Regular readers, if there is such a beast, will know that I like to use the website belonging to last.fm, well actually I think it now belongs to Columbia Records or some other multi-national conglomerate but whatever, the site is still pretty spiffy.
The idea is pretty simple, you download a little bit of software which reports back, Orwellian style, to the central database at last.fm every music track you listen to and it slowly builds up a profile of your listening habits, you can then see what you’re listening to and if there is an emerging style. Of course it wouldn’t be half as much fun if only you could see it, oh no! It’s there for the world to see which is where the good stuff begins, so you listen to a lot of Pearl Jam or perhaps Billy Joel is more your thing? Well, you click your mouse and suddenly you find everyone else listening to the same stuff as you. After a while last.fm selects a group of people who are your neighbours, musical neighbours that is. These are people who listen to more or less the same artists as you, the theory being you have much in common because you listen to 90% the same music.
OK, so that’s great I hear you say, woop-de-woo, I can find people who listen to what I do…big deal! Well, wait just a cotton pickin’ minute mister, there is more you can do with this giant database of information! As you browse profiles last.fm will do a little calculation and tell you your musical match to that person, very low, low, medium, high and super. So you might find you both listen to a lot of Pearl Jam, Kings of Leon and Regina Spektor but everything else is different, perhaps you want to discover just who this Fiona Apple is? That’s easy, either click on the artists own page and listen to just their tracks or, what’s much better is each user has their own radio station and a station of loved tracks. Loved tracks are simply those tracks a user has flagged as ones they like a helluva lot, their radio station is made up of all the stuff they listen to, so click the link and sit back while a stream of commercial free, often new, music fills the room. Starting to get the idea that this is something pretty nifty too?
Well, there is a whole host of additional things on last.fm that should please you if you are someone who likes to listen to music but this entry was never meant to be about last.fm, funny that eh? The reason I’ve had to give you this little introduction was so you had enough background information to understand both the title of this entry and the reasoning behind the music track I’ve added today. See, now you’re starting to understand what I was referring to when I talked of me and my tangents ;)
A few months ago I befriended a fellow music lover on last.fm by the name of Kasia. Kasia is from Poland. Kasia likes to listen to quite a few of the artists I like to listen to (but we are only a medium match). Kasia has lovely blue eyes, although I suspect the photo I have seen is photo-shopped. Kasia also reads this blog so I better watch what I say next ;)
This afternoon I decided to listen to Kasia’s loved tracks radio station, she likes some good shit by the way, you should have a listen. While listening I heard a track by Depeche Mode, Walking In My Shoes and that my friend is what prompted me to sit down and write this blog!
Yes, as I was listening to that track it made me think of another Depeche Mode track, there’s those tangents at work, so I searched it out, uploaded it and have added it here for your listening pleasure why don’t you give your eyes a rest and have a listen to Ewan Pearson’s remix of Depeche Mode’s Enjoy The Silence thanks for the inspiration Kasia :)
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