en http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/ Thu, 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 Thu, 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 60 http://www.audioscrobbler.net/data/webservices http://www.last.fm/group/Foo+Fighters/journal The Last.fm group journal for Foo Fighters. Last.fm journals are a place to talk about all things music. http://www.last.fm/user/qtraxnetau/journal/2012/01/11/5a76ws_australia_day_2012%3A_lambassador_sam_kekovich_changes_his_tune_%21 Wed, 11 Jan 2012 11:34:55 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/qtraxnetau/journal/2012/01/11/5a76ws_australia_day_2012%3A_lambassador_sam_kekovich_changes_his_tune_%21 Australia Day 2012: Lambassador Sam Kekovich changes his tune - Check out his film clip! http://www.facebook.com/Qtrax.net.au?ref=tn_tnmn (and remember to like Qtrax.net.au)]]> http://www.last.fm/user/qtraxnetau/journal/2012/01/11/5a76ws_australia_day_2012%3A_lambassador_sam_kekovich_changes_his_tune_%21#comments http://www.last.fm/user/chusmunoz/journal/2012/01/10/5a5ti7_chus_mu%C3%B1oz_on_bandcamp. Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:31:35 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/chusmunoz/journal/2012/01/10/5a5ti7_chus_mu%C3%B1oz_on_bandcamp. Instrumental Sessions by Chus Muñoz on BandCamp & name your price.

Greetings from Madrid.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/chusmunoz/journal/2012/01/10/5a5ti7_chus_mu%C3%B1oz_on_bandcamp.#comments http://www.last.fm/user/qtraxnetau/journal/2012/01/02/59qdyn_vote_in_the_world%27s_largest_music_poll_%21 Mon, 2 Jan 2012 07:34:26 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/qtraxnetau/journal/2012/01/02/59qdyn_vote_in_the_world%27s_largest_music_poll_%21 The biggest music poll in the world and it all happens in Australia !

It’s an Australia Day tradition to vote and then tune in to triple j’s Hottest 100 Countdown for the year.

So vote at the links below and where ever you are in the world on Australia Day tune in and check it out.

Vote via Qtrax.net.au]]> http://www.last.fm/user/qtraxnetau/journal/2012/01/02/59qdyn_vote_in_the_world%27s_largest_music_poll_%21#comments http://www.last.fm/user/maplejet/journal/2012/01/02/59qar9_revamping_the_similar_artists_formula%2C_part_ii Mon, 2 Jan 2012 05:27:58 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/maplejet/journal/2012/01/02/59qar9_revamping_the_similar_artists_formula%2C_part_ii Last Saturday, I discussed the issues with the current similar artist formula...especially Metallica being top 10 in similarity with The Offspring (like what?).

Well, since then, I put my programming skills to work and well, I built a little program to test to see it would work with other artists. Results were noticed on several bands/artists as their similar artists over went a make over. However, it did lead to new problems as I tried testing it out super-mainstream acts including our favorite band...Radiohead.


Rage Against the Machine showed up as a similar artist.


...well, apparently. Radiohead's top 250 similar artists currently are all over the place in random genres. A bigger batch of similar artists would be needed to get the best results, but the question is...is my new formula better. I'm going to show you some examples of artists top 25 similar artists...before, and after. You guys make the decision.


Oh, you don't remember the formula? Very well...time for a quick summary
*First, grab all 250 similar artists for Artist A. Obtain them in the given order.
*Next, for each similar artist starting with the one with the highest original rank, look at the first 3 tag and count how many of the tags are similar to the tags in Artist A. Resort based on this. You should end up with 4 groups starting from top (matches all 3 tags, matches 2 tags, matches 1 tag, matches no tags)
*Next, break the ties by resorting each group based on matches among the first 4 tags (which will spawn even more groups)
*Then finally, re-sort again, this time on the top 5 tags. If there are still ties, break the ties based on their original rank.


It's a lot of technical and algorithm stuff that is complicated for the average user, so I won't go that deep. See my example in the first journal entry here for an example with The Offspring (though I work a little backwards here).

