7 posts tagged “itunes”

"Until you see that you deserve better/I'm gonna lay right into you."

You should know the drill by now, so let's dive right in.

This week's list is built around the White Stripes' 'You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As Your Told)' from the

album Icky Thump.

1. You Don't Know What Love Is by the White Stripes
2. Fluorescent Adolescent by Arctic Monkeys
3. Dashboard by Modest Mouse
4. Australia by The Shins
5. Gold Lion by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
6. Say It Ain't So by Weezer
7. Loser by Beck
8. The Distance by Cake
9. Run by Gnarls Barkley
10. In Bloom by Nirvana

I think this is a pretty solid play list from top to bottom. Many of them are album or artist favorites. Even the Arctic Monkeys' tune, who iTunes continues to foist on me, is catchy enough that I didn't feel like skipping it. 'Dashboard' by Modest Mouse comes in with the most plays, but 'Say It Ain't So' by Weezer is my favorite song on the list. 'Gold Lion' has the least plays, but is one of my favorite Yeah Yea

"I could be there when you land"

Each Friday I'll post a playlist built using the iTunes Genius feature based on the first song I find myself singing that morning.

This morning I woke up with Franz Ferdinand's 'Eleanor Put Your Boots Back On' on my lips even as my eyes were still opening.

Here's what iTunes did with it:

1. Eleanor Put Your Boots Back On by Franz Ferdiand
2. I Summon You by Spoon
3. Ocean of Noise by The Arcade Fire
4. 505 by the Arctic Monkeys
5. Summersong by The Decemberists
6. Turn Into by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
7. Hands by The Raconteurs
8. Barely Legal by The Strokes
9. Jacqueline by Franz Ferdinand
10. Energy by Apples in Stereo
    

'Eleanor' might be one of the best, but underrated Franz Ferdiand songs. It is very different from their usual dance-rock forte, but I've always liked it since the first listen, and it is probably my favorite song of the list. According to iTunes the track with the most plays is 'Ocean of Noise' which is not surprsing, because iTunes seems to love the Arcade Fire's Neon Bible. The song with the least plays is '505' by The Artic Monkeys. It's been played one time back in July of 2007.

The Apples in Stereo track, 'Energy' is a free download when you install Amazon.com's MP3 downloader, but I already owned--and loved--the entire album.

"I don't know why I/ Feel so tongue tied."

I've seen this done on a few other sites and liked the idea enough to post my own version.

The way my version will work is I'll build an iTunes Genius playlist based on the first song I find myself singing Friday mornings.

Today's edition is built around Myxomatosis by Radiohead from their album Hail to the Thief.

1. Myxomatosis by Radiohead
2. Friend of Mine by The National
3. Youthless by Beck
4. Touch Me I'm Going To Scream, Pt. 1 by My Morning Jacket
5. And It Rained All Night by Thom Yorke
6. Dollars & Cents by Radiohead
7. I've Seen Enough by Cold War Kids
8. Nature Springs by The Good, The Bad & The Queen
9. Razz by Kings of Leon
10. Obsatcle 2 by Interpol

Myxomatosis is one of my favorite songs, but another goodie from this list is the My Morning Jacket track. The most-played track is Nature Springs, but honestly until I heard it I couldn't have told you a thing about the song. Another oddity brought to you by the iTunes shuffling algorithim.

At some point this week I reached 10,000 scrobbles on Last.fm. I thought it would be the perfect time to look back over my listening history(as documented by last.fm, more on that later) and see what I can discern from it.

The top five artists in my library are:

1. Radiohead
2. Kings of Leon
3. Modest Mouse
4. The White Stripes
5. Mike Doughty

 While I agree all of these artists are favorites of mine, I would disagree with the fact they are my top five aesthetically. In their favor, Radiohead was one of the first bands whose entire catalog I ripped into iTunes.  The sheer number of their tracks in my library, probably outweighs all the others, even to this day. In fact the top four bands combined make up 229 tracks of the 3231 items in my library.

Mike Doughty, on the other hand, has only 71 tracks. He truly is one of my favorite artists, though I prefer his early solo work (and his work with Soul Coughing) more than his most recent stuff.

The top five tracks tell a different story. They are:

1. 'Disaster' -- The Besnard Lakes
2. 'Plasticities' -- Andrew Bird
3. 'Neon Bible' -- Arcade Fire
4. 'Another Travelin' Song' -- Bright Eyes
5. 'Fans' -- Kings of Leon

I actually love three of these songs; 'Disaster,' 'Plasticities' and 'Another Travelin' Song'. 'Plasticities' is one of my true favorites. The other two, while good, are just flukes of the iTunes shuffling algorithm. 'Neon Bible' especially seems to always be playing in my earbuds.

Finally, the top five albums in my library according to Last.fm are:

1. Because of the Times -- Kings of Leon
2. Armchair Apocrypha -- Andrew Bird
3. Sky Blue Sky -- Wilco
4. Cease to Begin -- Band of Horses
5. Neon Bible -- The Arcade Fire 

This is probably the most accurate list. Are these my favorite albums of all time? Not exactly. Some of them would make my top 25 though. The first three are really high-ranking in my mind. My only real problem with this list is Neon Bible. I think The Arcade Fire's Funeral is a far superior album, and is most definitely in my top ten albums. Neon Bible is a good album, but I'm surprised to see it in my top five.

The problem with all of these lists can be ascribed to the fact that for the first few months of my Last.fm subscription I didn't own an iPod. I still listened to CDs and mostly in my car. The only things being added to Last.fm at the time were tracks listened to on my computer, which were few. Even when I bought my iPod I wasn't as good about scrobbling tracks to the site as I am now. I'm almost adamant about it these days, and get quite upset when I realize something I'm listening too won't be logged on the site.

In another 10,000 tracks or so I'll take another look, and see if a clearer picture has been painted of my listening habits.

Now that the three young women in Candy Hill, a glossy rap and R&B trio, have signed a record contract, they are hoping for stardom. On the schedule: shooting a music video and visiting radio stations to talk up their music.

But the women do not have a CD to promote. Universal/Republic Records, their label, signed Candy Hill to record two songs, not a complete album. --New York Times [link]

That's right two songs. iPods and the iTMS have helped create a culture that values tracks over albums. Call me old school, but I still buy all of music by the album. I like to think that the artists making these albums put a lot of thought and effort into the song sequence, and that they want their listeners to hear them in that way in order to have a better, richer experience with their music. One of my favorite albums last year, The Decemberist's Crane Wife, definitely has to be heard as an album.

This singles mindset will only hurt artists, fans and music in general.

Save the Album

Now that I've got a computer that works, and a MacBook at that, I'm really using iTunes and its Smart Playlists to get the most out of my library. I'm still in the process of ripping discs into the library, but already I've rediscovered some wonderful stuff. Case in point: this Sleater-Kinney song that I didn't even know was in my Library.