Vivek’s Blog

What I’m trying to say here is that DVD-Audio sounds amazing.  I don’t have a 5.1 speaker system but my Audigy 2 ZS can still play back 24-bit stereo.  This is quite a step-up from the 16-bit stereo found on CDs and you can tell the difference.  Why am I suddenly doing a post on DVD-A?  Because I just got the reissued version of Porcupine Tree’s Stupid Dream.  Sure, it came out in 2006, but that doesn’t mean that the DVD-A tracks aren’t awesome.

The recording is of a superior quality and there is a lot of detail I’m hearing.  New sounds even.  Steven Wilson is truly a studio genius.  All these songs sound new and I’m loving it!  Plus, the DVD comes with bonus tracks such as a 15-minute version of Even Less and the video for Piano Lessons.

Countdown to D-Day:  5 days

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Yes, you heard that right! The man behind Nine Inch Nails, Trent Reznor, has decided to give away the new NIN album for free. The album is called “The Slip” and feature 10 new tracks, two of which were released recently as free downloads. To get your copy of the album, simply go to theslip.nin.com and enter your email address. They will send you a download link and here’s the best part: you can choose from a variety of formats for your download. There’s the good old mp3 download, FLAC, Apple Lossless, and a high-resolution 96kHz/24-bit WAV version as well. That last one is a 1.2GB download and it’s only worth it if you have proper audio equipment to play it back on. I just went with mp3 - my hard drive is woefully short on storage space. Let me remind you that this is the new NIN album in its entirety, being given away for free by the people who made it. I’ll post a review after giving it a few listens.

Reznor had been talking about controlling the distribution of his music and giving people choice. Unfortunately, he was tied to a major record label contract and there wasn’t anything he could do to convince them to change. So, first he told his Australian fans to just steal his music from the internet. Then, he broke away from his record label. By the time he did this, however, Radiohead beat him to the punch and allowed fans to download their new album at any price - even free. However, there was only one option - 160kbps mp3. For most people, 160kbps is sufficient, especially when the rips are done properly. The album sounded very good when compared to earlier, more traditional, CD-based Radiohead albums. Audiophiles probably felt that 160kbps was inadequate.

If you were a fan, you knew that the album was coming on CD later. But many people didn’t know this, paid for the download, and were then pissed that Radiohead tricked them into getting the download when the CD was planned all along. The media and sites like Digg built-up Radiohead to be some sort of revolutionaries for bye-passing the record label and giving the music to the fans directly. The band never claimed this tag, but one felt that there was more that could be done with band-controlled digital distribution.

Reznor went a step further with the release of the instrumental collection, Ghosts I-IV, and offered a mind-boggling array of options. You could get the first nine tracks for free from the NIN site or even via torrents - Reznor uploaded the files himself. Then, to get the complete 36-track collection, you could pay $5 and get a digital download, $10 for the 2CD version which included the digital version as an immediate download, or the more fancy $75 and $300 packages, meant for hardcore fans. The response was overwhelming and took down the NIN website for a couple of days. The music itself is hit-or-miss. I like it as background music - the lack of lyrics can get mildly frustrating but it’s not bad. There are some good tracks here and Reznor was clearly trying new stuff with this record.

Most people paid for the music because they love NIN and/or to support the distribution method. After all, who doesn’t like to stick it to the man (RIAA)? Clearly, Trent’s approach was more well-rounded and he now has a legion of internet fanboys who absolutely love him. This also includes those who felt burned by Radiohead’s approach.

Personally, I know one of the biggest Radiohead fans on the planet so I knew the CD was coming. I still paid for the download to support the method, and I bought the 2CD version of Ghosts as well. The RIAA has long fucked over both artists and music fans and it’s high time that the big name bands reach out to their fans directly. Heck, they can also promote smaller bands. How? If Reznor likes a band, he can offer to sell their stuff through his setup - he did that for Saul Williams already. This guarantees that a large number of people will listen to newer bands. Play live shows to make money and give away studio recordings. Now if only someone can stick it to Ticketmaster….

(I know Pearl Jam tried already and failed so perhaps it will be a LOT harder to take down Ticketmaster)

I have no poetry skills so I won’t even attempt to write this post as some sort of poem, as the title would suggest.  However, I will make every attempt to make this post enjoyable to read, maybe even include some jest.

