What's on random in Winamp?

There was a time when it was "what's in my CD player." Sorry folks, the CD era is over. Sure, CDs are fine, but I'll tell you something: If I buy a CD it's because I can not get it off the internet (certain local and/or unknown bands don't show up on iTunes, eMusic, etc...). As soon as I get it, I rip it to Mp3 and put the CD in some closest somewhere.

[tangent] People have been talking about the "revolutionary" quality of the iPod this week, with the 5th anniversary of Jobs' wizard-machine. I don't think so - the advent of the Mp3 standard of music is much more important than the iPod. Sure, the iPod makes it so you can carry 500 songs in a device the same size and a bit thicker than a credit card, but Mp3s changed the way that we listen to music. Even the 100 disc changers that Sony marketed towards the middle/end of the 90s are no match...It's slow and noisy to change. I like my iPod, but come on, Winamp is much better. I have something like 16.5 gb of music on my computer. My iPod only holds 2 gb...Unless I want to "upgrade" to the brick-like 20/40/60 gb players, I'm stuck choosing a minimum amount of the music that I have available to take on the road. Anyway, conclusion: iPod ≠ Revolutionary. [end tangent]

Anyway, Tom Waits and Damien Rice are both putting out new albums in November. Through the miracle that is the internet, I have managed to listen to both of these before the album release date (anyone remember going to the record store on the Tuesday morning of new releases?).

Tom Waits: "Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards"

Tom's first new album since the aptly named Real[ly] Gone, is actually a 3-disc set. Each disk has it's own subtitle (hence the Brawlers, Bawlers, Bastards). The Bastards disc is similar to Real Gone, in that it deviates from normal music (more so than usual for Tom), but the other two discs, while eccentric (what from Tom isn't), are toned down compared to the 2004 effort (which, to listen to seems like work for me). His voice is even deeper and rusty (if that's possible) from his 70s and 80s effort. Each of the discs (since we're still required to talk in "discs") has it's own "feeling." Personally disc 2: Bawlers, is most in line with what I prefer from Tom. Musically songs, where he actually sings and there is actually music as opposed just being eccentric.

The most interest song? My vote goes to the cover of Sinatra's "Young at Heart."

The whole song list can be found here. Right now you can hear samples of all the song on this page on his label's (ANTI) home page.

I can't tell you what my favorite song is: I'm like that with many musicians and especially Tom. I have to hear a song a few times before it starts to catch.

Damien Rice: "9"

Damien Rice's sophomore album is good. As good a "O?" hard to tell. The same thing that happens with Tom Waits, happens with Damien Rice for me. After I got the disc "O" I listened to it maybe two times in 3 months...Then I actually "listened" to it, and my opinion changed. "9" is similar in "feeling" to "O." Lot's of acoustic guitar, piano, upright bass, that at times all of the sudden it starts to pick up. It's obvious (has been since O), that Rice takes a lot of inspiration from Jeff Buckley, and this again is evident on 9. Certain songs start mellow and build and build to the point where he's screaming and playing some heavy duty electric guitar (the New York Times in 2004 described this turn in his songs as "volatile epics of introspection").

I've only been through the album once, but the one complaint that I do have is that Lisa Hannigan, who sang on a lot of the songs on O, is not as present. She has an absolutely beautiful voice and it's a shame that she really only sings on "9 Crimes" and does background work on other songs. 9 Crimes is bound to be the one that you hear on the radio. I kind of like Me, My Yoke, and I.

Thanks to Jeff's research, you can access the entire album on AOL streaming (if you live in the USA and don't mind not using Firefox - I hate you AOL).