Lasers.

Today I took a further step in my integration into the online world of digital distribution. I purchased my first LP off of iTunes. This might not seem like a big deal – and really, it isn’t – BUT what made this special is that I had actually went to HMV yesterday, had the CD I was going to buy in my hands and made the conscious decision to put it back down and opt to download it instead.

I am usually an advocate of getting the hard copies of things I purchase. I like having the physical item, digital goods seem somewhat flakey and risky, and having the hard copy to go back to is like a form of insurance should something happen to the digital files – go missing, get corrupted, etc. This isn’t the first time I have bought music off of iTunes – the only other case was Alexisonfire’s recent EP Dog’s Blood, but I couldn’t find that in stores so downloading it was the only option.

When I think of why I decided to download when I had the disc in my hands, two reasons come to mind: i) I didn’t have my HMV rewards card with me, if I had purchased the item in-store – I would have been missing out on those points, can’t have that, and ii) I am really running out of space for CDs in my room. My room is fairly cramped as it is, and it’s not that big, so it’s at the point where, despite my best efforts to keep it clean, whenever a couple items get put out of place, the whole room looks messy. I don’t need more CDs taking up more space, especially for bands or artists that I don’t yet have a huge investment in. If I had bought the CD at HMV yesterday, despite not having the rewards card, it would have been free for me (I would have used a gift card). However, the iTunes version of the album was cheaper than the HMV one. So in terms of pure monetary cost I say it was a fairly even-handed decision.

The album in question is Lasers by Lupe Fiasco. After seeing an interview and performance on “The Colbert Report”, I decided to check his work out, and I liked what I found so I bought the album – the “Colbert bump” really works I guess. The album is terrific, and this is from someone who doesn’t really listen to a lot of Hip Hop/Rap - granted I have been trying to listen to more recently as a broader project to expand my music horizons. I would give a little summary/review of Lasers but I don’t think I’d be fit to judge a Hip Hop album – or any album for that matter. All I can say is that I like it, and I’ll leave some links below for you all to check a few of the tracks out, should you be interested.

I will continue to buy CDs in the future, but I think I will only buy them from select artists who I really like and admire. There will be plenty more compact discs to add to my collection in the weeks and months ahead, as Foster The People, City and Colour, Neverending White Lights, and Blink-182 all have albums slated to be released later this year. After hearing Lasers I will probably want to have Lupe Fiasco's future works as a part of my hard-CD collection as well. I think I can confidently put Lupe Fiasco with Kid Cudi and Shad in that category of Hip Hop artists that I really like and admire and whose careers I will follow. Again, this is a category of artists that is currently fairly small - as I have only recently gotten into the genre of music - but it's growing steadily. I'm excited to see who catches my eye - or I guess it'd be my ear - next.

A small sample of the tracks off Lasers, check them out!:

"Words I Never Said"
"The Show Goes On"
"Never Forget You"

Lupe Fiasco's website