Friday Music Day

FMD: Tones I’ve Never Heard

40 Comments

A few days ago, my Marantz SR6011 receiver arrived via FedEx, and I bi-amped my Martin Logan 60XTs and music in my home has never even approached this level of quality. I'm laid up with influenza, so I've gotten to enjoy the hell out of them, as stairs are proving difficult for my equilibrium right now and it's easier to sit in one spot while I wait for this endless sickness to pass.

How do you listen? Any other audiophiles out there besides me and Hess?

As for the music passing through these speakers, I'm going through Pitchfork's Best New Music archives to see what I missed, as well as pulling disparate acts from the past, ranging from Portishead to Jeff Buckley to White Zombie.

Since I'm not going anywhere, I'll drop a SpookySampler up in here today.

40 thoughts on “FMD: Tones I’ve Never Heard”

  1. Funny. I've kinda gone in the other direction. I recently picked up an old turntable with tinny attached speakers.

    Not going to listen to the latest Built to Spill Japandroids on it of course, but have picked up old soul, country, etc., discs. Listening to them like they did "back in the day."

    1. I've considered integrating a turntable into this system, but I'm really not looking to pick up an expensive habit as that would prove to be.

      1. In theory with self control it can be done not-so-expensively. But I'm not going to pretend anyone else has self control since I certainly don't.

        1. I managed self-control by necessity as much as through actual work on changing. Still, my addictive personality hangs over me at all times, ready to pounce. I'd hate to find myself 800 records deep and wondering why we don't have enough money to buy a second car.

          1. I definitely think it's one of those things to just stay away from. The lure of $1 thrift finds and $3 record store bargain bins vinyl eventually becomes something bigger than intended.

            1. When we moved to Chicago, my stereo system, turntables, and about 90% of my record collection stayed behind. This write-off was mandated by the boss.

      2. I've got a record player for the Vinyl I have, but prefer not to buy it.
        The record player is not in a convenient space, and when I have something on vinyl that I like, I try to find it digitally.

  2. 1. Lydia Loveless “Learn How to Say No” Indestructible Machine
    2. Mr. Oizo “No Day Massacre”* Analog Worms Attack
    3. Robert Plant “Satan Your Kingdom Must come Down” Band of Joy
    4. Junior Murvin “Give Me Your Love” Darker Than Blue: Soul from Jamdown 1973-1980
    5. Plastikman “Psyk” Artifakts BC*

    6. WeTM “You Gone?” Square Root of Negative One
    7. Horace Andy “Every Tongue Shall Tell” Skylarking*
    8. Ryoji Ikeda “0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0”* Matrix
    9. Peter Gabriel feat. Laurie Anderson “This Is the Picture (Excellent Birds)” So
    T. Hello Saferide “Anna” More Modern Short Stories from Hello Saferide

    *Notes:
    2. ["Flat Beat" plays in the background...]
    "Daddy... Daddy, This is your puppet?"
    "Nooooo... Daddy just works with him."
    "You work with that puppet?"
    "Yup."
    "Why?"

    5. BC = "Before Consumed"

    7. Album of that title from 1972, not the 1996 "Greatest Hits" compilation of the same name. Oddly enough, the 1972 Skylarking album was re-released in the US a decade-or-so later as Best of Horace Andy, with the exact same tracklist. Reminds me of my joke about Iron Butterfly.

    8. Track 7 of Matrix [for Rooms], the 10-track piece that is found on Disc One of Matrix. The second Disc is a ten-track piece called .Matrix, on which the songs are titled as inverses of the disc-one titles, so track 7 is "1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1"

  3. I either listen through my car speakers (much better now that I bought a new car), ear buds (because work), or an LG soundbar (with a subwoofer!). I'm not much of an audiophile.

