18 posts tagged “last.fm”

It's possibly Monday where you are, and I'm pretending it's still Monday where I am, although technically it's actually Tuesday.  One thing I'm not going to pretend is that this post is a music post, because I don't need to claim otherwise. 

And, all things considered, that more or less makes this a Monday Music post, if you're willing to leave those hairs unsplit.

Today's track is from an excellent new album, released on the Tympanik Audio label - who don't seem to be able to do anything wrong in my book - by Chicago-based Aphorism.  Aphorism first came to my attention from a stand out track on a digitally-released compilation of Illinois electronic music, so it's great to get a full release.

The album is "Surge" and the track I've gone for is Two Sides of the Bullet, although I could almost have plumped for any track on the album as a candidate, it's really that good. Definitely an album for those who appreciate atmospheric, carefully-crafted, emotionally interesting and subtle electronic music...

http://www.last.fm/music/Aphorism/_/Two+Sides+of+the+Bullet

So, have a listen and if you like what you hear, visit Aphorism's website:  http://www.ap5m.com/

Have a great week!

After a brief hiatus, I return with a music post on a Monday. As you might have noticed, I have made an attempt to provide more of a variety of posts recently, both serious and not-so... serious. I hope you can tell the difference between the two.

This Monday Music track is noisy and long, but it's a good 'un, not necessarily despite those two facts, but rather because of them, at least to my ears anyway: 

http://www.last.fm/music/Servovalve/_/Noshrum%2B%252F%2BT.I.M.?autostart

The band is Servovalve and the song title is - rather ambiguously - "Noshrum / T.I.M." taken from their "Le Sixieme Doigt" album on M-tronic.  I believe that the title translates from the French as "The Sixth Finger".  I have no idea what this refers to except that there is a film and a sci-fi episode of Outer Limits with the same name.  Coincidence?  Maybe, unless you don't believe in coincidences, which would be interesting because neither do I.  Would that be a coincidence?

Yes, the track is noisy and long and it's a challenging listen, but it's got a really great evolving machine-like dynamicism to it, as well as some chunky grooves and percussive panache. 

Chunky grooves and percussive panache?  What kind of descriptions are those?  More evidence, if any were needed, that I would have never made it as a music journalist, but then again

a) I had and have no ambition to become one and
b) never made claim to be one, so
c) I think I am in the clear.

I hope that you find something to enjoy in the track.  If not, then there are worse ways to spend twelve minutes of your life. 

Three repeat listens to a Cheeky Girls' track, for example.

Have a great week!

It's definitely Monday and the post that follows is definitely about music, so I can without hesitation proclaim this to be a Monday Music post.

This week's track is from the same album as last week "Collect:Erase" but by the other artist on the co-authored compilation - Scrap.edx.  The track is titled "DIMM0004 Sector 3" which I am sure will mean something to somebody somewhere, but frankly it means nothing to me, Vienna. It's glitchy, punchy and is full of wholesome goodness suitable for all the family:

http://www.last.fm/music/Scrap.edx/_/DIMM0004+Sector3+%28Erase%29?autostart

Enjoy!  And have a glitch-free week, except for the music.

It's Monday where you are (possibly), this is a post about music (undoubtedly), and that can (almost certainly) mean only one thing.  A Monday Music post from me and probably a whole load of other things that are nothing to do with me. It's not my doing, okay?

This week's track is from the album "Collect:Erase" which is a collaboration of The Liar's Rosebush and scrap.edx.  A strange choice of tracks perhaps, "Your Debts (Collect)" by The Liar's Rosebush, but it appealed to me today. It fitted the mood. It soundtracked my mind.

http://www.last.fm/music/the+liar%27s+rosebush/_/Your+Debts+%28Collect%29?autostart

Enjoy and have a great week ahead of you, or a bad week soon behind you...

Ah, Monday.  With us again, like the disturbing sight of an unflattering photograph of yourself, the copies of which you thought you had summarily tracked down and destroyed.   With us again, like the unmistakable waft of something unpleasant emanating from within a fridge that you thought you had thoroughly cleaned. With us again, like the storm cloud which seems to decelerate and change into reverse gear when you had previously observed it pass you overhead.

