xgrr.de – the whole not the half

I really find it astonishing what impact music can have. Last winter during the time I was concocting my BSc thesis I was very intensely listening to Trouble Over Tokyo. As a matter of fact it was playing almost all the time, during jogging writing and in the car.

This summer I didn’t listen to it at all. Probably because I couldn’t stand it anymore due to too much listening during winter. Now it is winter again though and suddenly I have the urge to play it again.

And then when I finally find the time to tune in I have this strong sense of déjà vu. You almost can remember the emotional status and feelings you had before some place else and in a different time.

This is not always preferred… For instance I can’t listen to System of A Down – Toxicity anymore. During the time I listened to it very intensely I was splitting up with my then girlfriend. Still every time I hear the song I can remember the exact moment back then.

Just found this passing by. Enjoy!

A new one. Too bad I still got no internet at the moment. But I’ll won’t keep it from you. The Arctic Monkeys have a new studio album out. This one is produced by Queens of the Stone Age front Josh Homme. Recorded somewhere in the Californian desert it sounds promising. As mentioned before I can’t listen to it yet but we’ll see to that and then you’ll get it straight

Obviously there is already a version of the upcoming Billy Talent III album out there in the wild. I was able to listen to it and I have to admit that I’m really disappointed. After I and II and a great tour all around the world – this album is just not enough. It feels like they want to belong somewhere so badly but they’re not suited for that niche. You might ask yourself: “WTF is he talking about?” Okay, let me explain. The new album feels like they tried to get the whole album mainstream radio playable which is exactly what the last two albums were not (not that the stations didn’t play them eventually).

Overall this disc is slower than the other ones. But this is my first impression so I will definitly wait till the “real” release is out and rant about that then again.

Billy, I’m very sorry but this is crap (compared to I and II).

In my last post I described the possibility to increase the maximum output volume on EU iPods (probably on others too but I guess they don’t have the silly 100db volume limit integrated). In my first trials I used a target volume of 103db because I read somewhere on the net that the US iPod outputs this as max volume. The volume increase wasn’t that dramatic. So I went even higher and am using 105db as target volume which does the trick for me.

To gain the best results follow this short manual:

1. Add the songs or directories you want to alter
2. If you have your songs organized in albums then select each album individually them, right click on them and select “Album Analysis” and repeat that for all your albums MP3Gain recognizes different folders as different albums automatically. This ensures that the overall album volume will be kept at the same level and you won’t get any tracks with a strange peak. If you only got scattered songs  skip to step 3
3. For songs which are not organized within an album simply select them, right click and select “Track Analysis”
4. Select all albums, right click and select “Apply Album Gain”
5. Select all lose tracks, right click and select “Apply Track Gain”

Now your songs should be significantly louder than before. And the most intriguing charme about all of this is that you can reverse it. MP3Gain creates two new tags within the MP3 to reverse the process if that is necessary in the future. Overall nice tool.

Obviously it is not possible to increase the maximum output volume of an iPod sold in the EU due to strange laws to protection of the listeners’ ears against damage. That said there is of course a solution to the problem. After wandering around on the net and finding absolutely NO working solution which can be achieved with built-in tools I found out about MP3Gain.

With MP3Gain it is possible to change the maximum output of an MP3 lossless. So no re-encoding required. I’m currently testing it with my iPod to check which is the best volume level for the iPod… So stay tuned!

A few weeks ago a good friend of mine gave me one of his compilations. The first track took me in. My Anxiety from Trouble Over Tokyo. A few days later I ordered the CD and listened to it for two weeks straight. Great music. Interesting combination of electronic beats and great vocals of Christopher Taylor.

New release from Franz Ferdinand. Rocking sounds making your body move. The songs are good constructed and are making this album of Franz Ferdinand on of the best ever. Their music is different. It is more danceable than before. But hear for yourself.

As an old Lady lives directly above me I’m forced to put on my headphones most of the time. Which wouldn’t be the big issue unless you only own a cheap Logitech headset which is not really built to wear 5 hours in a row. So I decided today to take a bit of money in my hands and buy good ones. My choice are Sony Professional MDR-7506. I’ve read a few reviews and these are perfect for my use. They don’t have fancy stuff like active noice cancelation but they close around the ear which is worth a lot and the other specs seem good to me. So I’m very courious what will be delivered to my place next week

Dunno if thats exactly true. Nevertheless. The new album Magic Recoveries is out there a while now. After listening to the 2nd album over and over again the 3rd is quite refreshing. New elements in their music. It’s a nice album but I guess it doesn’t have the same effect as the 2nd one. In some places the vocal isn’t that clear as I got used to it from the first.

But anyways. I like it for the time beeing. So check it out.