11 Replies to “By the streams of Babylon”

  1. I'm afraid it is inevitable. That's why I've kept my CDs and my books. When all music and all literature is instantly and equally available in disembodied form, to be sampled in random bits and pieces, it's bound to become undifferentiated and boring. I think we're losing sense of the importance of the physical presence of things, things to hold and look up and cherish.

  2. I had a dream last night. The Cleveland Orchestra on vinyl albums, played on a real turntable with a tube amplifier and big bass speakers. Absolutely beautiful music that inspired a lifetime of dreams.

    Analog music is always the best. That's why Gregorian Chant sung in an acoustically resonant churches is the best. It brings us back to the pure analog sound.

  3. This is interesting. A major change in my own life over the last 10 years has been that I've nearly entirely stopped listening to music except to the extent that it is associated with some external action like a movie or a concert. Live music in a bar makes me crazy. I would rather have silence in a restaurant than a music track. I subscribe to Spotify but don't use it. I love music. It is my life. But there's something about the way it is manufactured now that I find oddly off putting. For the most part, I like to live and work in silence. I would never argue that music belongs mainly in Mass but that's pretty much the only context in which it brings me total joy.

  4. It is interesting and lamentable. Media overload.
    I still have 78's of Caruso, 33's of everything, some cassettes (no 8 tracks, never thought they were cool!) tons of CD's of everything. I Pandora, I occasionally iTune.
    And if I'm driving, unless reception's bad, I'll listen to talk until I've arrived at a destination. Then I find a NPR station or local that plays authentic jazz, bluegrass, live music.
    Jeffrey, rediscover jazz. I'd start with Gil Evans. Outside of Ellington, I can't think of anyone more inspired than Evans, especially when he collaborated with Miles.

  8. Most of my music is stored on my iPod and my phone. I plug it into my car, into my stereo on my big spekaers and listen to it on my computer with my near field listening speakers. I buy a lot less new music now than I used to but its such a treat to stumble across that relatively unknown artist who really doesn't care about the market potential of their music and is just doing what he/she loves to do. Youtube and iTunes makes it so much easier and affordable to find those occasional gems that make life so sweet. My latest finds are two young ladies named Sierra Hull and Sarah Jarosz. I found them while trolling for Alison Kraus videos and they have now turned me into a newly born bluegrass fan.

  9. I find a lot of great stuff on YouTube, including last week the lute works of Silvius Leopold Weiss. Magnificent. I enjoy listening to livestream radio from around the world. I worked in radio as a grad student and appreciate intelligent programming.

    Thanks to the internet, and YouTube, now I can audition music before I buy it. That's how I found Sierra Hull. She is sheer genius. I do buy cd's. But sparingly. I borrow cd's from the library.

    I make a point of attending my students' recitals on campus. And other university concerts. There's nothing like live music. Especially when I can play it with my friends or with students.

    I do have a record player, but alas, the Iowa flooding swamped my vinyl collection a few years back.

    Todd

    PS. Gil Evans, yes, yes, yes.

  10. Keep your vinyl, even your 78s. A century from now they will still be playable, long after we have forgotten what mp3 and Flac mean.
    I am in the process of sending several thousand to the Seminaies in Nigeria where I know they will be cared for, lest when I die they become part of a land fill.

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