Also, I have banned several tags...here are some of them
*Tags that are the same as the artist - not all have been banned, but the common ones have been (ex: red hot chili peppers for Red Hot Chili Peppers). These tags simply group together projects involving members of a band...but really, they may not have the same style.
*Tags referring to geographical locations...american, british, swedish, german. The geographical location doesn't make sense at all. I haven't gotten into geo-genre tags much yet as they may require research before banning (some countries may have a genre as a specific style).
*Decade tags. Similar artists do not have to reside in the same decade. If there's a Led Zeppelin clone playing the exact same style of music today that Zep played in the 60s and 70s, then perhaps they should be similar.
*Nonsense tags...you pretty much know them...crap, awesome, heard on pandora, sexy, legend....they don't reflect a genre or style
*The alternative tag. To be honest, this tag was holding a lot of stuff back, especially those that are also alternative rock. This tag is incredibly abused as well to hell, so I dropped that tag. Still no decision on the indie tag...I'll have to run a few more tests through different artists to make that decision.



So there you go...the banned tags. I'll go through several examples...these are the top 20 artists, before and after.


ARTIST #1: RADIOHEAD

CURRENT ON LAST.FM:
Thom Yorke
Johnny Greenwood
Sigur Rós
Portishead
Blur

Muse
Modeselektor
Arcade Fire
Beck
Interpol

Grizzly Bear
Björk
The National
Coldplay
Placebo

Kasabian
Joy Division
Massive Attack
Pink Floyd
The Horrors

BASED ON NEW FORMULA:
#1 Placebo
#2 Pixies
#3 R.E.M.
#4 The White Stripes
#5 Incubus
#6 Weezer
#7 Blur
#8 Coldplay
#9 Kasabian
#10 Arctic Monkeys

#11 Oasis
#12 The Verve
#13 The Last Shadow Puppets
#14 Suede
#15 Primal Scream
#16 Manic Street Preachers
#17 Muse
#18 Arcade Fire
#19 The National
#20 The Strokes

I'm not sure about both lists. Radiohead seems to really have only one similar artist...themselves. But which one is closest?


Lets do another punk rock band other than The Offspring. How about Rise Against

CURRENTLY ON LAST.FM

Sum 41
Billy Talent
Anti-Flag
zebrahead
A Day To Remember

Strike Anywhere
The Offspring
Breaking Benjamin
Three Days Grace
Bullet For My Valentine

Story Of The Year
Papa Roach
Silverstein
Yellowcard
Bad Religion

Nickelback
3 Doors Down
lostprophets
Millencollin
Disturbed

Ugh...I could just puke to hell if I'm told most of these bands are similar...

PROPOSED FORMULA:
#1 Strung Out
#2 Nations Afire
#3 A Wilhelm Scream
#4 Last of the Believers
#5 Good Riddance

#6 Only Crime
#7 88 Fingers Louie
#8 Satanic Surfers
#9 Pulley
#10 Much The Same

#11 Strike Anywhere
#12 Pennywise
#13 Bad Religion
#14 Propagandhi
#15 No Fun At All

#16 H2O
#17 Polar Bear Club
#18 AFI
#19 No Use For A Name
#20 Lagwagon

Not only has every single non-punk rock band has been removed from the current list, but even mainstream punk rock bands like Sum 41 and The Offspring are also gone. The result? More melodic hardcore bands in the top 20. Strung Out is now the most similar. Sum 41 and The Offspring show up between #21-30. And Nickelback? A long way down...at 139. This is probably the main reason why the punk tag was not removed.



So, what about metal? How bout some Metallica?

Megadeth
Slayer
Anthrax
Iron Maiden
Pantera

AC/DC
Black Sabbath
System of a Down
Guns N' Roses
Motörhead

Lou Reed & Metallica
Machine Head
Ozzy Osbourne
Slipknot
Sepultura

Trivium
Testament
Avenged Sevenfold
The Offspring
Exodus

WHAT THE FUCK IS THE OFFSPRING DOING HERE? Literally. Well, for the most part, it looks OK with Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax on top first but...AC/DC, GNR...they sure may have been influenced by them, but would you really call them similar to Metallica? Would anyone even consider Slipknot or SOAD similar to Metallica either? Avenged Sevenfold?

