When I try and explain what I do, I’m like
I could reblog almost every post from this Tumblr, but I’m only going to pick one. This is me, every damn time.
Where I Discover New & Live Music
Discovering new music is never-ending. I am not only seeking out new artists, but recordings of live performances from bands that have been around for decades. Everyone has their sources for finding new music. For many it’s the (current) big players in the market - Spotify and Pandora. Not me. They don’t satisfy my craving for new music and don’t provide the user experience I am seeking. Here is a rundown of the sites, apps, and stations that bring pleasure to my ears on a weekly, if not daily basis.
ex.fm
I’ve been a fan of ex.fm since the beginning and continue to be one. Besides the fact that the team behind it are really good people, it is my favorite service for discovering new music. I listen to ex.fm every day during the week. If you are new to ex.fm, the simplest way to get started is to listen to the music that the ex.fm team highlights each week in the Explore section. If you really want to reap the benefits of ex.fm, follow others. For me, music is the number one reason why I might follow someone on any social network. If our music tastes are similar and, better yet, you are introducing me to new music, I will follow. There are several people/blogs I’ve followed on Tumblr for a long time that have active ex.fm accounts, which made it really easy for me to adopt ex.fm as my number one source for new music. It’s ironic that I rarely listen to music through the Tumblr dashboard now because my favorite music bloggers on Tumblr are also on ex.fm. Once you start following others, you have access to a never-ending feed of music that has been “loved” by those accounts that you follow. It’s music curation at it’s best. I can’t not mention the iPhone app when sharing ex.fm. The interface, experience, and functionality is as good as any other music app I’ve tried.
Soundcloud
I consider myself a bit late to the game when it comes to Soundcloud. When the Beastie Boys premiered Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 last year on the service, I started to pay more attention and follow more artists and accounts. I never (and still don’t) get into the whole “home recording” aspect of the Soundcloud model. I frankly don’t have an interest listening to random sounds or conversations by others because they typically just aren’t that good. But, when more and more artists started using it, I got hooked. Add to that the many podcasts on Soundcloud, and it really is a wonderful source of new content. My only complaint is that I still struggle a bit in finding new accounts to follow. Hopefully this is addressed with the next soundcloud.
WNRN
Is that a radio station on my list? Yes, it is. WNRN is a commercial free radio station operating out of Charlottesville whose signal can be heard all across Central Virginia. It is the best radio station I’ve ever listened to because it provides more variety than any other station I’ve ever listened to. You can’t label WNRN. Weekday mornings are reserved for acoustic music ranging from bluegrass to country to indie to classic rock. Saturday mornings are reserved for the jambands. Three hours of the Dead, Phish, and many others. WNRN turns into a talk radio station on Sunday mornings with discussions on local issues. Rap and Hip-Hop rule the airwaves every night, and there is even a weekly show for 80s (and now 90s) music.
Live Phish iPhone app
The Live Phish iPhone app doesn’t provide anything out of the box when it comes to features, functionality, and experience. It could have been released to match the features of the website, which is a place to purchase and download live Phish shows. It provides that and a lot more. Hours after each show, I can fire up the app and stream last night’s show free of charge. There are archival releases available for streaming, which change on a regular basis, and I can stream all of the shows I’ve purchased for download.
Live Music Archive
Every live music junkie knows about the Live Music Archive. If you don’t, go check it out. See you in a few weeks.
Soundaboard
Soundaboard is a blog I found a while back. It’s a great source for live SBD recordings from a variety of artists. I really need to spend more time listening to their picks. The ones I have download are outstanding.
Friends
Like every other music junkie, I have a circle of friends that share the same passion for music that I do. We don’t share playlists in rdio or Spotify. We don’t get on turntable.fm. We still send around links via email. Often times my friends are the best source for new music. I doubt this will ever change.
Writing appears more forgiving because there is no compiler or interpreter catching your its and it’s issues or reminding you of the rules regarding that or which. Here’s the rub: there is a compiler and it’s fucking brutal. It’s your readers. Your readers are far more critical than the Python interpreter. Not only do they care about syntax, but they also want to learn something, and, perhaps, be entertained while all this learning is going down. Success means they keep coming back - failure is a lonely silence. Python is looking pretty sweet now, right?
Rands In Repose: Please Learn to Write
Love this article. I need to write more and I plan to pick it up today.
Please don’t advocate learning to code just for the sake of learning how to code. Or worse, because of the fat paychecks.
Instead, I humbly suggest that we spend our time learning how to …
- Research voraciously, and understand how the things around us work at a basic level.
- Communicate effectively with other human beings.
These are skills that extend far beyond mere coding and will help you in every aspect of your life.
Coding Horror: Please Don’t Learn to Code
I’ve had countless conversations with many people in our field who think they need to learn to code in order to advance their career in IT/design/web/etc. This quote and article basically sums up my opinion on whether or not one should learn to code. I am not a coder (and have no desire to be one), but I took the time (on my own) to learn enough to understand how things work. That has enabled me to communicate effectively with both programmers and non-programmers to get things accomplished.
Thanks to whitneymcn for making me aware of this article.
A Case of the Mondays
I believe there is only one true measurement for determining whether you should stay or leave your current job. That one measurement is how you feel on Monday mornings when you drive/walk/commute to work. If you are excited about your workday on Monday mornings more often than not (for whatever the reason) then be thankful and keep doing what you do so well. Many people are not and I encourage those of who aren’t to start/continue looking for something better so your Monday mornings can be as fun as Friday afternoons.
Companies die from not being eaten by their competitors, but from self-inflicted wounds. They don’t have discipline. Their best people get frustrated. They chase all these shiny objects that aren’t core to the business. They become complacent because of early success.
Drew Houston, Dropbox (via sequoiacapital)
This is a very timely quote. I had to exercise some discipline today that might have cost us some future project work, but I know it is in the best interest of our long-term success.
(via caterpillarcowboy)
Source:
When they look back at this era, Internet historians will mark Facebook’s Instagram acquisition as the symbolic moment when the Great Shift was confirmed. Significantly, it also came soon after Steve Jobs’ death. The device that Jobs created had, within the space of five years, allowed a 551-day-old company with 14 employees to become worth $1 billion. On April 9, 2012, Web 2.0 lost its mantle as the most important Internet paradigm. We are now starting the Age of Mobile.
Hamish McKenzie, Web 2.0 Is Over, All Hail the Age of Mobile (via courtenaybird)
(via stoweboyd)
Everything's Gonna Be Fine: Tempus fugit
john:
I’ll start by saying it has been an absolute joy and privilege to be the President of Tumblr these past four years
To work alongside these special people, with our intense focus on product, positivity, fun and whimsy — from our small team came what is now a community of over 50 million
…
John is one of the many wondeful people I’ve met at Tumblr over the years. I’ve stated this before, but I’ll state it again: The people I’ve met at Tumblr is one of the main reasons why I love Tumblr. I wish John nothing but the best!
I wish Tumblr had gotten together with EX.FM to integrate their service into the search. Despite popular tech opinion, not all of us have or like Spotify. Personally, I prefer Rdio as a streaming service. Nevertheless, my Spotify post on Wednesday will be the last, and I will go back to doing uploads or searching directly from EX.FM and Soundcloud for tunes I wish to post on Tumblr.
