MP3 Audio - New and Improved?

Okay...so here is apparently the next giant leap in digital music. Compaxx claims to have developed an MP3 compression technique that preserves the audio quality, in fact enhances it! According to Compaxx -

"Compaxx post-processing utilizes sophisticated forensic audio techniques to restore and embed vital harmonic and spatial data actually resident within extant CD recordings, but currently indecipherable on even the best of today’s high-end stereo equipment."

Hmmm...interesting! But what they say they do to restore the audio quality sounds like steroids to me.

To prove their point, they have provided audio samples of CD quality MP3 (lossless rips I presume) and the corresponding Compaxx MP3 clips spanning accross various genre. I checked out their stuff using a few of their samples. The file size of both the version are almost the same. The Compaxx versions were generally a little louder at the same volume level (though they do mention that the volumes have been normalized). This could also be the reason they seemed to be a little more revealing. The spatial imaging seemed clearer in them. The bass seemed more well defined though some of the low freqs tended to sustain longer. There was some background noise in a couple of the tracks (most evident in The Nutcracker) but maybe that is the indecipherable data they are talking about ;)

Compaxx recommends the use of A 3-piece-or-better multimedia speaker set to listen to the samples. I used my Sony MDR-W014 Lightweight Sports Stereo Headphones. The tracks were played using Winamp 5.2 with flat tone settings.

The Compaxx versions do seem to be much clearer and richer in their quality though I am still a little concerned about maintaining the naturality of the recording. Their restoration and enhancement process may introduce some unnatural elements, its digital logic after all. Performance enhancing steriods! But this was not very evident in the sample tracks I checked out, only the CCR track seemed pumped up. In a nutshell, from what I experienced, it definitely seems to be an advancement on the digitally compressed audio. So finally we may get the hard core audiophiles and analog lovers in the same fold as the download-and-burn gang.

The tracks I compared with:

King Crimson - Cat's in the cradle (I didn't know that they have also covered this. Didn't sound like them either)

Floyd - Another brick 2

CCR - Fortunate Son

Vivaldi - Four Seasons, Autumn allegro

Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker

Check them out here

The Clown Princes of Rock 'n' Roll

Now, I haven't given my punting skills a fair try of late, but am willing to bet that you would have a few tapes tucked away in the attic, amassing its thirteenth layer of dust, cobwebs and for all you know, producing diminutive organisms of some new kind. These tapes probably holds the key to a significant part of your childhood, which is etched far down in the regresses of your memory. Most of my formative years were spent trying to sneak some access to a contraption of a deck, proclaimed to be the sole property of my big burly older brother. Hands have been slapped away and many a kickboxing matches have been fought for this cause, which apart from having the selfish motto of inculculating a "don't-take-your-kid-sister-for-granted" message in my brother, also had an altruistic factor of kneading some good music taste to the family, otherwise overwhelmingly obsessed with shoddy southern musicals. Those few times, when such good intentions have triumphed (mostly due to the easy effort of conjuring up wicked stories about my uncaring sibling , while welling up a few crocodile tears in front of my parents) have been spent in rewinding tracks which, while giving you well-rounded introductions to some amazing bands, also let you be what you are - a wide-eyed kid enchanted with the sound of rock n' roll.

A couple of such F.U.N tracks are - "Boris the Spider" - from the The Who's second studio album - A Quick One (This was also the first track penned by John Entwistle for the band) , "The Gnome" from The Piper at the Gates of Dawn by the incomparable Syd Barrett-led Pink Floyd (In fact, there are other tracks such as Bike, The Scarecrow etc which can be added to this list!).
And to a certain extent, there was also a fun element to the strange " I am the Walrus" from the Magical Mystery Tour album of the Beatles . Now..I did not come across, "Charlie Brown" by Carl Gardner and the Coasters till a year or two back, but I don't need the entire ensemble of pigtails and the bicycles mounted with flower baskets (for the record, both these did NOT form part of my childhood!!) etc to enjoy a track like this :) And I am guessing, you don't need those things too! (Unless you happen to be 12 and you are a girl - then maybe you should consider it. I am sure you already have - what with all the peer pressure and all;))

Yeeenyway, here is a link to sample this track. The site automatically plays this track and you also have an option of downloading the sample. If you haven't heard these "clown princes of rock 'n' roll"….then...

You ain't gonna rock and roll no more
Yakety yak (don't talk back)...
yakety yak

NP : Tim Dooley by The Kingston Trio (1958)

Feel that jumpin beat....git up on your feet...

Listen everybody let me tell you bout the rock n roll
Feel that rhythm and its really gonna thrill your soul

NP : ELO - Rock 'n' Roll is King

It's not too often that you go through the mid afternoon on a mid week on such a happy note. This track never fails to do that to my mood.I swear, when I hear 'em sing "She says feel that jumpin beat, and git up on your feet", it's as if they are reading my mind and singin' what am thinkin'...