Let's see what our new formula has spawned:

#1 MD.45
#2 Black Tide
#3 Megadeth
#4 Anthrax
#5 Testament

#6 Acid Drinkers
#7 Kat
#8 Turbo
#9 Iron Maiden
#10 Black Sabbath

#11 Motörhead
#12 Ozzy Osbourne
#13 Black Label Society
#14 Dio
#15 Bruce Dickinson

#16 TSA
#17 Lordi
#18 Danzig
#19 Steve Ouimette
#20 Slayer


Hmm...kind of strange here. Slayer actually dropped while Testament on the other hand arised. Now...MD.45 comes up #1...I dunno, many claim it's punk rock, but their top tags are thrash. But what the fuck are Acid Drinkers, Kat and Turbo? They're thrash metal bands from Poland. Both shared thrash metal and heavy metal tags with Metallica, thus the high ranking since thrash metal and heavy metal are also among Metallica's top tags too.

Slayer only shared two tags (thrash metal, heavy metal) while the Polish metal bands shared all 3 (since polish was banned due to location). It's quite interesting to be honest. Similar artists are supposed to get us into new artists. Not sure if they're good or not, but perhaps you might wanna give a spin to those artists.



What bout hip-hop? Let's take a random hip-hop artist....ok, Kanye West (I had to ban the gay fish tag in order to get similar artists).

CURRENT:
Jay-Z
Jay-Z & Kanye West
The Throne
Kid Cudi
Big Sean

Lupe Fiasco
j.cole
Drake
Pusha T
Common

Wale
The Weeknd
Kendrick Lamar
Mr Hudson
Consequence

The Game
Rick Ross
Frank Ocean
N*E*R*D
OutKast


I dunno...but I kind of feel most of the similar artist are affiliated in some way to G.O.O.D. Music.


NEW FORMULA:
#1 Diddy - Dirty Money
#2 Chris Brown
#3 Nelly
#4 Nicki Minaj
#5 Timbaland

#6 Pharrell
#7 Fonzworth Bentley
#8 R. Kelly & Jay-Z
#9 Mase
#10 Puff Daddy & The Family

#11 Drake
#12 T-Pain
#13 P. Diddy
#14 Diddy
#15 Twista

#16 Bow Wow
#17 Chris Brown & Tyga
#18 Will Smith
#19 Usher
#20 R. Kelly

Umm...is it just me or did this get a little more on the poppy/rnb side (well Kanye did do more poppy stuff on the last 2 record). LOL at the different version of the guy known as Diddy on there (hip-hop, rap rnb, pop, soul were the top tags for Kanye West after other tags were dumped...including hip hop (duplicate tag for hip-hop), kanye west (for obvious reasons) and...GAY FISH. TBH, most people tend to consider Kanye as a good musician rather than an MC.


One more example. I have also banned the classic rock because it referred to a radio format rather than a genre. One band I tested was Queen:

Freddie Mercury
Brian May
Roger Taylor
Queen + Paul Rodgers
Freddie Mercury & Montserrat Caballé

The Cross
Deep Purple
Queen & David Bowie
Led Zeppelin
Pink Floyd

Electric Light Orchestra
The Who
The Beatles
Scorpions
Kiss

Black Sabbath
Genesis
David Bowie
AC/DC
Aerosmith


Well...most of the top 10 consists of random Queen side projects. But do they play the same exact style...or even have a good discography to choose from? Queen & David Bowie only has one song of existence! And the next 10 artists...hmm...feels like Queen takes in a bit of those bands, but they aren't even similar to each other. What bout this new formula?

#1 Slade
#2 Sweet
#3 Suzi Quatro
#4 Queen + Paul Rodgers
#5 Kiss
#6 The Darkness
#7 Mott The Hoople
#8 Styx
#9 Foreigner
#10 Freddie Mercury

#11 Roger Taylor
#12 David Bowie
#13 Alice Cooper
#14 Bon Jovi
#15 Heart
#16 Jon Bon Jovi
#17 L.A. Guns
#18 Journey
#19 Deep Purple
#20 Led Zeppelin

Well, most of the original British Invasion is gone...some of those arena rock bands though are now in (Styx, Foreigner, and Journey to be specific)...Alice Cooper is in, and he's considered glam rock which Queen sometimes goes into...not bad. Most of the Queen side projects are gone, and AC/DC and Aerosmith seems to belong somewhere else (got to go outside the top 30 to find them). The top band is Slade...based on their last.fm page, they seem to also incorporate glam rock and hard rock together. Same with Sweet as well. Remember Queen still has hard rock influences to their sound as well, which is why not all hard rock band on the original list are gone. Seems to feel like a better list IMO, but what about you?