If you go to Columbia or are one of the chosen few who already know what the word Mudd means, then the rest of the post is perhaps useless for you.  It might be interesting, but definitely nothing new.  For everyone else, this post will help clarify some of my away messages on AIM/Yahoo/GTalk/etc.

Mudd is the shortened name of the engineering building at Columbia.  It is tall and big.  It is divided up such that there are one or two departments per floor.  For engineering students, more or less, all classes happen in this building.  It also houses all the research labs, a cafeteria, a library, and a computer lab.  Which brings me to the reason for writing this post:  I spend several hours every day in Mudd.  Most of that time is spent either in the computer lab or in the library, and not in classrooms.  Almost every Monday, I’m there from 10:30am to 6:30pm (minimum).  I even go there on weekends.  Pathetic?  Maybe.

All engineering students feel a strange attraction towards Mudd.  It’s like a home away from home away from home.  Our dorms act as our home away from home, but Mudd is our home away from our dorms.  The library is well-stocked and the computer lab machines have all kinds of useful software for students.  Plus, there are printers for, you know, printing stuff.  I usually go there for group study fun times or when I’m solo, I just plug in my headphones and do my work.  Few distractions.  There’s food and drinks so you really don’t have to leave the building for anything.  Except perhaps showers.  You can totally find a place to sleep if you want to.  There’s WiFi everywhere (except that one room on the 11th floor) and ethernet jacks in several rooms.  Furthermore, the elevators are crazy fast, especially when not busy.  Also, we’ve got automatic sliding doors at the entrance.  Yep, we’re engineers all right.

I obviously spend way too much time in this building, but there are others who practically live there (you know who you are).  And did I mention the sky bridge on the 10th floor that connects Mudd to the building next door?  Pretty sweet, eh?

Wow. I totally forgot what I was going to talk about today. I’m certain it was interesting and no, it wasn’t filler material again. I just saw the clock and it said 11:50pm so I had to start typing this up. But as soon as I logged in, I forgot my intended topic. I don’t think it was music because I did the post on PT yesterday. Sure as hell haven’t seen any new movies recently, so it wasn’t about that. No, it did not involve Rock Band or any other video game.

This is embarrassing. I’ve gone two paragraphs now, and I still can’t remember what it is that I wanted to say. OMFG! Now I remember, my post was about the weather.

So a couple of weeks ago, the weather was beautiful - warm with a hint of a cool breeze. For the past few days, it has been chilly and overcast - something you’d expect to see in the UK every single day of the year, but not here in NYC. While the weather was nice, all my work required a computer. As finals approach, I have one more set of written homeworks that I could do outside. But, the weather had other plans. It’s not even pleasant outside. Apparently tomorrow will be better, but who knows.

You know what, I didn’t make up the fact that I had forgotten my blog post topic. It was good in a way though. It gave me two extra paragraphs to write and was useful practice for finals.

I’m excited!  This isn’t breaking news but I’m only just getting around to post this information.  PT have announced that they will be going on a short European tour to film material for a new live DVD.  This will be the last time that the FoaBP tour setlist will be performed, and thankfully, it will be preserved in a live DVD for us fans to cherish forever.  PT’s first DVD, Arriving Somewhere… was an excellent DVD.  The sound was top-notch and the band did a great job of recreating their songs live.

Ever since FoaBP came out and PT went on tour, I’ve been wishing for a good, live recording of Anesthetize.  The band plays it well live and I wanted an official live version.  Now, I’ll get my wish.  I’m guessing that the DVD will come out in early 2009 which is still a long time away.  Who knows, PT might go on tour to support the DVD and they might even start previewing new songs, like they did with Arriving Somewhere…

The songs I’m most excited for are:  Anesthetize, Dark Matter, Way Out of Here, Sleep Together, A Smart Kid, and Fear of a Blank Planet.  I’m not sure if all of these will make the cut - A Smart Kid might get replaced by something else.  It would be great if they’d pick out songs from the first leg of the FoaBP tour like Sever, Drown With Me, Lightbulb Sun, and Gravity Eyelids.  This wait is going to kill me.

Also, I apologize if my writing has been piss-poor today.  I’m tired and sleepy after all the work I had to do this past week.