Being new to Last.fm, I am finding it a real joy to discover new music to enjoy as well as re-discover music I once listened to.

As a busy mom of 7, I often don't make the time to just sit and listen to music anymore. It's something I used to do when I was younger without as many distractions as I have in my daily life. I used to really listen to music a lot. After all, I considered myself a musician, with an eye to having music as my career! But that was my life B.C. (Before Children)...

Anyway, it was fun re-discovering Michael Hedges again. One of my favorite songs of his is Bensusan, from his Aerial Boundaries album. I remember reading somewhere (the album liner notes?) that he wrote that song for Pierre Bensusan. I only had the slight idea that this guy was a guitar hero of some kind.

The cool part about Last.fm (and the internet in general), is the ease of looking up and listening to a particular artist. So, I looked up Pierre Bensusan so I could listen to some of his music. I wasn't at all surprised when I came across the track So Long Michael. Michael Hedges died an untimely death in 1997 when he was killed in a car crash, so Pierre Bensusan wrote this tribute to him. Interesting musical connection...

Storing this here. I want to do something different....









Let's pretend we don't exist,
Let's pretend we're in Antarctica.

Thanks for dropping by. Add me if you want.


I can't really pigeonhole my tastes, so I suggest you hit play on the radio ===>






If we increase the size of the penguin until it is the same height as the man and then compare the relative brain size, we now find that the penguin's brain is still smaller. But, and this is the point, it is larger than it was.

--Graham Chapman as "Scientist"
Monty Python's Flying Circus Episode 38






moi @ emusic

Without music, life would be an error.
--Friedrich Nietzsche

i'm a jewish neo-hippie poet filmmaker.
OU grad yet a bay area dweller.
Your local shy and reserved all around loony.

Heroes Graham Chapman, Ringo Starr, Kevin Barnes, Al Yankovic.

Interests anything 1960s, penguins, art, nature

♫ : I could probably listen to nothing but of montreal for weeks on end, but what would be the point of charts?

gig list
sonicliving
gig vids
Stats




My short and long tail are:








Bands that deserve more ears:
grey
Student Film
mayola






















-------------------
.jewish.
.neo-hippie.




My short and long tail are:

♫ :

History
I grew up being very into classic rock with a dash of britpop and psychedelic rock. Lately, to that listening repetoire I've added reggae and indie rock

Bands
The Beatles will always be my favorite band. of Montreal, The Flaming Lips, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Oasis and Modest Mouse are my favorite modern groups. Solo artists I enjoy are Grey, Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr, Michael Hedges and Bob Marley


Five you need to listen to:
Grey...chocolate voice.
Student Film...psychedelic Strokes.
Cemetery Circus...demented metal.
mayola...experimental poetic madness.
3 Legged Monkey...acoustic Rush.

True Stats











moi @ emusic


Please listen to:














Let's pretend we don't exist,
Let's pretend we're in Antarctica.

Maybe I'll never die
I'll just keep growing younger with you
And you'll grow younger too
now it seems too lovely to be true
but I know the best things always do

_________________

Sometimes I don't know what to think about the world
When this guy is burnin' up in the street with gasoline
And the flames show no mercy
So when you really need someone to talk to you
It doesn't always work like it's supposed to

You can love yer brain
Even if it slips down the drain
Man, I'm not no drug addict
But a person's gotta have something
To keep him from going insane

_________________

Well all that icing and all that cake,
I can't make it to your wedding, but I'm sure I'll be at your wake.
You were talk, talk, talk, talkin' in circles that day,
when you get to the point make sure that I'm still awake, OK?

Went to bed and didn't see
why every day turns out to be
a little bit more like Bukowski.
And yeah, I know he's a pretty good read.
But God who'd wanna be?
God who'd wanna be such an asshole?

_________________

Let me take you down
cause I'm going to strawberry fields
Nothing is real
and nothing to get hung about
Strawberry fields forever

Living is easy with eyes closed
Misunderstanding all you see
It's getting hard to be someone
but it all works out
It doesn't matter much to me

_________________

This is a call of arms to live and love and sleep together
We could flood the streets with love or light or heat whatever
Lock the parents out, cut a rug, twist and shout
Wave your hands
Make it rain
For stars will rise again

The youth is starting to change
Are you starting to change?
Are you?
Together

_________________










My favorite modern band is of Montreal, and my favorite classic band is The Beatles.

Growing up, all I listened to was classic rock and some britpop. I've since expanded my tastes tremendously.

