the spotify experience
After the initial bewilderment and aimless searching, I realized that getting the most out of Spotify would require a little help from other websites — namely, places that could recommend new music for me to explore (unless there’s some sort of internal public playlist feature on there that I’m missing).
Blogs! Sirius XM playlists! eMusic editorial features! Post-its written while listening to Pandora! Last.fm recommendations! The sources are really endless, once you start thinking about it.
The second Spotify lesson was that the queue is really weird to use and not very sortable. No matter what, I kept winding up with albums split up and partially multiplied and just not in nice queue condition. (“You’re using it wrong!” is a very real possibility.) Playlists, it turns out, are the answer.
Speaking of playlists, did you know that unless told otherwise, Spotify will make all your iTunes playlists public? Eeeep. I hope everyone enjoyed my exceptionally nerdy playlists (days of the week, types of fruit, etc.) and downright embarrassing ones (“cute” mixes for boys, workplace anger mixes, etc.). That feature is now disabled, thanks.
One of my biggest problems with Spotify was that the music I was listening to wasn’t really mine, even though I was technically paying (a low monthly fee) for it. It’s not a radio; it’s not an mp3. Can I “claim” it as part of my library? I can’t listen to it in the car or on my iPod, can I? Is buying an album when I can listen to it less expensively at any time through here redundant? Am I going to buy less music now? Is my “real” music collection going to seem thinner because I’m listening to some music through here as a substitute? Am I THE ONLY PERSON who is concerned about these things?
(Answer to last question: Maybe.)
But I’m going to ignore those lingering little old-fashioned concerns for now and think about a few albums I’ve loved so far. Which means that yes, I will likely be buying them. Probably in CD form, because Amazon mp3 feels a like too close a cousin to this form.
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The Antlers — Burst Apart
This is trendyindie of some sort. Rock, somewhat electronic sometimes. Haunting. Lyrics invite and deserve some dissection. It has that intriguing “beautiful-but-sad” mood, even on the songs with the stronger beats. Why am I so late to The Antlers party? I don’t know.
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Nicole Atkins — Mondo Amore
Everyone on Twitter — well, mostly Rhett Miller and occasionally other people — kept talking about Nicole Atkins. I tend to be selective about women’s voices I can stand listening to without finding them whiny. (Actually, lots of trendyindie men sing with such high-pitched voices these days that we run into the problem there, too.) Here’s one that absolutely passes the test. Love the entire bluesy sound of the album, in fact. I heard that her previous album had a very different style and plan on looking into that one next.
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Dawes: Nothing Is Wrong
Okay, there’s music inspired-to-heavily-influenced by traditional American roots rock (which is… a lot of what I listen to), and then there’s Dawes. Pure, straight-up old-school traditional that does not stray. Needless to say, there’s an organ. Dreamy sigh. Sometimes, I do wish they would go just a little bit My Morning Jacket-ish or something on a song or two to mix things up. But hey, that’s not what they do, and that’s okay.
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Washed Out — Within And Without
Washed Out. So hot right now. The kids call this chillwave, which, of course, is perfect for summer. It’s shimmering, pretty music that reminds me of jj and Air France and similar artists that I couldn’t get enough of last year. Probably not the best driving music, with its high zone-out potential, but excellent for low-key parties attended by people with big sunglasses and American Apparel leotards. Or for sitting in the living room, reading a magazine, and enjoying not being at work.