No matter.  No form, or indeed substance, some might be so bold as to say.  "Pffft", I say to them.  Bold people.

Today's, and indeed, this week's, Monday Music is again from the Tympanik Audio label, from the German group Integral. The track is "Back here alone" from the album "Rise" - a brooding and atmospheric piece that swirls around you, twists you around, and then leaves you standing there to count your senses when it has finished its work:

http://www.last.fm/music/Integral/_/back+here+alone?autostart

Enjoy and have a great week, if at all possible.

A year ago on this day I started scrobbling music on last.fm.  Which is to say, for those who aren't aware of what scrobbling is, the tracks I listened to on my laptop actually began registering with the last.fm web site to display my music tastes on my profile. 

On that day, and probably for the first time ever, my listening habits went public.
The stuff that I subject my ears to became a statistic.

Now, I'll be honest and say that I already knew that I listened to a lot of music - that I was a bit of a music obsessive, in all actuality - but exactly how much music I listen to I'd never been able and willing to quantify before.  But, last.fm makes that quantification so easy because it's all done for you in the process of scrobbling.  And then all kind of statistics can then be generated.

It's worth noting by way of explanation that the statistics below don't include music that I play via CD (or occasionally vinyl) directly through my hi-fi, but that's less and less all the time as a) digital subscription / downloaded music begins to take over my listening and b) I rip the CDs I buy so that I can listen to them in other ways.

That said, the last.fm listening statistics are probably quite a good barometer of my musical habits.  So, a year on, what do they report?  And how much of a music junkie am I?  Well, the results are in...

Tracks scrobbled in one year: approx. 22500
Tracks scrobbled on average per week:  433
Tracks scrobbled on average per day: 62

It doesn't sound too much when put in those terms, but once you start to think about the duration of listening involved it tends to appear a little more serious.  Even taking an average track length of 4:30 (just based on the fact that the music I listen to tends to be slightly longer than your average three-and-a-half minutes of pop) then I'm listening to a probable (and underestimated) average of

4.5 hours of music listening each and every day
or
1.5 days of music listening each and every week

Come rain or shine.  Hell or high water, and there's been a bit of both of those over the past year. 

I don't really know whether to rejoice, feel slightly embarrassed, or seek help.  But what I do know is that music has always been present, there for me, ever since I first listened to the music that really reached inside and seemed to express something fundamental to me when I was in my mid-teens.  It isn't as mere background stage scenery that music exists in my world, but very much in the foreground and in the centre of the stage - a source of inspiration and encouragement, a channel through which emotions are outpoured and imbibed, and an envelope of continued joy and curiosity and interest.  And I'm certainly planning on keeping it that way, just as long as there's music out there to listen to that has a message for me, transports me somewhere, makes me think, makes me dance, gets my pulse racing, or simply expresses something that otherwise can't be expressed.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, there were no lies or damned lies in the above.

It's probably entirely appropriate that this week's Monday Music comes from a musician I have featured before in these posts - Stendeck (aka Alessandro Zampieri from Switzerland).  It's apt in several ways, in fact. 

First, because I'm coming up to my first year anniversary of properly scrobbling tracks via Last.FM (more of which later this week) and Stendeck is a project that figures very heavily in my listening profile on there.  Second, because last week saw me receive his latest album "Sonnambula", a CD that I was more eagerly anticipating than any release I can recall in recent times.

Mixed in with the hope surrounding "Sonnambula" was some trepidation that the dizzy heights of his previous releases would be difficult to ascend once more. I am sure that's a common feeling amongst music afficionanados - that the magic somehow will come to an end, that the bond will break.  The slight fear which accompanied my opening of the package was short-lived - quickly vanquished by the opening few tracks of the CD which comprehensively proved that any trepidation was unwarranted - Ale had indeed climbed high and ascended new peaks with "Sonnambula". At 17 tracks and over 70 minutes, it's both a generous and rewarding journey through emotional musical terrain. Fortunately, one of the tracks uploaded to last.fm also happens to be one of my favourites from the album, "Dead Dancing Triangle", so I'll just let the music do the talking from here. 

