among the freshest available. She performed tonight at Opperman Music Hall, with a program culminating in a performance of the Bach Fifth Suite. From the first note of the allemande, I sensed that something was different, even from the recording; by the time she’d finished the last strain of her flowing and energetic gigue, I was convinced that no other pianist I’d heard showed such an ability to interpret Bach’s music in such a personal yet refined way. And to speak of her technique, she’s not exactly lacking: her agility is only matched by her attention and sensitivity to style.
Between her ability to fund her way to the top of the classical music world and then have the musicianship to stay there, Simone Dinnerstein is certainly a pianists that you will want to listen to. After having heard this phenomenal pianist live, I know that her recording and interpretation of the Bach suite will stay in my favorites for quite some time.
Posted in Concert Review, Recording Review
Tagged bach, french suite, music, opperman, pianist, piano, simone dinnerstein
