15 posts tagged “music”

One of the first things I did with my iPhone was to set a custom ringtone of Band of Horses' The Funeral because I love the intro.  It was on an episode of Numb3rs that I really liked, and kept getting stuck in my head.  It was in episode Breaking Point last season, when Colby was trying to find a missing reporter.

Dude, why don't I do this anymore?  I am in love, sitting here with my headphones in, listening to wonderful music (Sarah, Garbage, Rob Thomas, Avril so far) and coding my little heart out.  This makes me happy.  

Note: This is the third in a series of posts looking back at 2007, in some key areas of my life that were important to me.

I listened this year.

One of the biggest trends for me again this year was that music used in TV or Movie scenes resonates that most for me.  When I have a visual connection, it really hits me more, I guess.  I finally purchased a few tracks from old shows, like Beth Orton's She Cries Your Name because I was so sad that it wasn't on my DVD of Roswell during a key scene.   I was excited to get the songs that they play regularly on General Hospital when those were released on iTunes (Jayson Belt, Rie Sinclair, etc), because again, they have that visual for me.   One of my favorite songs at the end of the year was Lucky Man by The Verve, and I only found it because it was played on an episode of Journeyman. (The long version of the Journeyman theme song is another I purchased, continuing my long-time-love of tv themes).

I also finished purchasing tracks from some CDs that I'd only bought part previously because of iTunes promotion (Kelly Clarkson and Nickelback and Rob Thomas come to mind), and I think this actually made me more willing to buy individual tracks to try out an artist, rather than waiting to see if I wanted to commit to it.

Rhianna's Umbrella was stuck in my head for much of the summer (along with a lot of America) which is the first time in a while I've been enjoying a mainstream song at the same time as everyone else.  Since I don't listen to the radio very much, I tend to hit the trends later.  This was kinda fun.

The only album I have from this last year which I own in a physical CD is my new-at-Christmas Radio Sunnydale.  Everything else, I bought on iTunes as individual tracks or albums.  We already have shelves and shelves of CDs, and an old pile of cassette tapes, too, so we didn't need the physical clutter.  I'll still purchase the albums for the very favorite artists (like Vanessa Carlton from my wish list).

Much of the time when I'm listening to music, it's a big uber Smart Playlist made up of other smart playlists, with my Pop, Rock, Top rated Electronica and Alternative music.  I randomize that (737 songs) and it gives me a great fun listen most of the time.  When I'm feeling like I need more calm in my life, I go for my Christian top list, which is all of my Christian genre that are highly rated (117 songs).  And last years purchase of some more country has me picking that play list periodically (including Dixie Chicks and the Wreckers most prominently).  I really enjoy using iTunes for my music playing.

Along with music, I found podcasts this year for the first time.  Everything I listened to consistently were knitting-related, but it was another way for me to appreciate something in the background while I work on a project.  I listened to Stash and Burn (which I found through Harold) for most of the year, and then found Kelly Petkun's podcast from KnitPicks (a local company) part way through the year.  Just recently I added LionBrand's YarnCraft and Vickie Howell's CRL.

According to iTunes, out of the music I added this year, Nickelback's Rockstar and Jem's Come on Closer had the top tracks I listened to.  My top rated artists continue to be the same ones I've listened to for years or at least the last couple of years: Sarah McLachlan, Vanessa Carlton, Michelle Branch (and the Wreckers), Natalie Imbruglia, Dido, Garbage, Avril Lavigne, Ashlee Simpson, Barenaked Ladies, tATu.  Steven Curtis Chapman, Jennifer Knapp, and Michael W. Smith are prominent in my Christian genre. The more recent additions of Aimee Mann, Anna Nalick, Nickelback, Rob Thomas, P!nk, Jem, and Kelly Clarkson round things out nicely in my collection, along with plenty of one-hit wonders and other people I enjoy just a few tracks more than their whole collection.

I do use last.fm to track all my music tastes, sending my tracks played when sitting in front of iTunes (vs. on my iPod) to their system to add to my profile.  Although I don't use the features as much as I could, it's fun to see periodically.

My most bloggable present from Christmas was from my parents, who got me Buffy's Radio Sunnydale CD off my wishlist.

