A Matched Set

I would never guess that the grey metal Master & Dynamic MW60 headphones purchased in December 2015 would match my new 15.4-inch MacBook Pro a year later. But here they are, together, shot on Dec. 30, 2016, using Fujifilm X-T1 with Fujinon XF35mmF2 R WR lens. Vitals: f/4, ISO 400, 1/60 sec, 35mm. The Featured Image is cropped but otherwise is as captured. Broad bokeh is deliberate, with focus on the Apple logo, as are the dark hues.

The MW60 make me think about Apple Music, which begrudgingly replaces Tidal as 2017 begins. The HiFi streaming service delights with fantastic audio fidelity—difference I can hear, starting with vocals. But Apple Music’s catalog is broader, and the curated playlists are superior, for my tastes. Consider “Best of 2016: Alternative“. I couldn’t have picked better, and I was a radio deejay in my college-age years. 

Not that my tastes have changed much. I came of age as New Wave and Punk punched out disco—when Stiff Records rocked newcomers like Elvis Costello (“My Aim is True”); Devo (“B Stiff); The Go-Gos (“We Got the Beat”); and Nick Lowe (“Bowi”), among other indie artists. Forty years later, my ear still favors alternative, new wave, and punk. But pop punk is my preferred genre. Think Blink-182, Busted, Green Day, Lucky Boys Confusion, Sugarcult,  or Sum 41, among the maturing members of the genre.

Nevertheless, I listen to broad expanse of artists—from Bob Dylan to Vivaldi and beyond. Some of the songs on my playlist during this more mellow mood week:

Sigh, I sacrifice some fidelity for selection, and price. Apple Music is 15 bucks per month for the family, while Tidal is one subscriber for Twenty. Problem isn’t as much what’s missing from Tidal as what used to be there and ain’t any longer. For example, Nick Lowe classic “Jesus of Cool”—what I remember “Pure Pop for Now People”—vanished. The list of albums, particularly back-catalog stuff, that I can find on Apple Music but not on Tidal finally is the deal breaker. That and editorial music curation. Sigh. I’ve quit before and come back. The clear, crisper sound is tough to let go.