I listen to stuff based on the fact that I like it, not based on how "cool" or "uncool" it may be.

I don't care for elitist attitudes, so if you're going to tell me what *not* to listen to, keep it to yourself. But if you have suggestions, please send me a rec.

_________________



















wappytea's top albums
1. of Montreal - The Sunlandic Twins (991) 2. of Montreal - Satanic Panic in the Attic (941) 3. of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? (680) 4. Michael Hedges - Beyond Boundaries (368) 5. Grey - Faded Colours II (326) 6. Grey - Words & Music (318) 7. Grey - Colours (284) 8. of Montreal - Satanic Twins (263) 9. Architecture in Helsinki - In Case We Die (229) 10. Grey - Rock & Pop (220)
top albums script

Photo: Blonker (1981) on the banks of the Elbe

Artist: Blonker
Track: Castles In The Air
Album: Tree of Life
Label: Higher Octave
Original Release Date: 1993
Tags: new age, acoustic, easy listening, guitar, instrumental, mellow, world music
Similar artist: Govi, James Last, Shahin & Sepehr, Acoustic Alchemy, Michael Hedges, William Ackerman

My Review:
I think Blonker is one of the finest acoustic guitar players in the world. The track "Castles In The Air" shows off Blonker's fine talent as an artiest. "Castles In The Air" is beautifully arranged & composed, mellow and warm. This track will take you on a journey like you never been on before. I really love this track and if you like the acoustic guitar than you will love Blonker's "Castles In The Air".

~Jazz

Video sample of some of Blonkers music.
Side Walk Cafe by Blonker


Biography:
Dieter Geike was born on December 25, 1946 and lives in Bad Oldesloe, Germany. He plays the Guitar, Keyboards, Bass. His band members include Doris Rickmers (bass) & Holmer Harms (drums). Blonker's real name is Dieter Geike, but it's always been Blonker!"

In the face of digitalized and computerized music technology, the old guitar has had a remarkable renaissance in the popular music of the Nineties. This renaissance logically had its effect on the long tradition of those pop instrumentals that feature the guitar as the song´s melodic centre, like Duane Eddy`s "Rebel Rouser", The Shadows and "Apache", The Spotnicks and "Amapola", Peter Green´s legendary "Albatros" as well as the radio classic "Jessica" of The Allman Brothers Band Band down to Carlos Santana and his "Samba Pa Ti" or Joe Satriani´s "Cryin". Whenever the great guitar-instrumentals in the history of European popular music are discussed, one name and one track must be mentioned: "Blonker" and "Indigo".

In the late Seventies the young group from Hamburg surprised the world with that laid back, gently melancholic piece titled "Indigo". Without a big promotion campaign "Indigo" became a massive airplay hit and was soon considered a classic of its genre.

In 1979 "Blonker" turned from a regular group into a one-man-project. Dieter Geike, the man who had written "Indigo" and defined the sound of the band with his immaculate guitar playing, carried on alone and started a quiet, but impressive solo career.

Since the creation of the gem "Indigo", Geike alias "Blonker" has further developed and refined his vision of beautiful, timeless, melodic instrumental guitar music on a series of highly acclaimed and successful albums.

Resource:
Blonker Homepage

well, i had an audioscrobbler account from Oct. 26, 2004 until i deleted it around April of 2007.

SoloBassSteve was my first neighbour. (i found out about audioscrobbler from his website)

bazoo was my first friend. jkndrkn my second and phonograffiti my third.

my own songs always ended up #1 on my Top Song list, partly due to self interest but also from listening to them during the recording/editing process.

after the first month of using this site, my top 20 artists were:

1. Taking Back Sunday
2. Squarepusher
3. Aphex Twin
4. Cursive
5. Matthew Garrison
6. Kronos Quartet
7. Ben Allison
8. James Carter
9. Michael Hedges
10. Dead Poetic
11. Martin Sexton
12. Nellie McKay
13. Richard Bona
14. M83
15. Charlie Haden
16. Jeff Buckley
17. Sleeping at Last
18. Eva Cassidy
19. Emery
20. My Chemical Romance

by Dec. 22, 2005* i had played 44,910 tracks, and my top 20 artists were:

1. Emery
2. Lagwagon
3. Prefuse 73
4. Nada Surf
5. Saxon Shore
6. Scar Tissue
7. Boards of Canada
8. Squarepusher
9. Better Than Ezra
10. Joshua Redman Elastic Band
11. Dead Poetic
12. Charlie Haden
13. Aphex Twin
14. Bunkbed Nights
15. Ben Allison
16. Victor Wooten
17. Funkilinium
18. Dispatch
19. Gravenhurst
20. Sasha


*this was the last archive of my last.fm page i could find using the waybackmachine


well, i don't think i ever wrote in the journal with my old account, and i don't know if i'll post anything (else) this time around, but here's at least my little introduction.

