End of the year lists

2009 is behind us, which can only mean one thing: endless amounts of end-of-the-year-lists! Around this time of the year every respectable music website or blogger will produce his or her list of best albums, best singles, and whatnot. For example, have a look at the lists of  Pitchfork, Paste, and Kindamuzik (Dutch). Having compiled my list for the Vera poll, it's a small effort to also put it here. So here are my two cents for 2009:

10. Built To Spill - There is no enemy 

MP3: Hindsight

Myspace

9. Throw Me The Statue - Createresque

MP3: Ancestors

Myspace

8. Wake The President - You can't change that boy
Myspace

7. Jay Reatard - Watch me fall

MP3: Wounded

Myspace

6. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heat - s/t

MP3: Young adult friction

Myspace

5. Sunset Rubdown - Dragonslayer

MP3: Idiot Heart

Myspace

4. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

MP3: 1901

Myspace

3. The Maccabees - Wall of arms

MP3: No kind words

Myspace

2. Dan Auerbach - Keep it hid

MP3: Trouble weighs a ton

Myspace

1. Bill Callahan - Sometimes I wish we were an eagle

MP3: Eid Ma Clack Shaw

Myspace

Band rebus

Can you guess what bands the images below are supposed to represent? The answers can be found after the break!

1. 
2. 
3.  
4.   

In case you're wondering, I made these images for a popquiz I held with some friends. It was pretty fun, not in the least because of the Lego album covers we also put in.
Anyway, the answers are ... :

Quarterly music round-up

September is behind us, and so are August and July. Time for a quarter-annual update on the stuff I listen to! Luckily Last.FM is not only useful for keeping track of concerts (as I wrote about earlier), but it also keeps track of your listening habits. The graph above is for example a visualization of my listening history over the last three months, made with the tool LastGraph. Last.FM itself produces plain text lists, like the top albums you've listened to. Here are mine:

1. The Maccabees - Wall of arms
2. Throw me the statue - Creaturesque
   
3. Sunset Rubdown - Dragonslayer
4. Bill Callahan - Sometimes I wish we were an eagle
5. The Dodos - Time to die
6. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
7. Dan Auerbach - Keep it hid
8. The National - Boxer
9. The Maccabees - Colour it in
   
10. Jay Reatard - Watch me fall

Almost all are of this year (save no. 8 & 9), so there's a reasonable chance they will make it to my end-of-the-year list. But for that we'll have to wait another three months.

Last.FM + Google = Convenience

If you're into music and computers, you're probably aware of Last.FM. It's a social music website that "recommends music, videos and concerts based on what you listen to." For the price of giving up a little privacy to the folks at Last.FM (namely the music you listen to) you get quite a lot in return. I mainly use it in tandem with Google's Calendar and Reader to keep updated on concerts in my neighbourhood. Here's how:

1. If you don't have a Last.FM account yet, create one and start scrobbling.
2. After some scrobbling Last.FM should have enough data to recommend events. Go to the recommend event page, and set your location by clicking on the "change/set location" link:
   
   
   
   It's best if you put in your location as "city, country". For example, my location is "Groningen, The Netherlands".
   
   
3. Still on the recommended events page, click on the RSS feed icon depicted below and add that feed to your Google Reader (or other favourite RSS reader).
   
   
   
   
   You can also directly import your recommended events into your Google Calendar with the "Google" link, that's a bit too much for me. I just want to be informed about interesting events, and only add those to which I'm actually going to my calendar (we'll do that in step 5).
   
   
4. Google Reader should now recieve event recommondations based on your musical tastes, like this:
   
   
   
   
   Clicking on the headline takes you the Last.FM page of the event. On that page, there's an attendance section at the bottom. Tell Last.FM that you're going:
   
   
   
   
   The event will now appear on your event list (located at http://www.last.fm/user/myUserName/events).
   
   
5. The last step is to import your event list into Google Calendar, so that you won't forget to actually go. Simply click the Google button at the top your event list:
   
   
   
   
   Your events should now come up in Google Calendar:
   
   
   
   
   And that's it!
   
   

From now on you'll only have to do step 4, i.e. checking your RSS reader every now and then to see if there's something you like, and indicate if you're going on the Last.FM website. The events will then automatically pop up in your calendar.

Sunset Rubdown - Idiot Heart

Sunset Rubdown - Idiot Heart

On September 2nd Sunset Rubdown gave a show in Vera, the local music club  where I do some volunteering from time to time. Perhaps they had an off-day, because the show wasn't something to write home about. Until they played their song Idiot Heart (source), that is. "Heart-pounding new wave skitter", according to Pitchfork. Regardless of what you want to call it, it's one hell of a track.

My new turntable

Have a look at this beauty:

It's my new turntable, the black matte edition of the Pro-Ject Debut III to be precise. It's actually my first proper turntable. I did have one before, but I threw it away because it's crappy construction and even crappier needle were ruining my records.

You can imagine I was pretty excited when I unboxed it at home, eager to play some records that were gathering dust. Much to my dismay I found that installing the damn thing was trickier than I first imagined. Get it out of its box, put it on a shelve, connect it, and play, right? Not so. Here is an excerpt from the user's manual:

Set-up
Make sure the surface you wish to use the turntable on is level (use a spirit level) before placing the turntable on it. Remove the two red transport screws (1) which secure the motor (22) during transportation.
Remove the transport lock (18) from the tonearm. Store it together with the two red motor transport screws (1) in the original packaging so they are available for any future transportation.
Fit the drive belt (3) around the hub (4) and the smaller diameter part of the motor pulley (2). Avoid getting sweat or grease on the belt as these will deteriorate the performance and reduce the belt's lifespan. Use absorbent kitchen paper to remove any oil or grease from the outer edge of the hub and the belt. Fit the platter (5) and felt mat over the spindle of the hub (4).

Cartridge downforce adjustment
The counterweight (6) supplied is suitable for cartridges weighing between 3,5 - 5,5g. Alternative counterweights for cartridges weighing between 6 - 9g or 1,5 - 3g are available as accessory parts. Adjust the downforce prior to installing the anti-skating weight.
Pushing carefully, turn the counterweight (6) onto the rear end of the tonearm tube (9), and so that the downforce scale (6a) shows towards the front of the player. Lower the armlift and position the cartridge in the space between arm rest and platter. Carefully rotate the counterweight (6) until the armtube balances out.
The arm should return to the balanced position if it is moved up or down. This adjustment must be done carefully. Do not forget to remove the cartridge protection cap if fitted.
Once the arm is correctly balanced return it to the rest. Hold the counterweight (6) without moving it, and gently revolve the downforce scale ring (6a) until the zero is in line with the anti-skating prong (15). Check whether the arm still balances out.
Rotate the counterweight counter clockwise (seen from the front) to adjust the downforce according to the cartridge manufacturer's recommendations. One mark on the scale represents 1 mN (= 0,1g / 0,1 Pond) of downforce.

Holy crap! That's a lot of work! In fact, it took me close to one hour getting everything right. But it was worth the effort: now I can listen to my records once more in perfect audio quality (cause the Debut III is one kick-ass turntable), and not worry about them getting ruined.