OT: Spotify - Discover Weekly

[Ron Moses]

If you're a Spotify user, go to your playlists and check out your Discover Weekly playlist. Yes, you have one. Every Monday Spotify compiles a personalized 30-track mix tape for you based on your listening history. I think the feature is only two weeks old, and so far it's a huge hit in my house. My wife's list was full of the girly crap she's into (she loved it) and mine was a mix of eclectic 70s-80s pop and some experimental stuff. I wish I'd written it down, it was impressive. And it's nice that, although I listen to a very broad range of music, the mix was very cohesive.

I haven't listened to this week's playlist yet, but here it is...

Pablo Picasso - The Modern Lovers
Rise - Public Image Ltd.
One Better - Les Claypool
Funky Drummer - James Brown
Bowie - Flight of the Conchords
Me and my Arrow - Harry Nilsson
I'm Glad - Captain Beefheart
Tommy the Cat - Primus
Rattlesnake - St. Vincent
Father Sister Berserker - Tobacco
Care of Cell 44 - The Zombies
Freddie's Dead - Curtis Mayfield
Whiskey in the Jar - Thin Lizzy
Jackie Blue - The Ozark Mountain Daredevils
Fopp - Ohio Players
A Whiter Shade of Pale - Procol Harum
I Can't Go For That - Hall & Oates
Amoreena - Elton John
Celluloid Heroes - The Kinks
You Got The Love - Rufus/Chaka Khan
Low Key - Tweedy
Up The Beach - Jane's Addiction
Whole Wide World - Wreckless Eric
I Think I'm Going Bald - Rush
Machine Gun - Commodores
Whatever Gets You Through The Night - John Lennon
Do Ya - The Move
Never Let Me Down Again - Depeche Mode
Walkin' - Thundercat
Mothership Connection - Parliament

I'm aware of having heard eight of those songs. If last week is any indication, I'm likely to enjoy the majority of the remainder. Anyway, I think this feature is pretty great so check it out.

ron

[mrnewit]

Post by Ron Moses
If you're a Spotify user, go to your playlists and check out your Discover Weekly playlist.

Oh, thanks for this. I found probably 4 or 5 bands that I need to investigate. Spotify's discover feature is one of the reasons why I still keep it about.

andy

[Ron Moses]

Post by mrnewit
Oh, thanks for this. I found probably 4 or 5 bands that I need to investigate. Spotify's discover feature is one of the reasons why I still keep it about.

I've had difficulty cracking into both Harry Nilsson and Captain Beefheart, and here Spotify hands me a track by each that I really like. And that Zombies track piqued my interest big time. So I'm very positive on this new feature.

Of course they also handed me one of the five worst Rush tracks, so there's that too.

ron

[mrnewit]

Post by Ron Moses
Of course they also handed me one of the five worst Rush tracks, so there's that too.

See I go easy on those first few albums. Why you ask? Ahem:

"One must put up barriers to keep oneself intact"

I go easy on those albums because I don't have to love the songs whilst bracing myself for nuggets of wisdom found from Neil's adolescently-deep psychological spelunking. He's a fine guy, I'm sure, but he has a talent to come up with a lyric that is clangs around my head worse than any torture available to the Red Star of the Solar Federation.

andy

[Ron Moses]

Post by mrnewit
"One must put up barriers to keep oneself intact"

I guess there's no point in arguing the value of lyrics. (I assume you're quoting that lyric to express why you avoid those albums, not to offer an example of an early lyric, which that is not.) I don't even listen to most lyrics. And yeah, I also find quite a few of Neil's pre-Permanent Waves lyrics to be high-school journal material. But I was in high school when I fell in love with it, so it's hard to shake my fondness. And I do feel he wrote some pretty amazing lyrics later on (the one you quoted being a favorite, along with Freewill).

ron

[mrnewit]

Post by Ron Moses
I guess there's no point in arguing the value of lyrics. (I assume you're quoting that lyric to express why you avoid those albums, not to offer an example of an early lyric, which that is not.)

What, my clear-as-mud writing style leaves people with more questions than answers!?! (Yes, that's what I meant. I'm a mechanical engineer and so my writing, such as it is, is as miraculous as a horse that can count. My people normally converse in grunts and equations.)

Post by Ron Moses
I don't even listen to most lyrics.

My wife, I swear, listens solely to lyrics whereas I tend not to hear them at all unless they force their way in. (There are a couple people that I do take the time with: Joni, Ian Anderson and, at one time, Sting.) She makes fun of me incessantly for not knowing the lyrics to many of Mike's songs in spite of listening to them constantly for years.

Post by Ron Moses
And yeah, I also find quite a few of Neil's pre-Permanent Waves lyrics to be high-school journal material. But I was in high school when I fell in love with it, so it's hard to shake my fondness. And I do feel he wrote some pretty amazing lyrics later on (the one you quoted being a favorite, along with Freewill).

I like Freewill to an extent. The line I quoted just juts out of the song for me like an elbow aiming for my head. Neil seems to have an output that does that to me more often than others. I can't dislike the material because of it though. And still one of the most fun live bands ever.

