Have a graph.
This chart excludes film and classical music, focusing on popular releases. The blue line shows the total number of songs from each year of release in my library. The green line shows the cumulative playcount for records released that year. Make of it what you will, but apparently 2001 and 2003 were very good years for music.
Mudhoney’s My Brother the Cow, I think, is a fitting bookend to the “grunge” era. And though I didn’t get into Mudhoney until the waning days of the movement, in retrospect it seems as though it was the most quintessentially grunge of all the big bands to come out of Seattle during that time. Nirvana was more pop friendly; Pearl Jam leaned toward hard rock; Alice in Chains and Soundgarden were imbued with a metal sensibility; but Mudhoney was the band the best encapsilated the grunge ethos.
My Brother the Cow was released at a time when the music world was leaving grunge behind. It was spring of 1995 and Cobain had been dead for a year. Post-grunge acts such as Better Than Ezra and Live were bringing a kinder, gentle form of rock to the masses.
But Mudhoney continued doing its own thing and produced this great album. I remember waiting especially eagerly for this record to come out.
In January of that year, I obtained a recording of "self pollution radio," a sprawling 4 hour radio show hosted by Eddie Vedder and friends. They had gotten together to spin some records and engage in intelligent conversation.
Those tapes three ninety minute maxells became my musical divining rod for nearly 2 years. The first song played was Sonic Youth’s Teenage Riot and I was instantly transformed from casually interested in the band to hardcore fan. As the set progressed, I was introduced to forms of music both new and strange.
I heard songs months, and in some cases, years before they were officially released, including some Dave Grohl demo songs that would eventually be released as Foo Fighters.
The best part of the tapes, however, were the live sessions. Besides all the vinyl spinning, Eddie and company had arranged for a bunch of their friends to play a handful of songs in a make-shift studio.
Which brings me back to Mudhoney, whose performance really kinda blew me away. I hadn’t given the band much attention beyond their song on the seminal Singles soundtrack. but by the time the strutting bass line of What Moves the Heart had finished, I knew that I had to add this band to my collection.
I picked up Piece of Cake shortly thereafter and waited a couple months for My Brother the Cow. When I finally received it, I deemed it awesome and it quickly made its way into my frequent rotation. The music was great, but the thing that made it characteristically Mudhoney was the prankish sense of humor. My favorite part of the record was waiting for the last song to drain away to nothing, then come roaring back as the album started to play itself backward.
But just as this record seems to be the last defiant gasp of grunge, it was also Mudhoney’s last hurrah for me. I listened to them vigorously for a couple years, but by the time the group’s next album, Tomorrow Hit Today, was released in 1998 I had largely forgotten about them. But listening to My Brother the Cow again reminds me why I liked them so much in the first place.
This is the latest update of my progress, with projection to the end of the year.
I picked up the latest Sonic youth recently but hadn’t gotten around to listening to it until this evening. Because of my tunequest rule of “no repeats,” I won’t be able hear it again until the next year or I complete the project, whichever comes first. It’s safe to say that when I pass either of those milestones, I’ll be itching to hear it again, along with the handful of other new releases/acquisitions for the year.
If I had to come up with one word to describe Rather Ripped, it would have to be "effortless." At this point in their carreers, Sonic Youth can waltz into their studio and produce this stuff in their sleep.
sleep-waltzing, i like it
The one thing that struck me on this first and only play-through was how much cleaner, unified and melodious, as well as harmonious, the band sounds. There’s nary a trace of their trademark fuzz, noise and distortion. I like that too.
The Cinematic Orchestra is a relatively new addition to my library, arriving late last year. the group’s style is a kind of downtempo modern jazz with flavors of hip hop and rock and electronics that, as the name of the band implies, give it a sound like a very cool soundtrack.
In fact, that’s what Man With A Movie Camera is. A couple years ago, the group was commissioned to provide a new soundtrack to the 1929 Russian silent film of the same name. I haven’t seen the new version of the movie, but based on its music and the commentary surrounding it, I bet it’s fantastic.
Google Videos has the new version in its entirety, which you can watch below. The film is completely silent for the first three and half minutes, so don’t be surprised if you don’t hear anything at first. This thing is fascinating. Watch it below and enjoy.
