Ripping CD to FLAC on a Mac

I have rejoined the Mac family for some time already and enjoyed the machine a lot. However, I found it lacks free music-related tools when compared to PC. My go-to music file player on PC is foobar2000, which is very versatile (support many formats) I like to simply drag some files from my drives to it and have it start playing. No import/library BS like iTunes. I could also rip CDs into my preferred format (FLAC at this time) Sadly it's not available on Mac. After Googling for a while, it seems to me that I could still use 2 pieces of free software as "replacement" of foobar2000:

• VLC can play many formats and I can drag-and-drop
• XLD can rip to various formats

However, probably for licensing reason, the "default" installation for XLD does not include FLAC as an output format (which is chosen under "Preference") To add FLAC as a format, one needs to download the plugin, unzip it and mv the whole "bundle" (a dir) under ~/Library/Application Support/XLD/PlugIns/ For other XLD tips, please read this. (I changed the file naming convention to my favorite one: %T_%n_%t)

Smooth Jazz and Metal Weekend

I came to SF less often since the beginning of the year partly due to changes at the office but I went two days in a row during the past weekend. After my tax appt, I visited the Legion of Honor, which I chose over De Young Museum, because of the "Early Monet" exhibition. (The "regular" ticket does not cover this exhibition) I overheard the security guard saying that it has been crowded even since it opened more than a month ago! I also read that Monet is one of the painters who can always draw big crowds. Impressionism gotta be the most popular art style (maybe Surrealism is #2?) Even though "early" implied that the pieces were not from Monet's "peak" period, there were still good and interesting enough to be appreciated in their own rights (not to mention the values of seeing how he evolved as a painter) For the evening, I had a choice to make: whether to see a Joshua Redman led quartet ("Still Dreaming") playing avant-garde jazz inspired by Ornette Coleman and Dewey Redman. videos) at SFJAZZ or the smooth jazz master Richard Elliott at Yoshi's in Oakland. Well, the box offices have decided for me as I wasn't able to buy any tix for the former. And to be honest, the music from the videos are not exactly very attractive either . Even though I often found that the beauty of the "ugly" sounding music shines at live performances, watching Richard Elliott live was definitely a great choice: if I want to play smooth jazz on tenor, he is THE guy I should imitate. He also played an Akai EWI at the show. (I play the USB version of it) I especially enjoy the tunes he played from his latest album "Summer Madness" (in the middle of March Madness, pun intended)

I rarely go to concerts two nights in a row these days but I just don't get to listen to great Death Metal bands live that often so there's no way I would miss Obituary's performances at the Fillmore on Sunday. Again, if I want to play death metal, this is the band I would cover. They are promoting their brand-spanking-new album, which is a strong effort, on this tour. The headliner is actually the legendary thrash metaler Kreator, who also had a new album out in 2017. The other opening acts are also worthwhile to mention: the show started by Horrendous, a two-guitarist/vocalists plus bass and drums lineup. Their sound reminded me of the Death Metal pioneer, Death, with very technical playing. I dig it a lot. The next band was Midnight, which I have also never heard of before. I could hear strong influences of the "punk"-side of Motorhead and also early Venom. They played with their head covered by a black-cloth-mask. And they no only got the look but also the chops. Both bands started the show strong for Obituary. If I remember correctly, I have never been to their show before. (And to be honest, I have probably seen all metal bands that I really dig after this one) Some of their songs are considered to be "easy" to play for "beginning" death metal bands. Don't underestimate their skills because of this though. Their guitarist used the whammy bar very well and played a lot of dive-bombing solos. And finally, it's Kreator's turn and they reminded me once again that they are as good as any of the Big 4 of Thrash Metal. Thrash and death metal are still going strong after all these years.

Obituary interview

The only reason that I'm still subscribed to the Rolling Stone magazine's Two-time-a-day newsletter is because once in a very long while they would write about music I'm interested in (most of the other times they just trash DT) Today they published an interview of Obituary, about their three decades of history and the upcoming new album, which is supposed to sound like 1990's Cause of Death (my all-time-favorite) I am surprised the Tardy brothers were influenced by Southern rock/blues back in the days! These days they are recording at their own studio, which is also a "man-cave" with pool table and TVs. Yeah, that's the dream of every male musician!