Posted in Music, Technology at 11:13 pm by Jeremiah Wittevrongel
I grew up mostly in the digital age of music. I owned a few cassettes as a kid, but never more than a handful, and then I got my first CD player. My first ever CD purchase was U2′s album Zooropa which I acquired sometime around late 1993, and it was all digital from that point forward. Nowadays I own several hundred CDs and also have purchased a reasonable amount of digital downloads via iTunes, Beatport, Puretracks, and some directly from artists like Pretty Lights, Nine Inch Nails, and Bassnectar.
But before the CD, and before the cassette, there was the LP. And it reigned supreme for a very long time before it was supplanted by digital formats. DJs still spin vinyl to this day, even when the source material is digital, thanks to the magic of time-coded vinyl and the software it interfaces with.
Analogue vinyl is beginning to finally show its age, though; production of the venerable Technics SL-1200 turntable was discontinued in 2010. There are still other turntables on the market, but the workhorse turntable DJs have loved for several decades is no longer being manufactured.
For numerous reasons, I recently decided to purchase a turntable. And since the Technics is no more, why not own a piece of history as well? I found a used Technics SL-1200MK5 on Kijiji for a reasonable price, and bought it. In addition to being a beautiful, high-quality turntable, it’s engineered well enough to last me the rest of my life. Based on the serial number, it rolled out of the factory in February 2010, so it’s about as new as possible (the MK5 ended its run in April 2010). I also picked up a new cartridge for it (an Ortofon 2M Blue), although the Shure M44-7 I bought with it is certainly no slouch and may come in handy when I run into vinyl that hasn’t been well-cared-for.
To celebrate, I bought 2 used albums from one of the record stores in my neighbourhood: Fables of the Reconstruction by R.E.M. and Exit Planet Dust by the Chemical Brothers. I had heard both before, but didn’t own either, so figured this was a good time.
I also now have custody of all of my parents’ (mostly my dad’s) old vinyl which is quite exciting. There are definitely a number of gems in the collection, although I’ll be a while even just cataloging the 200+ albums let alone listening to all of them. It’s a fascinating way to learn about your parents; some of the albums I knew were there, and head heard as a child, but there are some I don’t ever remember hearing and yet they’re in there.
This is a new adventure, and in a way it’s a window into the past and my parents’ history, so it’s especially cool. When the weather worsens (and it inevitably will), I’ll have something else to keep me busy.
Posted in Music at 9:41 pm by Jeremiah Wittevrongel
It’s probably my own fault for having set my own expectations too high, but seeing Nero live last Saturday at Flames Central was… meh. At least the main act was.
First off, a rant. I paid to see Nero perform, not 1/2 of Nero perform. WTF.
OK, enough of that. When it was all said and done I thought the opening acts all outshone Nero, with the possible exception of Gnarcotics, although I was at least able to dance and enjoy their set without hundreds of sweaty EDM kiddies bashing into me every 30 seconds. I had to flee to the balcony for Nero, and although I enjoyed it more from up there, it still felt like a lacklustre performance.
And to top it all off, I suffered a hat malfunction. I was theoretically debuting the new light blue version of my glowing cowboy hat, which decided to die on me at about 10:30. I can fix the issue, but I spent the rest of the evening with a severe lack of glow. Sigh. The yellow hat is still OK, as is another hat I have yet to wear publicly.
I am getting excited about Chromeo though. It’s at the same venue as Nero was, but I’m hoping the crowd isn’t full of the same people who were at Nero. Ick.
Not long after the first discs arrived in the mail from Amazon, the second shipment came as well, bringing the soulful sounds of Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. Sharon totally rocked my world at Sasquatch, and while the recordings don’t quite capture the live experience, they are nevertheless quite enjoyable.
I picked up 100 Days 100 Nights and I Learned the Hard Way, and I enjoy them both about equally thus far. I don’t really have any other soul music in my collection, but she fits in quite well with any number of jazz divas of yore, so she’s got a permanent spot in the iTunes rotation. It still amazes me that I found so many great artists I’d never really heard before at Sasquatch. I’m already looking forward to Coachella 2012; who knows who I will discover there.
