I've never had this kind of problem anywhere, Daniel. I use Bandcamp, 7 Digital and other UK sites too, besides emusic, itunes and Amazon. When I download something from, say, Bandcamp I unzip the file and then open the folder from my computer using itunes. Always works...
Daniel, with the tracks in question, how do they get into your iTunes library? Do you drag them in manually after download, or are they there automatically after using the download manager? If the latter, there's something going wrong with the iTunes sync, and I recommend you turn that option off in the relevant download manager.
If the tracks play when playing directly from on disk, there's no need to burn and recopy. Just delete the items from the iTunes library and drag them back in. But if this happens again, you can find out where iTunes thinks the file is by looking at your 'iTunes Music Library.xml' file with an editor and searching on the track name, then looking for the "Location" field, which is where iTunes thinks it is. (The xml file could be very large though, so possibly hard to load into an editor.) But seeing that faulty location value would help diagnose the problem.
Have you, in this situation, simply deleted from the library and reloaded it? Deleting from iTunes does not affect what's on disk, and I don't think you have to worry about messing with your disk files (as you were doing with the cd burn).
i'm afraid to tinker with what's (generally) working. i have no problem downloading stuff from emusic, my primary online music source. i'm going to try bandcamp, tho. i want those out-of-print dirty beaches cassette-only recording. anyway, i think i'm going to try your suggestion. hopefully my harddrive and/or laptop won't explode.
Well, Daniel, fwiw, I'm going to go out on a limb here and claim that the procedure you describe is 100% unnecessary - there's no way you need to go through that to address the (undiagnosed) issues you're having.
This particular buying experience may sound like an extreme case, but it is, sadly, not at all unusual. In just the past few months of casual music shopping, Ive ended up on sites that sprung major shipping and handling fees on me only after collecting all my payment info, sites that required me to go through onerous account creation processes, sites that bungled basic currency conversion, sites that waited until the very end of the checkout flow to inform me that a limited edition item was already sold out, and even one site that required me to grant a Facebook app permission to do everything short of inspecting my underwear drawer before I could make a purchase. Throughout all this I kept asking myself one question: whys it gotta be so damn hard to give some money to the artists I love?
Ah, finally someone seems to get it... and I'm glad it's them, too.
Shopping Cart!!!! Yesssss!!!! I've only bought a couple of things from BandCamp so far only because of the lack of a shopping cart and a way to bundle a bunch of purchases in one single trip through the ether. Starting August 1 I'm going to be allocating myself some $ each month to spend at bandcamp and then shop away until I spend my designated limit (or go slightly over). I can't hardly wait. In fact, I might not wait.
Thanks for the head's up Craig!
Also, thanks to everyone that has posted stuff on this thread so far as this thread will become my main jumping off point for exploring and finding cool musical things to listen to (and spend money on).
Hmm, yes, that does sound like a cool way to shop - saying, I have e.g. $10, which bandcamp EPs shall I divide it among. Like buying music and feeding the ducks at the same time.
That's great news. I always have problems with Bandcamp because each time I use it and the price is $ or Euros, which is normally the case I have to pay extra conversion costs each time. Now I can pay only once for a number of items - that sounds much better. Maybe it will ease the pain when I eventually leave emusic when they put up their prices, as they eventually will in Europe
Starting August 1 I'm going to be allocating myself some $ each month to spend at bandcamp and then shop away until I spend my designated limit (or go slightly over).
I will be using the same process as well. Shopping cart is a nice addition.
"A New York-based experimental chamber-pop twosome formed in 2003.
Jennings, from Tulsa, Oklahoma, focuses his energy mainly on song-writing and unusual guitar and banjo parts for the band. Opsvik, who grew up in Oslo, Norway, has made a name for himself primarily as a bassist in NYC, but also as a composer, record producer, and general multi-instrumentalist. Perhaps, in part, their unique sound is a result of their very different backgrounds and inspirations - Jennings has a quirky melodic sensibility stemming from his interest in a wide range of old and new pop music, while Opsvik is heavily involved in the improvised music scene and finds inspiration in his classical training. But they feed off each other in creative ways and use these differences to their advantage.
While most of their working time is spent exploring in the studio, they can frequently be heard doing intimate performances around New York City; and the occasional summer show overseas."
- Loyal Label - 2009
I think I rec'd these guys back on an Amie St. thread. I got their Commuter Anthems a while back, and later got Dreams. Definitely laid back stuff, but it has some moments of intricate compositions.
Eivind Opsvik is one of the baddest bass players on the jazz scene right now. You look at just about any Best Of release mentioned and it's likely his name is attached to it.
Bedroom project Rother-style guitars, droning organs, spazzo drum machines. Listen to track 2--you'll know who this guy sounds like. I can't remember wherefrom I got this rec, but there are dozens of reviews onlinep. NYOP
I suppose it's a sort of instrumental post-rock, but more folky, built around guitars and violins, quite pretty and tuneful, with occasional bursts of gusto. Really very enjoyable. It's NYOP, but also says that it "was released for free on November 23rd, 2009 by the label FDM Recordings", which I would interpret to mean that free download is legit.
