Good Shit, October 2011
Alva Noto - Univrs (Bleep)
Emptyset - Demiurge (Bleep)
Scuba - DJ-KiCKS (Bleep)
Morphosis - What Have We Learned (Bleep)
Supersupersuper 018 :: Ryukau - Go Acid Kobe :: download for free! :: http://t.co/OnrL62Fa
SUPERSUPERSUPER 018
Ryukau - Go Acid Kobe
Incase Capsule Headphones First Impressions Review
Note: this is written as someone who has never found a pair of in-ear headphones that have felt good to use for an extended period of time, i.e., more than two minutes. So keep that in mind while you read this.
Finally, after having the package being stuck in customs, and getting to the uncooperative post office, I got my Incase Capsule in-ear headphones today. I open the box, and find a nice little pouch. The pouch contains the headphones,and two sets of replacement eartips, as Incase calls them. The included instruction manual told me to try every set of eartips, so instead of just immediately going for the smallest ones as I usually do, I tried the normal ones. I had to ram the damn things in my ear pretty hard so that they’d even fit. Now that I’ve fulfilled the wishes of Incase, I try the smallest eartips. Again, trouble shoving them in my ears, but at least they fit somewhat.
The first song I try is “Gate 2” by Emptyset, a very bass-heavy track from a very bass-heavy album. After having listened to and enjoyed the album earlier today with my AIAIAI Tracks on-ear headphones, I was pretty disappointed to find that the bass is pretty lacking. The headphones feel like a pretty minor upgrade from the regular iPod headphones that I usually use.
Undeterred, I start listening to the latest episode of the excellent Beats In Space podcast/radio show. Still doesn’t sound too great, but at least part of the blame falls on BiS itself as the audio quality of the podcast has never been great. After wearing the headphones for 10-15 minutes, my ears start to hurt. Definitely not a great start.
I own two other pairs of in-ear headphones too: the ones that came with my cheap LG Windows Phone 7, uh, phone, and the admittedly cheap Tweaked Audio headphones. To my surprise, the LG headphones sounded the best, with deep bass and so on, but weren’t particularly comfortable. The Tweaked Audio sound about the same as the Incase Capsules (i.e., not very good), but are way more uncomfortable.
The volume buttons feel good, and unlike the ones on my AIAIAI headphones, they also work. I haven’t tried the mic yet.
I’ll give the headphones a few more days, but if they don’t start feeling a bit more comfortable—and I doubt they will—I’ll start looking for other headphones. I was also considering getting the $200 Incase Sonics, but considering the lukewarm reviews it has gotten and the audio quality of the Capsules, I think I’ll just get some Sennheisers or whatever.
Update, 11th November 2011:
I retract the comments about audio quality. It’s actually pretty good after a while. Still uncomfortable as hell, though.
Good Shit, September 2011
The Field - Looping State Of Mind (Bleep)
HTRK - Work (Work, Work) (The Ghostly Store)
Omar-S - It Can Be Done But Only I Can Do It (FXHE Records)
Teams - Dxys Xff (Amdiscs)
“Nobody There”
A video I made for/at the Dekadence Dataparty 2011, entered in the Wild competition.
I made the track in a few hours on Friday at home and on the train to the party. It was actually intended for a demo I was going to make for iPad, but I didn’t feel like figuring out the various timings needed for fancy sync effects, nor did I want to buy a 30€ VGA adapter I don’t need otherwise.
So, no demo. On Saturday, I was a bit drunk, and was so inspired by T-101 filming his winning contribution to the competition that I wanted to make a video as well. The problem was that I had no ideas at all, and no tools either. The end result: I filmed some clouds and bushes by placing my iPhone on a grill, messed up the colors in Quicktime Player 7, added the track I made on Friday, and entered the thing in the compo.
Didn’t even get a top 3 position, which didn’t surprise me in the least. But I still like the track.
(Source: vimeo.com)
Sure, you could go for regular old USB cassette capture, but what you *really* want is SUPER USB cassette capture. (Taken with instagram)
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Good Shit, August 2011 Edition
Here’s a handy mix mp3 with tracks from all the releases in the Good Shit August 2011 post. Download here.
Good Shit I Bought In August 2011
Ago - For You (Spotify)
Azoto - Disco Fizz (iTunes)
Belong - Common Era (Spotify)
Glass Domain - s/t (Spotify)
Legowelt & Orgue Electronique - Derrick In Nord Korea (Spotify)
Suzanne Kraft - Green Flash (Spotify)
Horse Meat Disco III (Spotify)
Sewer Greats, Volume II (Bandcamp)
Total 12 (Spotify)
The Azoto album is an exception to my “NO ITUNES FOR ME NO SIR” rule, just because it’s a great album and I couldn’t find it anywhere else.
