Tag: Music

Ecoutez — The playlist

So here’s the playlist for my Mefi 2013-2 Swap cd. Linked files are flac (lossless, large, and possibly an issue for non-techie/Windows folks). All tracks downloaded are roughly 450MB so plan accordingly…

  1. Commando Spatial :: Orchestre dirige Jacques Dejean avec Virginie Rodin
  2. Palladium The Hip :: Liz Brady
  3. Fille a la Moto :: Dani
  4. Rouge, Rouge :: Christie Laume
  5. Sept Heures du Matin :: Jacqueline Taieb
  6. Teenie Weenie Boppie :: Frances Gall
  7. Contact :: Brigitte Bardot
  8. Amstramgram :: Isabelle
  9. C’est la Mode :: Annie Philippe
  10. Saperlipopette :: Clothilde
  11. Roller Girl :: Anna Karina
  12. Agatha ou Christie :: Christie Laume
  13. Les Filles C’est Fait
  14. Partie De Dames :: Liz Brady
  15. Ne Poussez Pas Mémé dans les Orties :: Chorus Reverendus
  16. Une Petite Tasse D’Anxiété – Emission Teuf-Teuf :: Serge Gainsbourg avec Gillian Hills
  17. Un Homme et une Femme :: Francis Lai
  18. Zou Bisou Bisou :: Gillian Hills avec Jean Bouchety
  19. Ecoute Mon Coeur :: Ria Barok
  20. Zozoi :: France Gall
  21. Champs Élysées :: Christine Pilzer
  22. La Chanson Bete et Mechante :: Clothilde
  23. Je Suis la Tigresse :: Delphine Desyeux
  24. La Musique et la Danse :: Christie Laume
  25. Bas les Pattes :: Liz Brady
  26. Oublie :: Gillian Hills
  27. Je Sais :: Contacts
  28. Au Secours Aidez-Moi :: Sophie Mansart
  29. C’est pas Prudent :: Alice Dona
  30. Je T’Aime Normal :: Janet et Jean
  31. Un Soir d’Été :: Nelly Perrier

    32. I thought perhaps the effort of throwing this mix cd together might sate the whole ’60s French Femme Fatale thing a little but I think it ended up stoking the fire even more. Doing some of the research turned up a vast number of albums that still need acquiring. I foresee a long day at Kanesville because I have a feeling that there are more than a few of these hiding in the international room upstairs (my hope) or on the main floor. Upstairs because that’s a buck an album whereas downstairs means Tim/Cliff know what they have and it will be priced accordingly.

    If you take the time and download/listen please let me know what you think. Also if you know of more artists or have leads/link, please share them in the comments section. I’m seriously obsessed with this genre right now. Finally, if you’re really interested in an actual physical audio cd (with awesome cover art linked previously) I’m down with sending one out. Just give me a comment/email.

    I miss having my own radio show very much right about now.

Spotify Recommendation Engine

Loving the Spotify recommendation emails I get, although probably not for the reasons they’d prefer. The best thing about them is that they give the reasoning behind the recommendations. Based on this you can get a rough visualization of the Eigenvalue matrix they use to make these suggestions. For example:

Simon & Garfunkel

The most successful folk-rock duo of the 1960s, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel crafted a series of memorable hit albums and singles featuring their… (Read more)

Because you’ve listened to Buddy Holly, Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Cash and The Jimi Hendrix Experience.

This is probably the most novel suggestion I’ve been given. Not novel in the sense that I’d probably never listened to Simon & Garfunkel, but novel in the way the suggestion came about. None of the vectors (groups/bands/artists) used to make the suggestion are close to the folk-rock genre yet if you average out the vectors, I can see how you’d land squarely along the vector that gives you Simon & Garfunkel.

Another interesting bit of vector math is the one that came up with The Clash as a suggestion. Here we have:

The Clash

The Sex Pistols may have been the first British punk rock band, but the Clash were the definitive British punk rockers. Where the Pistols were… (Read more)

Because you’ve listened to Beastie Boys, Jimi Hendrix, The Jimi Hendrix Experience and The Kinks.

Again, you can see where The Clash are like the pre-rap Beastie Boys with more complex songcraft than most “punk” bands a la Hendrix, with sometimes clever lyricism a la The Kinks. This recommendation also makes sense, even if it is for a group that is not all that far off the beaten path.

Vector analysis and the related mathematics was probably the one subject that completely blew my mind back in grad school. Recommendation engines are truly fascinating things. Not only do they possibly show you some synthetic reasoning, but they also give you some pretty decent insight into the folks who set up the matrix that is being operated on. So even though the recommendations Spotify sends along are pretty middle of the road, they still provide some great entertainment.

Not Safe For Working

I’ve been listening to a lot of People Like Us because, well, Vicki has been publishing to the podcast again. Hooray!

Anyway, this has been laying around for a bit so I thought I’d pepper it with a few more samples and finally get it out there for someone to listen to.

Not Safe For:

  • Work
  • Parents
  • Parties
  • …or much of anything else

Needless to say, contains bad words and sexual language. Hooray!

And so, finally, The Millionaire’s Not Safe For Working Holiday [24.7MB mp3].

Mez more ees

Listened the heck out of this album yesterday. I think I made it through the album, front-to-back, three times in one afternoon.

The flashbacks were more than I had bargained for. Still being attacked by random bits of nostalgia today. It’s funny the way some bits of music have such deep triggers in the brain. And the music is usually accidental. I’ve never owned this one and only heard a snippet on some podcast driving in to work.

Audio Archives Down

In an unfortunate power-surge incident, the machine hosting the audio files had its OS borked. The audio files themselves are kosher, fortunately, but the drive hosting the OS now has more bad sectors than Detroit. Bad enough to turn a 40GB drive into a measly 8.5GB of storage. Definitely time to get a new HD. Until then, the music shop is closed…