Part of why I enjoy going to music festivals is that I get to check out artists I would likely never otherwise listen to. Sasquatch 2011 was no exception, and there were 5 sets I saw that prompted album purchases.
The first batch of shiny plastic-coated aluminum discs arrived yesterday, hand-packed by those Tall Brazilian Women.
I’ve listened to all of these once through, and I’m quite pleased with all of them:
Chromeo / Business Casual. I had a great time dancing at Chromeo’s show at Sasquatch, and the album brings back that memory very vividly. The music doesn’t take itself very seriously, which is a good thing for electro-pop in general. Overall a pretty solid album, and one that will probably get a lot of airtime both at home and in the car. It’s probably a little too distracting for work though.
Local Natives / Gorilla Manor. This one is more indie / rock than usual for me, and while I enjoy it, they were more fun live than the album would suggest. It’s still enjoyable, but a little offbeat for my taste. Perhaps it will grow on me (it wouldn’t surprise me).
Fitz and the Tantrums / Pickin’ Up the Pieces. This is a great album and it does a good job of capturing their sound and mood. Of the three albums I mentioned here, this one transports me back to the front of the stage at Sasquatch the fastest. Moneygrabber is incredibly catchy, and it’s hard not to bop along.
There’s more on the way as well from 2 other artists.
Now that I’ve had a week to reflect on the experiences I had in the Seattle area and at Sasquatch, there are definitely moments that I know I will never forget from the trip.
If you asked a bunch of random Sasquatch-goers what the most memorable events were for them, you’d find quite a few who had Bassnectar‘s set on their list. I was pretty excited before the set, and I had an inkling of what was coming, but even so I was completely unprepared.
Bassnectar opened with Teleport Massive, and something truly magical happened at the first bass drop.
This is the best video I’ve found so far (no, I didn’t take the video) of the start of his set. If you look you’ll see me off to the right from time to time (I’m wearing the glowing yellow cowboy hat).
Literally thousands of glow sticks were thrown during the hour-long set, with I’d guess about 50% of them during the span of that video. It was indescribable.
And I know there were thousands of glow sticks because I brought 1,000 on my own, and in the area around me I saw another 6,000 or so between a number of different people. Of course, we were all handing them out prior to the start of the set to anyone who wanted them. Sheer madness. And I can’t possibly forget being there.
By the final day of the festival, my body was already showing signs that I was pushing limits and needed to slow down a bit, so Monday was a little more relaxed than the previous days. There was a lot of water, a lot of sunblock, and several hours of just relaxing and lying in the shade. Oh, and music, of course. For me, the day started out with
Old 97′s
Which I had problems getting into, but really they weren’t that bad. Despite being quite tired physically, I downed some more water and headed into the fray for
Chromeo
Which was far and away the sexiest dance party of the entire weekend. Such a blast, and a good way to get energized for the rest of the day. The inflatables were fun too. For the next while there wasn’t a lot that interested me so I caught my first and only comedy act of the weekend,
The Scott Aukerman & Paul F. Tompkins Show
which was the Worst. Comedy. Act. Ever. Guided by Voices would have been infinitely more fun. But It was a good excuse to lie in the shade for an hour and rest before
Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings
Which were the most surprising act of the weekend for me, and my favorite “never heard them before” artist. Sharon is a total diva, and she knows exactly what she’s doing on stage. At one point, a guy managed to slip over the barrier and start to climb the stage. Security pulled him down, but Sharon told them to let him go, and he got up on stage. She totally rocked out with the guy who was clearly having the time of his life. Such an awesome performer. I’ve never really given soul / funk much of a thought until now. Stand up and take notice, ladies and gentlemen. This is how it’s done.
