Filed under: Music
This doesn’t sound like something I’d usually listen to, and I bet it doesn’t sound like anything you’d listen to either. It was in the Hotel Costes CD that I got recently, and I didn’t think much of the song at first. But after listening to it for a while, it started to sound pretty interesting. Nice rhythm, interesting chords, and a catchy tune. And there’s even some whistling included as well. I like the whistling, mostly ‘cos I can’t really do it myself…
Raid the Radio, by General Elektriks. It grows on you, kinda like unwanted body hair.
Cars are getting happier.
It all started with Peugeot, when they decided sometime in 2005 that all their cars should bear an evil, plastic smile:
Then in 2009, Mazda debuted the Mazda 3, with her very own cheerful, slightly retarded-looking grin:
And now, Lotus has unveiled the new Elise, and she’s happy because she’s found herself some LED daytime running lights and cruise control:
Yes. Cruise control. On an Elise.
The next thing you know, it’s actually gonna be comfortable to drive.
But then again, maybe that’s what the Lotus Evora was all about…
I love happy, cheerful cars. I did a double take the first time I saw the new Mazda 3, but now that I’ve gotten used to it, I actually think it’s quite adorable. You see one and it smiles back at you, like a weird little kid at a street corner smiling to herself in a cute, mildly disturbing sort of way.
“Hehehehehe”
But after you’ve seen that weird little kid around for a while, you start missing her and looking out for her everytime you walk past that street corner. Then you start becoming ashamed of yourself for appreciating something that’s so queer. It’s the strangest thing, but the creepy-smile thing actually works.
For me at least…
Filed under: Music
Semester 6 has begun, and I’m still trapped in the festive mood. And now, Desmond has introduced me to a rather cheerful band called Pomplamoose, in the hope of deepening my festive mood and dooming my grades.
Pomplamoose. Comprised of Jack Conte and Nataly Dawn, the band lives by 2 rules: everything you see in the video was recorded together with the audio (in other words, no lip-syncing), and everything you hear in the song will be shown in the video at some point.
It’s a simple idea, implemented in a not-so-simple studio that looks extremely well equipped, with magnificent results. When Desmond first showed me one of their videos (a cover of Single Ladies), I wasn’t too psyched about it. But then I was forced to listen to the original version of the song by Beyonce, and I became quite impressed by Pomplamoose. They were able to turn it into something that sounded so much smoother and fuller, which wasn’t going to be very difficult in the first place, since it’s a Beyonce song. But still, it’s a commendable and very creative cover.
It made me curious, so I watched the rest of their “Videosongs” on their YouTube channel, and they’re actually pretty good. But when I started watching more of it, something freaky happened: Dawn started reminding me of Yvonne, and Conte reminded me of Desmond, at which point my enjoyment of the videos started to decrease…
But they’re still well worth the watch, and Desmond and Yvonne are still good people. =)
Perhaps I’ve tried one too many headphones yesterday, but I was just tinkering with my Hippo and the amplifier, and I just realised that the amplifier actually made quite a difference to the sound. I got an FiiO E3 amplifier from Jaben yesterday, and not only did it increase the volume of the sound, it also made the Hippo sound more open. Without the amplifier, the Hippo sounded a bit like as if the music was coming from inside your head, as opposed to coming from around you.
The amplifier made the lows a lot stronger too. Actually, it made the whole sound a lot better, but I could particularly tell the difference with the low notes. Whether it’s because a change in the low end is more discernable or because the low end was boosted a bit more than the rest of the spectrum, I have no idea. But it does make quite a difference.
Apparently, a headphone amplifier works by increasing the amount of power supplied to the headphone transducer – the part of the headphone that converts the electrical signal into sound – and this supposedly increases the volume and clarity of the sound produced, which it does quite well. It’s quite amazing what a small little box and a bit of power can do.
But I still miss my Sennheisers…
I love my Sennheiser earbuds. They look great, they sound great, and they turn lame after 2 and a half years of service. The copper wire that services the left earbud finally gave out on me yesterday. It’s wonderful how a simple copper wire can bring down an otherwise perfectly functioning piece of equipment. It is also quite wonderful how Sennheiser will probably charge me $30 or $40 to fix a simple piece of copper wire. So I took the opportunity to check out the local audiophile’s haunt and see what I could find there.
Jaben. It’s a small shop on the 4th floor of the Adelphi, beside Funan the IT Mall. They sell earbuds, headphones, in-ear monitors and the best service I’ve seen in a long time. Don’t bother with research before you head down to the shop, ‘cos these guys actually allow you to try out and compare different earbuds and headphones to see which works best for you. And they know their stuff too. They know the balance and the sound offered by each of their headphones and earbuds, and they’ll recommend different sets of phones for you to try, based on the feedback you give them after you go through each pair of phones. What kind of shop actually does this kind of thing? It was amazing.
$50 doesn’t get you very far in terms of earbuds. Most of the earbuds I tried had either a tinny sound with too little bass, or excessive, and sometimes mushy bass. My search ended with the “Hippo Pearl” - a pair of nondescript-looking earbuds married to some oddly coloured silicone tips, and named after a tubby-looking animal and my drumset. Not the most promising start then.
But listening to it reminded me of my Sennheisers. A nice balanced sound, with distinct, clear highs, and lows that were strong and slightly punchy but not mushy like some of the other buds that I tried. The sound isn’t mind-blowing, and I still miss my Sennheisers, but not by much. It doesn’t get any better than this for $50. In fact, $50 seemed like quite a bargain for the kind of sound made by the Hippo.
So I bought it. They gave me a headphone amplifier for free too. It’s supposed to improve the quality of the sound piped out of your iPod, but now I have no idea what to do with it. I tried feeding it to my Hippo but they seemed to make the same kind of sound as if the amplifier wasn’t there. It seems I’m not audiophilic enough to tell the difference.
I like my Hippo, and if you’re hunting for a new pair of headphones or earbuds, you’re probably gonna find something you’ll like at Jaben too. It’s located in the Adelphi, #04-11. Not the most impressive-looking shop by any means, but pretty much everything else about it is. Just like my Hippo.
