From: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org (loud-fans-digest) To: loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Subject: loud-fans-digest V7 #503 Reply-To: loud-fans@smoe.org Sender: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk loud-fans-digest Saturday, September 13 2008 Volume 07 : Number 503 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: [loud-fans] Timbre. Furs and Dar [AWeiss4338@aol.com] Re: [loud-fans] Timbre. Furs and Dar ["Andrew Hamlin" Subject: Re: [loud-fans] Timbre. Furs and Dar > I love Dar's cover of "Starman," especially the narrative intro. > Something about her says "hope'' to me. Imagine my surprise to hear her (via Amazon) covering Fountains Of Wayne on her new set! Yes, I can hear a Goosens quill scratching a long line through Dar's name down Nashville way, Andy "The Silent Houses" In cold October rain I go again down grey neglected streets my father knew, past blackened walls and rows of silent houses where years have watched their sullen scars accrue. The chilling autumn rain sweeps steadily as if it fell forever out of Time. I walk unseen till I become a wraith, a witless marionette, in some dim pantomime. No one stands at the vanished door I seek, no one waits in the light to lead me home again. The silent houses mock me with their ruin as if they mocked ghosts as well as men. - --Joseph Payne Brennan ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2008 19:28:33 -0700 From: West Anthony Subject: [loud-fans] A Heartbreaking Genius Of Staggering Work Well, I decided to try that new Genius thingy in iTunes, despite my misgivings about corporate snoopage into my music collection; it claims to examine all the music you have in iTunes and then store that information in some magical "cloud" in the sky, along with everyone else's. Then, you play a song, activate the Genius, and it creates a playlist for you, as well as recommending other songs you don't have that you might like to buy from the iTunes store. (I mightn't.) Supposedly, your musical tastes can be compared with those of everyone else in the "cloud", so eventually the Genius will be able to offer a larger selection of music that suits your tastes. Or it will meld all of our musical tastes together, like the Borg, and soon we will all be rocking out to the Jonas Brothers, completely forgetting that we ever wanted to kick teenagers in the face whenever we heard that corporatized pop dreck. (Seriously, is it me, or do the Jonas Brothers make The Monkees look like Black Flag?) Test Numero One-o: I played Game Theory's "I've Tried Subtlety" and hit the Genius button. Apparently, it was too subtle, because Mr. Genius laid an egg -- no results at all. Test Numero Deux: The Loud Family's "Cortex The Killer". Here is the playlist (I limited it to 25 songs) that the Genius coughed up: 1 Cortex The Killer/The Loud Family 2 I Will Dare/The Replacements 3 So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)/R.E.M. 4 She Bangs The Drums/The Stone Roses 5 Rise/Public Image Ltd. 6 Take The Skinheads Bowling/Camper Van Beethoven 7 A Million Miles Away/The Plimsouls 8 Modern Girl/Sleater-Kinney 9 September Gurls/Big Star 10 Way Down Now/World Party 11 Devil Doll/X 12 Why We Don't Live In Mauritania/The Loud Family 13 Bastards Of Young/The Replacements 14 Plateau/Meat Puppets 15 If I Can't Change Your Mind/Sugar 16 Police On My Back/The Clash 17 Pay To Cum/Bad Brains 18 Cuts You Up/Peter Murphy 19 Can't Get There From Here/R.E.M. 20 Achin' To Be/The Replacements 21 Punk Rock Girl/The Dead Milkmen 22 All That Money Wants/The Psychedelic Furs 23 4th Of July/X 24 I've Been Waiting/Matthew Sweet 25 Summer Babe/Pavement And here are the Genius' recommendations for stuff I don't have: Magnet's Coil/Sebadoh You Can Have It All/Yo La Tengo Debonair/The Afghan Whigs Passenger Side/Wilco Words And Guitar/Sleater-Kinney Fourth Of July/Galaxie 500 Spit On A Stranger/Pavement Acuff-Rose/Uncle Tupelo Autumn Sweater/Yo La Tengo Bright Yellow Gun/Throwing Muses Set The Ray To Jerry/Smashing Pumpkins Rollercoaster/The Jesus And Mary Chain You've Just Got It All/ +/- Cut Your Hair/Pavement Velouria/Pixies Of course, no Game Theory included, since Steve Jobs seems to be unaware of their existence. I'm not sure why there were three Replacements songs, and none by XTC (I have buckets of songs), Guided By Voices (ditto)... heck, even a Magnetic Fields song would be a step in the right direction. I'm not sure how eclectic these Genius playlists are supposed to get, much less if Apple has any inkling how eclectic I am. The playlist seems unremarkable to me, although some of the recommendations seem promising; perhaps over time, as more and more people get involved, there will be more diversity in the musical selection. Unless nobody wants that but me. Test Numero Drei: I played "Genius" by Warren Zevon; my computer told me to go fuck myself. Even inanimate objects don't appreciate my sense of humor. If anyone else has been fiddling with this gizmo, I'd love to hear your thoughts. In other news, two trains have collided in Chatsworth CA, about five blocks from my apartment; it's an unholy mess, but I'm okay. If you were wondering. Next test: "Tennessee Bird Walk"! Chirp chirp, West. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2008 23:47:16 -0400 From: "Stewart Mason" Subject: Re: [loud-fans] A Heartbreaking Genius Of Staggering Work - ----- Original Message ----- From: "West Anthony" > If anyone else has been fiddling with this gizmo, I'd love to hear > your thoughts. I played with it a bit. Seems all right, although the fact that a song has to be available on iTunes for it to be able to generate a playlist suggests that it's really just a slightly tweaked "People who liked ______________ also bought _____________" program. On the other hand, the first song I tried it with (The Bird and the Bee's "Again and Again," one of my favorite singles of recent years) immediately brought up Blonde Redhead's "23," a song I wouldn't have considered a perfect match that nonetheless sounded spot-on coming directly after it. So it potentially has utility. S ------------------------------ End of loud-fans-digest V7 #503 *******************************