don’t get COVID, building your own Spotify, and golden ears
Hey everybody. Thanks for opening another email from me! People tell me “I don’t always open that email, but I enjoy it when I do” and (a) I understand and (b) how sweet of you.
the story of The Decemberists at Surly Field
My daughter and my wife really like The Decemberists. I haven’t given them a ton of attention, but what I’d heard, I didn’t mind. (They struck me as a little earnest or at least very self-serious, in a way that I couldn’t access.) With them coming to Surly Field (outdoors! Fun!) I bought two tickets for them to enjoy.
Then my wife had to work and my daughter had a series of people cancel on her. “I guess I’m not going to use that ticket,” she said, but I stepped in to see a band I only kind of liked.
I found them quite charming in person. Whatever idea I had of them as fussy or high-concept melted away. (They did come out with glasses of red wine so I guess they’re a little fussy.) They tour with a backup singer “Lizzy”, who said that her other band had played Minneapolis. I remembered that Lizzy’s Cardioid had opened for the amazing Caroline Rose at the Entry back in 2018.
With a crowd that big, any band on stage seems like a huge band. But for an hour, they were huge. I even joined a singalong with that teeming crowd.
some time alone, alone
Hey, quick advice: don’t join an enormous singalong in a crowd in 2022. Not even outside. Three days later, I was packing up my things to see Bodega at Turf Club and ran a quick COVID test on myself.
Positive.
The COVID experience delivers the “lock down” that everyone’s been describing. If you live with other people, you don’t want to infect them, so a true quarantine is recommendable. Better to have someone make you a sandwich than to be in your own kitchen touching surfaces. Better to FaceTime with your family than yell down the stairs. Better to announce your occasional excursions to the bathroom so people can run away and mask up.
Anyway, long story short, you have a lot of time alone. I spent a day listening only to “Liked Songs” on Spotify. I didn’t sleep great. I beat the disease back after about three days, and was stuck in my room for ten days. But, in that downtime, I had a ton of free time to mess with Plex as a music streaming service.
I have cut over from Spotify to Plex. My favorite part is Sonic Analysis - an AI / ML layer that scans music for similarities. Plex’s playlists aren’t driven by sponsorship or “people who like this also like this”. They’re compelling and surprising, finding unexpected connections across genre. And it looks great in Plexamp, a music player that also offers “sweet fades” (AI / ML assisted crossfading).
If you’re a Plex user (or become one - it’s free), I’d be happy to add you to the library. Download Plexamp and try my streaming service instead of Spotify.
the MFSL controversy
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab offers high-end audiophile CDs and vinyl. (I have a couple of their CD rips, but none of their vinyl, and I’ve never been precious about it.) MFSL marketing, at one point, had claimed that their remastering process was all-analog. They promised they worked with the master tapes, and never captured anything digital. This is a benefit only to the audiophile audience. Those guys claim they can hear when digital processing is present.
Now, a lot of audiophile marketing is inscrutable nonsense, but this is black-or-white. You either have a (ruinous!) digital conversion in your workflow, or you don’t. You either got permission to handle the masters of Thriller to finish an audiophile release of it, or you, uh, didn’t. And it’s like, wait, they just let you have the Thriller master tapes?
Kevin Drum even covered it. And his conclusion is correct: audiophiles fear something they can’t hear.
the next six weeks
Yes, in 2022, five shows in six weeks is a “lull”.
- Sudan Archives (Fine Line, Tuesday, Oct 4) was the last show I saw before the pandemic. Her new album is loose and appealing - not what I was expecting. (It’s on Pitchfork’s Best New Music.)
- They Might Be Giants (First Avenue, Friday, Oct 14) were my favorite band in high school. I’ve seen them eight (?) times in 29 years. If you haven’t kept up with their new output, well, they’re playing Flood (1990) in its entirety. So don’t worry about that. (They’re also in St. Paul the next day.)
- Preoccupations (Turf Club, Sunday, Oct 23) were my favorite show of 2021. Their new album is very approachable.
- Alex G (First Avenue, Tuesday, November 1) has been a beloved songwriter and performer for a while. His new album made Pitchfork’s Best New Music, too.
- Men I Trust (First Avenue, Friday, November 11) offers dreamy electronic pop.
I’m also considering Beth Orton, Local H, black midi, Dessa, Soccer Mommy, Kevin Morby, Tegan and Sara, Bartees Strange, Death From Above 1979, Two Door Cinema Club, and Let’s Eat Grandma.