Genius Saved my Life!
So there I was, for 30ish years picking songs. Picking albums… then came playlists, then genre, then sorting by “recently added” and trying to keep up with various playlists. Big big timesink.
Then Apple made a revolutionary tool called Genius. No more Grey’s Anatomy or House or Weeds while playing WoW. I love listening to music while playing WoW, or reading, or whatever, but itunes would always play one great song, or whatever I was in the mood for at the time, then throw in Motorhead, while I was feeling Ben Folds. Or play Ben Folds when I was feeling Slayer.
The answer until now was playlists, I had a “WoW” playlist that wouldn’t play anything jarring, or crazy because I wanted good background concentration music. But the playlists get old really fast because you get to know the songs so quickly.
Genius is soooo genius. It goes through my collection and picks the most appropriate “like” songs compared to the song I think fits my mood. But it works. That’s the whole difference compared with any other type of song-picker. I never would have thought that “Dead Flowers” by The Rolling Stones would be a great song to put into a White Stripes playlist. As a matter of fact I probably would never put a Rolling Stones song into a WoW playlist, but it works!
Also, I have a lot of music that I just don’t know. I like Arcade Fire, but since I’ve never really sat down and listened to their songs individually, how would I know which one’s to put in a playlist? Genius knows! Which Weezer song is more mellow than the others? Genius!
I have to skip songs sometimes, it’s not 100% perfect for finding exactly what I want to hear, but it’s 90% which is way more accurate than I am at picking my own music, AND it turnes me on to songs in my own collection. That’s right, it turns me on to my own music, and that’s incredible.
When I picked an Alice and Chains song, it played all the 90s era music in my collection, it sounded like I was listening to my own version of a classic rock station. When I picked White Stripes, it picked unique, quirky rock from Wolfmother, to Bob Dylan, to Decemberists, Ben Harper, Bright Eyes, and even Nine Inch Nails.
I thank Genius for allowing me to enjoy music again. Really! It’s that amazing. I’m enjoying music more instead of watching TV. A big thank you to Apple!
Mars Volta wins the award for best collectors album ever. Bedlam in Goliath comes in heavy cardstock double 180g virgin vinyl, with a single inside in the shape of a ouija board. Unfolded the album is the “board” part of the ouija board. The albums are split black and red color. The art is amazing, one of the best I’ve seen just for the art.
The music is mixed both a little abstract and musically palatable. I’m not a huge fan of Mars Volta’s experimental side. Maybe I’m too old, I used to really like the abstract stuff, but these days its just a bit annoying. I like to be pleased musically, not jarred. Also, I think when I enjoy the avant garde, I’m focusing solely on the music. These days I tend to be doing multiple things while listening, like driving, working out, running, cleaning, playing computer games, or like right now, writing. So when bands like Mars Volta veer into experimental noise, cacophony, or crazy effects on the vocals, it sounds frustrating. It’s really too bad, because I really love Volta and when they don’t stray musically I think they’re genius.
multiple times, and I think it’s an important addition to rock music in general. I’ve always believed that Mars Volta was an important band, creative, unstoppable, energetic, dreamy, tossing convention the finger, and inspirational. Rodriguez really has the “gift” and it shows on this album.
Today is Metallica’s big day with the release of Death Magnetic. I made my way to the local Record and Tape Trader’s and grabbed a copy. It comes in a nice 180g double gatefold inside heavy cardstock. The packaging is really very nice.
Chunk-ity-chunk-cha-chu-chunk. Chunk. Chunk. That’s what I loved about Metallica pre-black album and it’s here again. I could do without the solos, I never really liked the blingy solos, and the guitars behind the solos sound great, but I can weather the solos for such great music, and the return of one of my favorite bands. Metallica announced that they will release the album for download for Guitar Hero III. If you haven’t tried Guitar Hero, its a great way to interactively experience music.
Also, as with all the other Metallica albums you don’t get anything extra. You get a good, solid, heavy piece of vinyl, with nice artwork, but no mp3′s or CD’s or pictures, posters, nothing, just the music. OK, I’m not really complaining because the important part is there, but I buy vinyl as a guilty pleasure, an experience only bested by being at the show, so I want the equivalent of a ticket stub or a concert program. Not a big complaint.
I was slightly disappointed with the first release of the recent Metallica half-speed reissues, Kill ‘em All. I was reluctant to buy Master of Puppets, which is arguably my favorite Metallica album. To me, Master of Puppets was The Beatles White Album, or Dark Side of the Moon, at the time I considered it completely groundbreaking.
otherwise, you just get an album. Part of me was hoping for a little collector’s nostalgia to be included. There’s almost no bass in this recording. Not that there was much bass in the original, but you can really hear it after listening to today’s style of recording and mixing.
Ben Folds new album, Way to Normal on double 180g vinyl
Hank Williams III Damn Right Rebel Proud On 2 Vinyl LP and CD
