5 posts tagged “emusic”
Downloads:
- eMusic: http://www.emusic.com/album/Patrick-Watson-Wooden-Arms-MP3-Download/11443563.html
- iTunes (US): http://ax.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=313783404&s=143455
- Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Wooden-Arms/dp/B0028JSDFA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1243605993&sr=8-2
You must buy this album. Patrick Watson (the band, lead by Patrick Watson, the singer) are the point at which Andrew Bird, Tom Waits, Jeff Buckley, Rufus Wainwright, Antony & The Johnsons and Bjork all meet.
These are my favourite songs:
Clothing, dinners, make-up, or gadgets... We all have things we like to splurge on. What do you think you buy too much of?
Are you kitten? I clearly spend too much money on music. I know this, but I like music, and I make sure all my bills are paid so... tough.
Of all my better purchasing decisions, I would say my eMusic subscription ranks highly in terms of the wisest. I've upgraded my plan several times and now pay $25/month to download 100 MP3s. What first attracted me to the site was the list of bands I like on indie labels. Now it's bands I meant to check out, or have never heard of. Bands like Deastro.
I downloaded the album Keeper's on the strength of a front page review that mentioned Death Cab For Cutie, M83 and LCD Soundsystem. Downloading it, they also should have mentioned The Killers and Death Cab frontman Ben Gibbard's side project, The Postal Service.
These are three of my favourite songs - chosen because I love them, and because they show the range of the album.
I love eMusic. Tonight, I downloaded three albums based purely on recommendations:
- Hideaway by The Weepies
- Crystal Castles by Crystal Castles
- The Midnight Organ Fight by Frightened Rabbits
I had not heard of any of them, but the reason I signed up to eMusic was to find new music, not buy stuff I already like.
I am listening to The Weepies album now, and it is very, very nice. They are a boy-girl duo, with vocals shared between the two. The boy reminds me of Matthew Sweet and Elliott Smith. The girl reminds me of... well, most girl singers who were clearly raised on Joni Mitchell, but her voice is very nice to listen to. Also, some of the songs she sings on are Fleetwood Mac-y.
I am going to post one of the girl-sung Fleetwood Mac-y numbers as it is my favourite song on the album:
It is not entirely indicative of the rest of the album.
You'd think someone who has been involved in online for longer than most of its main users have been alive would be more embracing of the digital distribution of music. Oddly, for as much of a technophile I am, the idea of acquiring my music from the internet makes me retch.
But of course, I am very contrary. I dismiss the "vinyl is better" set as deluded luddites, but I cannot give up physical media because of my fetishist's love of packaging. Ruffling through a well-designed booklet is as important to me as that first listen of a new album.
Anyway, today we were bumming around outside due to the characteristic good weather and happened upon a trendy t-shirt shop. While looking at their designs, a great remix of a Thom Yorke solo song, 'Atoms For Peace', came on the store's sound system. I made a mental note to look it up when I got home.
I did a search and found out it was a remix by Fourtet, with the first link being to a site called eMusic. It turns out, eMusic is a rival service to iTunes. For $10 a month, you get to download 30 songs in unprotected MP3 format and keep them - even if you cancel your membership (there are more expensive plans and booster packs too). Additionally, during the trial period, you could download a further 50 free songs and keep them if you decided it wasn't for you.
Their catalogue is mostly made up of music from independent labels (Thom Yorke released his solo material on XL Recordings) but they have a lot of artists I like or want to listen to, so I've signed up for the trial.
While I don't think I could ever move over to iTunes - with its barely-cheaper-than-CDs pricing, restrictive DRM and their insistance on pushing the rubbish AAC format - I could easily add eMusic to my normal CD consumption for checking out bands I normally wouldn't hear about.
Link:
