Out there
• Man vs. Machine: the music geeks at Spinner.com go head to head with Pandora.com to see who's better at recommending music. Interesting experiment, although I wonder if the results would have been different if the lists were blind, i.e., if the person evaluating the recommendations didn't know from whence they came until after the experiment. The second guy in particular seemed biased against Pandora from the start. I think it makes sense that Pandora won because (and I think this is part of their mission statement, IIRC) the algorithm doesn't have all the baggage that a human does in recommending bands that are "uncool" or in seeking out groups with a particular cultural relevance.
• Evidently, Britney's album drops tomorrow. Idolator rounds up the reviews.
• Also, Neil Young. All Songs Considered had some interesting commentary a few weeks ago (starting at about 18:23). Robert Christgau is especially lovably curmudgeony.
• Oh, yeah. Go Sox! That's all I'll say.
• And Pitchfork has a few goodies: Videos by The Go! Team and Stephen Malkmus. News: New Magnetic Fields due Jan. 15; Le Loup gets a UK distributor, is back in NYC Dec. 13. And a Devendra Banhart interview that is really interesting. That guy is totally weird, but the more I read about him, the more I think that's actually who he is. He's not just being quirky for quirks own sake. He's also insanely smart and thoughtful, and really knows his music history. I particularly liked this digression (redatcted curse words all on this end):
But I'll use the example of the Nick Drake Volkswagen commercials. So many people had this attitude: They've taken something that is mine and f***ed it up. "Now everybody knows about this thing that's my secret. It was my thing, the music I turned to when I was alone and needed it. It's what helps me get through these times. It's just between me and music, and now it's been shared with the world." Everyone felt really hurt by it.
At the same time, f***, man, that's really a snobby attitude. It's a human one. But, f***, everyone gets to hear it now! This is wonderful! Nick deserved it. Nick deserved it during his lifetime! It's so exciting, too, to think of the f***ing horrible s*** you hear in commercials and at the mall, then suddenly Nick Drake comes on. It only takes one profound experience to change somebody's life. I know Nick's records went up in sales because of that. There's something totally positive about that.
eh.www.amNY.com
Comments (1)
So many links today! Im gonna see if I can check some of them out later tonight after work. You are right a blind test would be better. I don't make recommendations based on what people like, but based on what I like. Also, I agree with Devendra. G.