According to Last.fm, these were my top tracks of 2012. Most of these are from my Paxil playlist, and obviously I had some favorite albums that I listened to a lot. (I thought I’d publish it before New Years to avoid contaminating the results with Sufjan Christmas tunes…) “Making Mirrors” Gotye “Easy Way Out” Gotye […]
My 2012 Top Tracks Read More »
Here’s something you might not know about me: I hate pop radio. I prefer the kind of music that just won’t pull in the ratings they need to sell the ads. So you might be surprised to see me publishing a Spotify top 20 chart. But Spotify certainly has a different demographic from pop radio—like
Greengrass, Volume 8 on Spotify There are a couple of new tunes on this playlist, but most of the tracks in this set are old favorites that have been in my collection a dozen years or more. The Tossers – “221B/The Sneaky Priest (The Gloria Scott)”The second tune on this track also goes by the
Greengrass, Volume 8 (a Spotify playlist) Read More »
Here’s the seventh installment of my bluegrass/celtic Spotify playlist series. Sorry I don’t have time for track-by-track commentary this week! I’ve been busy researching other subjects. Hopefully the tunes will speak for themselves. Hamish Moore – "MacGregor’s Search" Olivia Korkola – "Morning Dew/Tom Ward’s Downfall/Star of Munster" Sara Watkins – "Jefferson" Natalie MacMaster – "Butcher’s
Greengrass, Vol. 7 Read More »
This week’s Spotify playlist is a mostly-fiddle-driven instrumental set. Although the orchestration is somewhat focused in this regard, the scope is quite diverse, both geographically—with tunes from America, Ireland, Scotland, and even Norway—and temporally, running the gamut from ancient traditional tunes to contemporary acoustic. “N.M.I.” – We begin with an instrumental from Sean Watkins (of
Greengrass, Volume 6 (a Spotify playlist) Read More »
I’ve gone all-celtic for this special St. Patrick’s Day edition, which includes a lot of punk rock to boost your energy for those all-day & all-night college-town parties. We’ll start off with "Shipping Up to Boston" by Boston’s own Dropkick Murphys. This tune was a big hit for them, and was used in a couple
Greengrass, Vol. 5: St. Paddy’s Edition Read More »
Last week’s iOS 5.1 and iTunes 10.6 updates seem to have fixed most of the issues in iTunes Match. My previous argument about Apple shooting themselves in the foot still stands, historically, as they’ve likely missed out on income opportunities due to the long delay, but I think the service is finally suitable for prime
Here’s a tip for users of iTunes and Spotify: Use Last.fm too! Read More »
This one is bookended by “MacCrimmon’s Lament”. This is a tune I used to work into Scottish-inspired sets when I played church music in Malibu. The first version is by award-winning fiddler Alasdair Fraser. “Paddy Fahy’s”, etc. (Tim O’Brien) – Great tunes. Tim O’Brien’s take on them are slightly different (I wouldn’t pick the same
Greengrass, Vol. 4 Read More »
“Tin Roof” (Steve Martin) – This week’s playlist inludes a couple more tunes from Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers’ inaugural (and Grammy-winning) release, The Crow. Later we’ll also hear an instrumental version of “Calico Train.” “Oedipus Rex” (Open House) – A silly folk tune by Mark Graham, played by Portland Irish group Open House
Greengrass, Vol. 3 Read More »