Well, I'm prolly going to go through more artists and search for more tags. Perhaps I could show you some more examples as well from other genres. It should be known that not all similar artists formulas are perfect. And there will always be artists that aren't similar at all.

Remember, I'm only able to resort the original top 250 similar artists. If there are some that are clearly similar to the given artist, but not in that artist's top 250 similar artists, it may not be caught. IMO, this formula is better applied over a similar artist pool of more than 250...probably a lot more artists.

So take a look and pass me some feedback...whether it be on a formula, tags to include, and perhaps ask me for a few examples.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/maplejet/journal/2012/01/02/59qar9_revamping_the_similar_artists_formula%2C_part_ii#comments http://www.last.fm/user/karlus3/journal/2011/12/31/59nv1d_my_top_15_%282011%29 Sat, 31 Dec 2011 16:16:31 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/karlus3/journal/2011/12/31/59nv1d_my_top_15_%282011%29 1 - Foo Fighters - Wasting Light


2 - Mastodon - The Hunter


3 - Thrice - Major/Minor


4 - Screaming Trees - Last Words: The Final Recordings


5 - Red Fang - Murder the Mountains


6 - The Black Keys - El Camino


7 - Puscifer - Conditions of My Parole


8 - Steven Wilson - Grace for Drowning


9 - Jane's Addiction - The Great Escape Artist


10 - Fair To Midland - Arrows & Anchors


11 - Korn - The Path of Totality


12 - R.E.M. - Collapse Into Now


13 - Graveyard - Hisingen Blues


14 - Kasabian - Velociraptor!


15 - Karma To Burn - V


* Bonus
††† - EP †


\Carlos\

Tags: rock, alternative, progressive rock, alternative rock, stoner, metal, stoner rock, desert rock, alternative metal, 90s, classic rock, pop, progressive, nu metal.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/karlus3/journal/2011/12/31/59nv1d_my_top_15_%282011%29#comments http://www.last.fm/user/maplejet/journal/2011/12/25/59d3wp_revamping_the_similar_artists_formula. Sun, 25 Dec 2011 19:45:00 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/maplejet/journal/2011/12/25/59d3wp_revamping_the_similar_artists_formula. As you've noticed the last several years, similar artists for bands/artists have gotten worse and more unreasonable. Especially if you keep reading on and on through the top similar artists for each artist. The one that has been baffling me for a while is The Offspring, a punk rock band that's not extreme metal or hard rock (though they do have alternative influences and sounds at times). In fact, as of 12/25/2011, these are their top 50 similar artists in order:

Sum 41
Rise Against
Bad Religion
Billy Talent
Pennywise
Metallica
Green Day
blink-182
zebrahead
Millencollin

AC/DC
Nickelback
Papa Roach
System of a Down
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Disturbed
Anti-Flag
Rage Against the Machine
NOFX
Godsmack

Bloodhound Gang
Limp Bizkit
3 Doors Down
Rancid
Farben Lehre
Slipknot
Static-X
Nirvana
Korn
Dropkick Murphys

Ramones
Iron Maiden
Audioslave
Goldfinger
Rammstein
Drowning Pool
Pidżama Porno
Bullet For My Valentine
DragonForce
Rob Zombie

Bowling For Soup
P.O.D.
Dope
Good Charlotte
Guano Apes
Flogging Molly
Tenacious D
Foo Fighters
Three Days Grace
AFI


You guys can puke now. The current formula is based on what people of Offspring listen to more often. But seriously...we know this. If one person listens to two bands, those two bands aren't necessarily similar...especially The Offspring to Metallica. The Offspring to Nickelback. The Offspring to AC/DC (seriously...). The Offspring to System of a Down...The Offspring to Disturbed and Godsmack (seriously...?) The Offspring to Slipknot, KoRn, and Limp Bizkit (when has The Offspring ever been nu metal?). And worse yet, The Offspring to Iron Maiden, Rammstein, Bullet For My Valentine, DragonForce, Rob Zombie...are we supposed to believe that The Offspring is a heavy metal band?

Anyone should know that this method isn't the best way to find a similar artist. It's not. Simple as follows. A topic on the forums discussed that and some people suggested that the bands/artists be determined by tag clouds. That could work, but a few believe that there could be problems, especially when taking the whole tag cloud as a whole and seeing a ton of hard rock and alternative bands become similar to the one artist (The Offspring in this case).




