The new Wolf Parade album, At Mount Zoomer, is great. I’ve been listening to it for a week solid.
I came to be aware that this album was coming out because of iLike on Facebook. I’ve put in the bands I like most these days, and whenever they’ve got an album coming out, or are playing near me, I see a message. It’s great. I love it.
So the day of its release, I swung by my local record shop out of curiosity… and there it was! I bought the record… sound unheard you might say. Fifteen bucks isn’t as cheap as records used to be, but extremely reasonable considering that’s what the CD costs, and CD’s are crap. I mean, they are crap! I’ve always hated them. I’m not being an elitist record snob… I just don’t know why you’d choose a CD over a record. But I’ve been using an iPod for a long time, and that really does completely make CD’s obsolete. There’s just no point. The music might possibly sound better on the CD, depending… but most people don’t know the difference.
It’s like comparing a paperback to a hardcover book. Or like the difference between looking at art on your cell phone, versus a nice big coffee table book. The album is something. It’s big, physical, and it really puts the focus on the art. As a designer, I kinda like that. CD’s are like those tiny little booklets promoting Camel cigarettes. They’re like little crappy club flyers, wrapped in plastic garbage. Records are giant and lovely, and often have other artifacts within, as does this one.
Not only that, but it includes a coupon to download the MP3’s for free! And why not? If I had any doubt about buying the record, that certainly settled it. It doesn’t really cost them anything to throw that in, but it totally sealed the deal for me. I listen to the MP3’s at work or on the go, and when I get home I can listen to the record on our nice stereo.
With a glass of wine, of course. Not beer. Beer is crap. :)
