Music explorations

So as long as I'm working at Real, I have access to Rhapsody, their subscription music service. The way it works is that if you're a subscriber, you can play any music in the Rhapsody server library as streaming media for free, and you can also download it to your own system and/or put it on your portable device. But if you stop paying for the subscription, you can't play the music anymore. You can also outright buy albums off their servers, and those you get to keep.

I don't like the player as much as I like iTunes, but I'm taking the opportunity to use this to check out some albums I've been thinking about buying anyway. So I listened to Nickel Creek's first album yesterday, and yeah, they're pretty cool. (I mention this for seimaisin, who recommended them!) I am amused that they are filed as Country/Bluegrass, yet they sound a lot like the various Celtic/Irish-American bands I like. Which of course goes right back to Heather Alexander's remark, "Same music, different whiskey." Hee.

I've also scarfed the Carbon Leaf albums I haven't heard yet, the other two Nickel Creeks, some Gaelic Storm, some more Altan, a Solas album I haven't heard yet, some Leahy, Danu, and Lunasa, and just because they were GBS opening acts and they get attention on that basis alone, the Young Dubliners and Seven Nations.

And, of course, all the GBS they had on their servers. Which is not all of the GBS discography, sadly, but at least they had most of it. ;)

Days till the Great Big Sea Show (YAY!): 4
Monday evening miles: 1.85
Tuesday morning miles: 1.6
Miles out of Hobbiton: 681.35
Miles out of Rivendell: 223.35
Miles to Lothlórien: 240.65

Carbon Leaf album picoreviews

Courtesy of Rhapsody, as per my post from earlier today, I hit all the rest of the Carbon Leaf albums I haven't listened to yet. Here are my picoreviews on each!

Shadows in the Banquet Hall: Interesting difference in style on this album as compared to Indian Summer and Echo Echo, the Carbon Leaf albums I know much better. This one is a lot heavier on the rhythm line than the later albums, and heavier with the electric instruments in general--a lot more "rock" in flavor than it is "folk". Lead singer Barry does a lot more hoarse-voiced near-shouting than he does singing, which is kind of funny since I really like his voice, and he sounds much clearer and cleaner to me on later albums. Also, the mix on this album is a bit weird... the instrumentation is heavier than the voices, not quite enough to drown the voices out, but I would have mixed the instruments down just a touch. None of the songs on this album yet are standing out as ones I really like, but I may buy it anyway.

Meander: Hrmm, this album actually came out before Shadows in the Banquet Hall, but just on a cursory listen, it seems a little closer in style to the later albums than Shadows does. The vocals are cleaner and so is the mix, but the heavy, growly rock flavor is still there on several songs. And the kinds of songs they're singing feel closer to rock than they do to folk. Have to admit there's some smokin' guitar on both of these albums so far, though. And ah, there we go, "Paper Thin" sounds like it has hints of the later goodness to come. So does "Country Monkee".

Ether-Electrified Porch Music: Getting closer here to the Carbon Leaf I know and love. Heavier mandolin here; I approve. (And I really like the intro to "Home".) There's the whistle I've come to know, too!

5 Alive!: HAH. I like the "Sloop John B" intro to "Home". ;) And I'd heard five tracks off of this album already, but now that I've heard Ether-Electrified Porch Music I think I might like the live version of "Blue Ridge Laughing" better. Giggles at the "on the count of three everybody say your name so you can hear it on the CD!" comment from Barry. Interesting jig leading into "The Boxer". Oh my, the length on the solo in "Follow the Lady", though... getting back to the words any time soon there, guys? And it's still weird to me as a GBS fan to hear Carbon Leaf cover "Mari-Mac"--or at least as they call it, "Mary Mac". Heh. Kind of a half-coherent closer to the album, but all in all, some fun live work.