    01. Immolation - "All That Awaits Us", Kingdom of Conspiracy
    02. Nightwish - "Wish I had an Angel", Once
    03. Megadeth - "Five Magics", Rust in Peace
    04. Solitude Aeturnus - "It Came Upon One Night", Beyond the Crimson Horizon
    05. Winter Storm - "The Frozen Siren", Within the Frozen Design
    06. Dio - "Evil Eyes", The Last in Line
    07. Korpiklaani - "Nuolet Nomalan", Korven Kuningas
    08. Korpiklaani - "Cottages & Saunas", Voice of Wilderness
    09. Megadeth - "Devil's Island", Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?
    10. Orden Ogan - "Dying Paradise", To The End

    1. My car speakers are quite good. We bought a 2013 Jetta a couple of years back and I was finally all ready to deck it out with great sound, only to find that the stock systems in recent years have become good to the point where I didn't feel like making changes was worth it to me.

      Also, I've listened to Rust in Peace like seven times in the last couple of weeks. Did I mention that here? I don't think I did.

      1. I had stock speakers in my VW as well.... but it was a 2002 so they, uh, weren't as good. I remember one of the first things I always used to do when I got a car was replace the head unit and speakers. I love that I don't have to do that anymore. The stock speakers in my Focus are decent, although they would have been downright awesome if I'd have gotten the Soul instead, based on the speakers in my wife's Sorento being really, really good.

        And yeah, I'm thinking a good deal of Megadeth's first half of their career is quite relevant...

        1. I know* "Sweating Bullets"... Where does that fall into career halves?
          I assume it's the second half.

          *"Hello me, it's me again."

          1. Countdown to Extinction seemed to me like a way for Megadeth to get regular airplay on MTV. It worked, and I liked it at the time because I was 15, but I wish they'd done more like Rust in Peace.

            1. Numerically it's first half, but yeah, what you said about a more mainstream sound. Unfortunately it worked a bit too well and started a pretty harsh decline (which was at least not be Metallica bad).

  4. I recently got a card for my droid so I could put my entire music collection it and listen to it in the car. Funny thing, though, I just find myself skipping past 9 out of every 10 songs. And when I hear new music I find myself not giving it a chance. I don't know what I'm looking for.

    I wonder if for me music is more a comfort for its orderliness. I can listen to different genres back to back (rap, then country, for instance), but I like predictability. I used to listen to music more when I had mixed tapes or actual albums I stuck into a CD player. I think for me knowing which song is coming next is satisfying, even if it's not one of my favorites.

    1. I rarely pull up single songs - it's almost always albums. I wouldn't say it's a comfort thing as much as an attempt to hear the entire piece of art, but I rarely listen to the radio and have no interest in mixtapes.

    2. I had this problem for awhile as well. At the time, I would just throw 6,000 songs on shuffle (probably have double that now), but spent the majority of my time skipping songs, especially new music. Thinking on it, I realized that back in the Discman days, I had no choice but to listen to one album. After that, I made a conscious effort to start consuming music in full albums, and lo and behold, I started getting into a lot of new stuff.

      1. Yep, I think I just need the patience to listen to albums. Of course, when I donated all of my CDs, I only ripped the songs I liked onto my computer. So I still have a bunch of singles not attached to an album. Maybe I just need to create playlists for those.

        1. I must be weird. I've got all of my music on my phone as well (the future is now!) and I throw it on shuffle but rarely skip songs.

          Also, are you using any sort of music player on your phone or just going through Google Play? If you want something better, Poweramp is a really good app and only $5.

          1. Just the plain ol "Music" app that comes with the phone. It's decent as far as user-friendly goes. What's better about PowerAmp?

            1. Better UI, better equalizer, the shuffle seems to shuffle better, customizable skin. Basically, all the reasons I'd use to choose Winamp or MediaMonkey over Windows media player.

        2. Yeah, all of the stuff I had originally digitized suffers from that. I don't like listening my older preferences that much though, so it's not that big of a problem.

          1. In about 2003 I created my top 100 songs ever. And I updated it about every 3 or 4 years. And the depressing thing is that songs I loved for years and years would just drop off because I didn't care for them anymore. Like my taste buds just changed. I rarely am that way with movies or TV shows, but with music it seems to happen all the time.

  5. 01. “What’s Going Ahn” – Big Star – Radio City
    02. “Cliquot” – Beirut – The Flying Club Cup
    03. “Freedom Of The Road” – Martin Sexton – Black Sheep
    04. “Corsicana” – The Antlers – Burst Apart
    05. “The Sounds Of Science” – Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique
    06. “Tamborine” – Prince & The Revolution – Around The World In A Day
    07. “Another Color” – U.S. Girls – GEM
    08. “You’re Gonna Make Me Cry” – O.V. Wright – (If It Is) Only For Tonight
    09. “Sound And Vision” – David Bowie – Low
    10. “Windows (Feat. BJ the Chicago Kid and Raury)” – Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment - Surf

        1. \m/

          Haven't listened to this for awhile. Remedying that now. Since it's free, I thought I'd put it on my work phone too just in case, but apparently we're blocked from adding songs with "explicit lyrics". 🙄

  6. I'm going to try to resist going too deep to start. I currently listen to two systems when I’m being serious. One in my office:

    * Started as a vintagey setup, though now it's a mix
    * I'm listening to it now
    * ADS L730 speakers restored by Midwest Speaker Supply
    * Emotiva Stealth DC-1 DAC that includes an analog input
    * An amp a friend bought from a friend and I bought from my friend. I think it's a DAL Audio built Gainclone.
    * Chromecast Audio for streaming. I don't love it, but it's OK and cheap.
    * Pioneer PL-112D turntable with an Ortofon 2M Red cartridge. I bought it on Craigslist and updated the cart.
    * I need to buy a phono preamp. The turntable isn't hooked up to this system right now.

    One in our family room that serves as our "home theater", but recent upgrades have led it to be probably the best spot for music listening:

    * MB Quart QLS-830 main speakers
    * MB Quart QLC series center and surrounds
    * Some old Sony subwoofer I should probably upgrade
    * Denon AVR-S910W receiver. It's really nice, but I already want to upgrade to one that has preouts. I have space issues on my stand, unfortunately.
    * Denon DP-300F turntable with an Ortofon 2M Blue cartridge. It's not bad, but I imagine I'll want to upgrade at some point.
    * Emotiva XPS-1 Phono Preamp. I was quite blown away with the difference this made over my prior $40 preamp.

    I'd actually like to do some room treatments next in the latter room next. However, I'd also like to move the MB Quart QLS-830 speakers to a dedicated room at some point. That might be 10 years from now, though. 🙂

    Fun story with the MB Quart mains. I used to have the QLC as my home theater fronts. One day I was listening to a record and had a memory of when I bought the QLC speakers at Karl's in Sioux Falls in 2000. Funny the things that stick in your head. I had accepted a job offer and saw $$$s in my future. So even though I was still in college, I decided to credit card some home theater speakers on a 0% interest for 12 months deal. The money would come, right! Stupid choice, but it did work out fine in the end.

    Anyway, I spent a good hour vacillating between the QLC line and QLS line. Both sets of speakers were made in Germany. (Can you imagine that today? Buying German-made speakers in Sioux Falls?) But the QLS were obviously a higher quality speaker than the QLC, most importantly in the audible sense, but also construction-wise. In the end I couldn't stomach spending twice the cash (credit), and went with QLC.

