We're closing out this Fresh Pick introductory week with yes, a track off Eels' brand new 'End Times' (out 1/19) and a copy of the release on vinyl for one of you guys out there. See, we're all about sharing the music but we're all about the vinyl too which means heading out to the shops and plunking down our hard earned cash for—wait for it—physical product. Trust me, it feels damn good.
The person who win's the Eels LP is the person who draws this distinction even better than my coffee-challenged brain can conjure this morning. Get at us in the comments to this post (with contact info!) in regard to your own download/physical product purchasing pursuits and one of you will find the Eels LP right there on your doorstep.
Invite it in.
We'll close this one out Wednesday, 1/13.
Eels - A Line In The Dirt (Mp3)
11 comments:
love me some eels.
To paraphrase Ogden Nash
I don't like Eels
Except as meals
Or the way they feels
But sounds so reals
When the LP squeals
email in profile
Download is dead to me.
A few years ago I was given a hard drive with 50,000 or so songs. I loaded them up and listened and listened. I was inundated. When someone asked me what I was listening to lately I couldn't even say. I was completely detached from music that was becoming background noise.
When I buy a record. I anticipate. I have to hunt for it with my feet not mouse clicks. When I find something I've been searching for for weeks I freak a little. I walk home a little faster. I shut my laptop and kill the lights. I grab a Budweiser. I hold an LP in my hands physically. I read liner notes and lyrics while the disc spins. I chill the fuck out.
This is active listening.
This is owning records.
This is how music should be.
scottreitz(at)gmail.com
It's the hunt. It's the tactile search.
The downloads are instantly gratifying, but the gratification is instantly over. There is nothing to live with, nothing with you in your space. There is no acquisition story. I don't run in to old friends on my way to the Amazon MP3 store. There is a constant urge to move past what's currently playing to the next track, next album or next artist until you aren't listening to anything anymore, aren't actually listening in the moment.
A cup of coffee, a crate of records, a cool Saturday morning. Things fresh pressed, things that have waited 50 years for you to find them--things to think about and (for the love of God) time to evaluate one thing at a time. No user reviews or hyperbolic exclamation marks. The transaction, the brief conversation, the taking a piece of art home and propping it up next to the turntable; these things cannot be replicated.
I admit my iPod is filled with music I love, and I do love my iPod. But after years of visiting record stores and markets, I have shelves full of memories tied to the music. I found this Lou Reed in the dollar bin. I spent a little too much for this Blue Note, but the enjoyment it's given me is priceless. This Columbia six-eye was a 25 cent basket case but cleaned up into a sonic wonder. Here's an ambient record I got in San Francisco.
I am closer to the music I love having acquired it through effort in the physical world, and this is how a transaction becomes part of honoring the music and bringing it into my life. Without these anchors in my listening life, I think I would have given up on the new music experience long ago.
I have to admit that I didn't start buying vinyls until just this last year. I bought CDs all of the time, sure, and I downloaded music as well, but ever since buying my first vinyls I've just felt like there's something really satisfying about holding a large piece of artwork in your hands (with sometimes extensive liner notes and reading material in addition to the album itself) that makes for a fuller album experience that CDs and downloads can't provide.
In a way I feel like the recent uptick in vinyl purchases and vinyl interest is a rubber-band effect in response to music becoming increasingly digital. I think that people who really love music want to seek an experience with the music that's more personal than clicking "download" on iTunes and then glancing at the thumbnail album artwork for 5 seconds before letting the music play in the background.
By the way, Eels are one of my favorite artists, ever. I love that you're putting this one up. There's an Eels song called "Railroad Man" that relates to my point; it's about feeling like the world around you is moving faster than you want it to, and feeling slightly left behind because of it. Ultimately though, I'm confident that vinyl will continue to grow in popularity for a couple of reasons that I've outlined.
I was the last comment and I forgot my contact info. e-mail is kyle3d@hotmail.com
Eels' "End Times" on Vinyl. Hell yeah!
hmm. I was 19 when napster hit. I was also working at a music store. I would look up weird shit at work go home download, listen and go out and buy. I feel most music blogs and bands who give away MP3's are taking away part of the soul that creates the bond between listener and musician,artist. I feel bands now don't feel like the idols I knew growing up. Not to say we don't have great musicians. I still have many I hold up high. I work with kids so I get to see the detachment they have from what they are listening to. I dig for vinyl for the love of the whole thing. I am not a casual listener but an addict that gets a ride out of the search.
was a winner ever chosen for this? i keep checking my e-mail. haha.
We did indeed choose a winner - but fret not! TEN weeks of vinyl giveaways and surprises to come!
Thanks all...
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