The War on Loudness

I just produced a 4 song EP for Kari Newhouse and when we mixed it I told her that we should listen to the same tracks with and without compression.
I knew this would mainly be heard in a digital download format and that common "wisdom" would be to compress the life out of it to be heard on primarily ear buds and computer speakers... but I resist that idea so she uploaded the tracks I did with her "Above Buildings" and "Incessant" to her myspace site without compression and I'm glad she did... just sounds better to me that way... The loudness war phenomena to my ears sounds like the audio equivalent to when someone presses their face up to glass and you're looking at it from the other side... all squished and unnatural.... I thing compression is fine when used sparingly, but the whole "Waveform looking like it came out of a toothpaste tube" thing is ridiculous.

Sort of Peter Gabriel / Kate Bush with some Tangerine Dream mixed in there....If you're intrigued with that description listen to the tracks "Above Buildings" and "Incessant" here:
(I didn't produce the other ones there.)

http://profile.myspace.com/ind…ID=2554689

Yeah certainly on the vocals, bass and drums.
I was talking more about the final mastering process than individual tracks.
That's what I meant by "using compression sparingly".

Huh?????? What do you mean you don't know about mastering?
You're pulling my leg, right?

I know what Mastering does to Music,
but technically, I have no clue on what to do...

...However my sound engineer is convinced that
for my Music,
(all of it coming out from synths.)
The Avalon is the best Choice.

All my tracks are mastered with it...
And I like the sound!