Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: You've got to listen to the music

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  • pollywog,

    i heard some of the original gatherers formed a trust to buy the original canaan downs site. wonder if this is them

    been out of the loop for a while but might do a bit of digging and if it is, offer up my services:)

    somewhere else • Since Dec 2009 • 152 posts Report Reply

  • Simon Grigg,

    I may have been looking on the wrong places, but I get the impression that that sort of...lifestyle?...was fairly slow to catch in here.

    You were well and truly looking in the wrong places, Rich. Rave culture spluttered into life here circa '87 and I'd hate to think how many dodgy old XL labeled wave yer glowstick anthems were sold out of Grant Kearney and Sam Hill's Bassline Records between 89-92. By '95 it was winding into something else, most especially the big Lightspeed gigs at Ellerslie as the early ravers grew up a notch.

    Go and ask a few 35 year olds about The Brain...

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    cheap party drugs

    As opposed to seventy dollars...

    guilty of still buying cds

    We bought the Beatles box sets, but I think that's pretty much the end of our physical purchases of music. Our household summer holiday project has been ripping every CD we own to a hard drive/media server, and then storing the whole music collection in boxes in the garden shed along with the weedeater. All CDs do is collect dust, and I have plenty of vintage china which does that already. My turnaround on this issue is a 180 since the advent of the mp3: I think my 1994 self would be quite horrified by my 2009 self. Simplify! Simplify!

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Bruce Wurr,

    I think my still buying cds is a folorn loyalty to buying the album as a piece of "art" as opposed to songs with no context (yes, yes, probably foolish I know)........and I'm not at all convinced about the quality of mp3s and their transience.....give me 5 years or so and I'll probably come over......

    Auckland • Since Dec 2006 • 97 posts Report Reply

  • Simon Grigg,

    My turnaround on this issue is a 180 since the advent of the mp3

    Wanna buy 15,000 12" records..some hardly used...

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    However for example the Gathering attracted crowds of up to 10k and there were often about a thousand for visiting DJs at Auckland gigs (and that was just drum'n'bass - way more for the house ones).

    I recall a show -- Ministry of Sound? -- at the Aotea Centre that was huge. 5000 kids on a weeknight, I think.

    Events like Phat and Splore are keeping the outdoor tradition alive even if only once every year or two. And there are undoubtedly others I'm no longer aware of due to my advanced lack of fitness and impending senility..

    Coromandel Gold seems to have been a success with 10,000 people and Shapeshifter headling.

    Locally, there's Summadayze, with Carl Cox headlining, tomorrow night at the TelstraClear Pacific Events Centre in Manukau. That'll be quite big, it's just not in our ambit.

    But I was discussing with a mate last night how I prefer the Boiler Room crowd to your standard dance crowd. It's much more cosmopolitan, much more interesting. And older, actually.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Didn't know about Summadayze, but note the authentically wonky spelling and presence of longtimers like Sam Hill, Greg Churchill and co.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • chris,

    longtimers

    <euphemism siren>

    Mawkland • Since Jan 2010 • 1302 posts Report Reply

  • Simon Grigg,

    I recall a show -- Ministry of Sound? -- at the Aotea Centre that was huge. 5000 kids on a weeknight, I think.

    Was that the one where Paul Oakenfold headlined and was given something rather nasty as he placed his first tune on the decks and passed out, only to wake after it was over?

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report Reply

  • Rich Lock,

    Our household summer holiday project has been ripping every CD we own to a hard drive/media server, and then storing the whole music collection in boxes in the garden shed along with the weedeater. All CDs do is collect dust.

    Well, having ripped most of my collection to mp3 3-4 years ago, I spent last Sunday unboxing all my CD's and lovingly alphabetising* them in their new home in the lounge. Inevitably, I stumbled across a whole bunch of stuff I'd forgotten I owned. Which of course needed playing right there and then. Great way to spend a Sunday. I'll probably end up listening to more music now they're all unboxed than I have done with the mp3s - it's easier to idly browse, pull out anything that catches my eye, and give it a spin.

    You'll be back. Hardform data storage media for life, yo.

    *alphabetically by artist, since you ask. And although I briefly considered sub-alphabetising by album title, and cross-referencing solo albums back to the parent group, I didn't. Because that would be sad.

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report Reply

  • Peter Darlington,

    I'll probably end up listening to more music now they're all unboxed than I have done with the mp3s - it's easier to idly browse, pull out anything that catches my eye, and give it a spin.

    With some kind of album view I really don't see the difference between browsing MP3s and browsing CDs, except having your tunes in a database means you can also do a load of idle playlisting and choosing that would wear you out with physical media.

    I have all my cd's out like this but generally feed them on to the computer when I want to play them. More and more they depress me as an inefficient dead weight of plastic, wish someone had invented broadband in in 1985 and saved us all the bother :)

    Nelson • Since Nov 2006 • 949 posts Report Reply

  • Rich Lock,

    What did you/do you do about the vinyl?

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report Reply

  • Peter Darlington,

    What did you/do you do about the vinyl?

