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!

Best of '09

Sorry I'm a few days late. In departure from years gone by, I am not going to restrict this year's list to the length of a standard audio cd or one song per artist. Also I am no longer using Lala to embed songs, because they got bought by Apple, and I'm more disapointed than Hitler in the iPad, so screw them! I'm just going to put the list out there, it's up to you figure out how to listen it (though I highly recommend Rhapsody).

Without further ado, and with fancy new headings:

The Albums I Bought Before Listening To (i.e. the Indie Songs You Heard)

1. "Wilco (the Song)" - Wilco, Wilco

Great band, good song, great tour.

2. "My Girls" - Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion

This song reflects my own desires to leave behind my material excess and live a simple life

3. "The Privateer" - Andrew Bird, Noble Beast

Gotta love songs about the sea, you may have heard this on Facebook

4. "Sleepyhead" - Passion Pit, Manners

I used to think this wasn't as good as The Reeling, now I think it's better. Check out this video on Pitchfork

5. "The Reeling" - Passion Pit, Manners

I think this was in a super bowl commercial. It's my default ring tone,

6. "Lisztomania" - Phoenix, Wolgang Amadeus Phoenix

Just cause it was in like 5 car commercials, doesn't make it any less awesome. btw, how great is the current Mercury line of automobiles?

7. "1901" - Phoenix, Wolgang Amadeus Phoenix

Chorus about bars = winner, former ringtone

8. "Zero" - Yeah, Yeah, Yeah's, It's Blitz

The 2 best songs on this album are both really good. YYY's just plain rock.

9. "Heads Will Roll" - Yeah, Yeah, Yeah's, It's Blitz

This was in a commercial for SciFi channel's Alice in Wonderland, which made me want to watch it a little more. The SyFy re-branding made me want to watch less.

10. "Big Booty Woman" - Black Joe Lewis & the Honey Bears, Tell 'em What Your Name Is!

I bought this in Austin a few months after SXSW, and the music store was still buzzing about their performance

11. "Love Letter to Japan" - The Bird and the Bee, Ray Guns Are Not Just the Future

"Oh, oh, oh, oh..." Catchy, half haunting

12. "Meet Me in the Garden" - Dent May, The Good Feeling Music of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele

Dan's brother's blog mentioned this, and I loved it. Stef and I saw him at the Independent. Best indoor show we went to all year

13. "26 Miles (Santa Catalina) - Dent May, The Good Feeling Music of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele

As mentioned above, I'm a sucker for songs about the sea

14. "Daylight" - Matt and Kim

Awesome video, great follow up to Yeah yeah

The Songs I Heard on Rhapsody (i.e. the Indie Songs You May Have Missed)

15. "Little Kids" - Deerhunter, Microcastle

Definitely a little more indie, less pop; "To get older still...", lots of catchy choruses this year

16. "Walkabout (w/ Noah Lennox)" - Atlas Sound, Logos

Gotta love Panda Bear, "What did you want to be, when you grew up"

17. "Sheila" - Atlas Sound, Logos

"You'll be my wife, you'll share my life", rings a bit in my ear right now

18. "Silver Moons" - Sunset Rubdown, Dragonslayer

Unfortunately, I found out this band isn't from the sunset district of SF. But it's still a great song. "Maybe these days are over, over now" Seems a fitting way to end the decade.

19. "Black Swan" - Sunset Rubdown, Dragonslayer

Sounds kind of medieval or something

20. "Surf Solar" - Fuck Bottons, Tarot Sport

Hard driving, really cool beats, etc. This is what I wish was playing at lounges and dance-y type places.

21. "Intro" - The xx, The xx

It's not even a real song, but it is really awesome

22. "Basic Space" - The xx, The xx

It just oozes sexy, not a whole lot more to say

23. "Lust for Life" - Girls

Finally, a SF band. They shot their other video in Dolores Park, but this one is ok too. I wish I had a pizza and a bottle of wine.

24. "Two Weeks" - Grizzly Bear, Veckatimest

It sneaked into a VW commercial and almost made me want my Jetta back. And then I got my insurance refund check today. Getting rid of the car was the right call.

Songs That I Heard on the Radio, but were too Good to Ignore

25. I'm on a Boat - The Lonely Island

It was on SNL so it goes in the pop catgory, here's the video on Hulu

26. "Panic Switch" - Silversun Pickups

I tagged this on my phone with Shazam. It was basically the perfect use of the app, hear a song I really like, let the internets identify it for me

27. "Tik Tok" - Ke$ha,

Great video, greater parody

28. "Party in the U.S.A." - Miley Cyrus

I know, I know, but it's super catchy, and it inspired the gayest video ever

29. "Halo" - Beyonce

I drift into dreams of killing the Flood every time I hear this song. Master Chief would be so proud.

30. "Day 'N' Nite" - Kid Cudi

Great beat, catchy, only draw back is the implication that stoners are lonely

31. "Dead and Gone" - TI feat. Justin Timberlake

TI, J. Tim's, awesome

32. "Hard" - Rhianna

She's so cool. This song is just plain cool. Until about the 50th time. Then it gets a little less cool.

33. "I'm Yours" - Jason Mraz

It's sweet, and it's the chart toppingest song of all time

34. "Uprising" - Muse

Feels like it should be a workout song, but it's also kind of inspirational

So there it is. Comments? What did I miss? How much did I nail each and everyone of those songs?