From the depths... Frank Black - Headache

Frank Black - Headache (Teenager of the Year, 1994)

LhnA puts Spotify to the test

 

I finally got round to giving Spotify a try this week, purchasing a one month 'Premium' subscription - for €9.99 or approx $12 (which will be automatically extended unless I cancel my subscription). It's free in some European countries, though you will have to put up with the occasional ad with the free version. Unfortunately our friends in the US will have to wait a bit longer, as it's not yet available there.

signing up

After purchase, the next step is downloading and installing the (surprisingly light) program, which only takes a few minutes.

Once opened, it's much like your regular music player (MediaMonkey/iTunes). It looks similar and has much the same functions. The only difference is that the songs it plays aren't actually on your computer (they're stored in a gigantic supercomputer buried deep in the Arctic, possibly). Other than that, there really is little difference. Like MediaMonkey, it has a handy queue function (titled 'play next' in MediaMonkey).

"It's like a magical version of iTunes in which you've already bought every song in the world" Wired

The main difference between your using your own computer and Spotify is quite simple: the music. i.e. what music does Spotify have and what doesn't it have?

Well, for the casual music fan, Spotify will have more than enough. All the big chart stuff is there, as well as a pretty decent back catalogue of the bigger mainstream bands and acts (i.e. Coldplay, Radiohead, Franz Ferdinand, Bruce Springsteen, Lily Allen, New Order, Blur, Eminem, Madonna, Bob Dylan).  While there are some odd omissions in this category, with e.g. U2, the Killers, Rihanna etc missing. This is surely a record label issue, and it's probably just a matter of time before they get on board too. The more momentum Spotify  picks up (and users it gets), the more it will  surely (be able to) add. iTunes didn't have the amount of songs it now has on day one either. Spotify currently has approx 6 million tracks.

integrated band info, courtesy of Allmusic.com

As for smaller bands, well I really have been quite impressed so far. For example, I found Beat Happening's 'Black Candy', Kings of Convenience, Jens Lekman, Fleet Foxes, the Magnetic Fields, the latest Camera Obscura, Johnny Foreigner, The Mae Shi, pretty much everything Belle and Sebastian have ever released, the Velvet Underground, Wilco, Art Brut, Pavement et al. There's still plenty missing, but again, new stuff appears to be continuously added, so perhaps this will just require a little patience.  


As a true music lover would never want to give up their own collection anyway, Spotify should really be viewed more as a supplement than a replacement. And as supplements go, this is a pretty damn impressive one.

 radio feature

Another great feature is the Playlist function. Just as with iTunes, users can compile and share playlists. The difference with iTunes however is that you don't actually have to buy the songs to hear them. I personally enjoyed finding Pitchfork's Top 500 or for example their Top 50 Albums of 2008, while music sites like Drowned in Sound also compile their own playlists. You can listen to their favourite songs of early 2009 here.




Spotify can be used on any computer that has the software installed, so you can use it while on holiday for example, while they are currently working on making it available to iPhones etc, so you can use it on the go.

 

For me the best part of Spotify is simply listening to things I otherwise wouldn't have. Legal or not, you do normally have to seek something out to listen to it. So far I've just ended up browsing around quite a bit.  From Beach Boys to Bauhaus. If you're already using Spotify, you can see my already played songs here.
 

So, you're probably wondering about one crucial aspect: buffering. Well, good news here too, the good people at Spotify have done something rather clever which has made buffering a thing of the past. Clicking a song starts a song. Period.  

 

They've also developed a built-in Last.fm scrobbler, for all you users out there.

As for negatives, I wish Spotify would have somewhat more information available, e.g. the type of stuff last.fm and your regular music player already provide. Last played, Top played etc. Plus the home page could be just a bit more informative. Maybe even include your own personal charts. Also it would be nice to have a choice of skins. 

Spotify is still in its infancy however, so they surely are working on more options and applications.

 

Overall , I'm a pretty damn happy camper. 