    I love the vinyl and still buy it. I know, I'm an illogical freak :)

    My earliest purchases are all on vinyl and give me some great memories, they also sound fantastic, while the CDs just remind me of how much I was ripped off paying over the odds in the '90s

    Nelson • Since Nov 2006 • 949 posts Report Reply

  • pollywog,

    I love the vinyl and still buy it.

    really...do they still make long player albums on vinyl ?

    somewhere else • Since Dec 2009 • 152 posts Report Reply

  • Gareth Ward,

    Can you chuck a CD in the recycling? I've got a whole bunch that aren't used and just piled up in the cupboard...

    Auckland, NZ • Since Mar 2007 • 1727 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    they also sound fantastic

    Heh. This is where I do my 'honestly, I can't really hear the qualitative difference between a 192 mp3, a FLAC and an LP' thing, and all the audiophile nerds look at me in abject horror. Sorry guys. :)

    *alphabetically by artist, since you ask. And although I briefly considered sub-alphabetising by album title, and cross-referencing solo albums back to the parent group, I didn't. Because that would be sad.

    ETA: the other day I alphabetised all our DVDs and became weirdly concerned with how to file the music/concert ones. Finally I decided that films and TV series should go by their title, while music DVDs should go by artist name. Which is inconsistent but makes sense, yes? You don't want to be looking for I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, you want to look for Wilco. Or perhaps I am delusional.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    really...do they still make long player albums on vinyl ?

    In some genres (ie: US indie), hell yeah. They'll often come with a redemption code so you can go and download the MP3 version as well.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Matthew Poole,

    And I'll be thinking of y'all while I'm sweating away in Honiara. Kinda glad I was intending to buy my BDO ticket this weekend, since I now can't make it.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2007 • 4097 posts Report Reply

  • Peter Darlington,

    Heh. This is where I do my 'honestly, I can't really hear the qualitative difference between a 192 mp3, a FLAC and an LP' thing, and all the audiophile nerds look at me in abject horror. Sorry guys. :)

    I need to video the bass bins on my speakers while playing "Pounding System" by Dub Syndicate on vinyl. They're bouncing all over the place with shock and awe. They barely twitch playing a digital file at any volume. The vinyl has such warmth and physicality in comparison.

    Nelson • Since Nov 2006 • 949 posts Report Reply

  • Matthew Poole,

    Heh. This is where I do my 'honestly, I can't really hear the qualitative difference between a 192 mp3, a FLAC and an LP' thing, and all the audiophile nerds look at me in abject horror. Sorry guys. :)

    You may as well just tell them that you can't tell the difference between fingernails on a chalk board and their umpty-squillion-dollar hi-fi system :P

    Auckland • Since Mar 2007 • 4097 posts Report Reply

  • pollywog,

    last time i went to a record store was to look at posters.

    I can't really hear the qualitative difference between a 192 mp3, a FLAC and an LP' thing,

    me neither, especially when listening on a cell phone:)

    somewhere else • Since Dec 2009 • 152 posts Report Reply

  • Sam F,

    me neither, especially when listening on a cell phone:)

    In between this and the Limp Bizkit thing you're really gunning for excommunication aren't you... :P

    I own a handful of vinyl records but have never had a player, so have never heard them - bought more out of curiosity than out of anything else. CD was the format I grew up with and although I find my ipod nano much more convenient than my beloved Discman, I still find it hard to think of MP3 as a format in its own right rather than a copy of something taken from a CD or somewhere else. It'll wear off in time, I'm sure.

    I can just remember when mainstream chains still had a few racks of cassette tapes left behind the CDs which were the newest, bestest thing...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1611 posts Report Reply

  • pollywog,

    :)

    so do they still make blank cassettes and have they finally got around to making stereos without the twin tapedecks yet ?

    yup its been a while since i looked a stereos too. do they even call them that these days ?

    somewhere else • Since Dec 2009 • 152 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    <euphemism siren>

    Bet they don't still have those at parties

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Sam F,

    have they finally got around to making stereos without the twin tapedecks yet ?

    Ah the memories.

    I remember a college English project that involved an interview - for some reason I tried to put together a radio documentary on tape. I interviewed a family friend using with a Walkman with microphone attachment, with the mic stuck to a sunvisor in the guy's car, the quietest place on his property to record.

    Thus followed several hours of 'editing' on a double-tapedeck stereo. I'd play the portions of the interview I wanted in the final product on the stereo, actually recording them straight off the speakers with the Walkman and microphone. Then the tape went from the Walkman to tapedeck 1, so that I could record musical breaks onto it with tapedeck 2, then it was back to the Walkman for more of the interview. Rinse, repeat... and the program ended with me doing a wrapup, holding the mic with one hand and with the other turning the volume knob up and then back down to get a fadeout.

    The end product of course sounded like it had been recorded down a drainpipe, the tape-stop cuts were deafening, and I got marked down because I'd edited out the questions I asked in some places. Was fun though.

    Nostalgia break ends here :)

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1611 posts Report Reply

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