I've been posting these to the free stuff thread, but for convenience (and for anyone using this thread to track bandcamp) here's a little aggregate of recent Audio Gourmet releases worth checking out - they can all be had for a pittance at bandcamp or for free by following the archive.org link from each album's page.
Track A?/?Track B by Quinn Walker and Danny Clay(burbly ambient) Kirill Platonkin - Trails (described as "dark ambient" but not really very dark; drone) 69º54´S-135º12´E by Lauki (classical string sounds with computer glitch noises - highly recommend this one!) Against A Quantized Sky by Jacob Newman (mellow ambient, bright tones) Spaces by Wbaum (This one's in the dark ambient vein, and very nice.) Celestial Bodies by Widesky (This one's brighter and more ethereal and delicate.)
For those of you who enjoy your black depression with an extra helping of gloominess, you can hardly go wrong with the vaguely Joy-Divisionesque [url=]Sun Devoured Earth[/url], from sunny Latvia!
Personally, I like to play it on the iPod while jogging or doing yard-work. Frankly, I don't think you can call it "gloomy" if you can't understand the lyrics, and this guy's voice is drenched in more reverb than an Alesis sales meeting. NYOP, but also downloadable for free on Mediafire.com along with all their other releases.
Scheduled to be released some time in 1993, "Thread City" was a full length album of songs written entirely about the city of Willimantic, Ct. A decaying mill town that the band called home. The intent was to release it on Willi's own Vandal Children Records, but due to frequent band member relocations, and a catastrophic house fire, the recordings were presumed missing, and hopes for the LP were abandoned...Until now.
Free
This album strikes a personal chord for me as I both went to high school with Greg Conte, the bassist, as well as lived in Willimantic and ran in circles adjacent to Mi6. Fantastic throwback to the early 90's Connecticut Punk scene and highly recommended if you like Pop Punk.
Alonefold: Last Roadpost and Alone. Free download.
...soothing. ambient-drone settings easily capable of transporting the receptive listener to faraway realms, even if the trip is purely imaginary. Beardow demonstrates a level of control and patience in the music's execution that reflects the seasoned mark of someone with more than eight years of audio and music production study and a particular focus on synthesizers and effects programming. Signs at Midpoint Dawn Return exudes that meditative, hymnal quality so beloved by Stars of the Lid devotees, while Forgiven Drifts exhibits a similarly placid quality in its becalmed, organ-like unfurl....(from textura review)
Now then, something rather different and really rather interesting:
Ghosts of the Dust Bowl by Cliff Dweller. Free download. Recent release.
This is an instrumental album using acoustic instruments (but almost no percussion) to create what I guess are ambient soundscapes but sounding more like the Old West than like any kind of electronic ambient; at times folky, at times cinematic. There are moments (in mood and use of violins) that remind me (and, I see, the reviewer quoted below) of the more low-tempo moments of godspeed you! black emperor and its offshoots. Sound samples add a sense of place. The overall mood is melancholy but I wouldn't say disconsolate, in fact there are quite pretty moments. The effect is of a languid sonic portrait of a weary place. Well worth a listen, maybe more than one. (If you want a quick sample, listen to "sky" and "truth")
...Instead of percussion, the band uses droning acoustics, such as drawn out and haunting violin riffs or bass beats to begin songs and keep them focused. Despite the absence of percussion, every instrument stays on task rather well, providing a very satisfactory and complete listen. Along with this, the instruments conjure up a slight Old Western feel. The feelings that this LP emanates are extraordinary. If an album could ever paint a picture of a landscape, Ghosts of the Dust Bowl would prove to be a lonely, ghost town riddled, desert.... (from a nice review of the album here.)
Free compilation of tracks from various artists including (among many others) Rafael Anton Irisarri, Specta Ciera, Damian Valles, Kyle Bobby Dunn, Gimu, Radere, Good Weather for an Airstrike, Leonardo Rosado, Gurun Gurun, Benjamin Dauer, ..... - 42 tracks. Lots of very nice stuff. Nice way to explore some of these artists if you haven't been following the many recommendations of their releases on this board (several of them have their own threads here) - and a nice free feast if you have.
I believe I've posted about The Notes once already - they're sort of a heavy-on-the-reverb lo-fi janglepop band from England with a female singer. This is their third full-length release and their second proper album... it's more trip-hoppy than the other two, but not bad, and many people of course prefer that sort of thing. Anyway, it's free for an e-mail address.
Comments
If the tracks play when playing directly from on disk, there's no need to burn and recopy. Just delete the items from the iTunes library and drag them back in. But if this happens again, you can find out where iTunes thinks the file is by looking at your 'iTunes Music Library.xml' file with an editor and searching on the track name, then looking for the "Location" field, which is where iTunes thinks it is. (The xml file could be very large though, so possibly hard to load into an editor.) But seeing that faulty location value would help diagnose the problem.
