Well this month has been a bad one for that free discovery. It might be the TV, or more specifically the lack of TV. I watch John Oliver's Last Week Tonight on HBO, but that's about it. The rest of my TV time is currently spent re-watching The West Wing on Netflix. I'm sure once the fall season starts back up and I start watching Fear The Walking Dead (just a couple weeks for that!), The Walking Dead, Person of Interest, and a few others, I'll get back into some good discovery. But for now, it's just a wasteland of pop and songs that I already have/like.
Even iTunes has started to let me down. The first few years I was using iTunes I could rely on them to get me some good music. I just had to look at their 'recent' music, or better yet their recommendations specifically for me. Eventually the 'recent' just turned into more and more major label stuff (i.e. pop), and the recommendations broke down. They recommend songs that I already have (that I didn't purchase from them), or they are so close to what I already have that I've already heard it, considered it, and decided not to add it to my collection.
That's about the time I started looking at their 'top songs' lists. I couldn't use the main one as they more or less listed the bilboard top ten lists (more pop). So I would hit up the genre specific lists... but even those are getting screwed over. When I go over to the classical top ten it's all the 'pop' classical. Five guys on a piano, or whatever was last played on America's Got Talent. The Alternative list varies so much as the Alternative genre is, by definition, simply 'not mainstream'. So sometimes it's pop (ick) and sometimes it's rock. Occasionally an artist will break in with an alternative take on bluegrass or country, but that's rare. The Rock stuff.... well damn it Journey is still on the list. JOURNEY!
Bastards.
As I prepared to write this up, I started to consider what I'd add. I mean, sure.. I could just list the three songs I got since the last time I shared my new music, but it's not all that great. I thought I'd talk a bit more on the whole streaming idea, but I've decided that no.. no I'm not going to do that. It's just not worth the $10 a month when I can't use it at work. If I could use it there... hell yeah it would be worth it. But just using it in my car and at home doesn't make sense.
I thought I'd talk about some odd musical tastes... but I'm not in the mood for 'strange'. I'm in the mood for something I can crank up and rock out too.
I thought I'd talk about changing from alternative to classic rock at work, but that can be covered up in one sentence: I changed from listening to an Alternative station at work to a Classic Rock station at work. Woot.
I even kind of hoped that getting a graphic for the post would help inspire a conversation topic, but no... the record I have is cool, but I was never into vinyl. So as a last resort I went down the well traveled and now often disappointing road of iTunes discovery. Their main page was sad, the classical page was heart breaking, the recommedations haven't changed since spring, and the alternative is all songs I've been listening to at work (and disliking) for the past month.
When I hit Rock, I almost just said 'fuck it'. Especially when I saw that Journey's "Don't Stop Beliving" is number 7 on the top 10. I had just recently heard the shinedown song that was listed as number 1, but I didn't recognize the song listed as number 2. At first thought, it seemed like just another band trying to gain attention with a song title.
S.O.B.
Even the band name seemed kind of flashy and dull at the same time. Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats. But I listened. And I fell in love.
Yes... Love. It's WAY to early to know if I'll love this song and/or band, but at least for now it's filling my heart up with musical joy. It's bluegrass, it's low tech, it has clapping, it's like a revival, it's hipster, it's.... it's what I've been looking for. I bought it and started listening to it back to back to back. I'm now on playcount 6 (at full volume) and I am loving it more and more. I can picture listening to it while driving, I can picture it in the background while browing the web, I can even picture it at work.
Here's the song. Take a listen and see if you don't agree:
S.O.B. by Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
So if there is a moral to this story (And no, there's not. But let's pretend), it's to just keep on looking. Eventually something will come up that's worth the earworm. (Son of a bitch, Give me a drink!!)
The other songs by comparision are really kind of sad, but I may as well list them. There is of course the now almost obligatory Postmodern Jukebox song.
Criminal by Postmodern Jukebox
I've liked Criminal by Fiona Apple since it hit Mtv, so this was a no brainer. It's... o.k. Probably won't end up as my favorite PMJ, but it's worth no skipping when it comes up.
The next one was more for the 'uhh... what?' factor. Steven Tyler of Aerosmith fame... doing country? My head still hurts when I think about it:
Yeah... the facial hair is the least of what's wrong with this and the facial hair is WAY wrong. But then again, I don't skip it when it comes up. Its alright.
Lastly I have the one song that came from listening to all that Alternative at work.
Tear In My Heart by twenty one pilots
It's ok. I can bop a bit to it when it plays, but I'll skip it in the car. I think the main thing that originally caught my attention were the lyrics "I'm driving here I sit, cursing my government,
For not using my taxes to fill holes with more cement." Yeah... I hate pot holes too.
So what was going to be a sad post about not finding any good music has directly resulted in me finding a great new song (playcount is now on 9!).
I am amused to discover (after a long time not checking here) that you share my thoughts on electric cars (ish) and TV watching!
ReplyDeleteI have nothing more in-depth, binge-reading, but thought that was worth a mention!