As if..*sigh*...

She rolled over beethoven and she gave tchaikovsky back
She loves that drivin beat, she goes dancin on down the street
She said rock n roll is king

Next Change : Big Star - When My Baby's Beside Me
Next next change : Blue Öyster Cult - This Ain't The Summer Of Love

How Krithika Kalyan got a crush, got a CD and got a headache..

Voggggay so...All apologies and more to that oh-so-cliched take on what has become the most infamous title of sorts. But at least, let me find some solace in the fact that I didn't let the title act as a spoiler to what is going to follow. (I mean seriously...How come half the literate world finds a book with a title summing up the entire plot in three phrases enticing enough to go and pick it up and compare note to note to more pulpy trash of similar kinds?!)

Anyway, I counted on the curiosity factor not being much of..err..a factor..Unless, you are one of the three people who visit this blog (thanks largely due to about two dozens promised and unfulfilled favors from my end..), you have no idea of how those dissociate lines have been strung together to form an excuse for a post!

So yeah...the prequel to this epic tale can be found here...Sunday saw me cut short my normalcy routine of two hours at the Barista near home with two expressos and a strong cappuchino over the Sunday times + my latest Crossword acquisition with Ethan Daniel Davidson's This machine kills fascists spinnin' alongside.... I dropped a few sweats on my way to the Planet-M store..After talking american folk of The Band kinds with one of the dudes minding the shelves there, I shrugged the thought of picking up a Strawbs' album away and went ahead with the original idea of picking up the latest album of Taxiride called Axiomatic (all the while, giving a very apologetic smile, which probably came out sheepish. to Mr. Folk - Don't think that was good enough judging from incredulous look he gave me when I went onto bill the Taxiride CD)..

I wallowed deeper in that horrible monster that has overtaken my senses (otherwise known as my crush on Jason Singh), breathed heavily when I tore open the CD cover ( dont even get me started on 'em wretched plastic sheets!!) all the while appealing quite loudly for a half page solo shot of Jason as the centrespread of the CD inlay..All I got was a few pages of some very sadly concocted colors spewing out a few lines outta each song. I recoiled in disgust when I realized these were actually the lyrics to the chorus bit of each song. And no....Just to clarify, I haven't even BEGIN to read the verses.....It is appalling enough that a band glorifies the least significant part of a song and wastes about a dozen pages on it..Again as a clarification - if there is one thing that is etched very clearly on my head is that a chorus is the last thing you want the audience to judge your song by...Most of the music I listen to can be categorized as prog or singer/songwriters...As for the former, well - the chorus bit has almost zilch importance, given the experimentative nature of the genre...And the folk singers - there are much more beautiful parts of their music than the chorus bit...

Now..I would have ideally liked to say that there is more to their songs than what met the eye in the inlay...Sadly and quite predictably, such good things do not happen to me...I couldn't get myself through a length of the CD to at least attempt at rethinking my initial impression ..Not even half a micron inch of the entire CD gave me that chance...My thoughts, in actuality, fluctuated between whether to bawl in pain, when Jason hit the lower notes on the mellow moments of the tracks or whether to snore heavily through my flared up nostrils, when he stuck to maintaining the norm of 80% of the song being supported by backing vocals...And not to mention, the utter pointlessness of listing out eleven tracks and giving them one imbeclic name after the other - everything anyway sounded as part of one continous snooze fest accentuated on a single note...

So I have reclined to the fact that I would need to put the TV on mute everytime I watch their oft-repeated tracks of the band...So what if he isn't good on the ears - I will just let Jason Singh be the sight to the sore eyes!

Taxiride on June 1st.....

So what's so great about a bunch of dudes with bad hairdos from downunder claiming to make not-so-alternative-and-but-definitely-not-pop music coming to India? That they occupy just under a dozen hours of TV space every day on VH1? (But then again, so does fifdy cent) That they have apparently have gone platinum in Australia with their second album, Garage Mahal? (but then again, probably so will Kevin Federline..) That they had once snared the Best New Artist tag at the Aria awards? (but then again...........well, actually...errrr... I don't have any argument against that...but still *yawwwnnn*)...

Forget all this and the fact that I quite liked (and sang along a bit) the two singles that I have heard of the band - "oh yeah" and "What can I say"? And also that I will probably pick up their third album, "Axiomatic" (mostly because Planet-M is throwing it away at 199 bucks :D)! Heck, the vocalist Jason Singh is hot!! Now there is probably a VERY strong likelihood that this opinion will change after I get to see him live at what will be a bad gig....But let me hang onto that not-so-common musician crush of mine for just a wee bit longer...Till June 1st at least!

