OkayTim » Music

Let It Be

Tim — Thu, 20 May 2010 16:23:33 +0000

I’m not really a Beatles fan, actually I actively dislike most of the music they’ve released. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciated what they’ve done for music and all, and I think their song writing is unmatched; I just don’t really like the execution. I think a lot of the newer recordings of their music, for whatever reason, are significantly better than the originals. The soundtrack for Across the Universe, for example, is very well done (and all Beatles songs), great recordings, good vocals and varying tempos.

Anyway, I saw this version of Let it Be that Kris Allen did on American Idol not too long ago and I’ve been way into it ever since. I just think it’s very well done.

View it on YouTube

Posted on OkayTim

Oren Lavie

Tim — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:47:13 +0000

Found this video a while ago that I thought was cool:

view on youtube

Internet Radio

Tim — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:35:19 +0000

Over the past few months I’ve been searching for "my" Internet radio station I’ve done extensive listening to Pandora, Slacker, and LastFM.

It’s hard to just stuff like that without really digging in and doing some heavy customization (since that’s what they’re really all about).

For each site I created and account, at least 1 station, and customize from there.

Judging on 3 categories:

Ease of use (interface)
Unique songs played (minimal repeats)
Discovering new music
Freedom

Ease of Use

Pandora easily wins this, they have a great interface to manage your station. LastFM and Slacker aren’t confusing, but Pandora is just tops. Plus it works in my car and they haven’t figured out how to hook up the song limit to the Pre App yet so I can listen pretty much all the time.

Unique songs

LastFM takes this one, I rarely hear duplicate tracks unless I bookmark a song, and even then, it’s a nice balance.

Discovering new music

I’ve found more new music on Pandora, but when I “like” a song there, it plays until I hate it, and I find Slacker to be too predictable. So LastFM takes this one too.

Freedom

No contest, unlimited skips, no inline ads, customization could be more fine-grained, but LastFM takes this category by a landslide.

Winner: LastFM — it takes a little getting used to, but I’m lovin’ it!

posted on okaytim.com

Please Don’t Stop the Rain

Tim — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:36:17 +0000

Diggin’ on this song

Watch on YouTube

In Your Atmosphere

Tim — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:21:31 +0000

I like this song

Posted on okaytim.com

Gogol Bordello

Tim — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 20:17:57 +0000

Performing "Wonderlust King"

Pretty right on, huh?

I thought it was surprisingly brilliant.

A Difference in Mayer

Tim — Thu, 28 May 2009 03:22:17 +0000

I catch some justified crap for liking John Mayer on a pretty regular basic, but that’s whatever. I just wanted to let both people who read this blog know that there’s a difference between “John Mayer” and “John Mayer Trio”. Very big stylistic differences. He’s actually a really good guitarist and he shows it off in his Blues trio.

John Mayer Trio:

John Mayer Solo:

See the difference?

Bands I Don’t Like

Tim — Mon, 04 May 2009 21:06:32 +0000

Let me first say that I’ve listen to all these bands quite a bit. I’ve heard virtually all their music before I’ve come to the conclusion that I really just don’t like them. It’s certainly not to say that I don’t appreciate what some of them have done for music (The Beatles), they’re just not my thing.

Pink Floyd
Radiohead
Arcade Fire
U2
Coldplay
The Beatles
Telefon Tel Aviv
The White Stripes

I can understand people who grew up in the 60s/70s with The Beatles and Pink Floyd being fans of that music. But honestly, I can’t see how anyone can like crappy ambien music like Telfon Tel Aviv; it’s not even relaxing.

4 Stages of Innovation

Tim — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 23:15:45 +0000

When I’m building something new, writing a long article or trying to work on a design I go through musical stages; stuff I listen to at various parts of the process that help me along. It’s basically a 4 stage process. I put an album on loop, zone out and work until I hit a wall. Then the next album goes in. So this is what I go through:

Stage 1: Discovery and Enthusiasm

This is a great stage to be in, it’s when I’m all pumped up about a project and gathering all the stuff I need to get up and go. For this stage I start of with Aenema by Tool. Why, you might ask?

This album starts are amazing, and right when you get into it, they throw in an intermission; which brings you back down to earth. This is about the time on a project when I realize I might possibly be in over my head. But there’s a light at the end of the tunnel…

Stage 2: Reality and Drive

After coming off the initial high of the project kick off, I just wasted a ton of energy, but it was good because now I have all this information to process. So I’m at a pretty low energy level now, but I need to push on. This is where my all-time favorite album comes in: S.C.I.E.N.C.E. by Incubus. It gives me the energy I need to keep on going, right up until I’m about to burn out.

Stage 3: Burnout

By stage 3 I’m usually pretty exhausted, but the project is more than half over so ya gotta finish it, ya know? By now, I’ve accepted how tired I am, all the ideas have pretty much been thought of, and it’s just a matter of getting over the hump. I need some music that let’s me be tired, relax, and get engulfed in my work.

I use Amos Lee – Supply and Demand for this one. I saw him live in Chapel Hill, NC a couple years ago. I was already a casual fan at that point, but he put on a heck of a show in a cool small venue. It was a very calming night and it helps me get through some tough work.

Stage 4: Completion

Stage 4 comes with a last surge of energy. But a completely different type than I had in the beginning of the project. This is more like a cool “I’m almost done”, type of feeling. Feeling very accomplished, but still nervious because I have to step back and look at the overall project. Jimi Hendrix has a great album called “Axis: Bold as Love” that just does it for me at the end of a project.

Those are my stages of a project.

I love this blog.