    Flash forward to that record-listening session this fall and I thought, "Man, if I could find those QLS today…" Thing is, MB Quart was bought out by Fosgate (I believe) in the '00's. MB Quart was always known for car audio, but they did have these home audio speakers and these home speakers were really great. The QLC/QLS lines were the end of the line. Odds of finding them low. But I went to eBay…

    And there they were. Some yahoo in California had bought 8 pairs of new QLS floor-standers in the mid-to-late '00's. He sat on them until 2016. Why? Were they an investment? Had he hoped he'd make a killing on NOS sales? His eBay post even said "I'm not into speakers any more. I prefer guns and motorcycle collecting." It was a crazy posting. So I made an offer $100 less than he posted, he accepted, and shipped them from California to Minnesota in just 4 days. Wonderful. (I think he probably lost $2-3k on his investment in those 8 pairs of speakers.)

    They arrived completely new and unopened. It was glorious. They are glorious. I'm happy. In his posting he said they were probably the last unopened of their kind. He just might be right. I'm a lucky man.

    Sorry. Had to write it. This is me not going too deep. 🙂

    1. Wow. Would love to hear those speakers someday. That Denon turntable is the same one I've considered, as if I'm going to get into a stupid habit, I would like to get started up without a ton of capital. Not that I could push through the idea of buying anything right now, of course, let alone a thing that would lead to many more things.

      I chuckled when you wedged the Chromecast Audio in there. Have you or did you consider a Sonos Connect for the same purpose?

      What kind of room treatments are you talking about - acoustic panels and such? In-wall racks to solve your space issue?

      This is me apologizing for asking you to go deeper.

      1. Wow. Would love to hear those speakers someday.

        Ditto and it should happen!

        That Denon turntable is the same one I've considered, as if I'm going to get into a stupid habit

        It's not bad! After going to a reasonable cartridge, I don't know if a different one would be better. The auto start is not an actual feature as it drops the needle too quickly and it will always skip. Auto stop is something I like, though.

        I chuckled when you wedged the Chromecast Audio in there. Have you or did you consider a Sonos Connect for the same purpose?

        Yeah. I love Sonos. I actually gave in and bought Sonos CONNECT:AMP for three locations in the house after spending 15 years cobbling together multi-zone. So we have CONNECT:AMP in our living room, for our deck speakers, and for garage speakers. It's really nice and Sonos absolutely nails it. Convenience and Just Work™ has value and the scales finally tipped for me. I'm planning to plug my nose and buy some of the little Sonos speakers for the kids’ rooms because [grumble grumble parenting reason dealing with overuse of devices I won't get into].

        But the Chromecast Audio is good enough in here for the moment. I'll cave at some point. 🙂

        What kind of room treatments are you talking about - acoustic panels and such?

        This. I haven't done a deep, deep dive yet on what I need, so some research is required. The home theater space is open to the left side and has a wall to the right. And the speakers can only get so far off the back wall and out of the corner on the right side. So it's an acoustic challenge. This is also part of why I'd prefer a dedicated listening space in some ideal world. That space used to be my office, but I'm in the process of giving the office up for the kids to each have their own room.

  7. Pepper - now that I downloaded Tidal for my music streaming (since I finally have an audio setup good enough to warrant the price) I listened to - and adored - Lemonade.

  8. 1. Radio, Radio -- Elvis Costello -- This Year's Model
    2. Homemade Traditional Electric Jam -- The Bevis Frond -- White Numbers
    3. Take It Easy -- Sloan -- Commonwealth
    4. These Days -- R.E.M. -- Life's Rich Pageant
    5. Captain's Dead -- Guided By Voices -- Human Amusements At Hourly Rates
    6. Ace of Spades -- Moorhead -- No Remorse
    7. Tired Of My Plans -- Suburbs -- Credit In Heaven
    8. Do You Feel Like We Do -- Peter Frampton -- Frampton Comes Alive
    9. Luxury Liner -- The International Submarine Band -- Safe at Home
    10. Misery Tavern -- The Jayhawks -- The Jayhawks

    B1. Friends -- Dinosaur Jr -- Farm
    B2. Pincushion -- Boston Spaceships -- Let It Beard

    Notes:
    1. This Year's Model is one of my fave albums of all time
    2. 42 plus minute guitar jam

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