honkycat-reviews

[honkycat-reviews]

underrated music medium for my age group is the radio!! because of how FM radio works, there's a ton more low-end to the audio but that REALLY works for certain songs!!

like livin on a prayer (bon jovi), barracuda (heart) and boys of summer (don henley) all just came on my local rock radio and I CRANKED the volume

[honkycat-reviews]

Stephen Trask- Hedwig and the Angry Inch

listened on CD from 2001

summary: stop what you're doing and go watch this movie. this movie is raw, it's drag, it's rock, it's fun, it's devastating, it's ugly, it's pretty, it's camp cunt and couture! one of my roman empire films. this soundtrack has the same cult-favorite energy as rocky horror picture show, but the songs rewired my brain at 15. hot take but i don't think this film is about being transgender- i think it's about autonomy. :)

background: hedwig and the angry inch is about a fictional genderqueer person who escaped east berlin (pre-berlin wall falling) that then starts a rock band!? so so good. fun fact! this movie was written, directed and starred john cameron mitchell, who i knew because he was the visual inspiration for viktor vikiforov from yuri on ice.

tracklist:

tear me down: "don't you know me kansas city? i'm the new berlin wall, baby! try and tear me down!" compares a human being to the wall making a person split in two between east and west, man and woman... while still being a banger? i love life.

origin of love: "we wrapped our arms 'round each other trying to shove ourselves back together" i remember translating this passage in latin class! trask wrote it as if it were a dr. seuss picture book.

angry inch: "six inches forward and five inches back!" i'm dancing around my room i'm flipping my hair i'm singing every lyric. gives hedwig's story through the guise of rock

wicked little town (tommy gnosis version): "and there's no mystical design, no cosmic lover pre-assigned" this is my roman empire song that made me feel deeply at peace when being a gay teenager in the christian american south.

wig in a box: "suddenly i'm! miss punk rock! star of stage and screen!" how i feel every single day putting on my new wave inspired makeup on my way to class.

the long grift: "your cool, seductive serenade was a tool of your trade" not actually included in the movie but included in the stage version. still really ouch.

hedwig's lament: "he took the good stuff and ran" the track that made me realize this isn't a film about being transgender this is a film about autonomy

exquisite corpse: "i'm all sewn up! a montage!" something about a female singer doing a rock scream instantly makes a song cooler and more punk rock

midnight radio: "and you're shining! like the brightest star! a transmission on the midnight radio!" slow ballad about fuckin holding on for dear life

nailed: "by the gold light of your halo i wanna nail ya" without spoiling plot there's a super emo little problematic white boy and this is his song. male manipulator music written by an actual male manipulator!

sugar daddy: "oh, the thrill of control like the Blitzkreig on the roll" why am i really living for this country beat?! toe tappin and everything

we are freaks: "and my other has a friend who has three tits! t-t-t-true story" this is so fun and punk rock. not to be that bitch but rip eddie munson you would have loved this song

in your arms tonight: "try not to be strong" emo little problematic white boy ate with this one tho

wicked little town (hedwig's version): "the fates are vicious and they're cruel, you learn too late you've used two wishes like a fool" i'm in a lot of emotional pain and it's the best kind because you understand big feelings but it's the worst kind cause this song has haunted me since age fifteen

[honkycat-reviews]

David Bowie- Let's Dance

listened to 1999 remaster on CD

"it makes very warm, understandable musical statements. i hope it's the most emotionally uplifting music i've written in a long time!" -bowie on let's dance

summary: this album is stupid fun. while it's much more front-loaded with songs i'd listen to outside of the album, bowie adds a lot of interest and joy! bowie is an optimist! he is emotional! he's a fun guy!

background: during 1983, bowie visited hong kong, singapore, and bangkok with a film crew because how cool is that! see new things! when traveling, he realized he had only taken very classic r&b artists, noting he hadn't even brought his own music. so, something had to change, and he wanted to find out why those r&b tracks had resonated so strongly with him. fun fact! stevie ray vaughan is the lead guitarist for this when he didn't even have a record deal!

tracklist:

modern love: "I know when to go out. know when to stay in. get things done!" so fun!! borrowed r&b's call-and-response which makes it funky and classically danceable

china girl: "oh baby, just you shut your mouth" i think this is probably one of his more symbolically misinterpreted songs? like this song is a critique on conformity? regardless i think the bass and guitar are iconic sooo

let's dance: "put on your red shoes and dance the blues" not even going to pretend like this isn't my favorite song off the album. don't even care if it's the hit single. i fucking love this song so much. no notes.

