Music on the Web

Subscription Music Services

I've been a Rhapsody subscriber off and on for a for 6 or 7 years. Anything you want play but you need to pick the music. I really like the availability of music and the web and mobile interfaces, but the social aspects are somewhat lacking and their recommendation engine is not good . Unfortunately they've done away with their free aspects and it's subscription only, $15 / month.

Spotify - Seems a lot like Rhapsody, but still has free offerings. I subscribed to the premium service to get mobile access and Last.fm scrobbling. It is a little more forward looking in regards to social aspects of music than Rhapsody. The best thing about Spotify is that other people are using it and we can share playlists

One of the things that makes  both of the services big winners for me is Apple's AirPlay. Being able to select music from my phone or iPad and throw it to my stereo is really cool, future tech kind of stuff. 

I've heard good things about MOG and Rdio, but haven't tried either myself yet.

Good write-up of subscription services on Auxiliary Memory Blog

Recommendation Engines

Last.fm - I really like Last.fm in concept. I like the idea of keeping statistics on what I'm listening to, but I'm kind of a geek that way. My profile shows all kinds of numbers over what I've been listening to. This is really what I'm looking for from the social aspects of Spotify. It would be cool if more people were using Last.fm. I think a subscription is required to listen to the radio stations on mobile.

Pandora - I don't use Pandora all that much. I used to think it was kind of lousy at what it did, but I got into a lot earlier this year. I think the algorithm had gotten much better. I think if you really worked on tuning your stations, it could be great. Also, Pandora has a lot of integrated clients: blu-ray players, TV's, game consoles

Turntable.fm - This is pretty cool. I love the idea of playing music with friends of long distances. I can just listen in to a public room ( I haven't DJ'ed in a public forum) or I can set up a private room for those with the URL (e.g. PW @ Work). I'm not using it a whole lot, but I like the idea of simultaneous gatherings on separate coasts with the same soundtrack.

My default recommendation engine is Pitchfork's Best New Albums. They are a little persnickety, and they like Kanye way too much, but in general if they say they like something, I tend to like it as well. 

--PW

New Music Thursday

Listening to Alpocalypse. Figured I owed it to Al after all the joyous hours he gave me as a youth.

I wasn't blow away with the first few tracks. I found myself struggling too hard to identify the inspiration for a parody or the relevance of the lyrics. Clearly a bunch of songs didn't get the formal buy in from the original artist and the music was changed just a bit too much to be clearly recognizable, "Skipper Dan" took .

"Polka Face" is priceless. Anytime pop music is played with an accordion it makes me smile. You gotta listen to this one.

While "Craigslist" is vintage Al, riffing on the Doors seems a little dated.

"Party in the CIA" might be great or it could just be my love of that one piece of Miley's repertoire. Who doesn't get fired up by "Staging a coup like, yeah!"?

Overall, it's about what you'd expect, but if that's what you're in the mood for, it's worth a listen.

New Fleet Foxes

The Album is called Helplessness Blues, and it was released sometime this month. Pretty enjoyable on the first listen (which doesn't bode well for timelessness), but it is about what you'd expect, which is pleasant. Very harmonic / melodic / nice instruments. Not sure what ideal listening situation for this is, maybe breakfast music, maybe mellow cocktail hour, maybe dinner background.

Listening to Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes on Rhapsody. Check it out!

The Boss

I don't what started it last night, but I felt like I really needed to hear some Bruce before I went to sleep. Started with "I'm on Fire", then "Rosalita", and "Growin' Up". Continuing today with the whole of "Greetings from Asbury Park" (incidentally, one of the first cassettes I owned) and the rest of Rhapsody's top tracks. I'm particularly partial to "Lost in the Flood" and "Spirit in the Night", and oh man, "Thunder Road" just started. That song is awesome too! It contains one of my favorite classic rock lines. Could anyone else get away with saying "You ain't a beauty, but hey, you're alright!"

I added "I'm Going Down" to my list of favorite Bruce songs last fall after hearing Vampire Weekend cover it at the Greek Theater (best concert I went to in 2010, hands down). Sometimes that fresh take helps you really appreciate the original, though the VW version was pretty sharp too.

New Direction

So I've decided to repurpose The Owl's Nest as a music blog. Obviously hadn't put any entries in here since my Best of '09 post over a year ago and I thought this might be a good place to collect my thoughts on music and share them with others.

I may occasionally have diversions into technology, but I'd like music to be the main focus here.

(and yes, that is a Glee reference in the title)

--P Dub

New Gorillaz

Listening to The Fall by Gorillaz on Rhapsody. Check it out!