I’m a big fan of text clouds, where a list of topics, keywords, tags, etc are displayed at various sizes based on how popular those words are. the artist cloud is one example. it shows how often a particular artist has been mentioned during the course of the tunequest.
Well, the other day, i was playing with some of these search engine optimization tools, one of which is a keyword density checker. it scans a webpage and displays a cloud of word popularity from that page. after playing with it, i hit upon the idea of seeing a visual representation of the most numerous artists in my library.
Using iTunes’ Export Song List function, I made a tab-delimited text file of all my library information. I then opened that text file in excel and removed everything but the artist column.
Since the density checker looks at individual words, I had to remove all the spaces from the artists’ names, which were copied into a basic html page and submitted.
The results can be found below. it reflects the number of songs from each artist, which gives a decent, but skewed impression of my tastes. it shows what i have, not what i listen to the most. even for just showing the contents of the library, i think a better metric would be the total time of each artist rather than total song count. but that’s beyond my current capabilities. i guess i’ll just have to wait until the iTunes registry is back up.
Yeah, I know it’s so middle school to “brag about” the bands you like, but I think this is neat:
50cent aforestmightyblack aarhussymphonyorchestra addntox aelters afterthefire aimeemann air[frenchband] akiraifukube algreen alhirt alyankovicwendycarlos alanreevesphilsteeleandp alansilvestri albertobaldanbembo alecempire alessandroalessandroni alexandercourage alfclausen alfredwaitzman aliceinchains alisonkrauss aluminumgroup americanmusicclub anaprilmarch anandashankar angelobadalamenti anthrax antonellopaliotti aphextwin applecomputer aquanote arcticmonkeys arlingcameron armandotrovajoli arthurlyman asone atmosphere attilioanthonydonadio augustomartelli autechre badlydrawnboy barbaramanning bardopond barigozzigroup basementjaxx basilpoledouris bavarianradioorchestra bbcphilharmonicorchestra beastieboys beck beckandtheflaminglips beegees benfoldsfive berlinphilharmonicorchestra bernardherrmann bertopisano bethorton betterthanezra billconti billdoss billevans billperkins billyidol billymay billymayandhisorchestra birdie bis bixio frizzi tempera bjork blackbrown blindmelon blondie 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cornelius cornershop countingcrows craigventresco cschulz curtismayfield czechphilharmonicorchestra daedelus daftpunk dallasstringband damonalbarnmichaelnyman dancastellaneta dannakamura dannyelfman dariog davegrohl davegrusin davematthewsband davidarnold davidarnoldkevinkiner davidbell davidbowie davidcarradineandumathurma davidholmes davidkitay davidnewman dazzband deadoralive deathcabforcutie deathinvegas delarosaandasora dennismccarthy devo dexy’smidnightrunners dickdaleandhisdel tones dickhyman digitalunderground dimitrifromparis dinahshore djkrush djshadow djsmash dmitrishostakovich dntel dominicharlan donjulian donaldbyrd donniedarko doristroychaumont drdre dressybessy duncan dustyspringfield dustytrails dynastiecrisis evax earthakitt eastflatbushproject edwardshearmur elastica elbow electricdiva eliacmiral elliotgoldenthal elliotsmith elmerbernstein elvispresley eminem emittrhodes emmylouharrisalisonkraussandgillianwelch englishsymphonyorchestra enniomorricone enochlight ericserra erikaelgen esem esquivel eta everclear explosionsinthesky extendedspirit fxrandomiz fairfieldfour faithless fantasticplasticmachine fatboyslim faust filabrazillia filter fineyoungcannibals fionaapple flacojimenez florindabolkan fluke foofighters fourtet fowlkes francescodemasi francislai francislaipierrebarouh francobixio francodegemini francomicalizzi francopisano frankblack frankmills frankapotente franzwaxman fredbongusto freedompower fumiohayasaka funkstorung futurama gangoffour gapband garbage garyhoey garyjules geinohyamashirogumi