Anyway, in closing, lyrics are a form of mind control that must be shunned at every step by an alert and vigilant populace. Please help yourself to a copy of my pamphlet and God bless.

I remain,
andy

[Ron Moses]

At first I thought this week's list was a bit heavy on stuff I've heard before, but the count is only 8 or 9 out of 30 (I'm not sure if I've heard Hummer). They do seem to be keeping within a certain safety zone this week, or at least it looks that way pre-listen. They threw me one Captain Beefheart track last week, and one or two slightly off-kilter tracks. I would have liked a few more, but since I haven't listened to this week's yet, maybe there are surprises still left in store.

Let's Go - The Cars
Next To You - The Police
Hallogallo - NEU!
Ex Lion Tamer - Wire
Every Picture Tells A Story - Rod Stewart
Triangle - Badbadnotgood
Gimme Some Money - Spinal Tap
Making A Fool Of You - HOMESHAKE
Hummer - Smashing Pumpkins
Sweet Leaf - Black Sabbath
Just Got Paid - ZZ Top
Hey Lover - Blake Mills
Can't Find My Way Home - Blind Faith
Who Knows - Jimi Hendrix
4th Of July - Soundgarden
Child Of Vision - Supertramp
Desert Cruiser - Truckfighters
Paper In Fire - John Mellencamp
Serve The Servants - Nirvana
Down By The River - Buddy Miles
Neat Neat Neat - The Damned
Don't Ask Me To Explain - Of Montreal
Debra - Beck
Christine's Tune - The Flying Burrito Brothers
In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed - The Allman Brothers Band
Just Dropped In - The First Edition
Bitterblue - Cat Stevens
The Beat Goes On - The Kings

[Ron Moses]

After last week's semi-dud of a playlist, this week's is pretty killer. I think I'd only heard 5/30 tracks, which is a nice ratio. And of all the new stuff, there's really nothing here I'm turning my nose up at. Most of it is fantastic.

Okay, I could live without the Shatner track, but since I own that album I can't complain about its inclusion here. And no, I'm not going to keep posting these lists forever...but then again it's not like I'm filling up your hard drive so maybe I will, dammit! :)

Cannibal Resource - Dirty Projectors
Ghost With A Boner - Diarrhea Planet
Sear Roebuck M&Ms - Ava Luna
No. 6 - Moon Hooch
New York Groove - Ace Frehley
Common People - William Shatner
Rio - Duran Duran
Small Stakes - Spoon
I Got A Line On You - Spirit
Be Above It - Tame Impala
Tiger Phone Card - Dengue Fever
What A Fool Believes - Rubblebucket
Looking Down The Barrel Of A Gun - Beastie Boys
Good Name - William Onyeabor
Also Sprach Zarathustra - Deodato
I Heard Ramona Sing - Frank Black
Chateau Lobby #4 (In C For Two Virgins) - Father John Misty
Instant Hit - The Slits
Golden Age - TV On The Radio
Talk To God - Goat
Spill The Wine - War/Eric Burdon
Hazey Jane II - Nick Drake
Suspended in Gaffa - Kate Bush
A Place To Start - White Denim
Give It To Me - J. Geils Band
Sweet Salvation - The Stepkids
Nothin' No - David Vandervelde
Is This What You Wanted - Leonard Cohen
Blue Diamonds - The Long Winters

[Bice]

On Mon, 27 Jul 2015 07:00:31 -0700 (PDT), Ron Moses

I'm aware of having heard eight of those songs. If last week is any indicat=
ion, I'm likely to enjoy the majority of the remainder. Anyway, I think thi=
s feature is pretty great so check it out.

I counted 10 songs in there that I knew, at least 8 of which are
currently on my MP3 player and only 1 of which I actively dislike.

You're making me think I should check out this Spotify thing, but
the last thing I need is something that would encourage me to buy
even more music.

-- Bob "Bice" Eichler

[Ron Moses]

Post by Bice
You're making me think I should check out this Spotify thing, but
the last thing I need is something that would encourage me to buy
even more music.

Well...I hate to say this, but...with the exception of new MK releases, I rarely bother buying music anymore since I got a premium Spotify subscription. I don't have to, because I basically have it already. If I bought a CD I would only rip it to my hard drive and transfer it to my phone's SD card anyway. With wireless Internet being so readily available, the end results are indistinguishable. And you can download anything you think you might want handy during those times when you have no Internet access. So buying CDs is pretty much a thing of the past for me.

I know that may not be great for the artists, and that does suck, but I've got a budget like anyone else and I have to look at this from the consumer side. In much the same way Netflix nearly eliminated my spending on DVDs while increasing the number of movies and TV shows I have access to, Spotify has done the same for music, but on a far larger scale. There are a few artists I need to keep on hand - the Beatles being the prime example - but I already have that stuff anyway.

So no, it doesn't encourage me to buy more music. It encourages me to listen to more music, and to discover more music with zero risk. And on the bright side, while I haven't bought a non-MK CD in some time, I also haven't "obtained" any music through illegitimate means in that same time. And I've found more artists who I want to see live, which is a plus for everyone.

so endeth the commercial,
ron