without you: "there's no smoke without fire" not my fav from the album since it's much lower energy, but i'm not skipping it. guitar is rly yummy

richochet: "richochet! it's not the end of the world!" love the fact that bowie later said in 87 that he thought the beat was messy and the syncopation was messy. not saying he's wrong!

criminal world: "the girls are like baby-faced boys" a cover of a 1977 song that was banned by bbc for being too bisexual. and diva updates the sound and makes it cool. rock on!

cat people (putting out fires): "i've been putting out fire with gasoline" i completely identify with the fact bowie made this song for the 82 film Cat People and then was like nah can you make it a little crunchier and add a kick ass fuckin guitar solo

shake it: "so when you gonna phone me?" love that little wiggle guitar sound but otherwise this is fluffy

[honkycat-reviews]

physical media > streaming

here's my only chance for my audio engineering college degree to come in handy- a VERY simple and fun explanation why music sounds different based on the medium.

First and foremost, sound travels in waves. The way that we digitize sound waves is by taking teeny snapshots of the wave in motion. Think of it how a camera records video by taking lots of pictures and stringing them together. Audio does the same thing. We digitize a sound wave by taking tiny snapshots of where the wave is.

This is a very basic wave (a sine wave!). In this example, I put dots where a tiny snippet (called a sample) would happen.

The amount of samples is really important when it comes to recreating the wave. When the wave is being recreated, it doesn't have that original blue line. It ONLY has the samples we made. Imagine drawing a line between the dots.

Notice how the first example now looks really different than it was originally. The solution to it changing that much is to increase the amount of dots. The more dots (samples), the more accurate the wave will be when recreated.

The main problem with having lots and lots of samples (like 44,100 samples in ONE SECOND) is that these files start to get really big. In compact audio talk, we're working with 2 different signals (the left and the right if you want stereo), taking 44,100 samples every second, and each of those samples takes an even smaller measurement called a bit, which happens 16 times each sample. That's over a million of those bits per second. If one song is three minutes....big file.

When trying to stream over the internet, major services know that if you cut down on the amount of times we take a sample, most people won't hear a difference. That's why CDs and vinyl are so cool!

CDs are able to carry and transmit the most detailed sound waves. Point blank period. If you want the best sound quality, CDs! If we're being specific, CDs can recreate the wave I talked about above- at 1,411,200 bits per second.

Vinyl technically can utilize the same amount of bits, but since it's an analog medium, it can't be perfect and it has the iconic vinyl scratch noise. Still quite good!

Spotify has an average of 320,000 bits per second. When it's at its best, high quality!

Happy to answer questions :3

[honkycat-reviews]

welcome to honky cat reviews <3

list of vinyl I own

Batdorf and Rodney- Batdorf and Rodney

Beatles- Live at the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany; 1962 ★

Beatles- Rubber Soul

Billy Idol- Rebel Yell

Chappell Roan- Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess

Count Basie- Pop Goes the Basie

Culture Club- Colour by Numbers

Cutting Crew- Broadcast

Dave Bruback- Adventures in Time ★

David Bowie- Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars

David Bowie- Young Americans

David Bowie, Trevor Jones- Labyrinth

Elton John- Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Elton John- Madman Across the Water

Ensemble HD- Live at the Happy Dog ★

Hector Berlioz- Romeo et Juliette

John Lennon- Double Fantasy

John Lennon- Milk and Honey

John Lennon- Walls and Bridges

Laufey- Bewitched (Goddess Edition)

Laufey- A Night at the Symphony ★

Original Cast- The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Paul McCartney- Ram

T. Rex- The Slider

Van Halen- Van Halen

Vince Guaraldi Trio- A Charlie Brown Christmas

Wings- Venus and Mars

Wings- Wings Over America ★

list of CDs I own

Beatles- Magical Mystery Tour

Beatles- Revolver

Billy Joel- The Stranger

Bon Jovi- Greatest Hits

David Bowie- Let's Dance

Electric Light Orchestra- Best of ELO

Elton John- Duets

Elton John- Here and There ★

Elton John- Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Jim Croce- The Lost Recordings

John Mock- Celtic Highlands

k. d. lang- recollection

Mario Galaxy Orchestra- Super Mario Galaxy Soundtrack

Neville Marriner- Amadeus Soundtrack Recording

Original Cast 1972- Cabaret

Original Cast 1993- Cabaret

Paul McCartney- Kisses on the Bottom

Ronan Hardiman- Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance

Sidney Bechet- Best of Sidney Bechet

Steely Dan- Aja

Stephen Trask- Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Tears for Fears- The Seeds of Love

Wings- Wings Over America ★

Yes- Best of yes

Genres: rock, jazz, folk/country, soundtrack, pop, instrumental, ★ means live, and italicized and bolded means i've reviewed it on this blog!

xoxo jam