genekelly georgedavidweisbobthiele georgemartin georgeshearing geraldfried gershonkingsley gianpiereoreverberi giancarlogazzani gianfrancoplenizio gianniferrio giannioddi ginomarinacciensemble glennnbranca glittermini globalcommunication goblin godspeedyoublackemperor goldenshower gomez googoodolls gorillaz grandaddy greenapplequickstep greenfuture grooverider guidoemauriziodeangelis guineo gunsn’roses gustavholst gyorgyligeti hajimeyoshizawe hal handsomeboymodelingschoolfeaturingtrugoydelasoulanddelthatfunkeehomosapien hankjones hanszimmer happyend harrybetts harrymcclintock hectorvarela helmet homie hooverphonic hotchocolate houstonperson houstonpersonandroncarter howardroberts howardshore hum igres ipulsar idesofspace iggypop inonzur interpol ironandwine irvingberlin isaachayes isaotomita isotope israelkamakawiwo’ole jacquesdutronc jamescartertheprisoners jamesclarke jameshorner jamesnewtonhoward jamiroquai janwernerfxrandomiz japanic jaychattaway jazzanova jeanjacquesperrey jeromepatrickholanchuckberry jerryfielding jerrygoldsmith jet jimo’rourke jimvenable jimwhite jimihendrix jocelynpook joecalicott joegravesthediggers joehisaishi joeporter joelgoldsmith joelmcneeley johnbarry johnhartford johnmcentire johnottman johnpowell johnwilliams johnnycash josephloduca julielondon julien juniopisanojaqueschaumont juno kcthesunshineband kanyewest karate karma kashmir kevinmanthei kevinshields kidloco killbill kingblackacid kingfloyd kirovorchestra klausdoldinger koichisugiyama komeda kontraquartet koolthegang koop ko wrecktechnique kraftwerk kruderdorfmeister kuniomiyauchi larevoluciondeemilianozapa ladytron laloschifrin larasaintpaul laurindoalmeida lcdsoundsystem leeselmocoorchestra leespencerjohnnyklimek leftfield lenvorsterrobertchamberlain leningradphilharmonicorchestra leonardcohen leonardnimoy leonardrosenman leroyholmes lesbaxter lesiman letterstocleo lilychou limpbizkit lionelbelasco lippsinc lithops littlehatjones littlerichard littlewilliejohn loleymanuel londonsymphonyorchestra loustein louisaldebert louisandbebebarron lovespitlove lovemongers ltjexperience luisbacalov lukevibert lulu mdoughty madseason malcolmmclaren mamasthepapas manorastroman manitoba marcoantoniosolis marcyplayground mariamckee mariomolino marionascimbene mariusconstant markdegliantoni markjonathandavis markmothersbaugh marksnow marseillephilharmonicorchestra martindenny martinfry martino’donnellmichaelsalvatori marvingaye marvinhamlisch masamichiamano masarusatoh maserati massiveattack mastercylinder masurusatoh matmos mattmonroe matthewsweet mauricejarre mcgeebros meatpuppets medeskimartinandwood megadeth meikokaji meltorme mellow meloman mercuryrev methodman michaelandrews michaeljackson michaeljohnson michaelkamen microstoria mikepostpetecarpenter mikhailpletnev milesdavis minibosses mkl moby mogwai mohammedrafi moloko molotovvsdubpistols moneymark montrealsymphonyorchestra mooneysuzuki morcheeba morphine mortonstevens mortonsubotnik mouseonmars mrfreddie mroizo mudhoney multisofa mybloodyvalentine mystikal nerd nancysinatra nathanvancleave nationalskyline nautilis neilnorman neilyoung neu neworder newyorkphilharmonicorchestra nickcaveandthebadseeds nico nicolaconte nicolecroisilleanniegirardot nineinchnails ninodeluca nintendo nintendogamecube nirvana nobukazutakemura djspooky noelgallagher noraorlandi normanblake oasis oglio operationphoenix optiganallyyours orbital ornellavanoni 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spacehog spacemen3 spiritualvibes spiritualized squarepusher squirrelnutzippers stlouissymphonyorchestra stgermain stjohnny stangetz stangetzbobbrookmeyer stankenton
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michael kamen’s score to licence to kill is very reminiscent of his score for die hard. it has a very 80s sound to it, with the familiar james bond motifs grafted onto it. it makes sense; the two films are only a year apart.
the results aren’t too bad, though i didn’t particularly care for his die hard music, or kamen’s style in general. however, he does ok in the bond mode.