Actually, there is another way I've been looking at, and it was a waste of several hours.

What if we took the current list and re-sorted it based on just the top 5 tags, taking into account the order of the tags. Of course there are questionable tags like classic rock, 70s, and for some reason, very frequently polish and polish rock (appears that The Offspring has a huge following in Poland), but for now, let's leave them here (already, the infamous seen live tag was banned from the tag cloud).

This is what I did...I grabbed the top 5 tags for every single band and resorted the list based on how many tags a band/artist shared those tags. Those that shared all 5 tags (in this case, punk rock, punk, rock, alternative rock, alternative) came on the top followed by those that shared 4, then 3, and then 0. Here's how the top 20 now looked like:

SHARED ALL 5 TAGS
Billy Talent
Hoobastank
Pezz
Killradio
Alien Ant Farm
Unwritten Law

SHARED ONLY 4 TAGS (missing tag in paranthesis)
Sum 41 (had pop punk, missing alternative rock)
Bad Religion (had political, missing alternative rock)
Green Day (had pop punk, missing alternative rock)
blink-182 (had pop punk, missing alternative rock)
Bloodhound Gang (had comedy, missing punk rock)
Pidżama Porno (had polish, missing alternative rock)
Bowling For Soup (had pop punk, missing alternative rock)
Good Charlotte (had pop punk, missing alternative rock)
AFI (had emo, missing alternative rock)
SR-71 (had pop punk, missing alternative rock)
Social Distortion (had rockabilly, missing alternative rock)
No Use For a Name (had pop punk, missing alternative rock)
+44 (had pop punk, missing alternative rock)
Strachy Na Lachy (had polish, missing punk)


As you can notice now, all of those metal and hard rock bands like Metallica, AC/DC, Nickelback, System of a Down, Disturbed and Godsmack....GONE from the top 20...actually they didn't even break the top 30 as well. What was more disturbing though was the high number of bands that didn't even share a single tag with The Offspring. These are some of the bands that you could hear when listening to The Offspring similar artists radio, and grab a bucket, you're about to puke hard...no, Justin Bieber is not there, but still...


Bullet For My Valentine
DragonForce
In Flames
Pantera
The Prodigy
Apocalyptica
Slayer
Korpiklaani
Sabaton
Children of Bodom
Nightwish
Sonata Arctica
Hammerfall
Clawfinger
Soulfly
Hollywood Undead
Megadeth
All That Remains
Pendulum
Trivium
Blind Guardian
Volbeat
Five Finger Death Punch
Vavamuffin
Sepultura
Lacuna Coil
As I Lay Dying
Machine Head
Anthrax
Spineshank
Judas Priest
Hunter
Alestorm
Eluveitie
Sonic Syndicate
Eminem
A Day To Remember
Jelonek
Soilwork
Hatebreed
Within Temptation
Fatboy Slim
Frontside
Massacration
Alley Life


Take a look guys...enjoy listening to all that metalcore, symphonic metal, power metal, heavy metal, electronica, nu metal, thrash metal, melodic death metal, and hip-hop stuff. According to last.fm right now, they are really similar artists to The Offspring (actually, all of them except for DF and BFMV come up as medium to low similarity to The Offspring). But seriously, a band that doesn't even share any of the top 5 tags with another band/artist has no reason even being on a list with that band. And there's literally a common thread with the bands/artists listed above. Most of them are pure metal to the point they don't even have a rock tag (I suspect Priest would get one if classic rock was barred though). Others like The Prodigy or Eminem are from electronica and hip-hop genres...and..really...I can't see a similarity with those bands to begin with.


So there...we managed to filter in bands that are similar...but it's not over yet. Let's now resort the list again, but this time, only compare the top 4 tags for all artists/bands. Tiebreakers for this sort will be

1). Number of tags shared when maximum 5 tags are used...
2). Their original ranking on the old formula, higher goes first


After the sort, the top 20 looks even more different:

Pezz
Killradio
Billy Talent
Hoobastank
Alien Ant Farm

Unwritten Law
Sum 41
Bad Religion
Green Day
blink-182

Bloodhound Gang
Bowling For Soup
Good Charlotte
AFI
Social Distortion

No Use For a Name
+44
Sugarcult
The Distillers
Autopilot Off


Well for the most part, the ordering has changed here. Some other bands now moved into the top 20 as there's more of a focus on the top 4 tags.

