My obsession with journalism and gadgetry is starting to translate into this yearning for artifacts of yesteryear. When I’m at the co-op, I love looking at typewriters and copies of Downeast Magazine from decades ago. And to abstract from my love for journalism and its products a little more, I just love typography in general — no matter what the medium. It can be something as simple as the labels on old medicine bottles.

I find the labels so much more fascinating than the aesthetic of modern consumer products. The designs on these petty items seem so deliberate, and it’s probably the reason these bottles are priced several times their original value without their original contents intact.

Another interesting object I found at the co-op was this Swedish phone from the 1930′s. It’s priced around $130, and yes, it still works. My girlfriend and I agreed if we made more money, we would open a landline just for the purpose using it.

Last but not least from my small collection of findings: two typewriters. I don’t even know if I could tolerate using these for everyday purposes, but I love the way they look — especially the paper that absorbs its ink. It’s too bad I’m a poor college student right now. Otherwise, I would decorate my apartment with these and everything else from this blog entry.

As you can tell, I haven’t updated the blog since I proclaimed its rebirth. I’m hoping that will change over winter break, especially since I realized my smartphone doubles as a decent point-and-shoot. Happy holidays, everyone.

Spotify is finishing what Napster started, except in a much more legal and non-sketchy way. For the most part, Spotify is doing it better. And what makes it exciting also makes it just as scary, though mostly for artists and the music industry.

Though there are similar services, Spotify got it right by lowering the barrier with its U.S. launch. Yes, you needed an invitation to get in, but it didn’t have to cost anything. And getting an invite became easier with the abundance of corporate sponsorships Spotify set up. Giving something away for free and then teasing the premium features is a great way to generate interest. As I was in the middle of converting all of my CDs into FLAC files, declaring allegiance to high quality, I was suddenly taken by Spotify’s launch. Hundreds of thousands of songs available with a click or tap? For a musicphile like myself, this was the answer to uninhibited music discovery.

I became an avid user from the very start. I assembled playlists of bands I already like and others with bands I wanted to check out. Because I spend so much time at my computer, it wasn’t a problem that my listening time was confined to that area. But obviously the confinement was only enjoyable to a certain extent: I also listen to music in my car, on walks, while at the beach, you name it. And it just so happened that I was losing the motivation to keep my iPod actively synced. Dealing with duplicate and random files was also becoming a nuisance. So I dived in head first and signed up for a premium Spotify account, and now that I’ve used it for about a week, I have some fairly solid impressions:

1. Instant access is awesome. There are always bands I’ve been meaning to check out, but as a full-time college student who pays his fair share of monthly bills, the budget for buying CD’s has become almost nil. I’m also trying to reduce the amount of things my apartment accumulates, so being able to listen to Liars’ entire discography on my computer or phone has been incredibly beneficial to my listening aspirations. I can also discover other genres that weren’t usually on my radar like electronica an classical. I’ve listened to more Schubert, Glass, and Deadmau5 than I would have in any other situation.
2. The desktop and mobile interfaces need more organization. Spotify’s mobile app is hurting more in this department. I can’t even organize my playlists or libraries by artist, album, or song. The library is listed alphabetically by song, and the playlists are sorted by whatever organization it last had on the computer. This makes finding the right band, album, or song a little frustrating. An option for organization of music should be one of the basic features of any music service or playback software. While you can sort the songs accordingly on the desktop application, you still don’t have any option to just view the list of artists. I suggest the developers take a look at the organization modes on Winamp or any other popular music player, because organization is key!
3. Offline mode is great for those with data limits. As most smartphone providers are starting to enforce bandwidth limits, it’s becoming important for users to budget their data use. With a premium subscription to Spotify, you can sync any of your playlists to your phone or desktop’s memory over a Wi-Fi connection, so you can play songs anywhere without worrying about hitting the data threshold. The offline songs play at 160 kbit/s, which isn’t the best quality, but it’s far from being awful.
4. Facebook integration is also awesome. I’m not stranger to sharing what I’m listening to with the Internet. I’ve been a Last.fm user since 2006. Though I love the stats Last.fm provides (Nearly 6,000 plays of They Might Be Giants? That’s incredible! And freakish!), Spotify’s partnership with Facebook makes the Swedish service an immediate winner. Everyone’s already on Facebook. This was a no-brainer, and it’s a great way to connect musical tastes between friends. When music I’m listening to gets posted on Facebook, friends leaves fun and useful comments more often than not (“Have you listened to this album yet?”).

Sean Parker, creator of Napster and a board member/investor of Spotify, said Spotify is “the answer to piracy,” and it’s fairly obvious as to why with its legality, ease-of-use, and massive database of music. But unfortunately, from what’s been reported, the revenue that trickles down to artists isn’t that much.

To me, it’s evident that Spotify’s model for music delivery is the future, and I can’t really see older methods reaching their prime again. So there’s an important question to ask: how do we support this model that also supports musicians in a fair and adequate way? Because music is becoming so much easier to distribute and promote on the Internet, it only makes sense that the big labels will either cease to exist or shrink to a much more economical size. As more musicians embrace entrepreneurship, the need for middlemen decline. Will the needs of musicians ever meet the needs of listeners? The next few years will provide some interesting insights.

And just an FYI, PCMH has been trying to get an 18+ license for a while, so lets not point fingers!

Ughhh...You have no idea how much I love these guys...

PCMH just booked my favorite band of all time for June 12th. Not much more is known besides that They will be playing in Portland that night. Looks like I’m going to have to sell my TMBG tickets for Their Boston show the next day!

I don’t know how long it has been since They have come here. Over 12 years maybe? I know they played Zoots in ’96 or something like that.