I'll leave you with a few songs I've had on repeat these past few days:

Beach Boys - She knows me too well (stereo remix)

Bauhaus - Third uncle

S-U-N

Sun!
Who was it that named you
sun?

No one would be surprised,

I bet,
to see three letters in the sky
instead of your golden
face.

--Federico Garcia Lorca



That Same Old Phrase ☀ Ledmonton ☀ You Are Summer
Man O'War ☀ Living in Danger ☀ Scheme Eugene

"Hanging out with Scheme Eugene
and blame the Broken Social Scene
What you don't have you won't miss it when you're gone"

Yep, Beck actually used to be pretty damn cool

"there's nobody
there's no mountain
there's no tunnel
you can't get from there to here"

Beck - Atmospheric Conditions

"roll out your silver-dollar coffins
pull out your buckskin gloves
tell them anything you want to
the sound comes from above

don't let it get near you
don't let it get too close
don't let it turn you into
the things you hate the most"

Beck - Forcefield

" definitely this is the wrong place to be
there's blood on the futon
there's a kid drinking fire
going down to the sea
they got people to meet
shaking hands with themselves
looking out for themselves"

Beck - Cyanide Breath Mint

Buy the deluxe reissue of Beck's 1994 album, One Foot in the Grave here.

From the depths... Smog - Bathysphere

I thought (yes, some thought does go into this feature), what better month than the very month Bill Callahan (AKA Smog AKA (Smog)) welcoming the release of his amazing new album, Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle, to delve back into the files and present you with one of his finest moments. I've been meaning to put together a Smog/Bill Callahan retrospective of sorts for the longest time, though simply don't know where to start. Watch this space I guess.

 

Allmusic article on Smog

AV Club interview with Bill Callahan

Bill Callahan live on Pitchfortv

 

"And if the water should cut my line
Set me free"

 

Smog - Bathysphere

They tended to overlap, but proper editing later made it all seem to make sense.

Hello... - Tim Exile (Tim Exile's Nuisance Gabbaret Lounge, 2006)

Free Fall - Cornelius (Fantasma, 1997)

No Way - The Breeders (Mountain Battles, 2008)

Good Man - Fennesz (Field Recordings 1995-2002, 2002)

Ne Me Quitte Pas - Regina Spektor (Songs, 2002)

Down Under - Men At Work (Business as Usual, 1982)

Radio Baroque - Tape (remixed David Grubbs) (Operette, 2004)

Squirmish Frontal Room - Guided By Voices (King Shit and the Golden Boys, 1995)

Starfucker - Rawnald Gregory Erickson The Second

Media Corrosion - Random Industries (Essays on radio: Can I have 2 minutes of your time? 2005)

Love - Stephan Mathieu (Die Entdeckung Des Wetters, 2002)

Blossom Time - Loren Mazzacane Connors (Arborvitae, 2003)

Big Long Now - Nirvana (Incesticide, 1992)

Lightning Bolt of Compassion Akron/Family (Meek Warrior, 2006)

Unabated Vicar of Scorched Earth - Guided By Voices (Tonics and Twisted Chasers, 1996)

Fingers - Tape (Luminarium, 2008)

Cascade Kisses - Francois Virot (Yes or No, 2008)

Please visit WWW.BUT THIS IS REAL.COM for details. - Michael Beijer (Wordcolor Imagery Masterpiece, 2009)

The week Steven found himself stranded cold and alone, disconnected in a connected world (ok, my internet is down)

 

wow. damn. shit. this sucks.

What, you ask? Lack of internet. A disconnected world. A wireless-less life. A laptop without an internet connection is like a switched off escalator. Hard, cold and pretty much useless. 

a video Letters have no Arms made while in Spain last month.

