Monthly Music – March

This month we have NIN and Deadmau5 – UPDATE and A Fine Frenzy

Nine Inch Nails – Pretty Hate Machine Remastered (industrial)

No this was not the first time I had heard Pretty Hate Machine. I’d been introduced to Nine Inch Nails in middle school and have long singe worn out my cassette copy of PHM. Broken was one of my very first day one purchases (again on cassette) and my fandom of NIN has never really diminished in all of these years.

So when I heard Reznor was remastering Pretty Hate Machine i was interested. Let’s be clear, this is a remaster, not a re-release or anniversary edition. And it sounds like it. From the first moments of Head Like a Hole to the last of Ringfinger the sound quality has just been improved all over. It is as if I had never stopped listening to that cassette tape and only now was hearing the CD edition of Pretty Hate Machine.

(it also has “Get Down Make Love” which I was never a fan of… but it is there.)

If it has been a while, or you never got around to getting PHM on CD, now is the time.

Deadmau5 – 4 X 4 = 12 (techno, electro, trance, whatever you want to call it)

I find a lot of music these days due to Slacker radio. If you haven’t started using it (or Pandora) I suggest you start. Listening to the Trance station on Slacker can be dangerous to my wallet.

I’d not heard of Deadmau5 until last year listening to Slacker. Most of the songs that came up on the station I marked as favorites. Still I floundered on buying an album.

Then I saw 4 X 4 = 12 at the store and went for it. A few seconds into the first song and I was happy with my decision.

I’ll not get into an extended philosophical topic on genre definitions, but as a whole 4 X 4 is heavier than normal trance. Still it is engaging, danceable and, as to be expected, best heard with the volume turned up. Solid through and through, this album will be hanging around my playlists for a while.

side note; if were a dance/trance dj of sorts i’d make it so the last song mixed into the first, so that if your cd player (like mine) just starts over, you get into a loop. I’d call it Möbius. i expect this idea to be stolen ASAP so i can go buy this album. (so get to work!)

UPDATE: A Fine Frenzy – One Cell in the Sea (Pop, uh, i think)

I did not buy this in March, but was listening to it this morning and wanted to put it in here anyway. This album popped up on my “Amazon thinks you’d like this…” list and I’ll admit I clicked on the album and started listening because there was a cute redhead on the cover. What can I say? I like cute redheads.

Well, I am glad I did. I’ve had the album since January and I love it. Lighter piano and guitar pop– that cute redhead has a fantastic voice. All the songs are good, and (much to the dismay of my office mates) I’ll find myself singing along. While “Come on, Come Out” and “Almost Lover” are my favorites, I don’t fast forward through any songs. Often I’ll just hit “Play” again after it is done.

This one I recommend for the Tori, Sarah, Fiona, Dido fans. Check it out, even if redheads aren’t really your thing.

A Month in the Life, March

March’s theme was photography. No specific topic, just photography.

I had spent all of February with a specific goal: draw a fish everyday. I wanted for March something different, maybe looser. I chose, simply, take a picture of something everyday.

In retrospect, that may not have been a great idea. I found, as you can see, doing lots of photos at the bar, or on my walk to somewhere else. Most of my day is spent in two places: work and home. Those two places don’t have the same offerings for photography that a more wandering lifestyle would lend itself too.

Naturally I’ll be traveling later, but that is to be expected. I’ll post pictures of those places too.

There were some posed shots with a friend’s purse, as well as side shots of glasses, full and empty. This one of the month is perhaps my favorite.

Through Glass

In the end, i suspect I was taking the ART part of this project a bit too seriously. A picture, of anything really, is still art. Still I enjoyed March, and find myself ready for April.

For which, I have big plans…

Early April 365 – Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month.

I’ve been excited about April. Previous years i’ve tried something like a poetic NaNoWriMo where I would write a poem each day. Naturally I’ve had various levels of success with it. This year I’ve decided to do the same as part of not only National Poetry Month, but my on going art 365 project. I’m posting this early because so that if anyone else wants to join in, they can.

So what is the plan?

Every day I am going to write a poem.
I am going to use only one page from my notebook for each day
While I may not edit, there will be a ‘finished’ version
I’ll be posting the ‘finished version’ as I go

Now, when i am done, I plan to collect all of the pages I did, scan them in and put together a collection (called April, or something that creative) that has the rough pages, the April version and, if needed, a later edited version

Sound like fun? Sound crazy? probably a bit of both. Want to join? (You know you want to watch…)

Update: find the poems here