As part of my new Band of the Week series I wanted to kick things off with my second band, Porcupine Tree.  I’m sorta skipping the first one I had, Mofro as I wasn’t a huge fan of them to be honest.  Not bad at all, just not my thing.  You can read more about them over at Jason’s blog as he really likes them and has a little write up on them.

I’ve been listening to them pretty much non stop for the last 10 days or so and I’m totally hooked.  In fact they may the best new band I’ve heard this year.  They are pretty hard to describe as they play in a number of very different genres, changing significantly from track to track.  As I’ve listened to them this week I’ve been making notes every time I hear something in their music that makes me think of another band.  I’d say that are a huge mix of Metallica, Pink Floyd, Cold Play, Rush, Phish, The Doors and Infected Mushroom (trance).  I told you it was a huge mix.

Unfortunately for me they aren’t coming to Denver this year so I won’t get to hear them live.  I can only imagine they are fantastic live as their music is full of energy and improvisation.  If you’re looking for something new and different I’d highly suggest you give them a listen as I think they are really fantastic.

This year I’ve decided to do a few regular posts on my blog to keep me motivated.  As a musician I decided that this year I should expand my musical horizons just a bit by picking a different band/album each week and listen to nothing but that artist that week.

So at work, in the car or at home I’ll be dedicated to that one artist or album.  Then at the beginning of the next week I’ll talk about the artist I just enjoyed (or hated) and will then move along to the next one on the list.  This is where I need your help.

I’m looking for suggestions.  No rules around this other than suggesting someone you like (if you like Kenny G then please don’t email me).  Other than that I’m open to anything, any style.  Just know that if I hate it I may have to call you out for your lack of taste.

Up first – Mofro.  Mofro are totally new to me but I figured it was fate as two different close friends recommended them to me within a day of each other. So far so good.

So suggestions please – drop me a note to ross@jasbone.com

A few weeks ago I picked up a Kensington LiquidAUX adapter for my car.  This is a device that plugs into your car’s cigarette lighter and to the AUX input jack to allow you to stream audio to your car stereo.  It offers both handsfree talk and stereo music (A2DP) from your handset to your stereo (if your handset supports it, the iPhone does).

While you can use the device for calls the quality is pretty poor.  While I didn’t buy it for that purpose I have tried it a few times with all callers complaining that they couldn’t hear me, quality was bad (lots of static) and I basically sounded like I was in a tunnel.

How about music?  Well it’s good, but not great.  Connecting the device to my phone was a snap and the two devices pair up quickly when I enable Bluetooth on my phone.  I’d mainly describe the sound a thin, with a noticeable drop off in the low frequencies.  There is also a fair bit of low level static, really only audible if there is a quiet moment in the music.  While the bass response leaves something to be desired it’s great for just throwing something on quickly from your phone without having to plug it in.

I picked mine up from Buy.com for a special price of $19.99 – and I’d say that’s about all it’s worth.  They retail for closer to $60 but for that money I’d have to skip it.

A few months ago I went to stay at Brad’s place up in Keystone and was greeted by a large box in his basement that held the Ion Drum Rocker.  I quickly tore into the box as I’d read about it many times and was very curious to see them in action.  If you can’t tell from the picture the Drum Rocker is a premium drum kit for Rock Band and Guitar Hero.

The difference in these drums and the toy that comes with the game is remarkable.  The standard drums are very light and flimsy, the heads are hard and loud and the pedal, well it sucks.  The Drum Rocker is basically a small, inexpensive digital drum kit.  A real digital drum kit I might add.  You can get an add-on module for it that turns it into a fully standalone drum set that you could play with real musicians.  The heads are quiet and very responsive, allowing for rolls and fast fills with ease.  While the cymbals are a bit hard (they don’t quite crash like a cymbal should) they are years beyond the Guitar Hero World Tour cymbals.  While I’m not a drummer (I can keep a beat fairly well) playing the game with these drums feels like you are actually playing drums, not a toy.

At $300 for the basic kit (the picture above adds the third cymbal for an extra $50) it’s not cheap.  Given the excellent quality if you enjoy playing drums it’s worth it.  Highly recommended.

Today is a sad day indeed for the music world as we’ve lost one of the great rock keyboard players, Richard Wright.  This also ends any hope for a full Pink Floyd reunion, which probably wouldn’t have happened anyway.

I’ve been a huge Pink Floyd fan since a friend gave me a copy of The Wall in 9th grade.  I quickly started amassing a collection of tapes from my local used music store.  Wish You Were Here, Animals, Delicate Sound of Thunder, on and on, then finally Dark Side of the Moon.  I’m not sure why I got that album so late in my Floyd loving career but once I got a copy I was hooked.  In my opinion Dark Side is the greatest rock album ever recorded and it might be the greatest album of all time.  I’ve probably listened to that album 10 times more than any other album in my life.  I’ve been fortunate enough to get to see Wright play with Floyd a few times and each time it’s been an almost religious experience.  A truly amazing musician who will be sadly missed.

A few weeks ago I started playing around with Pandora.  If you’re not familiar with Pandora it is a free streaming radio service that lets you build playlist based on your musical tastes.  For example I can put in “Miles Davis” and I get a station that plays a lot of Miles Davis with other similar artists peppered in.  It’s a great way to find new music and enjoy a refresh of your favorites.  I like it because it’s so quick and easy to use.

There has been one problem so far, I can’t use my multimedia keys on my keyboard.  Play, Pause, Next, Previous, etc.  Usually this isn’t a huge deal as I just let it play and mute the sound when I get a call or someone comes in.  While that works ok it’s not as good as using a real player (sorry did I mention that Pandora is written in Flash so it’s browser based).  Along comes OpenPandora to the rescue.

OpenPandora is a small desktop application that wraps itself around the Pandora web interface.  This gives you the ability to run Pandora independently of your browser AND gives you the ability to use the multimedia keys on your keyboard.  Sweet!  So if you’re a heavy Pandora user give OpenPandora a try, I think you’ll dig it.