Stendeck - "Dead Dancing Triangle" - from the album "Sonnambula":

http://www.last.fm/music/Stendeck/_/Dead+Dancing+Triangle?autostart

Have a great start to your week!

I need to admit something and I feel that this is a safe place to do it.  I have a penchant for music sung in a language that I don't speak myself.  In terms of the kind of music I generally listen to, these foreign languages tend to be German (although I do speak a little), Portuguese and Spanish.  This week's Monday Music is an example of this, from the Spanish group Tannhauser.

Perhaps it's just the novelty that a non-native tongue brings to an ear that is not familiar with it on a day-to-day basis.  Although I should stress that I don't invite non-native tongues into my ear on a daily basis and for that matter, I'm not too keen on indigenous tongues in my ear either. 

Perhaps the expressiveness of those foreign words just fits the kind of music I listen to - or vice versa, as they say in... well, everywhere.  Or, perhaps I'm just being a teensy-weensy bit up my own rear.  Anyway, here 'tis - the excellent "Estructura Violenta" from Tannhauser's "A New Biostate" album.

http://www.last.fm/music/Tannhauser/_/Estructura+Violenta?autostart

Enjoy! Although, as they say in Spain, YMMV.

I almost cancelled today's Monday Music because of the weather "event" currently sweeping across the UK.  Yes, we had some snow and, as per usual, it sent everyone into hysteria bordering on the insane or hysteria bordering on the inane depending on which side of the river you camp. The travel networks struggled, and in some cases, buckled under the weight of the hordes of journalists and camera crews trying to get around to report on it.  Even London Mayor, Boris Johnson weighed in with something on the subject of travel and commuting but I suspect it was more inane than insane, which for him is quite a change.  Keep it up, Boris.  I personally would love to hear you talk about inane things, such as planning regulations for garden gnomes, the removal of chewing gum from the underside of school desks, adverts on buses, and so on.  Just as long as it keeps you away from the really important things.  Please.

Thankfully, my own "journey to work" is immune to the ravages of the weather.  The most hazardous obstacle I have to overcome is the rather low beam in the ceiling at the bottom of my stairs. And most days I manage that without too many problems.

Anyway, here's today's music which is a track called "An Interrogation" by Keef Baker from his excellent and varied album "Redeye". 

Very mellow, I think you'll agree...? 

http://www.last.fm/music/Keef+Baker/_/An+Interrogation?autostart

And just to prove that I am not totally immune to the childish pleasures which snow brings (I actually love the snow! Ahem!)  here are some photos that I have taken over the last couple of days of snowfall.

Have a great week...

Today is a special day.  It's not only Martin Luther King Day in the United States and it's the eve of the day of the inauguration of their next president, but it is also, according to researchers here in the UK, the most depressing day of the year.  I suppose it's around now that the buzz of Christmas and New Year has worn off, work commitments are brought home and the postman brings the next round of bills.  I bet the weather is involved somewhere along the line too.  So, it's not meant to be the greatest of days, but let's not succumb to it.  Gird up your loins.  Stiffen that upper lip.  Pull up your socks.  Brace yourself.  Grasp the nettle with both hands.  And if you're still able to do so, get your head down and your nose to the grindstone.  We'll get through it.  Or, we won't. 

Either way, here's a wonderful track which isn't at all depressing, but has an interesting title. 
This should send us on our way either to oblivion or to an altogether more desirable destination in good stead and with fine music in our ears.

The track is from perhaps Switzerland's finest export, Stendeck, although Toblerone might come a close second.  I've featured Stendeck previously on Monday Music so, as you might gather, I'm a bit of a fan... I've not featured Toblerone in any previous Monday Music posts.  But I don't rule it out.

The Woman Who Burnt On Her Bed