Your 5 newest CDs (or LPs)
Jul 29, 2012 at 12:33 AM Post #5,026 of 6,671
I actually just went and nabbed 5 CDs tonight. Found some great $5 picks.
 
The Byrds - Byrds Play Dylan
The Cars - Heartbeat City
Mamas & the Papas - California Dreamin'
Mardjani & the Georgian Festival Orchestra - The Planets (Mainly to compare to my other recording I have)
Otis Redding - Otis Blue
 
Jul 29, 2012 at 2:51 AM Post #5,027 of 6,671
I hadn't listened to the album before today, but when I saw your message I decided to move to album to #1 on my "listening queue" and just finished listening to it. If the Stars... is the second album I've heard from BT, the first one being Ima, and I didn't really have any expectations when I started listening to it. Now that I've heard it... I can only say that I'm very impressed. The music is phenomenal and the sound is definitely reference quality. Once I'd found the listening volume that seemed appropriate, my pre-amp was set about 10dB higher than where I typically listen to modern CDs; about the same level where I'd typically listen to a classical recording, actually. The album is very dynamic and has been mixed well. Overall, more than a positive surprise. I think this album is one of my personal favorites now, even though I've only heard it once.

Amazon Japan. They have some albums that are hard to find elsewhere. The only downside is that their shipping costs are pretty high – higher than the cost of a single album. What's good, however, is that the CDs typically arrive within a couple of days, and when I order more than one album the shipping cost stays almost the same. That's why I typically order three or four CDs at a time. Also, DHL has delivered all of the packages to me, and none of them contained even a single cracked CD case which is a huge plus.

I've browsed both CDJapan's and YesAsia's webpages in the past and both seemed to have a pretty good selection. I've never ordered anything from either, but I have the impression that CDJapan's shipping costs are more reasonable than Amazon's.


Really? Is it any different than ordering from Amazon USA, despite it being on Japan and in Japanese? I always thought they only ship nationally.
 
Jul 29, 2012 at 11:06 AM Post #5,028 of 6,671
Quote:
Ima is great but not his best. I'd listen to This Binary Universe (If the Stars... was the 'sequel'). TBU is my favorite album of all time. I'd also listen to his other recent album Morceau Subrosa. It's a pretty amazing work that Classical listeners may enjoy more than If the Stars...
Either way you're getting fantastic dynamic range and reference material.
(I've said a lot of this before but it's worth saying again)

I first learned of BT back in 2003 when one of his songs was featured in a PS2 game called Amplitude, which was made by the same company (Harmonix) that later created both the original Guitar Hero games and the Rock Band series. Not sure how I heard about This Binary Universe, but I've had it on my wishlist for... maybe three years. The problem is I haven't been able to find where I could buy the album. A couple of weeks ago I even tried searching for a digitally distributed version but that attempt failed as well.
 
Both Ima and If the Stars... are excellent, so it's likely I'll slowly collect the rest of BT's discography.
 
Quote:
Really? Is it any different than ordering from Amazon USA, despite it being on Japan and in Japanese? I always thought they only ship nationally.

Amazon Japan isn't that different from Amazon USA really. There's button in the upper right corner that allows you to view the page in English. Only some of the things will be actually displayed in English, but it does make navigating a bit easier. When you create an Amazon Japan account the page assumes you are a domestic customer, but when you are asked for your address and there's no field for country, look around the page and somewhere there's a clickable text (took me a while to spot it) which let's you tell that you are an international customer and that'll bring up a new page where you can input an international shipping address. Once you have an account searching for stuff, adding items to your shopping cart, and placing an order is pretty much identical to how Amazon USA works.
 
Edit
I forgot to mention that if the seller is someone else than Amazon Japan, then it's likely that the product will only be shipped to an address within Japan.
 
Jul 31, 2012 at 2:45 AM Post #5,029 of 6,671
Quote:
I first learned of BT back in 2003 when one of his songs was featured in a PS2 game called Amplitude, which was made by the same company (Harmonix) that later created both the original Guitar Hero games and the Rock Band series. Not sure how I heard about This Binary Universe, but I've had it on my wishlist for... maybe three years. The problem is I haven't been able to find where I could buy the album. A couple of weeks ago I even tried searching for a digitally distributed version but that attempt failed as well.
 
Both Ima and If the Stars... are excellent, so it's likely I'll slowly collect the rest of BT's discography.
 
Amazon Japan isn't that different from Amazon USA really. There's button in the upper right corner that allows you to view the page in English. Only some of the things will be actually displayed in English, but it does make navigating a bit easier. When you create an Amazon Japan account the page assumes you are a domestic customer, but when you are asked for your address and there's no field for country, look around the page and somewhere there's a clickable text (took me a while to spot it) which let's you tell that you are an international customer and that'll bring up a new page where you can input an international shipping address. Once you have an account searching for stuff, adding items to your shopping cart, and placing an order is pretty much identical to how Amazon USA works.
 
Edit
I forgot to mention that if the seller is someone else than Amazon Japan, then it's likely that the product will only be shipped to an address within Japan.


Thanks for the info!  Yes, YesAsia.com is a great website and shipping is really only about $5 for only one CD.  I never ordered multiple CDs at once, but everything was quick, easy, and overall worth it. :)  I never tried Amazon Japan, but I will try it out!  It doesn't seem that difficult at all! :)
 
Aug 1, 2012 at 3:34 AM Post #5,031 of 6,671
Went to the library today.  Here's some CDs I checked out:
 
"3 Idiots" soundtrack
"So Cool" - Sistar
"The Road" - Keiko Matsui
"The Greatest Chicago Concert-1956" - Louis Armstrong
"The Definitive Collection" - Louis Armstrong
"This is Jazz 23: Louis Armstrong Sings" - Louis Armstrong
"Three Days Grace" - Three Days Grace
"Red Velvet Car" - Heart
".LOVE: JPop Best Love Ballads" - Various Artists
"Tataku" - Kodo
 
All in all, some nice finds.  The new ones for me were Sistar, ".LOVE", and Kodo.  All the others I know and love! :)
 
Aug 1, 2012 at 4:41 AM Post #5,032 of 6,671
"Two Shoes" - The Cat Empire
"SCORE 20th Anniversary, Live with the Octivarium Orchestra" - Dream Theater
"Smash" - The Offspring
"Live at Brixton" - Pendulum
"Skin and Bones" - Foo Fighters.
 
I am really tempted to get Serj Tankians new album, but I'll have to wait seeing as I just bought some etymotics :D
 
Aug 1, 2012 at 2:06 PM Post #5,033 of 6,671
"Nomad Series" by the Cowboy Junkies (contains 4 studio albums + a disk of "extras")
 
"Blitzkrieg Bop and Other Jazz Mutations" by the C-Nuts
 
"Giant Steps" by John Coltrane
 
Aug 9, 2012 at 3:26 AM Post #5,036 of 6,671
Baroness- Yellow and Green
Textures- Drawing Circles
Addison- To The Ends Of The Earth
Red Hot Chili Peppers- One Hot Minute
 
Aug 15, 2012 at 8:23 AM Post #5,040 of 6,671
Porcupine Tree-
Up the Downstair
Staircase Infinities
Signify (Special Edition)
The Sky Moves Sideways (Special Edition)
 
Steven Wilson-
Insurgentes
 

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