Have you, in this situation, simply deleted from the library and reloaded it? Deleting from iTunes does not affect what's on disk, and I don't think you have to worry about messing with your disk files (as you were doing with the cd burn).
i'm afraid to tinker with what's (generally) working. i have no problem downloading stuff from emusic, my primary online music source. i'm going to try bandcamp, tho. i want those out-of-print dirty beaches cassette-only recording. anyway, i think i'm going to try your suggestion. hopefully my harddrive and/or laptop won't explode.
Post-rock for your afternoon: They say we're sinking by Echoes of the Great War. NYOP.
Craig
Ah, finally someone seems to get it... and I'm glad it's them, too.
Thanks for the head's up Craig!
Also, thanks to everyone that has posted stuff on this thread so far as this thread will become my main jumping off point for exploring and finding cool musical things to listen to (and spend money on).
Another new Offthesky release, on SEM, Endless Yonder.
I will be using the same process as well. Shopping cart is a nice addition.
NYOP, "please donate a little if you can, music is all i do!"
"A New York-based experimental chamber-pop twosome formed in 2003.
Jennings, from Tulsa, Oklahoma, focuses his energy mainly on song-writing and unusual guitar and banjo parts for the band. Opsvik, who grew up in Oslo, Norway, has made a name for himself primarily as a bassist in NYC, but also as a composer, record producer, and general multi-instrumentalist. Perhaps, in part, their unique sound is a result of their very different backgrounds and inspirations - Jennings has a quirky melodic sensibility stemming from his interest in a wide range of old and new pop music, while Opsvik is heavily involved in the improvised music scene and finds inspiration in his classical training. But they feed off each other in creative ways and use these differences to their advantage.
While most of their working time is spent exploring in the studio, they can frequently be heard doing intimate performances around New York City; and the occasional summer show overseas."
- Loyal Label - 2009
- http://www.opsvikandjennings.com/
- @ Emusic.
Eivind Opsvik is one of the baddest bass players on the jazz scene right now. You look at just about any Best Of release mentioned and it's likely his name is attached to it.
Just this one track so far, unfortunately. (Free)
Black Beach by First Nations
Bedroom project Rother-style guitars, droning organs, spazzo drum machines. Listen to track 2--you'll know who this guy sounds like. I can't remember wherefrom I got this rec, but there are dozens of reviews onlinep. NYOP
Natural Process by New Century Classics
I suppose it's a sort of instrumental post-rock, but more folky, built around guitars and violins, quite pretty and tuneful, with occasional bursts of gusto. Really very enjoyable. It's NYOP, but also says that it "was released for free on November 23rd, 2009 by the label FDM Recordings", which I would interpret to mean that free download is legit.
Personally, I like to play it on the iPod while jogging or doing yard-work. Frankly, I don't think you can call it "gloomy" if you can't understand the lyrics, and this guy's voice is drenched in more reverb than an Alesis sales meeting. NYOP, but also downloadable for free on Mediafire.com along with all their other releases.
This album strikes a personal chord for me as I both went to high school with Greg Conte, the bassist, as well as lived in Willimantic and ran in circles adjacent to Mi6. Fantastic throwback to the early 90's Connecticut Punk scene and highly recommended if you like Pop Punk.
Alonefold: Last Roadpost and Alone. Free download.
Same artist has another free EP on bandcamp that was released on Rural Colors and is in similar vein.
(cross-posted from free stuff thread)
Ghosts of the Dust Bowl by Cliff Dweller. Free download. Recent release.
This is an instrumental album using acoustic instruments (but almost no percussion) to create what I guess are ambient soundscapes but sounding more like the Old West than like any kind of electronic ambient; at times folky, at times cinematic. There are moments (in mood and use of violins) that remind me (and, I see, the reviewer quoted below) of the more low-tempo moments of godspeed you! black emperor and its offshoots. Sound samples add a sense of place. The overall mood is melancholy but I wouldn't say disconsolate, in fact there are quite pretty moments. The effect is of a languid sonic portrait of a weary place. Well worth a listen, maybe more than one. (If you want a quick sample, listen to "sky" and "truth")
Free compilation of tracks from various artists including (among many others) Rafael Anton Irisarri, Specta Ciera, Damian Valles, Kyle Bobby Dunn, Gimu, Radere, Good Weather for an Airstrike, Leonardo Rosado, Gurun Gurun, Benjamin Dauer, ..... - 42 tracks. Lots of very nice stuff. Nice way to explore some of these artists if you haven't been following the many recommendations of their releases on this board (several of them have their own threads here) - and a nice free feast if you have.
Solid Fucking Gold by Short Pockets
FREE as in beer. It's like Beck doing a mashup of Flying Lotus and DJ Screw. Or something. Also has another album up there for a buck.