I resisted getting this soundtrack back when it first came out because I wasn't enamored by the number of songs on it.  But the more and more I watch the show again, the more I wanted to have some of these songs that were unavailable elsewhere.    Mainly the super Blue by Angie Hart (talked about getting it stuck in my head in this post).  Some of the other songs are great, too (just noticing that the beginning of Bohemian Like You is reminds me of Real Gone by Sheryl Crow from Cars, LOL!)  I already had purchased the Aimee Mann song on this album because I liked it so much, so I have two copies now!

There's also a Sarah McLachlan song on here that I couldn't easily get, The Prayer of St. Francis, and I love making my Sarah-collection more complete.  Funny thing, this made me notice that somehow when I ripped my music in, Surfacing never made it in, so Full of Grace, another song used on a Buffy ep, wasn't on my computer.  Most of the songs I liked from that CD were on Mirrorball, so I guess I hadn't noticed.  Fixed now, Surfacing is all ripped.

While listening, I start digging for other Buffy-on-episode music that I didn't yet have that was available on iTunes, and I added a nice pile to my wishlist (Tip: for a low-tech personal wishlist in iTunes, just create a new playlist and drag the 30 second clips into it) 

While Buffy Guide is the best overall site for anything related to specific episodes, I wanted to find a site that listed out the songs played in each episode rather than clicking through to each.  I found Dusk 'till Dawn, which has a really nice short overview of each song, the artist, and the brief summary of when it plays for most of them.  That works!

Oh, and I'm really excited right now about Buffy because right before Christmas, I used some Amazon gift certificates to finish up my collection when all the seasons were on sale.  That was the 3 remaining Buffy's I needed and the 3 final Angel's, too.  I'm adding them to my Vox when I finish them, and we'll be done with Season 2 of Buffy the next time we sit down to watch - I won't watch Becoming I without watching II at the same time, so it'll be a double feature :)  We watched the one before those over the weekend, Go Fish, which is fun because it has not only Shane West (of ER, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), but Wentworth Miller (Prison Break) too :)

Pretty soon, I'm going to have to decide if I want to watch Buffy and Angel intermixed like they played on TV, or finish out Buffy and then start Angel.  I hadn't thought of that until E said something, but the more I think about it, the more that makes sense for the timeline and the things that did cross over a little.  That'd be 4 seasons worth that match up: Buffy 4/Angel1, Buffy 5/Angel 2, Buffy 6/Angel 3, Buffy 7/Angel 4.

I think I'll have to pick up Angel: Live Fast, Die Never at some point too, because even though most of it instrumental, it's got Christian Kane's LA Song too. ;)

And there's my fangirlyness that made me all happy even though I'm a bit worn out from the festivities!

What are your top 10 most-played songs currently?

I have last.fm hooked into iTunes, and so it does a really nice job of summarizing for me.  Here's the 3-month rolling most popular track list.

1. Jem - Falling for you
2. Eagle-eye Cherry - Crashing down
3. Nickleback - Rockstar
4. Gary Jules - Mad World (Alternate Version)
5. Mat Kearney - All I need
6. Thisway - Crawl
7. Anna Nalick - Catalyst
8. Jewel - Good Day
9. Aimee Mann - Pavlov's Bell
10. Jem - They

Some of these are new in the last few months and some are old.  Interestingly enough, none of them are a particularly high count, and so I must be doing a good job of varying my music listening moreso than in the past!

And then this is my top overall tracks since I've been tracking on last.fm (and a good reason to use an embed!)

:)  Fun with music is always fun.  I'm looking forward to grabbing a few more tracks from iTunes before I go on a trip for this weekend, because it's always nice to have a few new things for a long drive!

Earlier today, it was "Blue"  by Angie Hart, which is crazy-insane because I haven't heard it for a long time, probably since I saw the rerun of the epidode of Buffy that had it on.  I saw when searching that it's a track on the Radio Sunnydale album, so I put that on my wishlist because there's a couple tracks on there I was excited about, and unfortunately, they aren't on iTunes.

Now, it's "I'm just a little black rain cloud" ala Winnie the Pooh, because I was doodling little clouds on my paper (they looked suspiciously like vox logo bubbles, too!)

What a goof I am!

Recent rotation on iTunes for me is a nice selection of all of the Christmas music I own. :)

Some of the albums have been with me for a long time...

