Jump to content

Laughing Man

Premier Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    5,520

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    11

 Content Type 

Blog Entries posted by Laughing Man

  1. Laughing Man

    Dat

    By Laughing Man,

    Digital Audio Tape (DAT or R-DAT) is a signal recording and playback medium developed by Sony and introduced in 1987.[1] In appearance it is similar to a Compact Cassette, using 3.81 mm / 0.15" (commonly referred to as 4mm) magnetic tape enclosed in a protective shell, but is roughly half the size at 73 mm × 54 mm × 10.5 mm. As the name suggests, the recording is digital rather than analog. DAT has the ability to record at higher, equal or lower sampling rates than a CD (48, 44.1 or 32 kHz sampling rate respectively) at 16 bits quantization. If a digital source is copied then the DAT will produce an exact clone, unlike other digital media such as Digital Compact Cassette or non-Hi-MD MiniDisc, both of which use a lossy data reduction system.
    Like most formats of videocassette, a DAT cassette may only be recorded and played in one direction, unlike an analog compact audio cassette, although many DAT recorders had the capability to record program numbers and IDs, which can be used to select an individual track like on a CD player.
    Although intended as a replacement for analog audio compact cassettes, the format was never widely adopted by consumers because of issues of expense and concerns from the music industry about unauthorized high-quality copies. The format saw moderate success in professional markets and as a computer storage medium, which was developed into the Digital Data Storage format. As Sony has ceased production of new recorders, it will become more difficult to play archived recordings in this format unless they are copied to other formats or hard drives.
  2. Laughing Man

    Dead Cities

    By Laughing Man,

    just three days after ordering it, I've got a copy of M83's out-of-print second album Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts.
     
    normally this goes for anywhere from $30 for a used copy to $150 for a new one - but I lucked out and got this complete "Used - Good" copy for only $7 plus shipping, likely because of an automated price-matching bot dropping the price to match an incomplete "Used - Acceptable" listing from another seller.
     
    I actually feel like the seller underrated it, too, because both discs look as though they've never been played at all.
     
    while this isn't the rarest or most valuable album I own, it's definitely one I'm most proud of owning.
  4. Laughing Man
    when Nine Inch Nails announced Hesitation Marks earlier this month, my first thought was literally "the only way this year can get any better is if Katatonia releases something new, and since they just had an album last year I know that's not gonna happen".
     
    boy, am I glad to be wrong.
  6. Laughing Man

    Disintegration

    By Laughing Man,

    (click for larger image)
     
    180 gram double LP in gatefold packaging, featuring the full 12-track album remastered from the original tapes.
     
    only my second vinyl purchase ever, but it was just $25 brand new at FYE. couldn't pass it up.
  9. Laughing Man
    of the year, that is
     
    and as such
     
    it's about time to start giving some consideration to what will be my top favorite albums of 2012
     
    and it's actually going to be pretty difficult given the number of great albums released this year
     
    so for now I think I'll hold off on naming any names until I have some solid rankings sorted out
     
    but
     
    what about you guys?
     
    for those of you who listen to a lot of music, what have been your favorite albums of the year?
  10. Laughing Man

    Every Time

    By Laughing Man,

    every time I have a long, well-thought-out and important reply ready
     
    before I can post it, either somebody else says the same exact thing or the entry gets locked for precautionary purposes
     
    :<
  13. Laughing Man
    okay so it's a few days late but that's the postal service's fault.
     




     
    I almost pre-ordered this from their UK webstore for about $40 USD when it was first announced. thankfully I didn't, because less than a month after it was released, I was able to get it from Amazon for $20.
     
    great set. I'm pretty sure the DVD is region-locked so it won't work for me, but I bought it for the CDs anyway. I'm a bit iffy on Judgement's remastering, but it's still great to finally own these albums, especially in a package as nice as this. the case is pretty much a hardcover book, and while I didn't get pictures of them, the actual pages inside are pretty cool. full lyrics, artwork, and credits for each of the albums plus some additional commentary and information.
     
