What’s YOUR genre? No, I really want to know…It’s how I find my favorites…
I have been out of the “Top 40” groove for a while. A while = a year or more.
This doesn’t mean I don’t love music. It’s just the opposite. If you sit back and wait long enough, it will come to you. In my case, it comes to me from other bloggers and Facebook friends. Sometimes it even comes to my by recommended tracks on Spotify.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a Top 40 snob. Apparently, (according to Facebook) the song that defines my 2014 was Taylor Swift’s, “Shake It Off” (cuz the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate…and I’m okay with that so it sorta fits, in a bizarre way…).
In the middle of last year I was introduced to American Authors…you might recognize this:
Or maybe this one, if you are fond of Kodaline:
These two groups are ranking up there with Cold Play (whom I adore)…but then today, my buddy, Rob, at the V-Lounge posted a link to a song by Tired Pony, the likes of whom I’d never heard of, but I had a listen and had to Google this group.
I found that their frontman is Gary Lightbody (of Snow Patrol fame) and I went straight to Spotify to see if they had anything out there, which they did, and like American Authors and Kodaline? I’m hooked and they now have a fan.
During the summer months I listened to a top 100 list on Spotify while lifting and laying out by the pool and discovered Sia, whose “Chandelier” won my heart.
I downloaded everything I could of hers and love all of it.
Yet I haven’t heard much more than what I’ve posted here on mainstream radio (and I am too cheap to get satellite radio in my ’07 Toyota) but I am so happy that I discovered Spotify.
The message of this post is that music makes me happy; music makes me think, and music (maybe most importantly) makes me sing along.
How do you find your latest tunes? Do you just search your specific genre or do you listen, and pick up on, what your friends recommend?
P.S…Thanks, Rob! You are now to blame for a new musical obsession.
Have a great night! 🙂
Random Musings From a Type-A Workaholic 
I use last.fm to get recommendations based on what I already like. What I like about it opposed to other rec systems is that it keeps track of everything neatly and has a huge database. The user specific charts are great. I also sometimes just search for a random word on spotify and see if I like any of the stuff that comes up. This past October I was searching for a song and all I knew was that it had ‘Caroline’ in it (my professor also mistakenly called it that by name so that’s what I thought it was) and listened to all of them to find the one I was looking for. I ended up finding a new to me band that is pretty cool so far (Kill it Kid). I used to do something similar in high school where I would just search on frostwire for a word and either download all the different songs that seemed interesting. I found quite a bit I still listen to a lot now.
Julie and squirreling dervish, I am with you! I don’t even have an MP3 player!! I still load my CDs and tapes into my 2004 Beetle! I do love to listen to a few of Taylor Swift’s songs and some others, but I can’t sing along with them like I can my “oldie goldies” (and I do mean “oldie goldies!!” I still love James Taylor, Carole King, Show tunes, Jim Croce, Carlie Simon, Queen, Styx, Alan Parsons. I have a CD of compilations of others I listen to as well. I do only occasionally listen to the radio and will hear something I like but I am usually in the car driving and forget about it. So it is with being an old fogey! lol
Oh, I LOVE Jim Croce (Time in a Bottle was the Father-Daughter dance when J & I got married), Styx, Queen, James Taylor, and Alan Parsons! I never got too familiar with Carole King, however, and will now just check her out.
You’re welcome, Jules. I’m also really stuck on Lana Del Rey:
This is the long version and it’s very hot!
I really like her, as well…So off to Spotify I go. 😉
I admit when music award shows come on, I am forced to say….”WHO???” over and over again…I did not recognise anyone Jools pointed out, above. I feel woeful. I feel like I am being left behind. The only new son I have listed to over and over is Lord Huron’s “Ends of the Earth” which is just a lush, amazing song. I also liked Lorde’s ” Gory and Gore”. That’s odd because I detested “Royals”. I still listed to “The Killers”, but I tend to like the old R & B from the 40’s and 50’s ( Etta Washington, Shirley & Lee, the Platters, The 5 Royales, et al). I guess I would say my iPod is all over the map.
Adding those mentioned to my list. 🙂