And just in case I haven't made myself clear, JASON SINGH IS HOOOOOTTTTTT!!

All that Yahooin'....

My Launchcast station has been uncharacteristically nice and friendly to me this morning, judging from the number of times I have used the skip track option. I probably have one of the weirdest amalgamation of artistes and genre performances, but today it seems to have magically turned into a DJ who has some sorta telepathic connection with that demanding audience called my head. The list reads something like this:

Elliott Smith – Angeles - Just when I was thinking whether it was a good eye to put the plugs on at 10.30 in the morning on the official mid week blues day, the familiar sound of Mr. Smith comes emanating.

Damien Rice – Amie - Off to a good start and folksy is the mood of the day, I figure...If that's the sort of the mood, a track out "O" is best gift I can hope for..

Spock's Beard - Long Time Suffering - You would think this would be upsetting the folk-thirsty head, but wait a second, this is the Morse men we are talking about. Out go the acoustic riffs and in comes....well...the so close to heart beardsy stuff...Arguably mr favorite track out of the album 'Snow'....In other words, well worthy of the "can't get enough of" tag :D

Dream Theater - New Millennium - At the core of any prog rock fan's heart is some space created for the earlier albums of the Dream Theater kinds...Sure this space has been crushed to bare minimum, thanks majorly to disaster of follow up albums, but that l'il space in micron metres still announces its presence from time to time...

Queensrÿche - 9:28 A.M. - Now, I would have ideally wanted some another track out of 'Promised Land', but hell, I am thinking - you can't really say no to Queensryche on any given day and time...

Slowdive - Machine Gun - Okay so, I would have normally expected a Black Light Syndrome track to come crashing in and forcing me to make a desperate grab for my mouse to go track skippin' again (I like these guys on prog friendly days, but somehow they are spun a little too frequently on Launch)...Anyway, they surprise me by appeasing my "queensryche is a tough act to follow" thought and appealing to my introspective senses...Slowdive - a band I haven't heard too much of, but have heard just enough to have given a four star rating :D

Blackfield - Summer - After anything out of the shoegazing genre, it will be a disaster to switch to distortion mood...So am thinking a wee bit of distinct eclectic stuff will do me good...And then it is "summer" time...

Porcupine Tree - The Sound Of Muzak - Now that the earlier track has got me thinking about how I haven't heard enough of Steven Wilson, they give me the perfect prescription...

Hear the sound of music
Drifting in the aisles
Elevator prozac
Stretching on for miles

My day's done, I am thinking...But hey there's more...

Enchant - East Of Eden
Thievery Corporation – Interlude
Belle & Sebastian - The Boy With The Arab Strap
My Bloody Valentine - Soon

Now Playing : Faded from the Winter out of the album "The Creek who drank the Cradle" by Iron & Wine

GIR X

"Aren't you a little old for this?" asked my friend as I picked up the RSJ issue with the GIR 10 CD. I thought for a while and replied, "No!” It’s hard to come up with a clever comeback every time you're asked this question.

I picked up the issue coz I wanted to check out the GIR bands. This year's CD featured 12 bands mainly from Delhi and Mumbai with a bunch from all over the place. What struck me immediately was the maturity of the compositions and the quality of arrangements and production. If you compare it with the quality of the first GIR record, the improvement was very evident.

The CD opens with The Superfuzz from Delhi with a laid back funkish groove that set the mood for the other songs that followed. The style varies from there to nu metal to death and what have you. The mix of styles showcases the wide variety of talent in our country just waiting to be unleashed. Thanks to ventures like GIR, the reach of these bands have extended well beyond college shows. The song that really caught my attention was Delhi based Acrid Semblance's Genesis. A power-packed, aggressive metal track that has a very melodious foundation and is arranged maturely without falling into the lets-shred-away-to-glory trap which young bands are prone to. Kolkata's Cassini's Division is probably the most mature track of the lot with a very relaxed groovy track titled Only For A While. The CD also contains a track by Demonic Resurrection from Mumbai. One of the most talked about band in recent times with their brand of 'Demonic' metal. Their composition has the best production quality with layers of melody set upon a brutal death metal riffing and atmospheric keyboards. The vox sometimes lose the centerstage though. The song, Apocalyptic Dawn also features guest appearances by stalwarts like Warren of Zero and Pervez of Shiva. DR has come a long way since the out-and-out halla of their first album. The CD ends with Magdalene from Aizwal. Their composition was the weakest of the dozen. Now, don't get me wrong here, they do display great prowess over their instruments but their songwriting and arrangement need to be tightened a bit to match up to the others in the CD.

In a nutshell, if you've ever wondered what’s up with the Indian rock scene, just check out this compilation and see for yourself that its alive and kicking really hard.