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With services like MOG and Last.FM, its fairly easy to track and announce the music you are listening to. On the positive side, its a really handy way to get turned on to new music that is likely to interest you. Using aggregate data and matching you with similar users, these services can quickly show you music you’ll like that you aren’t listening to. Case in point, for me, bands such as Booka Shade, Tokyo Police Club, and Black Kids were all bands that I first actually listened to because of the recommendation.

But the benefits come along with a dose of reality: you have to face your actual music tastes. Regardless of the number of Slayer or Winger shirts you have, if these services start recommending Anne Murray, you may have to do some soul searching.

This past weekend, some friends and I were talking about favorite bands. Of course (of course), for me, any discussion along those lines has to include New Order/Joy Division, The KLF, and Daft Punk. According, however, to Last.FMs Top Artists Overall chart, those bands come in at: #5, #28, and #3. Other favorites such as The Clash (#49), Prince (#43), and The Streets (#30) are lower as well. Apparently, I have been listening to a lot of The Beatles and The Teddybears (#1 and #2) lately.

Which got me thinking. How often do our listening habits correlate with our listening preferences? Take The KLF for example. These acid house/techno pioneers came along at a pivotal time in the music scene. I had been running industrial and goth club nights and my friends and I were transitioning in to these new musical genres. Belgian New Beat, Detroit Techno, and Mancunian Acid House were the music we were listening to and The KLF (or The JAMMs or The Timelords or or or…) were instrumental in not only providing the soundtrack but their antics and artistic endeavors set the tone. Because of this contribution, they will always hold a certain piece of mind share when I think about important music. Do I listen to them a lot these days? Probably not so much, but in my mind it doesn’t detract from their place in my “top 10″.

Additionally, as a software developer, I often choose music that isn’t “challenging”. I think thats why The Beatles are so high up. Having the White Album or Abbey Road in my headphones is basically musical filler. I don’t actively listen to it, I’m not necessarily inclined to think about the lyrics, its just a nice background.

Given that, how can we manipulate these services to not only recommend “more of the same” of what I’m listening to, but to really know our tastes in music for different situations, and recommend accordingly?

The theme song in Italian. via The Merc

After a busy couple of weeks, my standard 4 books at a time routine wasn’t really satisfying my need to read (its kind of like the need for speed, trust me). Currently, I have in process Valis by P.K. Dick, Ulysess by Joyce, Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis (just finished), and Simple Genius by D. Baldacci. Most are rereads so 10 minutes here and there is fine.

To break out of the rut, I hit Powell’s and looked for something new. In the Sci-Fi section, an employee recommendation suggested that if you are fan of Neil Gaiman (I am) then you would like Sean Stewart (whom I now do).

Picked up Mockingbird since it seemed the least “pulpy” of the titles on the shelf. I’m glad I did. The book has a tone similar in feel to Anansi Boys. You know: voodoo/magic exists, but it never becomes the real theme of the story. Its the characters, and their relation to the magic, that drive the story.

Being a “stormtrooper atheist” (at least for the time being), most people are surprised by my fascination for all things related to religious magic, including voodoo. To me, its so easy to draw the corollaries between the loa and psychological archetypes. When someone is ridden, its akin to acting out on subconscious desires. Needless to say, this book didn’t disappoint in this area.

Another awesome feature of the book: The Method. Instead of a simple afterword by the author, he spent a couple of pages detailing his mindset and motives when writing the book.

So, now I get to troll the web, see what else he’s written and check another one out.

Trivia corporate espionage, that is.

Went with some friends to check out a trivia night at Peter’s 19th Hole last night. It was ok, but definitely not as fun as the Chez Jose night. No smack talking. No table service. Silly physical challenge. Weird all or nothing point rounds.

The hostess was ok. Apparently she does this five nights a week. I expected a better delivery from her. She had very little rapport with the teams and seemed a bit unorganized. She did manage not to spill any of the answers, so I guess thats a point in her favor (but not mine).

Enjoyable, but not necessarily worth a repeat visit.

Disclaimer: I haven’t been to a hip-hop show in quite some time. My expectations of live versus studio may be unrealistic.

Got to the show around 11:15, about 2/3 of the way through the Dizzee Rascal set. Kind of surprised - thought he was headlining. Perhaps they are flipping on alternate shows. What I saw of the set was ok. I’ve always been a fan of his beats more than his rhymes and the set didn’t really do them justice. Its funny: I heard Dizzee first with his breakout single, Fix Up Look Sharp, and associated him with other grime artists like The Streets and Lady Sovereign. Hadn’t heard him awhile. Missed him at Coachella, Finally picked up a copy of his last album Maths + English. Again, the rhymes were fairly broadbrushed and generic, but the beats were great. At this year’s Coachella, Scroobius Pip kinda railed into him, so it just piqued my interest even more. If we take the commandments in “Thou Shalt Always Kill”, Dizzee Rascal broke all of them:

Thou shalt not scream if you wanna go faster. Thou shalt not move to the sound of the wickedness. Thou shalt not make some noise for Detroit. When I say “Hey” thou shalt not say “Ho.” When I say “Hip” thou shalt not say “Hop.” When I say, he say, she say, we say, make some noise - kill me.

Yep - every cliche in the book was unleashed with a fury. So after closing with Fix Up Look Sharp, I was looking forward to El-P.

Confession time. Up until the moment he went on, I was thinking that it was going to be Busy P. The second the generic angry rap music came out I realized I had made a mistake. I tried to tough it out but after 4 songs that were all roughly the same, and breaking the commandments within the first two, I was out.

It was a sad sad day for your favorite trivia team yesterday. I was the lone member of our team to show last night, and it definitely hurt us in the standings.

It didn’t help that halfway through the game a late arriving member of another team, who was at capacity, invited himself onto my team. I’ve been called “caustic” for a reason, people!

With the two points lost there, some over hostile scoring by one of our nemesis teams, and some questionable adjudicating by the host, our 4th place finish was all but guaranteed.

So, with Memorial Day preempting next week, SparkleMotion has two weeks to get their act together…

Looks like a group of us are going to check out  Barack at Waterfront Park on Sunday.

If you’re in town, we’ll be leaving from my place in The Pearl around 11:45am and walking down to the park. Weather should be nice and warm. Come join us!

I just created a facebook account, partially motiviated by work. if you were in my address book, you probably got spammed for a friend connection. funny thing is, most of you are not my friends. I barely tolerate you online

The local live music calendar is blowing up. Bands crisscrossing the west coast between festivals makes up a good chunk of it, but there are quite a few independent tours as well. Coming up in the next two weeks alone:

• Mon May 19 - Tokyo Police Club at The Hawthorne
• Tue May 20 - El-P and Dizzee Rascal at Berbati’s Pan
• Fri May 23 - M.I.A. at Roseland (although her Coachella performance was weak)
• Sun May 25 - Ladytron and Datarock at Wonder Ballroom
• Tue May 27 - Jamie Lidell at Berbati’s Run
• Sat May 31 - Peter Murphy at The Aladdin

Yikes. I guess sleep can wait until June.

via Cracked