Maximo Park, “The Penultimate Clinch”

Vivian Girls, “Where Do You Run To”

The latest installment of my weekly free music column for Zune / music blog Inside the Circle is now up.

One of my favorite indie bands right  now is Cruel Black Dove.   I discovered them courtesy of RCRD LBL, and they will occasionally offer new remixes or tracks from the band.  If you haven’t heard of them, do yourself a favor and give them a listen.

And as always, let me know what you think.

The quest for the perfect headphones (on a budget) brings us to the Koss KSC75.

When I recently went back to the Zune, I knew I was going to need a new set of headphones, as the Bluetooth ones would have to go.  Lots of research lead me to these Koss headphones, which were highly rated on Amazon.com (from a couple of hundred review), and had a low pricetag.

After a few weeks of use, I must say:  they’re fantastic.  Crisp, clear sound.  Comfortable to wear (once you get the hang of them; I accidentally snapped off one of the headphones from the ear clip but was able to snap it back on).  Great range.  Decent bass.  Using the Koss headphones helped me realize how much better hardwired headphones sound compared to the Motorola HT820.

These have become my favorite pair, and I gave my old, trusty, and still functional Panasonic RP-HS43 to Karen.  I had thrown away my JVC HAFX33 inner ear headphones; the ear plugs grew stiff after continued use, and eventually started hurting my ears.  I’ve since sworn off that style of headphones; maybe it’s my ear or the brands I’ve purchased but they are not comfortable to wear after continued use.

For $16 on Amazon.com, they’re a steal.  I was impatient a few weeks ago when I bought these and got them for $20 at Boscovs.  Either way, I don’t regret the purchase.  These are definite winners.