In other news, Bryan ‘Subinev’ Bruchman is reporting on his Twitter that Wilco is coming to Portland this summer. Looks like they’re playing the Maine State Pier on July 17th.

Well then…looks like this Summer is starting to look like a real good one…Who’s next? The Flaming Lips? Grizzly Bear? Fu Manchu? Time will only tell…

I’ve seen these guys twice already, and I can vouch that they put on a fun and amazing live show. Be sure not to miss out on this one!

I’ve been waiting for this annoucement for a long time…The Penny Arcade Expo East has long been in development and a website for next year’s event has been launched with registration open to the public. For those who don’t know what the Penny Arcade Expo is, just read PA Tycho’s description:

People sometimes call PAX “The New E3,” but that never sat right. It’s better to say that PAX is everything E3 isn’t. We made it the opposite on purpose – public instead of private, fun instead of work. It’s about people who make and play games, instead of the games themselves. This is all pretty obvious in retrospect, but for some reason no-one else had done it. It deserves to be on the East Coast. Frankly, it should be global. I’m working on it.

So basically this expo has been running in Seattle, Washington for the past five years, and it’s a huge convention completely surrounding the culture and people of video games. Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony and tons of other game companies are always there to show off new games and hold gaming competitions. There are also live musical performances from bands and musicians who either use video games to make music or sing about video games.

All of this will be happening the the Hynes Convention Center in Boston from March 26th to 28th. I’m going to register fairly soon, and you should too. It’s only $50 for the 3-day pass!

You can read more about the Penny-Arcade Expo here.

I really want to get my hands on some of these rare records. Go this list here and you’ll see why. Grizzly Bear, Bruce Springsteen, Flight of the Conchords, Bob Dylan, Andrew Bird, The Decemberists and more! The Grizzly Bear 7″ sounds really enticing; it includes the KCRW performance of “While You Wait For The Others” and “He Hit Me”. Haven’t given myself a chance to listen to them on good ol’ vinyl so I think I’m in for a good surprise. I’d also like to score The Decemberists 7″; it includes a B-side from their most recent album, The Hazards of Love.

I will be at either the Portland or Scarborough Bull Moose helping them out, so I hope to see you there!

Dinosaur Jr.

Despite all my complaining about the lack of good shows in Portland (good shows from out-of-state acts; Portland’s local scene is totally awesome right now), there are a few shows that I am excited about. A classic act in indie rock, Dinosaur Jr. will be playing The Station this Friday for an all-ages show (with steep ticket prices…eek!). But if you’re a big fan of Dinosaur Jr. or dig that kind of music in general (Pavement, Guided by Voices, Meat Puppets, etc.), I’m sure you’ll fork out the cash for it. I would, but I’m going to see Brandi Carlile’s sold-out show at South Portland High School (my old school!). You can buy tickets to the Dinosaur Jr. show right here.

Also coming to The Station soon…MC Chris! If you ever watch Adult Swim or even just Aqua Teen Hunger Force, you may be acquainted with this geek rapper. He has a signature high-pitched voice and a signature attitude, rapping about bounty hunters, robo-tripping and masturbation. I saw him perform at The Station two years ago, and it was a very fun show.

As for other good shows coming up in the Spring, SPACE Gallery has a fair offering. On April 9th, Maine native Jason Spooner will be playing a homecoming show of sorts there with The Toughcats (also Maine) and Adam James Frederick and The Hippie Killers. Sounds like a night for lovers of folk, Americana and bluegrass to me. Another awesome show coming up is the Earth Day benefit for the Dooryard. SPACE is getting its overdue treatment of local hardcore punk, presenting local favorites Huak along with A Primitive and Savage Land, Dylan Bredau and Shabti. This will be happening on April 22nd.

The Thermals

On the 6th of May, three bands will be coming all the way from the other Portland to play SPACE. These three bands are The Thermals, The Shaky Hands and Point Juncture. I’ve heard great things about The Thermals since they last played there, and I just listened to The Shaky Hands on All Songs Considered’s SXSW Preview; they sound pretty good to me! Don’t know much about the last band though I’m willing to bet Portland west is sending us a pretty sweet band package!

Andrew Bird has a lot of great promo shots. I had a hard time picking one out.

I surely did not! And I am quite upset as a result.

I’ve been getting into Andrew Bird a lot this past week with his latest album, Noble Beast. I highly recommend that you pick the CD if you haven’t. Anyways, when I was playing the album at my dad’s apartment, he told me that one of his co-workers saw him at Bowdoin College in January. The show happened on January 31st at the Pickard Theater as part of their annual singer/songwriter series, as noted from this Google-cached article from the Bowdoin Orient.

This was my response: “WHAAAAATTTTTTT?”

Right when I start to really dig Bird’s music, I discover that he played in Brunswick two months  ago. Gosh darnit! I really can’t afford to go to anymore concerts out of state, so I can only hope he comes to Maine sometime again.

To the concert organizers at Bowdoin College: publicize your shows more please! I know you guys have lots of money and therefore have the ability to bring up amazing acts like Broken Social Scene (last October) and Ben Kweller (this past February; did you know about that one? I didn’t!) so it is your duty to let your fellow Maine music lovers know about these great shows!

So you basically get to create your own Star Wars saga? Ummmmm, WHOA.

I’m a huge Star Wars fan, so if I get to become a bounty hunter, jedi, sith, whatever and make my own story in the Star Wars galaxy and make an impact on the conflicts going on in that world…I am sold.

I’m not a big fan of MMORPGs. Never played one (the pseudo-MMO Guild Wars was the closest I got). But this game has major appeal to me.

Star Wars: The Old Republic just released its first playable class: the bounty hunter.

All I can say is that I’m really excited. Can’t wait to see the information released about this game in the coming months.