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music 

2011.12.17Finally discovering my CD player

My home features a Niles whole-home audio system. I probably never would have thought to install one, but I'm really glad the previous homeowners did. The system has several inputs for various components, and so a few months ago I bought a 300-disc CD carousel unit. Until yesterday the most I could tell you about it was: it's big; it's bulky; it's black; it's supposed to play 300 discs; it was cheap and it has a PS/2 keyboard input in the the front of it.

After a little quality time yesterday evening, I can say a few more things about it: The keyboard port is GENIUS, and the player has a nice grouping feature which allows you to assign each disc to one of eight groups. Each group can function as a subset of the whole -- you can play through, or select random tracks from, a particular group. From a seasonal perspective, this is awesome, because we can create a group with just holiday music on it and let the CD player play random tracks from just that group through Christmas dinner. That's gonna be pretty sweet.

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2011.12.06Enter SiriusXM

Since I bought the new car I've been enjoying SiriusXM satellite radio -- particularly (and perhaps I should be ashamed about this) "80's on 8", "90's on 9", "Lithium," and a pair of comedy channels. I can thank Sirius for introducing me to The Airborne Toxic Event, Paramore, MGMT, Frank Caliendo, Gary Wright, Amy Winehouse, Coldplay, and Stornoway.

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2011.06.20Hannah is light and airy

This sounds like it should be featured in one of Apple's iPhone ads.

The other night I was in a coffee house when I heard a tune called "Hannah" by the alternative group Freelance Whales. Check this out. It's a wonderfully "summery" song. I find I'm enjoying the previews of other cuts, also from their 2009 album, "Weathervanes".

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2011.06.14Eep! Music Update is Overdue!!

Good grief how time flies when you're having kids. Okay. Recent additions to my music rotation include some classics, just for fun: Tone-Loc's "Funky Cold Medina," Cake's awesome take on "Mahna, Mahna"; Quincy Jones' "Soul Bossa Nova"; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's "Ohio"; R.E.M.'s "Its the End of the World As We Know It" (in observance of the Rapture) and, in observance of Andrew Gold's recent passing, his 70's hit Lonely Boy. For those into folk, I highly recommend Ray LaMontagne & The Pariah Dogs' "Beg Steal or Borrow". By the way, if you're much for the comedy of Louis CK, I picked up the audio version of "Chewed Up" (I've had the video for a while) -- and was pleased to find a few bonus tracks on the audio version; "4AM" and "I Like Opium" had me in stitches. Prefer something a little harder? Give Rage Against the Machine's take on Bob Dylan's "Maggie's Farm" a try. Hairband withdrawal? Perhaps Autograph's "Turn Up the Radio" will scratch that itch.

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