Simple Math

If a train is headed east at 40 mph and another train is headed west at 60 mph, and if another train has a speed equal to the sum of the passengers on all three trains divided by the amount of rainfall in the Brazilian rainforest during the month of June, what will be the railroad company’s annual profit?

This is not simple math.

[Segue alert]

Simple Math is the latest album by the group Manchester Orchestra. It’s a 10-song disc (download) that from start to finish (45 minutes) really is something beautiful. I don’t know the biography of the band to bring in any interesting fact about the meaning behind any of the tracks. I’ve heard that it’s an album that kind of mirrors the lead singer’s life. I’ve also heard that the lead singer… hold on while I Google his name, Andy Hull, is the son of a preacher. That seems to be a vogue label these days so we Crums had better cash in.*

For the MO on MO you’ll have to do some research on the Web.

It’s guitars, drums, a children’s choir, mixed in with some string arrangements and some trumpet blasts. If that isn’t enough of a description to entice a listen I don’t know what would. You’ll just have to trust me on this.

So whether your preferred medium is vinyl, cassette (I’m actually not sure they are available on this), CD, MP3 or web-stream… If you’re looking for an album that will rock your socks off, do the Math!!

*Note: I think most of the members of the band The Kings of Leon grew up as traveling preacher kids.

!!Parental Advisory - This album does contain a few curse words!!

Almost there... plus a belated Mother's Day video.

I'm sure that the next post here on the family blog will be a very impressive one indeed, to honor such a momentous feat in blogging. As for this post, I told Mom that I'd repost this, which is why I am. Honestly this is one of my favorite episodes of "the Dlog", is it weird that I laugh everytime I see it?

Records

The Satisfaction of modern records

This morning I entered 4 download codes from 4 records I recently purchased. This isn't what I like best about records -- what I like best is how they force you to actually sit down and listen to music -- but it is one of the most satisfying aspects of modern vinyl. It's really nice and convenient to just open iTunes and download an album (or song) but then what do you have? I would much rather wait for a good cloud-based music service to be available (rdio is good, but not what Lala was or what Spotify would be) than download a song to a single computer (or device) and then go through the hassle of putting it on multiple other devices and computers that I use throughout the week.

With a record I know what I am getting. I am getting an object that I put into my record player and it works. It does not work in my iPod or CD player or computer... just the record player. I expect to listen to that music in one place; my living room. It's nice to download the music and have the option to transport it, but really, if I want to listen to it at work or at home I will usually just play it off of Grooveshark. I know this isn't the model for everyone... in fact, most people would rather download the song once to their iPhone and play it through the built-in speakers or plug it in to their stereo. That's cool (expect the built-in speaker part -- music should never go through those). The end.

P.S. The currently downloading song in the image is Mumford & Sons' Dharohar Project which you can listen to here