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/user/391/journal The Last.fm journal for 391. Last.fm journals are a place to talk about all things music. http://www.last.fm/user/391/journal/2008/09/26/26shly_60%2C000_tracks Fri, 26 Sep 2008 13:07:33 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/391/journal/2008/09/26/26shly_60%2C000_tracks A much slower rise from 40,000 to 60,000 than from 20,000 to 40,000 - blame the ipod and the lack of sproggling on it (my fault, I think it is available).

So my top 10 now looks like this:

10. (down from 7=) Green Day

9. (new entry) 4hero

8. (up from 9) The Libertines

7. (unchanged) The Beatles

6. (down from 5) Sandy Denny

5. (down from 3) The Go! Team

4. (down from 2) Yann Tiersen

3. (up from 4) Lush

2. (down from 1) Zero 7

1. (up from 6) The Futureheads

So no big changes, though the Futureheads have continued their inexorable rise to the top of my playlist on the back of their latest great album. Good to see 4Hero in the list, have been listening to them for years now.

Bubbling under and possibly to make an appearance in the 80,000 tracks top 10:

High Contrast
Camel
Hole]]> http://www.last.fm/user/391/journal/2007/10/03/4zxt_my_first_40%2C000_tracks Wed, 3 Oct 2007 22:19:27 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/391/journal/2007/10/03/4zxt_my_first_40%2C000_tracks How time flies... seven months after the 20,000 tracks post, and now up to 40,000. Approx 2850 tracks per month (up from 2000), tracks a month, approx 95 per day (up from 67). Guess I've been at my computer a lot more this year...

My top 10 bands now look like this:

10. (down from 4) The Pentangle

9. (down from 7) The Libertines

7=. (up from 9) The Beatles

7=. (down from 5) Green Day

6. (up from 10) The Futureheads

5. (new entry) Sandy Denny

4. (down from 3) Lush

3. (up from 6) The Go! Team

2. (unchanged) Yann Tiersen

1. (unchanged) Zero 7

No more Simon & Garfunkel in the top 10, and much less Pentangle, but a whole lot of recently discovered Sandy Denny to replace that folk gap... and the recently released Go! Team album Proof Of Youth has meant I've been listening to them in ever increasing amounts.

Bubbling under and possibly to make an appearance in the 60,000 tracks top 10:

High Contrast
E-Z Rollers
Roni Size

3 loosely drum'n'bass artists who all make clever, melodic music that is perfect working music...]]> http://www.last.fm/user/391/journal/2007/03/04/4zxs_top_20_artists_-_first_song%2C_song_that_you_fell_in_love_with%2C_current_favourite Sun, 4 Mar 2007 04:36:11 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/391/journal/2007/03/04/4zxs_top_20_artists_-_first_song%2C_song_that_you_fell_in_love_with%2C_current_favourite Post the top twenty artists on your profile, the first song you heard of theirs, the song that made you fall in love with them, and your current favorite.

-----------

1. Zero 7
first heard: Destiny
fell in love with: Destiny
current favourite: Truth and Rights

2. Yann Tiersen
first heard: J'Y Suis Jamais Allé (Amelie soundtrack)
fell in love with: J'Y Suis Jamais Allé
current favourite: Les Bras De Mer

3. Lush
first heard: Monochrome
fell in love with: Monochrome
current favourite: De-Luxe

4. The Libertines
first heard: Up the Bracket
fell in love with: Someone Else's Song
current favourite: Someone Else's Song

5. The Go! Team
first heard: Panther Dash
fell in love with: Junior Kickstart
current favourite: Did You Feel It Too?

6. Green Day
first heard: Welcome to Paradise
fell in love with: Welcome to Paradise
current favourite: Boulevard Of Broken Dreams

7. The Pentangle
first heard: Light Flight
fell in love with: Light Flight
current favourite: Springtime Promises

8. The Futureheads
first heard: Hounds of Love
fell in love with: Fallout
current favourite: Worry About It Later

9. The Beatles
first heard: Love Me Do
fell in love with: Strawberry Fields Forever
current favourite: Here Comes the Sun

10. Simon and Garfunkel
first heard: Bridge Over Troubled Water
fell in love with: Scarborough Fair/Canticle
current favourite: Kathy's Song

11. Sandy Denny
first heard: Late November
fell in love with: Late November
current favourite: The North Star Grassman And The Ravens

12. Innocence
first heard: Silent Voice
fell in love with: Remember the Day
current favourite: Remember the Day

13. John and Beverley Martyn
first heard: Go Out and Get It
fell in love with: John the Baptist
current favourite: Would You Believe Me