    I also own a physical copy of their latest album Distant Satellites which I probably could've shown here, but maybe I'll save that for when I have more of their albums and I can do a collection post.
  16. Laughing Man
    these arrived today.
     
    took advantage of Fake Four's sale at the last moment and got these three CD copies of Flowers for My Father by Sadistik for just the cost of shipping.
     
    absolutely stunning, beautiful album and one that I'd recommend to anybody regardless of whether or not they like hip-hop. I'm not particularly big on the genre but this is without a doubt my favorite album of the year so far.
  17. Laughing Man
    so my 2013 Album of the Year, Seattle alternative hip-hop artist Sadistik's phenomenal sophomore album Flowers for My Father, is available to download for free from the Fake Four label Bandcamp today only.
     
    I encourage everybody to check it out, regardless of your feelings on the genre. it's an incredible, beautiful piece of work and one of the realest and most emotional albums I've ever heard.
  18. Laughing Man
    I think from time to time (read: whenever I feel like it) I'll do entries where I shamelessly plug amazing albums/songs that are available to download for free, legally, courtesy of the artists who created them
     
    starting off with probably the most wildly inaccessible band of the bunch, The Armed.
     
    anyone who digs really abrasive, chaotic hardcore punk/mathcore in the vein of Botch or The Chariot should look these guys up
     
    their entire discography is available to download free in either high quality MP3 (320kbps) or lossless (FLAC) formats, complete with high-res artwork and digital booklets
     
    they've got one full-length album, These Are Lights (featuring a spectacular cover of "Gave Up" by Nine Inch Nails), as well as three EPs: Common Enemies, Young & Beautiful, and the recently-released Spreading Joy, the latter of which is a likely contender for EP of the year for me.
     
    as a side note, all three of their EPs feature former Dillinger Escape Plan drummer Chris Pennie, be it on only a couple tracks (in the case of Common Enemies and Young & Beautiful) or providing the drums on all of them (in the case of Spreading Joy)
     
    it's really good stuff but really, really impossible to enjoy if you don't already have a taste for that kind of music.
  19. Laughing Man
    Machinae Supremacy!
     
    an interesting band from Sweden, Machinae Supremacy employ the use of a Commodore 64 SID chip to fuse electronics with power metal, and top it off with anime and video game-inspired imagery and lyrics.
     
    while not everything they've released is free, they do have a handful of albums available that you can download in either 192kbps MP3 or FLAC format - one full-length, Deus Ex Machinae, as well as three compilations of demos, promotional tracks, and re-recordings: Origin, Arcade, and Fury (unfortunately, when you download the latter three and throw them into whatever media player library you use, they're completely unorganized and jumbled up).
     
    those who are curious and wish to check out a couple tracks, I recommending looking up the songs "Origin", "Winterstorm" (which is currently serving as the intro music for the Yogscast Top 5 videos), and the instrumental "Hybrid".
     
    UPDATE: I've converted the albums from FLAC to 320kbps MP3 format, which is higher quality than the MP3s they currently offer to download, and I have also sorted and organized the albums with the proper information and good-quality embedded artwork. if anyone is interested in downloading these MP3s instead, PM me and we'll work out a way for me to get them to you.
     
    UPDATE & BUMP 06/20/13: I've once again converted the albums, this time from FLAC to VBR MP3s encoded with LAME, providing for high quality sound as well as smaller filesize. as I used LAME (considered the best MP3 encoder available) rather than the generic, built-in encoder I had previously used for the FLAC-to-320 conversion, the sound quality is audibly better than before. I may find a place where I can host a .zip file of these albums and link it here for those interested.
  20. Laughing Man
    if you live in the US and there's a primary in your state today and you're able, go out and vote
     
    I want to vote in the primary but because of my current living/family situation and the way voting works in my state, I unfortunately can't. so if you have the opportunity to vote and you pass on it, I'm judging you extra hard today
  24. Laughing Man
    that's right, last night I rewatched the original Friday the 13th!
     
    regardless of all the movies and shows he's done or his numerous Hollywood connections, I'll always remember Kevin Bacon as the guy who got stabbed in the throat with an arrow from underneath the bed.
×
×
  • Create New...