 

It's not that I've been fully internetless. Nope, I've made my local Starbucks my temporary HQ. I've got my own seat and everything. It features a splendid view to both left and right of said establishment, is near the toilet and has its own  all-important plug. Hurray. And though I'm not sure how things work across the pond, here at my Starbucks the wifi  isn't free. You've gotta pay for it. I buy 30 min packages by texting a word to a number to get another number and a word. This has led to a somewhat fragmented internet experience this week. I managed to download a little bit of the new Lost episode. And a little bit of the third season of The Wire. Nothing complete, nothing actually watchable.
 
I also managed to catch some bits and pieces of some vaguely amusing chats on Facebook , as well as participating in some of my own FB chit chat(ter).

 

At nights and over the weekend however, nothing. Just me and my early pre-internet/laptop ways. This is the state I've been in since last Thursday.

 

My mental note(pad) is also growing. Things To Look Up On Wikipedia When I Get reconnected. For example: Why are some chicken eggs white and some brown?
 

I'll leave you on that note, and a few songs.

 

The Strokes - The Modern Age

Fugazi - Waiting Room

Broken Social Scene - Superconnected

The Mary Onettes - Lost

Joy Division - Digital

 I've also been listening to the new Smog Bill Callahan album, which is amazing. Sample lyric:
 
"I used to be darker, then I got lighter, then I got dark again
Something to be seen was passing over and over me
Well it seemed like the routine case at first
With the death of the shadow came a lightness of verse
But the darkest of nights, in truth, still dazzles
And I woke myself until I'm frazzled"...

From the depths (of my external hard drive) - The Delgados - Under Canvas Under Wraps

 

LhnA got back from Barcelona on Monday night, and will be sure to write something about it, maybe post some pictures and some somewhat relevant music (don't worry, I won't inflict Freddie Mercury on you). But for now, part 3 in our ongoing series From the depths (of my external hard drive)!

 

 

The Delgados - Under Canvas Under Wraps

I first heard this song as an impressionable teenager taking my first tentative steps into indie. It was probably on (MTVs) Alternative Nation, and it blew my mind.

From the depths (of my external hard drive) - Pet Shop Boys - Rent

 

Pet Shop Boys - Rent (1987)

The (sort of) return of Belle & Sebastian!: God Help the Girl

pic 

 

I can't believe how silently this entered and exited this week's music news:

 

The (sort of) return of Belle & Sebastian !

 

God Help the Girl, 'a story set to music', is a project dreamed up by Stuart Murdoch some years ago when touring Belle & Sebastian's album Dear Catastrophe Waitress. According to GhtG's Myspace page, the idea came to Stuart as follows:

 

"I was out for a run and I got this tune in my head and it occurred to me that it wasn't a Belle & Sebastian song. I could hear female voices and strings, I could hear the whole thing, but I just couldn’t envisage myself singing it with the group.” 

 

As one tune became two and two became three, Stuart set out to find vocalists for these songs. Over 400 entries made their way to Stuart's inbox, and he invited a number of them to come in and try out the songs (see video). Several of these vocalists made it onto the resulting album. Taking centre stage on these is Catherine Ireton, who took lead vocals on most of the songs on the album. You may well already know , or at least recognise her, from the cover of B&S' 2006 'White Collar Boy' single. Or you may well have heard her as one half of the rather lovely The Go Away Birds, who sound a bit like Hannah & Sam.
 

The record? Not having heard much of it yet, I'll have to go by the description  given, which tells us that it 'draws equally on musicals, sixties’ girl groups, eighties’ indie and, most of all, classic pop records'. While Catherine Ireton somewhat resembles Kate Jackson of the Long Blondes, and has a voice seemingly born to sing Stuart Murdoch's songs. The album also features various other members of Belle & Sebastian.

    

Oh, and if you were wondering, Stuart Murdoch, doing something of a reverse Stephin Merritt,  sings on (only) 2 of the 14 songs.

 

A little patience is required, as the album will be released on June 15th.

 

Here's a taste:
 

Come Monday Night 
Perfection as a Hipster (demo version)
  +
The Go Away Birds - Bells
+
Belle & Sebastian - The Fox in the Snow
 

Official God help the Girl website