14. The Who
first heard: Pinball Wizard
fell in love with: Sensation
current favourite: Doctor Jimmy

15. Jonathan Larson
first heard: Seasons of Love
fell in love with: Seasons of Love
current favourite: Seasons of Love

16. Cat Stevens
first heard: Where Do The Children Play
fell in love with: Katmandu
current favourite: Fill My Eyes

17. Nick Drake
first heard: Time Has Told Me
fell in love with: River Man
current favourite: Fruit Tree

18. The Hives
first heard: Abra Cadaver
fell in love with: No Pun Intended
current favourite: No Pun Intended

19. 4hero
first heard: Loveless
fell in love with: Golden Age Of Life
current favourite: Universal Reprise

20. Camel
first heard: The Great Marsh
fell in love with: Rhayader
current favourite: Rhayader]]> http://www.last.fm/user/391/journal/2007/01/09/4zxr_my_first_20%2C000_tracks Tue, 9 Jan 2007 20:48:48 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/391/journal/2007/01/09/4zxr_my_first_20%2C000_tracks I've been on Last.fm for just over 10 months now, and have listened to 20,000 tracks in that time. 2000 tracks a month, 67 tracks or approx 4.5 hours of music per day - this is the kind of pointless musogeeky number-crunching that last.fm positively encourages. Well, it's a good New Year thing to do...

Turns out that my top 10 bands of 2006 are quite a mixed bag:

10. The Futureheads

Only found out about these when I returned to England in August, and I'd missed their first album with its rather odd Kate Bush cover. Much prefer the second album, which reminds me a lot of The Jam, if they had come from Sunderland. Great rock that could only have come the UK.

9. The Beatles

What needs to be said... I didn't listen to them for a few years, but sometime in spring dusted off the old collections and remembered why they are still the best.

8. Simon & Garfunkel

Listened to a lot of folk in 2006, and S&G are perfect for those lazy sunny summer afternoons.

7. The Libertines

Was a fan as soon as I heard them, and was gutted when they split. Due to the pecularities of my music tagging Babyshambles and Pete Doherty are all labelled as Libertines, hence the high rating. It's a shame that Pete's notoriety for Kate and drugs overshadows what a good songwriter he is.

6. The Go! Team

If you haven't heard them yet, go and listen. It's fantastic music, at least for my generation who grew up with 70s kids theme tunes (which was the best era for theme tunes, naturally). Cheerleader pop infectious melodic madness that feels happily nostalgic and yet completely contemporary at the same time.

5. Green Day

All down to American Idiot, which I've been listening to fairly constantly since it was released. Aside from rescuing the concept album from the prog-rock mockers (yes - I'm a fan of Tommy, Quadrophenia, The Snow Goose, Hamburger Concerto, Thick As A Brick etc. etc.) it is damn catchy, brilliant wakeup-and-get-going music, and with a 'serious' political message too. What more can you ask?

4. The Pentangle

Noone I know listens to Pentangle anymore, if they ever did, which is a shame. They were hugely influential in British folk music, and their music is beautiful... conjurs up that (perhaps mythical) 'more innocent age'. Another of the reasons I listen to them so much is Danny Thompson's (double) bass playing, which is simply genious... he crops up on several other groups/artists I listen too like Nick Drake and John & Beverley Martyn, but it's here that you really get to hear his virtuosity.

3. Lush

Rediscovered in 2006 after about 10 years... shoe-gazer indie pop, which was what I and most of my peers were listening to age 15-17, before dance music took us over. Amazingly good music to work to, I've found. And I still fancy Miki Berenyi.

2. Yann Tiersen

A friend in Montreal turned me on to Yann last year, and I was instantly smitten. He is probably best known for composing the music to the film Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amelie Poulain (better known in English as just 'Amelie'), so the fact that his music reminds me of the lovely Audrey Tautou may be one of the reasons I listen to it so much. But it is also quite unlike anything else I've heard recently - some songs could easily be mistaken for 1930s originals, others are those beautiful ballads that French musicians do so well. He's probably the only person who could write an accordion song that I wouldn't have to be paid to listen to.

1. Zero 7

Despite the frequency with which their songs appear in episodes of CSI, I love Zero 7. Gorgeous songs, with lush instrumentation and wonderful vocals. Their new album 'The Garden' came out last year, which is why they ended up at the top of the list... I've obviously been listening to it a lot.

Strangely though, my most listened track of the year by quite some way was The Hives 'No Pun Intended', which is Buzzcocks-era punk pop at it's best. One of those tracks that is brilliant in the morning, when walking around, or anytime you want to jump up and down manically.]]>