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Music
,Nostalgia
,Gadgets
,Japan
The 8mm CD Singles Project🎶
Thursday July 25, 2024Two years ago, I purchased an assortment of over 600 CDs from an auction site in the middle of the night. All mini CDs. Remember those? The little 8mm (or 3 inch) CDs often used in the states for promotional material. The reason CD trays have that smaller indent slot in the middle. Think GameCube discs. Well, in Japan, they were used for CD singles. Since moving to Japan and building a media library, I’ve come to like singles. Case in point, I have every Perfume CD available, full albums or singles, totaling at least 50 discs or so.
I bought this box blind, having very little knowledge of Japanese pop music. But for Â¥9,100 ($60 these days), I’d be introduced to over 1,200 new songs. You can’t beat that. Of course, I didn’t discuss the purchase with my wife. Ask for forgiveness instead of permission, right?
Since then, I’ve been off and on widdling my way through the collection. To complete the nostalgia trip, I even purchased the same portable CD player I used in high school.
The current workflow is this: Open a chu-hai. Thrown on the headphones. Grab a stack of mini CDs. Play track one. If it’s intriguing, listen through to track two. If pleasant enough, import it into iTunes for syncing to my phone or iPod. Of course, skip track three, which is the instrumental used for karaoke purposes. Through this experience, I’ve come to find a lot of enjoyable pop. Think late 90s, early Y2K vibes. But the hits are few and far between. I keep maybe 1 out of every 5 or 7 CDs I listen to. Still, much more interesting than streaming.
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Music
,Nostalgia
,Gadgets
THE BE@RBRICK IPOD DOCK
Tuesday July 16, 2024I couldn’t help myself, but can you blame me? Sure, it was another late-night Mercari browsing session. Yes, I searched ‘iPod’, sorting by newly listed, looking for something to catch my eye. No, I don’t need another iPod dock. Yeah, I knew the speakers would be sub-par. Of course I outgrew my Medicom phase years ago. But… But… This one was sealed!
For ¥10,000 new, in box, shipped, I had to jump on it. Glad to say everything was in perfect working order. The tiny speakers are located in the ears, which sound as chintzy as you expect (audio sample at the end of the bottom-located video). The fact that you have to rout the audio from the dock into the Bearbrick via the 3.5mm jack is a bit less than elegant. Although, once people got rid of their iPods, they could have connected any other device via this jack. But of course, bluetooth speakers were becoming the norm at around the same point.
I wish it wasn’t so dang shiny. I guess I could swap in another Bearbrick and forego the speaker functionality and just use it as a dock, but I’ll probably just keep it as is, just the same. It is practical, in that it’ll keep your iPod charged. I’m thinking of getting an old Mac Mini to use as a dedicated iTunes music repository and iPod sync-er. Since this has USB out, it should be able to sync as well. This Be@rbrick perched on top of a 2009 Mac Mini would be era-appropriate.
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Music
,Nostalgia
Revisiting the first CD I ever purchased 🎵
Tuesday July 9, 2024At ten years old, sometime in the Summer of 1995 (or maybe ‘96), I purchased the self-titled debut album from The Presidents of the United States of America. Seeing as I bought this CD myself, it must have been with the last remaining funds from my birthday in March. Up until that point, my music library was strictly cassette based; a collection of cassingles (I don’t remember ever calling them that…) and home radio recordings.
Cassette singles were a wonderful gateway into pop music. Unlike full albums, they could be had for only $1.99, a much easier proposition for my parents. And they were just the hits, only the songs I really liked. A kind of all-killer, no-filler library that was immensely satisfying. This was before a few ill-advised CD purchases taught me to wait until the second single was released before dropping $20 on an unproven band. Oh, and this is why 45s were such a thing!
But before I made those poor lapses in judgment (Harvey Danger), I did luck out on my first CD purchase, PUSA. This would also be my foray into alternative rock, which would be the mainstay of my teen years. Lump hooked me. I was drawn to the band’s fast, upbeat, playful sound. I mean, I don’t know; I wasn’t really analyzing music when I was ten. But I do remember the pop-rock landscape being dominated by heavier, more dreary bands. PUSA seemed more like Saturday morning cartoons, whereas NIN seemed like the dry Meet The Press that marked the end of Saturday morning fun.
I played the hell out of that CD. With a run-time of just 36 minutes, that was enough to keep my attention the whole way through. Also, they seemed to sing a lot about animals and bugs for some reason. But eventually, my tastes changed, and as I swayed back towards hip-hop, I drifted away from PUSA. I think that original CD was sold at a yard sale some 15 years ago. I haven’t heard the album again since.
Which brings me to today. While mindlessly surfing YouTube, the God algorithm shined down on me and recommended I give Lump a watch. The simple chords and effective drums hit my nostalgia bone like a warming cup of hot cocoa. Within minutes, I downloaded the album and loaded it back onto my iPod. Could you really go home? In this instance, absolutely. Every lyric came rushing back to me in an instant. With every drum-stick count-off, I immediately remembered the track name without having to look down at a display. And all the animal references were as funny and poignant as ever. Once more, I realized they’re often singing about sex and drugs…right?
And then I remembered that some of the tracks really, really rock. Lump, Peaches, and We Are Not Going to Make It aren’t just anthems; they can be ways of life. And their version of Kick Out The Jams spoiled me to the original. Why weren’t they the biggest band in the world? I want to think that the music was too fun for a time when people were trying to be too cool. And were their follow-up records just as good? I do remember the song Mach 5, but that’s about it. I am excited to dive into the rest of their catalog and seeing where that takes me.