Last but not least, I repeated the resort again, but only comparing the top 3 tags for all artists/bands using the same tiebreakers as before while adding another tiebreaker that takes greater precedence (basically the number of tags shared when the maximum tags is used at 3...followed by the 2 tiebreaker rules listed above). And here is the final product:


#1 Killradio
#2 Billy Talent
#3 Unwritten Law
#4 Sum 41
#5 Green Day
#6 AFI
#7 Social Distortion
#8 Ramones
#9 Pezz
#10 Bad Religion
#11 blink-182
#12 Bowling For Soup
#13 Good Charlotte
#14 No Use For a Name
#15 +44
#16 Sugarcult
#17 The Distillers
#18 Autopilot Off
#19 Transplants
#20 Pennywise


Now where did Hoobastank and Alien Ant Farm go? Even though they shard all 5 tags as The Offspring, the ordering on both bands was different (rock, alternative rock, alternative, punk rock, punk), while with The Offspring, the ordering was (punk rock, punk, rock, alternative rock, alternative). As a result, the bands only shared 1 tag among the top 3 tags and ended up going below those that had at least 2 of The Offspring's top tags (punk rock, punk, rock).

As for some of those disputed bands, Nickelback ended up coming in at #69. Much lower on the list, but still quite high as they did share 1 tag among the top 3 (rock). Also, remember we are re-ranking the top 250 bands artists and remember we are already dealing with a good 45 bands that have nothing in common with The Offspring. I do not know whether they strive to get the top 250 bands and cut off from there, or work out some weird formula there, but perhaps maybe they should apply the current formula to get a batch of even more artists, apply the above formula, and then just take the top 250 artists...honestly 250 might be too much...top 200 perhaps? You could see a real shake up on many similar artists lists.

Many mainstream bands like Metallica, Radiohead, Linkin Park and other bands could see a lot of shake-up too. There are still a few other unresolved issues, like will it actually pick up 100% similar artists? Red Hot Chili Peppers for example has their top tags as rock, alternative, and alternative rock. Didn't some of the bands listed above have those 3 tags as well? Are they really similar? But perhaps it could cut bands that aren't alternative to begin with, like AC/DC, Black Sabbath, etc...

Another issue is potential abuse of tags. I'm talking about a bunch of wackos attempting to give something like Justin Bieber the now infamous brutal death metal tag (honestly though, 1 tag isn't really going to be enough and even identifying a brutal death metal band that a Justin Bieber fan listens too is going to be real difficult...especially if it doesn't share a pop or something. Moderators can assist with issues like that.

Also, the removal of tags could have an effect on similar artists. If we remove something like 70s, 80s, swedish, female vocalists, and all those other tags, can we guarantee that the new tags will make things better, or make things worse? What about tags regarding the same thing (alternative is not the same as alternative rock, but hip-hop/hip hop/hiphop? Nu metal/nu-metal? alt-rock/alternative rock?)? Do we merge these tags into one? Or do these duplicates exist because there's no other major tag to classify them as? What about vague tags like "classic rock"? And abused tags like "alternative", "indie"? And bogus tags like "crap", "awesome", "better than radiohead"? With cases like this, it's all trial and error then, but it's really something that can be done on the go and with the assistance of user feedback.


There is one more thing I thought of regarding my suggested? Perhaps we could start sorting based on top tag for each artist, then by top 2 tags, then by top 3 tags, and all the way until the top 50th tag or something (and if an artist doesn't have a certain number of tags, TOO BAD :P). But that's something that would take a while to look at.

Who knows, perhaps someone might create a last.fm widget tool based on this suggestion. But it is clearly a possibility to use instead of the current formula, which guarantees a ton of similar artists that have nothing to do with each other.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/maplejet/journal/2011/12/25/59d3wp_revamping_the_similar_artists_formula.#comments http://www.last.fm/user/chusmunoz/journal/2011/12/08/58izy4_chus_mu%C3%B1oz_en_el_recopilatorio_%22gana_tu_v%C3%ADdeoclip%22. Thu, 8 Dec 2011 22:16:39 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/chusmunoz/journal/2011/12/08/58izy4_chus_mu%C3%B1oz_en_el_recopilatorio_%22gana_tu_v%C3%ADdeoclip%22. RETURN TO PERSONALITY DE CHUS MUÑOZ EN:
El primer disco recopilatorio Creatudisco.com, reúne la música de los 15 trabajos más votados por el público del concurso "Gana tu vídeoclip". En él podrás escuchar los más variados estilos, que van desde Pop al Rock en todas sus variantes. Escucha a los artistas más populares de "Gana tu vídeoclip": Chus Muñoz, B.R.F ( Blues Rock Fusion), Samuel Leví y Los Niños Perdidos, WOG, Javier Melián, Synlakross, Trastorna2, ON, LunaLahia, Iryna, Tsukino, Uve, Bagüés, Jero Torres y a los ganadores del concurso, A Deshoras.

