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The kind folks at AccuRadio let you create a 5-star list of favourites, which you can then play back at any desired time. Well, having what could be described as rather eclectic tastes, I just got a full dose while having breakfast this morning: a Nels Cline tune somewhere between Ry Cooder and a raga followed by Bach's partita no.3 in E maj, then Long Distance Runaround by Yes.
As each of these pieces creates its own very distinct sonic atmosphere, the resulting effect on the (this) listener can be somewhat mind bending, like you're suddenly multidimensional. I swear my tea tasted different depending on which piece was playing
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11-27-2023 05:59 AM
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What kind of tea are you drinking?
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PG tips
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God save wikipedia LOL
Originally Posted by Peter C
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That was pretty much my daily playlist in college. In fact, had/have most of those records. (Except for Nels Cline. I would have dug him in 1982 tho.)
As far as tea—well I did have Celestial Seasonings. Most of our herbal enhancement back then was smoked, not drunk.
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I don't think it's possible to have too much diversity in music, but it's certainly possible in individual playlists. Mine are limited to my uploads to Google Music, when that was still a thing. Now it's YouTube Music, but still mostly just my uploads, although I do get others included, but YouTube Music knows my preferences pretty well by now, so I don't often get strange songs coming on.
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Oh, I definitely can't just let algorithms choose my music, or we could go from Slayer to Clare de Lune.
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Back when I listened to Pandora, there were some interesting selections. If I picked a station based on, say, Grant Green, it would bring up some guitarists like Sonny Sharrock that I did not have a lot of exposure to. There were also some guys who only made one record under their name.
It was funny how the same names would come up again and again.
One singer I remember in particular was Judee Sill. Never heard of her until Pandora played her. She would come up just about every time I picked a female singer-songwriter from the 60's/70's. (She never achieved the fame she deserved and had a lot of tragedy in her life--good friends with Joni Mitchell, dropped by David Geffen after she called him a "fag" from the stage one night because he wasn't promoting her albums like Joni's...)
Now I use Apple exclusively. That has "infinite play", meaning when an album ends, Apple Music streams similar artists ad infinitum. The choices are pretty spot-on.
One thing I notice is how their algorithms identify things like "sings in a high-pitched voice" or "multiple interwoven guitars" or "heavy bass and drums". I would make similar selections, even though I'm not a bot. I think.
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Not algorithms, I chose all the tunes/pieces and love them all. The thing is the genre "shock" when they're randomly in the same playlist.
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When my kids lived at home we'd get into music battles, trying to out-weird each other.
Keep this in your back pocket!
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I have the opposite problem. I’m lazy, and wish the algorithm would play me an interesting mix without having to build a playlist. Instead, if I listen to one Joe Pass I get the same ten Joe Pass recordings I heard yesterday. According to YouTube Music Pat Martino only appears to have recorded four songs. Grant Green, maybe a dozen. I wish it would mix it up a bit!
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For listening to music, no- too much diversity does not exist.
In PLAYING it- probably yes; if you can't pick one thing to become excellent at, you will only be mediocre at a bunch of different things? This has been my problem over the years, but it wasn't really a "problem" since I wasn't trying to go professional with playing. If I had, I would had to have chosen one style/genre as my expertise.
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There was a time when there were regular places you could go, wherein you could hang out with people who might be well researched sources on music and happy to share that information. It was a place where a student could go, read about back stories and culturally informative information about a session on a recording and be transported to that era. The visitor could then, in the next moment, open up the world into another recording session and expand one's own musical and artistic database. All the time, being able to hear examples of music you wouldn't have known about any other time.
There was much more to a well stocked record store than one could even realize. I remember reading the liner notes of a record and a voice next to me saying "Good session. Have you heard of this one?" and being directed to an unknown artist by Billy Pierce, an incredible an iconic tenor player.
There was no stigma about going from one section to another, and what you took home with you in a brown paper bag was an education in itself.
If you wanted to become a guitarist, Steve Hackett, Steve Swallow, Steve Reich or Steve Lacy, they were your teachers.
All of Spotify is nothing compared to a visit to the old rooted record store. RIP
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I used to love Pandora years ago when it was free and had fewer commercials. I don't remember who or what I was listening to when Pandora decided I would like The Rashied Ali Quintet (and quartet, subsequently), and it was just so exciting and out there I was completely blown away. I have a Spotify subscription now (courtesy of one of my daughters) and while it will do the guessing as to what you'd like as well, it isn't as cool as Pandora used to be. Originally Posted by Doctor Jeff
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I still find Pandora VERY cool, and better than Spotify at the "guessing" thing. I pay for both, but I wouldn't hesitate to drop the Spotify subscription, I rarely use it. I know Spotify is the more ubiquitous, especially with artists (like you get to hear their new single the DAY it's released), but for what I use the apps for (a mix of a style... the "guessing", as you said), Pandora is better. Originally Posted by jim777
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Just to reiterate, and in case anyone is interested, my OP was about the mental "effects" of listening to a favourites playlist featuring tunes from very (extremely) diverse genres that you yourself chose, not the ones Spotify or whoever think "would be up your alley". Actually, I have a similar situation with my YouTube favs folder: can you imagine John Stowell followed by The Prodigy? It's that bad, folks and, as I said, it can be rather disorientating, but not necessarily always in a bad way(?). That's what I was talking about.
With regard to becoming competent as a musician in different styles, absolutely yes; I rocked out pretty good at a young age, but was not going to become stagnated in that BS forever! Still working on bebop, only a few hundred hours of playing time in.
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I've been listening to an extremely diverse range of music all my life. I'm nuts. Originally Posted by Peter C
Does that answer your question?
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I like diversity but it also weirds me out to drastically mix aesthetics. I'm extremely sensitive to aesthetics for some reason. So I get what you mean.
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My listening is directed by what I come across on this forum and others, what turns up on social media, and whatever comes to mind. This week, I listened to:
Steeleye Span
Bill Frisell
Gazelle Twin
Bulgarian folk singers
Beautify Junkyards
Pat Metheny
Pink Floyd with Frank Zappa
The Doobie Brothers
Marc Lonchampt
Baden Powell
A Handful of Dust
Dave Swarbrick and Simon Nichol
Kimbra
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I got turned on to this a few days ago when it was mentioned, of all places, in an article by Nobel prize winning economist Paul Krugman. A few minutes of this and I was bobbing my head and thinking, "Yeah, jazz can be anything and everything is jazz, kinda."
Anyway, I dug it. At least at the moment. Coulda been the tea, though.
Turkish pop singer Gaye Su Akyol.
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While I listen to alot of styles, I am only in the mood to listen to one. If I'm in the mood for rockabilly, I am not in the mood for arena rock. If I'm in the mood for jazz guitar, I am not in the mood for gritty blues. I would hate a "playlist" that played many different styles together.
However- that exact archetype is what I have heard MANY professional musicians (older ones) praise about old radio- before the Beatles- you could hear BB King, followed by a folk song, followed by a jazzier tune, followed by a pop song, etc. Radio, before "genres" became a thing to market and sell consumerism, was very diverse... to everyone's benefit. All the pro musicians lauded the fact that they got to hear so many different styles and weren't locked into "rock" or "pop" radio.
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That's what I was talking about Originally Posted by Jimmy Smith
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