Welcome Back Low End

Ever since my Klipsch 2.1 speakers died I've been using a pair of M-Audio monitors for computer speakers. While they are good speakers, especially for voice (i.e. movies), they lack severely in the low end department being a 2.0 system.

I listen to music quite a bit while sitting at the computer - more than I should - so I finally decided to get a proper 2.1 system for my new PC. I ended up with the Logitech Z-2300 system that seemed to be getting some great reviews for the price. So far so good with them and I'm still using the on-board sound. The sub seems to be pretty damn good for the size (no farting out yet). It's nice to finally get back those sub 100Hz frequencies that the M-Audio speakers couldn't reproduce.

Floor - Blow & Beyond Box Set

Long before Torche came into being, there was Floor, who were around a decade before getting an album widely released. Over those 10 years were plenty of recordings that are collected in the 'Below & Beyond' box set (along with their two studio albums). This box set documents the band's evolution in sound and line-up changes. Some of the material is very rough (not in a good way) and lacking in ideas but most of the set shows that they were ahead of their time. The earlier material reminds me a bit of a rougher, less polished Helmet before they merged into their Earth tribute era (even before Sunn O))) decided to do their version) and eventually into what got tagged as "doom pop" with their melodic vocals over a down-tuned, wall of sound (that has since been the inspiration for many of the newer metal bands).

I just wish I could afford to pick up the gorgeous LP set that Robotic Empire has put together.

Rest of the 'Foogers

A shipment of two more Moog Moogerfoogers arrived at work yesterday - the Frequency Box and Ring Modulator. After getting them in the signal chain I only spent 10 minutes with them (and I haven't read the manuals yet), the sonic chaos has begun. I can't even accurately describe how they change the signal of my bass, but the results should lead to much fun and creativity. Now just one more Moogerfooger and I'm done with them.

Really enjoying the new album from Brant Bjork

As the weather starts to warm up it's always pleasing to the ears to have new material from Brant Bjork to spin. I'm certainly a big fan of the man's music so it's nice to hear him continue to improve as a musician. This time around with 'Gods & Goddesses' he has a new lineup of The Bros backing him up. Without having to be a one man band, it seems Brant has worked on his vocals. He really stretches out on this one, showing more range and variation than previous works - it's been a slow progression from the buried vocals on the legendary 'Jalamanta' album. Some wonderful playing by the new Bros as well, great tones and production.

First Of The Moogerfoogers

After selling a couple of bass amps and a speaker cabinet, I've been waiting for some used Moog Moogerfoogers to come onto the market on TalkBass. The plan was to get together a Moog and Eventide or EHX board together using the money form the sales or buy a more powerful tube amp. Eventually I will buy a new tube amp but in the meantime I've purchased three Moogerfoogers, the Bass MuRF, Ring Mod and Frequency Box.

Today the Bass MuRF was the first to arrive. With a 20+ page manual, I have some reading to do but my experiments with it have been good so far. It's quieter and has a better bypass than I anticipated. Hopefully I can get something dialed in that will shop up in a new song - it's been inspiring in the brief time I've had it.

New Arrivals

A massive order from All That Is Heavy arrived on Wednesday (with a nice hole in the shipping box thanks to the post office). Mostly new releases from Eagle Twin, Ararat, Yawning Sons, Brant Bjork, YOB, Causa Sui, Circle, and Fu Manchu. ATH included a couple of freebies, self-titled albums by Elder and Sardonis.

New Blog Idea

Since I have now become terrible at updating this blog, I'm thinking of changing what I've written about in the past and going for more a long form "tweet" type of post. Hopefully that will eliminate these long, overdue updates and will shift the focus somewhat from recent music and gear purchases to comments about the music I'm listening to and creating.