How I Spent My Lala

When you sign up, you get 25 free songs (unlimited streaming listens, not downloads) - and one month to choose. Much like my iTunes giftcard "purchases," I wanted to use these wisely. Nothing I would be buying officially, nothing I would listen to only once.
O yeah, and maximum audio per credit, of course...


Jan 17: "Charlemagne & Pippin" (2009) by Black to Comm
1 track, 36 minutes long.

Picked this while being blown away by Alphabet 1968 (2009). I'd heard his other stuff was less song-oriented, but this was also released last year. Couldn't be more different: this is much more drone than the album. But I'll come back to it eventually.



Jan 19: "Landlocked" (2009) by Emeralds
1 track, 29 minutes long.

I posted this in the earlier Emeralds post. Seemed like a good pick, since it's not around to buy anywhere. And I've liked it as much as anything else I've heard from them. Score!



Jan 23: The Disintegration Loops (2003, 4xCD) by William Basinski
9 tracks, 5 hours of music.

Four cd's, at $13+ each (plus S&H), that I might pick up gradually under extreme conditions. Haven't even listened to it, but already this was the perfect choice. The story is interesting, worth reading, and convinced me the music would be worth exploring too. Pitchfork doesn't hand out 9.4 reviews to a ton of 4xCD ambient/drone projects, not that I'm aware of.



Jan 26: Ricochet (Live) (1973) by Tangerine Dream
2 tracks, 48 minutes.

I've never seen or even heard of this album. I'm not totally convinced by Alpha Centauri (1971) as of yet. So, I wanted to try something during the peak of TG's powers. Since I can drop into many stores and get Phaedra or Rubycon, I chose the live album. Also it's really sweet mid-'70s ambient Kraut synthscapes - live!!



Running out of time (and ideas), I used the last 12 songs to build a custom Astral Headspace Best of 2009 Lala playlist!! Sort of. Since my Lala ID is "Astral Headspace," maybe some listeners will stumble over here...

Best of 2009

Maybe I should have picked up some Abruptum??