www.creatudisco.com/disco.php?id=2331
También se distribuye en iTunes y Spotify.

iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/es/album/recopilatorio-creatudisco/id491930221
Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/album/1JsmNQUuePS2b6synMImvo

Gracias a todos los que habéis ofrecido vuestro apoyo para que Chus Muñoz esté ahí.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/chusmunoz/journal/2011/12/08/58izy4_chus_mu%C3%B1oz_en_el_recopilatorio_%22gana_tu_v%C3%ADdeoclip%22.#comments http://www.last.fm/user/maplejet/journal/2011/12/03/587d4e_seriously...the_grammies.... Sat, 3 Dec 2011 05:31:59 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/maplejet/journal/2011/12/03/587d4e_seriously...the_grammies.... If you have been watching the Grammies for the last few years, do whatever you can to end that tradition now. Seriously...even if you don't take it seriously, don't bother giving CBS (aka we love only crime shows and laugh track comedies network) any ratings...and profits.

The last several years have led to some of the worst crap we've seen. And things just went from bad to rock bottom. There are 2 things of interest here.


ALBUM OF THE YEAR...OR POP ALBUM OF THE YEAR

In the past years, there's been a mix of genres for this album of the year nominations. Pop, Country, R&B, Rock, Hip-Hop, Alternative...you get it. Last year consisted of country (Lady Antebellum's Need You Now), hip-hop (Eminem's Recovery, which is still a great album despite the nay-sayers...aka pitchfork hipsters), and pop (Lady Gaga's The Fame Monster and an undeserving Teenage Dream by Katy Perry). The winner as you all know it was The Suburbs by the indie rock group Arcade Fire (though it really should have gone to Brothers by The Black Keys because they whooped Arcade Fire in all of the alternative/rock categories it was up for, including the Best Alternative Album.

So, what do we have for this year? See for yourself...

Adele - 21
Bruno Mars - Doo Wops and Hooligans
Foo Fighters - Wasting Light
Lady Gaga - Born This Way
Rihanna - Loud


Gee, what a nice selection of albums...so varied...so cool...but wait...take a look at the albums up for Best Pop Vocal Album...um...

Adele - 21
Bruno Mars - Doo Wops and Hooligans
Cee-Lo Green - The Lady Killer
Lady Gaga - Born This Way
Rihanna - Loud

...

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? IS POP THE ONLY FUCKING MUSIC ON PLANET EARTH!!!.

Look at poor Kanye West...his album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was highly praised and successful. Since it missed last year's cutoff, it made it for this award show and hip-hop is snubbed off for what? 2 unnecessary pop albums (Loud and Doo Wops)???

This is a total absolute disgrace. Usually, no more than 2 per each genre make it into the final category, but the Grammies officially made it clear that they are out of sync when it comes for music. Four pop albums? At a time when pop is not well-received...especially those 2 in question (it's not like hipsters are better as their version of pop is nothing but art pop to the point that...it's more alternative than pop). This is the first time I've seen the field totally devoted towards one genre. Nevermind Wasting Light (which IMO was the best album of the year for me...shut up Mr. Snobquesite about your random avant-garde stuff to be cool), who literally got their Best Rock album slot wrapped up, especially when you got random weak competitors.


Well, at least the Grammies do support hard rock and metal still with their separate awards...NOT ANYMORE

THE RETURN OF THE WORST AWARD EVER
1989...the year many people first ditched the awards show. It was the "Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Vocal or Instrumental"...a disorganized award where songs and albums competed together...metal fans of that time were screaming at their TV when Jethro Tull's Crest Of A Knave stunned Metallica's ...And Justice for All, leading to a wave of boos and outrage. Jethro Tull...most didn't consider them metal to begin with. The aftermath of the incident led to the award split into two categories...Best Hard Rock Performance, and Best Metal Performance.

