going back out to shows, and staying inside listening to pop
Thanks for finding and not deleting and at least skimming the first edition of my music newsletter! The plan here is I'll tell you a couple things that you might want to check out, provide some links to things you might have missed, and we'll meet back here in a month. Sound good? OK.
The Mix
I made another hour-long music mix on Saturday - I do that sometimes (usually on Saturdays). To be notified when I go live, you can "follow" my Twitch channel, or there's also a YouTube channel.
Apple Music Has Lossless Audio Now, Also Whatever "Spatial" Is
Apple announced more streaming options this month, including lossless audio. I haven't noticed compression artifacts in my use of streaming services in some time, but I set them all to "Extreme" quality, and I am almost always listening on wireless headphones (not the high-end audiophile setups where you might be able to tell the difference). Of course, when playing back on Bluetooth headphones, you're introducing lossy compression.
But the more interesting announcement was "Spatial Audio" - which is usually accompanied by a mention of the Dolby Atmos brand. Dolby Atmos is a (relatively newish) home theater standard that requires ceiling speakers - which would seem to be incompatible two-speaker setups like headphones? - and yet the headphone experience is specifically mentioned as a requirement in all of the promotional materials.
Spatial Audio sounds more expansive than normal stereo on my AirPods Pro, with more emphasis on certain instruments, but that's just remastering. I'm listening to Sgt. Pepper right now and feeling much more separation - it sounds great. There are other tracks, though, that are a little muddier than I feel they should be. When it sounds better, it sounds a lot better, but again, a guy fiddling with treble and bass can get you to swear you're hearing things you haven't heard before. It's very subjective.
Spotify is thought to be right behind on lossless, coming maybe in a month or two - though it's also expected that that might be a premium service. Apple's not charging extra for anything they've announced.
not hearing a lot of audiophile opinions on this Apple Spatial Audio thing, but to be fair, no Steely Dan albums have been made available on it
— Daniel “Dan” Nordquist (@dnord) July 2, 2021
Music Diet / Listen Now
I've mostly been listening to pop (SiriusXM Hits 1, MTV Live) to get into the summer vibe. There's lots of great, light-as-air, carefree summer jams out right now - exactly what we need as we wait out the final few months (I hope!) of a global lockdown. That got me into the terrifically-fun disco of Dua Lipa, who I think might be a genius songwriter.
I just found out about Jeff Rosenstock, whose super-melodic rock album "NO DREAM" I have played a lot. It already reminded me a lot of the hyper-accessible punk I liked in high school. Rosenstock recently issued a companion volume, "SKA DREAM", which is the same songs, mostly, just recontextualized in a ska-punk context.
- "***BNB" (so named to avoid any legal trouble with Airbnb)
I got my last shipment from VNYL, the vinyl-subscription service that sends you stuff they think you might like. I've broken up with them, but they ended on a high note, sending me The Bird and The Bee's Van Halen tribute record. I was already familiar with their "Hot for Teacher", which I felt subverted the original text in an unexpected way - gutting the already-parodic leering, but keeping it fun. Wait, that's BECK as substitute teacher Dr. Goodbody, asking me to flip to page 69 of Moby Dick?
Same-gender Lyric Analysis
I very much enjoyed this analysis of same-gender pronouns in the decade's top hits, a topic I'd already been thinking about after hearing the new Lil Nas X roughly once a day. I, too, feel like I've heard more same-gender-attraction lyrics than what is represented here, but when you draw the line at the year-end Billboard top 100, that's actually super-exclusive. (via)
Show Calendar
Right now I have tickets to only one July thing:
- 7/7 Electric Six
That's one more than I've had for the past 15 months, though. I might sneak out to a couple other things. What about you?
Okay that's all I had! Thanks.
the line in Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap where he says "pick up the phone, I'm always home" suggests that he uses subcontractors
— Daniel “Dan” Nordquist (@dnord) July 2, 2021