August 22, 2006

I Once Was Deaf

Posted by Amanda Rose at August 22, 2006 3:45 PM

For far too long I've been listening to music at home on my eMac. Itty bitty speakers. Where the bass line should be, there was often just a buzz. I'm no audiophile and it seemed good enough but then I got very frustrated listening to Springsteen's The Seeger Sessions because it sounded so muddy and tinny.

And nothing comes between me and Bruce. Something had to give.

So instead of getting a whole new hi fi for which I do not have room in my shoeboxy surrounds, I decided to spring for some good speakers. Yesterday, my delicious Harman/Kardon SoundSticks II arrived. Having the memory of a goldfish once I'd hooked them up I immediately forgot what it sounded like before. A few seconds of comparison made me wonder why I'd put up with it so long.

The first disk to get the full I-Can't-Believe-It's-Not-Fuzzy treatment was Greg Graffin's Cold As The Clay. He's lead singer of punk vets Bad Religion but goes solo for a lovely record of folk songs augmented by banjo, mando and tasty Spingsteenian harmonica. It's not as odd a pairing as you might think. Says Graffin:

Even though I am known as a punk rock singer and songwriter, a world apart from old-time music, the roots of my singing go back to my Wisconsin childhood and family gatherings in Indiana. For most of my life, the old-time music of rural America has served as one of the soundtracks to my life and daily routines.

A very interesting collection of songs, Jolie Holland features and highly recommended. Just listen to it with decent equipment, OK?

Comments

Do you think those speakers will help the new Paris Hilton CD? Because I hear she "like, cried" when she heard it the first time. I'm betting I'll cry too.

Posted by: Jim Pipkin at August 22, 2006 7:29 PM

If by "speakers" you mean a bottle of absinthe washed down by a crack-tequila mixer , then yes.

Posted by: Amanda at August 22, 2006 7:54 PM

HAHAHAH HA! Jim -- make sure to go heavy on the crack!

Amanda, wow, great post! I had no clue that the Bad Religion dude was into folk music. That punk/folk cross really doesn't surprise me anymore after Uncle Tupelo, the White Stripes, and Tenacious D.

Does he cover any songs we'd know?

Posted by: larry at August 22, 2006 8:47 PM

I downloaded it (legally, yo) from eMusic which is very convenient but means I don't have any song credits. I know "Omie Wise" is trad but am unsure about the others but I think largely original. They just sound old.

Re punk/folk cross. Check out David Johansen's (New York Dolls) two albums with his band The Harry Smiths. Real old school blues/folk. Both brilliant.

Posted by: Amanda at August 22, 2006 9:19 PM

Just listening to this Podcast with Graffin which includes some songs. http://www.anti.com/news.php?id=192

He name checks Gram Parsons in the first ten seconds. So there you go.

I also edited the post to fix the album title Cold as the Clay, no "As".

Posted by: Amanda at August 22, 2006 9:23 PM

It's amazing how much equipment matters! I hate it, but 90 percent of my listening happens via shitty car speakers fed by iTrip (don't buy the new ones, they SUCK!) attached to my iPod. Kind of a necessary evil since I have an hour and a half drive each way to work, so three hours in the car every day. But when I get a chance to listen to the same albums on my home stereo, which is nothing special, I'm amazed at what I hear. Bass lines! Intricate harmonies! Discernable vocals!

Posted by: stacy at August 22, 2006 10:36 PM

Nothing wrong with a good sound sytem but you gotta admit there's something romantic about driving late at night "with the radio on!"

Roadrunner, roadrunner
Going faster miles an hour
Gonna drive past the Stop 'n' Shop
With the radio on
I'm in love with Massachusetts
And the neon when it's cold outside
And the highway when it's late at night
Got the radio on
I'm like the roadrunner

lyrics by Jonathan Richman

'cause the following version sure doesn't work!

Roadrunner, roadrunner
Going faster miles an hour
Gonna drive past the Starbucks
With the iPOD on
I'm in love with North Carolina
And the neon when it's humid outside
And the highway when it's late at night
Got the iPOD on
I'm like the roadrunner

lyrics mutilated by aging hipster

Posted by: aging hipster at August 23, 2006 11:27 PM