Metallica would eventually dominate Best Metal Performance for a long time. Bands like Iron Maiden, Rage Against the Machine, Tool, Slayer, Motorhead, nine inch nail, Korn, and Slipknot would be able to proudly say, they won a grammy.

The Best Hard Rock Performance award would make bands like Van Halen, Pearl Jam, The Mars Volta, Linkin Park, System of a Down, Evanescence, The Smashing Pumpkins, Wolfmother, AC/DC and Stone Temple Pilots as Grammy winners.

Well, get ready folks, because the worst mistake ever by the Grammies is coming back. This was honestly one of the only things I looked at regarding the Grammies...that and the best Hip-Hop album award. The Grammies are merging metal and hard rock as one again...that's right...a heavy metal Metallica and a hard rock Jethro Tull MAY MEET AGAIN...

Seriously...

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? ARE YOU TRYING TO SNOB METAL'S ONLY SHOT OUT!!! ARE YOU TRYING TO WEAKEN HARD ROCK AS WELL???

This was all about reducing redundant awards...like best male solo/female solo awards. Best solo/group awards for each genre are now combined...you have a pop band? Great, you might compete against Justin Bieber! You made a rock instrumental? Great, now compete with all rock performances, instrumental or not. This is honestly ridicolous and reduces the chance at hitting the big one. Instrumentals rarely win a big award, and their only chance at grabbing it...GONE.

So anyways, would you like to see what this compressed award has led to?

Dream Theater - On the Back of Angels
Foo Fighters - White Limo
Mastodon - Curl of the Burl
Megadeth - Public Enemy No. 1
Sum 41 - Blood In My Eyes


With Foo Fighters being listed and expected to win Best Rock album, the award is literally a gimme for the award. But really, look at the field. Only 2 metal songs (I heard Curl of the Burl and it feels like hard rock, not metal), 2 hard rock songs and...Sum 41?

There may not be a backlash as big as the Metallica/Jethro Tull incident, but an award like this will cause another. Well, if Sum 41 wins (unlikely to happen though), maybe. But metal is now officially snobbed for good (not like it has been good as of recently since the last few years, they've leaned to OLD bands...especially the year they gave the award to Slayer over Machine Head with the Slayer track being a track added as a re-release to an album...whilst Machine Head was heating up the metal world around that time).



I'm not even gonna bother with the Grammies anymore...and rateyourmusic ain't good either with their hipster attitude. I'll just wait 20 years to see which albums have stood the test of time. Which bands/artists are still awake.


It a joke show...but if people watch it, the show gets rating...no, don't watch it just to jerk of to Katy Perry and [aritst]Rihanna. I'm serious...DON'T WATCH IT AT ALL...especially if it's just those 2...and if you know anyone that watches it that does not listen to pop music, please tell them to stop. It's time to send a message to the Grammies and do what The Beatles said long time ago...

"Get back to where you once belonged"





Maybe it's time for someone else to start their own annual awards to compete with the Grammies.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/maplejet/journal/2011/12/03/587d4e_seriously...the_grammies....#comments http://www.last.fm/user/chusmunoz/journal/2011/05/07/4dc1mu_chus_mu%C3%B1oz_en_herzio.fm Sat, 7 May 2011 20:44:18 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/chusmunoz/journal/2011/05/07/4dc1mu_chus_mu%C3%B1oz_en_herzio.fm Escucha a Chus Muñoz en Herzio.fm

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Fan Store]]> http://www.last.fm/user/chusmunoz/journal/2011/05/07/4dc1mu_chus_mu%C3%B1oz_en_herzio.fm#comments http://www.last.fm/user/chusmunoz/journal/2011/11/02/4ye6au_chus_mu%25C3%25B1oz_%2526_twitmusic Wed, 2 Nov 2011 19:27:22 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/chusmunoz/journal/2011/11/02/4ye6au_chus_mu%25C3%25B1oz_%2526_twitmusic Chus Muñoz now also available on TwitMusic.

http://twitmusic.com/artists/chus-muñoz

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Thank you for the support!!
Greetings.
Chus Muñoz]]> http://www.last.fm/user/chusmunoz/journal/2011/11/02/4ye6au_chus_mu%25C3%25B1oz_%2526_twitmusic#comments