Rodrigo y Gabriela
Were another act I hadn’t really heard much about, but I knew I had to see them. It was just 2 people and 2 acoustic guitars, but they managed such a display of musical prowess that I was once again blown away. They reminded me somewhat of Jesse Cook, and that’s not a bad thing at all. I think I danced for about 1/2 of their set up on the hill which probably made me look pretty silly, but I was definitely enjoying myself. Which is maybe part of why
Skrillex
was such a huge disappoinment (second only to the Flaming Lips). I enjoy his recorded music, but he just isn’t very good live. Lots of people in the dance tent were having a good time, but I quite honestly wasn’t. Maybe it’s because I was surrounded by sweaty, smelly kids who were obviously extremely high and dancing like they were being attacked by a pack of rabid wolves. Skrillex’ poor performance live coupled with the crowd completely ruined it. I gave it 20 minutes before heading back to the hill for
The Decemberists
Who I enjoyed immensely. I did not however stick around to see
Wilco
as a storm was rolling in and I was completely exhausted. I simply left, and slept hard.
After such a fantastic day Saturday, I wasn’t sure how Sunday would measure up. As it turns out, Sunday was no slouch either. While I can’t point to as many single things as I could on Saturday, Sunday turned out to probably be the day I enjoyed the most overall.
I arrived in time to catch most of
The Drums
Which was better than I expected, but the real reason I was down in the pit was for
Fitz and the Tantrums
who I was really looking forward to seeing. They definitely didn’t disappoint, and it was a pretty good dance party right up front. At this point in my day, things started to go a bit astray though: I got an ear plug stuck in my right ear such that I wasn’t able to remove it. So instead of sticking around to see
Tokyo Police Club
I went to the medical tent to get the earplug removed. Astonishingly, the medical tent didn’t have any tweezers (!), so they ended up digging the earplug out with a needle. With that taken care of, I went to see the last half of
Sam Roberts Band They played the only song of theirs I know during the part I caught, which was nice. The rest of their stuff was so-so.
City and Color
Was interesting. I wasn’t super impressed by the music, but the lead singer has an incredible voice. Additionally, I had an ice cream bar special delivered (long story) which totally made my afternoon. After that I got situated up on the hill to watch
Flogging Molly
and the insane dance party I knew that would result. I didn’t want to be in the dance party in this case, just wanted to watch from afar. It was quite a lot of fun, even as a spectator. I then moved to a different spot on the hill to watch the sunset and
The Flaming Lips
Which turned out to be my biggest disappointment of the weekend. They started out strong, but Wayne kept blabbing on and on at random in between songs, and even in between verses of songs, which completely ruined the flow of the show. I wish he would have just shut up and played some music. I think they managed only 8 songs in a 90 minute set. Yuck. The sunset was pretty though.
Modest Mouse
Prompted a trip down to the floor to get somewhere warmer as well as some flat space to dance. They completely made up for the Flaming Lips and I had a fantastic time at the show. Another highlight of the weekend for sure. I was tired, so didn’t stick around for any of the late night stuff.
Saturday was the first full day at the festival, and I learned a few important lessons from the previous day:
Pack your bag for the festival early and carefully. Don’t bring too much, but bring at least 2 or 3 layers.
Plan on the walk and security / admission taking at least 30-40 minutes if not longer, assuming you are already close to the edge of the campground.
The lines for filling water bottles can get long, so bring a couple of empties to reduce the number of times you have to fill up
Throughout the day I saw numerous fun costumes, and they got better as the weekend went on. I also saw lots of guys wearing neon baseball caps, and I realize I need to get one before the next festival I do – it’s so hard to find people even when you know where they are.
With no further ado… my day started off with
Local Natives
Which really surprised me by how good they were. I really enjoyed the set, and the completely random dance party on the hill was fun to watch.
Wolf Parade
Came on next, and they were solid too. I left a few minutes early to head to another stage to watch
Jenny & Johnny Who totally rocked it. Jenny was wearing a sassy red number which you could have seen from miles away. On my way to get more water and catch part of
Pink Martini
I hit a wall of people and realized that
Wye Oak
were causing quite a stir. I stayed and watched them and had a blast, although I do regret missing Pink Martini completely. I grabbed a bite and chilled for part of
Iron & Wine
who I just couldn’t get into really. They had a few moments, but I left partway through to go see
Matt & Kim Who had me up and dancing for most of their set. They blew me away. I also got the cowboy hat prepared before I went to
The Glitch Mob
where the hat made its official debut near the front of the dance tent. I enjoyed their set but it lacked the energy of some of the later stuff in the weekend, like
Robyn
who had a late start, but she was easily one of the highlights of the weekend. I danced for her entire set, start to finish. Because her set ended late, I missed
Sleigh Bells
who would have been fun but I am still glad I saw all of Robyn.
