Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Odds and Ends

I have three talking points:

1) It's always fun to check out your Top 25 Most Played feature on itunes. It's a pretty good barometer as to where you stand musically. I think from now on, whenever anyone asks me what kind of music I'm into, I'll just throw some of these on a mix cd and say "enjoy." I'm not saying that this list completely defines my musical tastes (it lacks more tracks from Van and Bruce, in favor of more modern tracks), and it is definitely skewed due to various variables (a lot of chill songs that were listened to while studying, etc.), but it is still very interesting. Here's my list. Gentleman of the blog and readers, I'm very interested in your lists (I know JTR doesn't have itunes, but I'm sure that yahoomusic has something similar...but seriously, its getting kind of embarrassing for all of us.)

Little Gun's Top 25 Most Played
1. Land-Locked Blues - Bright Eyes
2. Secret Heart - Feist (Live at Chicago Park West)
3. West of Her Spine - Bell X1
4. Monster Ballads - Josh Ritter
5. The Hardest Part - Ryan Adams
6. Once In a Blue Moon - Van Morrison
7. Shelter - Ray LaMontagne
8. What'll We Do - Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
9. Summerteeth - Wilco
10. Reasons To Lie - Whiskeytown
11. Pinball Machine - Bell X1
12. Jesus, etc. - Wilco
13. Happy - Brandi Carlile
14. Houses on the Hill - Whiskeytown (Live on KCRW)
15. Sovay - Andrew Bird
16. Strange Condition - Pete Yorn
17. Girl From the North Country - Bob Dylan
18. Mrs. Potters Lullaby - Counting Crows
19. What Would I Do Without You? - Ray Charles
20. The Henney Buggey Band - Sufjan Stevens
21. Good Man - Josh Ritter
22. Jacksonville Skyline - Whiskeytown
23. Jesus, etc. - Wilco (Not a typo, I have two of this track on my itunes and they BOTH made the Top 25...that's how good a song this is)
24. Gotta Have You - The Weepies
25. When the Night Feels My Song - Bedouin Soundclash (really got caught up in this track last year...along with every 16 year old girl in the nation)

2. And that was just the first talking point. Second talking point: You're an artist, and you're playing at a sweet intimate music venue (Magic Stick in Detroit, First Ave in MN, Knitting Factory in NYC, etc.). What drink do you have with you on stage? Do you have a bottle of wine like Eddie Vedder? Are you sipping a Red Stripe like Bryce Dessner of The National
(I will post on their show I saw in June sometime in the next year)? Or do you use up so much energy on stage like The Boss that you've gotta hydrate with some H20? At first, I was going to go with my favorite beer currently, Bell's Two-Hearted Ale out of Kalamazoo, MI, but it might be too heavy for a show. So I switched to a brew that's equally as enjoyable, and also may quench the thirst a bit more: Sierra Nevada's Pale Ale (hopefully not too obvious a pick). Again, interested in your choices.

3. Austin based Voxtrot is a solid band whose album I just purchased. They're basically an 80's rock sounding band with piano, strings, and catchy lyrics thrown in the mix. Check out their myspace.

7 comments:

Jack the Rabbit said...

why don't you stop being such a nancypants and come out with the "Jesus Etc. Is The Greatest Song Of All Time" post!

cherry ghost said...

long-time reader. first time blogger.

excited to see land-locked blues at the top of the list, as well as a couple of bellx1 appearances. well done, little gun.

unfortunately, my last (faulty) ipod used to randomly turn on and automatically start playing my top 25 list (at the time), which is why my #25 song has been played over 60 more times than #26. not a true list as a result.

Pat said...

cherry ghost, I don't know who you are, but I want to know two things:

1) I still want to know the 25 tracks.

2) I want to know if you've listened to any of those tracks since you've rid yourself of the faulty ipod, or if you can't stand them anymore...great test for song stamina.

cherry ghost said...

little gun - here are the tracks you requested (keep in mind this top 25 list is circa late fall 2005):

1) jeff buckley – last goodbye
2) the shins – new slang
3) nickel creek – when you come back down
4) bright eyes – make war
5) pinback – Penelope
6) Virginia coalition – voyager 2
7) Death cab – I will follow you into the dark
8) Wilco – hummingbird
9) Nickel creek – this side
10) Pinback – Tripoli
11) Bright eyes – the calendar hung itself
12) Damien rice – cannonball
13) Steve earle – the galway girl
14) Bright eyes – something vague
15) Uncle tupelo – new Madrid
16) Bellx1 – pinball machine
17) Paddy casey – saints & sinners
18) Damien rice – delicate
19) Natasha bedingfield – these words (I wish that was a misprint)
20) Postal service – district sleeps alone tonight
21) Death cab – marching bands of manhattan
22) Paddy casey – promised land
23) Jeff tweedy – I am trying to break your heart (solo acoustic)
24) Brian webb – tobias
25) The old 97’s – question

great second question - song stamina is a huge factor. out of those 25, current favorites include #'s 1, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 18, and 25 - last goodbye, this side, cannonball, the galway girl, and question would make up the top 5. i can still listen to most of the others but they certainly have lost some of their initial appeal. i would be very intrigued to my current top 25 sans the faulty ipod.

Pat said...

well played indeed...I really respect "Penelope" making it's way in the Top 5. I also respect how deep you are into the Bright Eyes catalogue. I've enjoyed most everything they've put out, but have yet to get beyond the surface. And I had no idea that Paddy Casey had any other songs besides Saints and Sinners.

Not sure what to say about Ms. Bedingfield...so we'll leave it alone.

cherry ghost said...

an idea that could be fun...

Using the search feature on iTunes, i am curious to see what single world searches produce the 'best' playlists. let's say you search your music catalog using only prepositions. itunes will bring up all songs that have the word in the title, artist name, and/or album title. what word(s) have the 'best' playlists?

for reference:
http://www.abcteach.com/abclists/prepositions.htm

Little Dynamite said...

i would drink jack and coke...scotch on the rocks...but if i decide it's a beer night, sierra nevada would also be my pic...

btw, i think we should explore cherry ghost's idea about the preposition search...