Dankology

That's is a wonderfully pleasingly clean set-up.

Never even thought about this... We're literally teaching ourselves Logic as we go (and I don't think any of the four of us are particularly Mac savvy in general) so little pearls like this are much appreciated.

He played them all. And rather well too.

"Terrible piece", surely? I initially assumed it was some sort of bland AI thing but I'm pretty sure only a human could have written it. It reminds me of Bart Simpson's book report on Treasure Island...

I love Rega turntables and have had a P6 for a few years but mine has the well known issue of humming as the arm nears the centre of the record and I also resent the fact that the stylus and cart are one unit so a worn needle requires replacement (or refurbishment) of the cartridge too. Am thinking of getting an Audio Technica cart fitted via the RigB mount (check Facebook for this) to solve both issues. A secondhand P2 or P3 with this set up planned for the future could be a within budget option. It wouldn't help with Rega's poor grounding system or speed issues though 🤔 My brother and I both picked up old Pioneer PL12d decks too - still pretty cheap, look ace and are easy to refurbish at home, even for a chimp-fingered imbecile like myself. Sounds very different to the Rega - but in an attractive vintage way compared to the P6's very toppy clean sound. Get one of each, obviously.

As only recent Spotify user I'm happy to be corrected if I've got the wrong end of the stick here but would it be more helpful to have a series of playlists rather than one ever-growing one? Just thinking in terms of generating more streams per band and was thinking that a ?monthly 12-song playlist might have greater traction - but happy to be educated by more savvy people.

@AndyTravis we've been rumbled.

Mani was married to my partner's cousin and although I only met him a handful of times over the years he was always incredibly charming and humble. He was kind and indulgent both when I was a slightly awestruck fan and when I had my own brief foray into not-quite the big time. Such a fantastic musician, sharp dresser and hero to vertically challenged bassists the world over. I don't think I've ever heard anyone say a bad word about him. Just over two years ago the whole family was in the room next to me celebrating my in-laws' 50th wedding anniversary - now Imelda, Mani and Imelda's mum are all gone. It's really sad here tonight.

A bit shocked by the comments re Hooky above... I'm not a New Order fanatic by any means (I think I only own their original run of LPs) but the man essentially created the blueprint for the next two decades of indie (and a lot of rock and dance) bass playing and bass tones. Propulsive, melodic and often as hooky as the top line itself without being obtrusive - his best basslines are, for me, textbook examples of what the instrument should be doing in a pop song.

@AndyTravis - don't we all look very serious... Let it be known that we are actually having a whale of a time here 😁

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg_Utj4Aljc

I'm not sure this is as confusing as you seem to find it. Cultures bleed into and enrich each other - this is a good thing. Taking ("appropriating") an element of another culture in order to suggest a shared experience that may not exist introduces the risk of looking insensitive or cynical. Much as you yourself alluded to above: it's a matter of intent and sensitivity to the subject matter.

I think you rather prove the point made in my final paragraph there.

There are lots of grey areas here but perhaps you've hit something key in talking about how you might "relate to" a song. All the ones you mention here are generally positive, feelgood songs and most people would be able to lose themselves in the moment (even if they were listening to the lyrics, which is perhaps questionable in itself) by having similar feelings of community, hope, nostalgia or whatever without having driven on the same road/lived in the same submersible/whatever. But if the song is born of something more negative (eg of racism, the politics of a certain area/era, past personal abuse etc) I think you have to be more careful in what feelings you allow yourself to indulge: you risk being anything from insensitive or crass all the way through to seeming to trivialize the original intent of the song. For me, I find dentists gurning through Chicago blues on PRS guitars a bit cringeworthy but hardly a hate crime, ditto John Power singing Redemption Song, albeit perhaps quite a bit more cringey. At the other end of the scale I think I would very much struggle listening to a privileged white youngster sing Strange Fruit or a current British political protestor (of whatever persuasion) sing Ohio. Which is not to say that I think you can only sing happy songs... but I think you can usually tell the difference between an attempt to share in some sort of cross-cultural community and a crass/cynical/tone-deaf attempt to channel someone else's experience.

Also, if he's intending to vote in a party intent on dismantling much of what makes us great on the basis of having unquestioningly accepted a load of fear-mongering inaccuracies he's going to be called out on it. Because it's not about "differing opinions" - it's about cynical populism being used to serve the interests of the few rather than the many. And that's why it has to be talked about: if grandad thinks we're being overrun with imported paedophiles who are being handed Ipods as they enter their luxury hotels, surely he needs to be disabused of this. If he genuinely thinks people are inferior by accident of place of birth then he's having Christmas dinner elsewhere.