Take your top 20 artists. For each of these artists, collect the top 5 similar artists. The resulting number of unique artists is your eclectic score. If the score is small (extreme = 5) your musical preferences are very limited, and if it is large (larger than 80, extreme = 100), then you have an eclectic musical preference. You can compute your own score at http://anthony.liekens.net/pub/scripts/last.fm/eclectic.php


My eclectic score is currently





The 76 related artists for my profile are Amos Lee Beck Ben Harper (2) Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals Billy Joel Bob Dylan (2) Broken Social Scene Cary Brothers Chris Knight Coldplay (2) Colin Hay Damien Rice Dave Matthews Band (2) David Allan Coe David Bowie (2) Death Cab for Cutie Eagles Elton John Eric Johnson Ernst Busch G. Love G. Love & Special Sauce Gillian Welch Gram Parsons Guy Clark Hank III Hank Williams Hank Williams Jr. Hannes Wader - Konstantin Wecker Iron & Wine Jack Johnson (3) Jason Mraz Jesse Cook Jimi Hendrix (2) John Hiatt John Mayer (2) Joint Venture Kaki King Keane Led Zeppelin (3) Leo Kottke Lucinda Williams Lynyrd Skynyrd Maroon 5 (2) Matt Costa Merle Haggard Mey Wader Wecker Michael Bublé Michael Hedges Neil Young (2) Norah Jones Paul Simon R.E.M. Rachael Yamagata Radiohead Ray LaMontagne Red Hot Chili Peppers Robert Earl Keen (2) Simon & Garfunkel Slaid Cleaves Steve Earle (3) The Arcade Fire The Beatles (5) The Decemberists The Doors The Flying Burrito Brothers The Fray The Rolling Stones (5) The Shins The Velvet Underground The Who Ton Steine Scherben Townes Van Zandt U2 Van Morrison Willie Nelson

Just when I was about to freak out with my brains burnt with all the Michael Hedges, Michael Gulezian, Preston Reed and Justin King records, just when I thought there is no hope for someone who does the tapping thing with the guitar with fresh ideas and that it is listenable... there she is. Kaki King.

First glance on her Everybody Loves You was a mess, meaning "well, cool technique is not just a very good reason (a sufficient one) to make a whole CD". The second one (both glance and the album) was much better, though. Everybody Loves You reminds me the self-titled Justin King's debut - many fantastic sounds, a lot of magnificent technique, but... short of the music itself.

The second Kaki's album is a whole different story. Deep, touching, unbelievable. Somewhere between the CD's Kaki seemed to realise that great tapping technique is just one of tools for making good music. The tapping track are only a part of the CD, and they are much more grown-up, just like in the case of Justin's second CD,Le Bleu, or even better.

And finally, the king of the tracks:Doing the Wrong Thing. It just shows the very best there is in the whole CD. Everything is there - the story, the space, the heart... Radiohead-like trance guitar, drums like in old Raz, Dwa, Trzy tunes (I tak warto żyć)... just magnificent.

Can't wait to hear Kaki's latest, ...Until We Felt Red.

By the way, isn't it funny? Michael Hedges - Michael Gulezian, Justin King - Kaki King... Is there any other Bela Something or Whoever Fleck? :-)

Andy McKee.
Don Ross.
Michael Hedges.

After a few weeks of not listening to very much music, and not really feeling like listening to music, I'm back on the wagon (or off it, or whatever). Every few weeks I go through this period where I just don't like music. I'm bored of everything on my hard drive and everything new I hear does nothing for me. Then out of boredom I happen to download something new, and bam, before I know it I'm loving music again.

So here I am. This time the magic bullet was the new Junior Boys album. Holy shit this is good. In The Morning looks like it might be tune of the year. I can't stop listening to it. Pitchfork was right for a change.

Other really good stuff: the new Mew and Stars of Track and Field albums. Also, in the music-that-your-parents-listen-to department, I can't stop listening to Michael Hedges' Spare Change.