Others are ones I've purchased this year or last:

I've also got a few singles from Rebecca St. James (Sweet Little Jesus Boy) and Jars of Clay (Drummer Boy) and Jaci Velasquez (The Angel Song and O Come, O Come Emmanuel). It makes me happy to hear Christmas music, and this mix is certainly doing it for me!

This will be nice driving music for after Christmas for us too, because I don't seem to loose the holiday music need until at least a week after :)  I guess I'm not constantly listening to popular radio where they play certain songs to death - my 78 songs is 5.1 hours, so it's not like I hear the same song over and over, even though there are a few I would repeat more often happily!

I was sitting here listening to some of my pop music, and it made me crave TGIFridays because that's where I remember hearing this one first, at least the first time I recognized it: This Love by Maroon 5.

But then I got to thinking, geez, last time we were at TGIFridays, the food sucked.  :D  AND they took almost every vegetarian thing off the menu, so that means we can't go there anymore.

I love the music at Red Robin, too, but it's a little different than what comes on at TGIFridays.  Is it weird to like a restaurant just for the music?! :D

Well, and plus, it's friday.  Liking TGIFridays on a friday is probably natural ;)

What are your top 25 most played songs? 
Submitted by Cooxie.  

1. 

   Under My Skin
   

   I Am Me
   Fall To Pieces - Avril Lavigne
2. My Happy Ending - Avril Lavigne
3. Slipped Away - Avril Lavigne
4. I Just Wanna Live - Good Charlotte
5. Pavlov's Bell - Aimee Mann
6. How Does It Feel - Avril Lavigne
7. This is How It Goes - Aimee Mann
8. Take Me Away - Avril Lavigne
9. Together - Avril Lavigne
10. Forgotten - Avril Lavigne
11. Crashing Down - Eagle-Eye Cherry
12. Cherry Lips - Garbage
13. Freak Out - Avril Lavigne
14. Untouchable - Garbage
15. La La - Ashlee Simpson
16. Nobody's Home - Avril Lavigne
17. Who Knows - Avril Lavigne
18. Afterglow - Vanessa Carlton
19. Nothing New - Ashlee Simpson
20. BareNaked - Jennifer Love Hewitt
21. Are You Happy Now? - Michelle Branch
22. He Wasn't - Avril Lavigne
23. Shut Your Mouth - Garbage
24. Breathe (2 AM) - Anna Nalick
25. Don't Tell Me - Avril Lavigne

When I first got my Avril cd, I listened to it over and over and so it's not really a great representation of NOW.  Same thing for Ashlee.  In fact, the newest thing on this list is Breathe (2AM) and I got that back in May, none of my newest stuff has enough play counts.

I think I need a better smart playlist that is more Top 25 now-ish.  I browsed through smartplaylists.com but didn't see one I really was excited about.

If I actually go through my Top 25 Most Played (which I expanded to 40 at one point because 25 wasn't enough for me), I see the following artists:

Avril Lavigne, Good Charlotte, Aimee Mann, Eagle-Eye Cherry, Garbage, Ashlee Simpson, Vanessa Carlton, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Michelle Branch, Anna Nalick, t.A.T.u, Christina Aguilera, Sarah McLachlan, Alanis Morissette, Britney Spears, Jacob Young, Kelly Clarkson

That's pretty accurate of my favs, besides Good Charlotte, Eagle-Eye Cherry and Christina, who I only one one song each.  Sarah probably should be higher on the list, not sure how that happens that she's lower.  It's a bit further down that Natalie Imbruglia and Barenaked Ladies show up, although they both come onto my shuffle regularly.  Some of my newer artists are gaining quickly into these ranks lik P!nk, Nickleback, Moby, Jem, and Nick Lachey.

So there ya go, my brain is completely dead tonight and I proceeded to overanalyze the question instead of sitting here and answering multiples QotDs like I meant to.  dorky Kristine-y!

I thought I was so in love with Anna Nalick's Breathe (2AM), but now that I have Wreck of the Day, I love it even more that Breathe. 

I can't help but sing the harmony, too, which would probably drive everyone around me insane, but heh, i'm in my own office all along, so I guess I don't have to worry about that :D

That's all.  Just ramblings of a crazy girl on a friday morning... :)