Digging Through 50 hours of music

In a way this a follow up to the post regarding how technology has changed the way we listen to music. The music files for my music subscription service (Regrettably, it's Yahoo.) were overtaking my main hard drive. In in effort to rectify this I situation have been sorting through the downloaded files. At first there was over 60 hours of music and roughly 100o files.

Some eliminations were pretty easy. How the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir ended up on my hard drive is beyond me. Ditto for Yes U's Devastations and the most boring ambient trance ever courtesy of one Steve Roach. Other deletions were a surprise. Listening to Gun's and Roses absolutely horrible Live Era 87-93 all that cam to mind was what a pretentious, grandstanding ass Axl Rose was. From all reports he still is, but this gem of a set was a stark reminder. If you have this album and want a perfect example of the train wreck that Rose was steering listen to Dust and Bones. It is a excellent reflection of what Guns and Roses was slowly becoming: bombastic, out of sync, and overshadowed by the antics of an out of control front man.

The cool part of cleaning house is coming across those things you forgot a while back. Head Automatica's "Beating Heart Baby" and "Please Please Please" were the perfect antidote to the sluggish feeling that had descended upon my evening. Even though he looks like he should be at the local biker bar, Tommy Sunshine crafts amazing dance tracks from the Pitchfork approved artists. His double disc Ultra Rock Remixed has survived the deletion or file transfer thus far. The unfortunate aspect of Seattle's Blues Scholars is that very few people are aware of combination of political and social commentary they bring to strong beats. These guys are what is missing from hip-hop today. Then there is the old reliable of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Bands and their stellar Magic. Among the favorites already present in my mind these shone out to surprise me one more time. And I am only on the J's now.