Sundries
June 7th, 2009 by Assorter
There have been enough random occurrences and serendipitous discoveries of interesting odds and ends in my life to constitute sufficient content for a blog entry. So here goes!
Archive for the 'Music' Category
More Music
March 7th, 2009 by Assorter
I recently discovered a new artist that had me rushing to Amazon’s fantastic mp3 store: Tya.
To me, Tya is a fusion of Enigma and Deep Forest. It combines Enigma’s mysterious and melodic quality with Deep Forest’s worldly tones, with very interesting results. I’ve actually only downloaded a couple of his songs–Akwaba and A Place to Rest, both from his album Akwaba –but am seriously considering others. This is definitely consistent with my rather non-mainstream musical tastes, but it’s still cool to be a nonconformist, right?
By the way, I discovered this artist on Pandora. What a great service. Between that and the musical interludes on NPR, the world can be your musical playground!
Random Cool Stuff
January 3rd, 2009 by Assorter
Time for a random cool stuff post, ’cause I’m in the mood.
No iPods allowed
December 14th, 2008 by Assorter
I’ve blogged about this topic earlier, but some things deserve extra time in the sunshine. As some of you know, I’ve been batting around the idea of acquiring a new digital music player. While I’m very fond of my iRiver iFP-790, my recent fascination with Amazon mp3 downloads has shown me (reminded me?) that 256MB is not a particularly generous amount of storage these days. Still, I’m serious when I declare that my iFP-790 has served me very well, and it dawned on me the other day that as I’ve embarked on this search for the successor to my trusty digital music player in red, I’m basically looking for the exact same player, but with more storage space.
For your speakers
November 15th, 2008 by Assorter
Thanks to Pandora, I discovered a new artist who is, for the moment, occupying 100% of my Winamp and iRiver time (well, at least when I’m not listening to NPR). His name is Ryan Farish, and I’d describe his music as a fusion of upbeat piano and electronic ambient, with occasional hints of jazz and new age. His latest album (he’s released quite a few) is Wonderfall, which is the one I downloaded, and I am definitely enjoying it. In fact, this is one of those rare albums where I can honestly say I pretty much like every track on the album. Crazy, isn’t it? Now, there are probably those out there who might view this album as bubblegum music, and, frankly, I guess I can’t really disagree. Regardless, it’s enjoyable music, so what more do you need? Anyway, as soon as his albums are more widely available on Amazon, I’ll probably pick up a few more. And of course, for your listening enjoyment, here’s the requisite sample of his work.
By the way, have you heard of Hulu? Cool site.
Moot Court, Music, and … Politics!
October 25th, 2008 by Assorter
I’ve been grading briefs for the Thomas Tang National Moot Court Competition for the past week and a half, and last night I judged one of the rounds. I competed twice in this competition during law school and some of my fondest memories are from this competition. Needless to say, I’m always eager to help out when I’m asked (which happens often 
.
Odds and ends
October 19th, 2008 by Assorter
I’ve posted pictures from a short visit to D.C. in the gallery, so feel free to go over and have a look. Yes, this is actually my second trip to D.C. this year. I did post pictures from my first trip earlier this year, but they were posted into my Gallery 2 albums, which, as you may know, I’m no longer using. I’ve actually yet to reupload those pics so there’s really only one batch available at the moment, and in any event the pictures from this trip are quite different from the first batch.
Enigma – Seven Lives Many Faces
October 6th, 2008 by Assorter
Just received the new Enigma album in the mail. So far, I’m very pleased with it. Haven’t listened to all of it yet, but already several tracks have caught my attention, including tracks 3 and 4. The album is titled “Seven Lives Many Faces,” which is almost certainly a comment on Enigma itself, since this is the seventh album. I also own the previous six albums, so needless to say, I’m a huge fan.
Enigma has really played a central role in defining my musical interests. I’ll be the first to admit that some of his songs have really been hit or miss–there are literally only three songs on his previous album that I actually like–but I think it’s safe to say that Enigma has really pioneered a new musical genre. I thought about doing an album-by-album review here, but to do that properly would take an inordinate amount of time, and given the length of my previous post, I need to lay off the insanely large posts for the time being. So instead, I leave you with this sample from the album.
Surprise
September 21st, 2008 by Assorter
Surprise! I’m updating my blog. And I also just updated to the latest version of WordPress. And there’s a new theme to boot!
Man, it’s 2008
January 1st, 2008 by Assorter
Went to the Showbox to hear Super Diamond perform. Fun group, but man, those guys are obsessed with Neal Diamond!