Death Cab for Cutie
was an act I was going to skip entirely until the schedule got re-jigged. As it was, the music kinda sucked, but it was good to relax on the lawn and get my glow sticks cracked and ready for
Bassnectar
who blew away every other electronic / dance music act of the weekend. I had 1000 glow sticks with me, and others had brought similar numbers. I’ve never seen that many glow sticks all thrown in the air at once (we dubbed it the glowpocalypse for a reason), and it was pretty amazing. The cowboy hat was rocking the entire set. And if you were there, you’ll understand exactly what I mean by “pink elephants”. Holy crap.
I arrived at the gorge about 12:00pm on Friday after getting a bit of a later start than I had hoped from Seattle. The line getting into the campground took about 30 minutes, and I wound up camping relatively close to the entrance to the festival (just over the fence from premier camping) next to a whole bunch of really awesome strangers. I managed to score enough space for my tent and the 14′ by 14′ shelter which everyone nearby wound up sharing.
By chance, two other Calgary groups I knew were camped relatively close as well (within a 5 minute walk). Given how big the campground is, I was quite surprised.
After getting the lay of the land and getting set up, I headed in for what I thought was 4:45 to catch the start of Biffy Clyro. I underestimated the walk, wait at security, etc and arrived promptly at… 5:10.
Biffy Clyro Sucked pretty bad, but I was able to wander around and get my bearings (and a beer) before things got super crowded.
Bob Mould
Caught the last part of the set, enjoyed it a fair bit. This is what got me into the Sasquatch mood.
After this, I wandered around and got some sort of chili covered hotdog thing that looked about as awful as it tasted, but I was starving so I ate it anyways. Man can’t live on beer alone. I caught a bit of
The Bronx
which didn’t do much for me.
Death From Above 1979
I watched from the hill and it was a great warm up for…
Foo Fighters
Totally rocked. This was the highlight of the night for sure. I took many photos and almost none of them turned out. It’s hard to hold a camera steady when you’re dancing.
I wasn’t ready to go to sleep yet, so I found a random dance party in the campground for a bit, then froze my butt off walking back to my tent.
Road Trip 2011 (aka “Jeremiah goes to Seattle and Sasquatch“) is fast approaching, and I’ve started to ponder just how much crap I want to bring with me on the trip. I undoubtedly brought too much stuff on last year’s trip. For this year’s trip, I should be able to cut the clothing in half to only one suitcase. I’ll still need the camping gear, a couple of folding chairs, and my hard-sided cowboy hat case (for the electric hat and belt). I’m also planning on bringing a cooler (instead of a second suitcase) and the usual other stuff I bring on trips (backpacks, bottled water, protein bars).
I’m also bringing my golf discs and ultimate discs so I can play golf and have something to toss around at the campground.
I’m halfway tempted to travel with no cooler and buy one in the US. The cooler I have fits in the trunk of the car, but it’s larger than I might like, especially for a trip like this. I’m thinking I should just swing by TarJayOfTheDesert and/or WallyWorld in Seattle and pick up something a little smaller, and see if they have any other camping gear I want (like a collapsible shelter/canopy) for a reasonable price.
I’ll have to do a “practice pack” and see what I can fit. Based on how I packed last year I have a pretty good idea, but I should probably try a couple of things to be sure.
Edit: I did a quick check. I can fit everything with my 50L cooler, but I think I’d rather pick up a slightly smaller cooler (say 35L or so).
Also, I was having trouble choosing a theme song for the trip this time. Given that I’m heading to a music festival, I’m pretty much obligated to choose a song from one of the bands playing there. Luckily, Adam Zacks came to my rescue and added The Glitch Mob to the bill this year, and so Drive it Like you Stole it shall be the theme song for the road trip this year.
Jeremiah Wittevrongel lives in Calgary, Canada. Though he works as a software developer and loves what he does,
this blog isn't about that. It's about the rest of his life, which tends to revolve around music, board gaming, hiking, travelling, and cooking.
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