Vinyl

In reading about iTunes and why it's a disease, I was reminded that mp3 compression is an abomination of sound quality. Inspired, and looking for a place to get tickets for The Grog Shop's Minus Story show, I bought Destroyer's This Night on CD at Music Saves, a tiny and tidy little record store next to The Beachland Ballroom (15801 Waterloo Rd., (216) 481-1875). Small as it is, their vinyl selection includes The Unicorns and Panda Bear, which is enough to suggest how perfectly suited they are for me. How it took me so long to hear about this place is a mystery.

Arriving home I wanted to experience my new favorite album in its intended fidelity, but that proved impossible with a generic laptop soundcard and a $25 pair of Sony headphones. I quickly decided I needed a real CD player and better headphones, before realizing that I was overlooking a huge disparity, asking myself, "Why did I buy this CD?" Well, to support Dan Bejar, to possess the album's elegant artwork in physical form, and for the pristine, shiny, reflective transcription of sound. "And how will I use the CD?" Well, I'll shelve it...sometimes it'll be in my car I guess, playing out of broken speakers...it's already on my iPod at 160kbps, but I guess I might rip it if someone needs it...and if I'm really in the mood, yeah, I'll pull out my CD player and my new headphones if I ever get any.

All these reasons point to buying vinyl. CDs are only superior in terms of portability, but mp3s make them laughable on that front. Records are usually only a few dollars more than CDs and are offered by most labels on their website. The album art is larger and, if properly cared for, the sound quality is better. Not to mention the obvious psychological advantages. And this makes you wonder more...

Why don't they include CDs with vinyl? The discs themselves can't cost more than a dollar to make. At the very least, how about a password to download high-bitrate mp3s for burning or iPodding?

Even without these conveniences, I can't think of many reasons to spend money on CDs again. They now occupy this awkward middle ground that cassettes did when CDs were introduced. So while in Chicago this weekend, I picked up Destroyer's City of Daughters, Notorious Lightning and Other Works, and Mogwai's Government Commissions (2xLP), all for $36 at Reckless Records, the single best place for new vinyl I've ever been (the latter two records being displayed on the wall alongside Silver Mt. Zion, M. Ward, Dead Meadow, Black Dice, Six Organs of Admittance, etc., etc.). On Broadway near Belmont. Highly recommended.

And if I haven't convinced you to join me in turning a CD collection into a record collection, reading The Vinyl Anachronist at Perfect Sound Forever will.

Hunting Unicorns

Did you think the Unicorns saga could possibly continue? Neither did I. But thanks to the always-amazing Internet Archive, I discovered that Alden Ginger's New Music Canada site (which is also defunct) was once the All Makes Parts & Collision site. I know, I thought they were on ZeBOX too. Anyway, in addition to conclusively settling the ampersand as the proper conjunction, the site reveals some brand new song titles, including "id didnt know" and "Let's Get Strong." Chances are I already have these, but I'm anxious to apply the titles to two of the five still untitled AMP&C songs I have. But when the songs have been pulled from NMC and there are no track durations listed, what do you do? You're forced to email the given address. This isn't The Unicorns' address, so it's either sitting idly, going unchecked, or it will actually allow me to reach Alden Ginger.

Now, emailing someone whose blisteringly accelerated fame in 2004 led to the rumored break-up of his band is kind of a delicate issue, especially when you're emailing him about some very, very rare bootlegs that he probably doesn't want you to have. You have to be polite, to demonstrate that you are a true fan, to be non-obsessive, but to get your foot in the door for either (a) track durations or (b) actual mp3s. Neither of these outcomes are remotely likely. Still, I had to try:

Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2005 13:16:09 -0500
Subject: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

hey, am i writing an email to alden ginger? if so, i love all your stuff, the unicorns stuff, and i really love your solo stuff too. that song "soon" that was hosted on new music canada is really brilliant and beautiful i think, i put that on mix cds all the time. anyway i got this email address from an old amp&c site on new music canada, so i thought i'd send a note. what's up with those songs on there, "id didn't know," "oh leopold," and "let's get strong"? i'd be really interested to hear those, are you gonna host them somewhere else ever?

anyway thanks tons and tons for all the music you've made. keep sweet.

-jay

I should note that "Zzzz" is the name of one of The Unicorns' side-projects, and that "keep sweet" is the signature frequently used by The Unicorns themselves in forums and on t-shirts.

The site also lists a mailing address for "Pony Expert," AMP&C's purported label, so of course a formal letter is in order:

March 3, 2005

Pony Expert
3872 Barclay Rd
Campbell River, BC
CANADA

Dear Pony Expert,

I would like information about the band All Makes Parts & Collision, including how I may purchase some of their records.

Thank you,
Justin

Awaiting replies.

All these sparse and fleeting Unicorns gems are really motivating me to do some careful archiving of my own.

MST128K

My life in the past few days has been overtaken by MST3K. I discovered that there's a video version of Winamp's ShoutCast, with some channels streaming tv shows 24 hours a day. Two of these channels stream MST3K, and though the streams are usually maxed out on viewers, for $4 my IP is on the VIP list of this stream, which means uninterrupted MST3K until March 31.

When a KTMA-era mini-marathon was scheduled last weekend, I knew I had to "tape" it. I probably could have guessed that these episodes are readily available via various p2p outlets, but I also would have guessed (rightly) that the files are kept extremely large for the sake of quality. Ideally I wanted to save video from the stream in very low quality; nearly all of an MST3K episode is silhouettes and bad movies anyway, so this could hardly be considered "compromise."

The only program I'd heard of that might be capable of capturing streaming video was StreamBox VCR, but from what I'd gathered it was riddled with legal issues and bugs. I've also had terrible luck with video software in general, so I wasn't hopeful. But I quickly stumbled upon Net Transport, "a faster, exciting, and the most powerful downloading tool that you ever saw [sic, sic, sic]," lightweight and with no nags or spyware. I was amazed when within a few minutes I was recording KTMA episode 5 in ShoutCast's 128kbps, meg-a-minute .nsv format.

Recording is still kind of a pain -- it's very manual so I inevitably lose a few seconds at the beginning of each episode if there's a quick turn-around; I can't know exactly when a particular episode will start, so scheduling is out of the question; memory shortages have broken the stream once or twice; and the support lifespan and editing capabilities of the .nsv format are both questionable.

When I'm not frantically configuring a recording session, I'm learning a lot about the show I ditched bitterly after Joel left, cursing my mom for taping over my Turkey Day collection, shaming the ungrateful 14-year-old who took the show so for granted, and trying to relive all the endearment and wonder that surrounded the show and its fans. I found out that the MST3K Info Club still kind of exists, and I finally became a member, for whatever that's worth. Best Brains put out a "Scrapbook Tape" in 1995 that boasts the most in-depth look at the show ever composed. And in the first episode of the tenth season, when cancellation had been made official, Joel briefly returned to the SoL:

Eerie.

Some more links:

• The MST3K Reference Guide: Useful site includes photo gallery, articles, episode guides, etc. Great place to find images from the KTMA episodes if you've never seen them.
  
• The Almost But Not Quite Complete History of MST3K: Very, very, very thorough.
  
• MST3K DAP: the Digital Archive Project keeps non-Rhino-releases in digital circulation, at about 700 megs an episode for easy storage.