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Self-pity, ACTIVATE! New mix up on 8tracks: http://8tracks.com/donutage/and-now-we-re-unrelated.

Thu 23 Sep – Titus Andronicus, Free Energy, The Tough Shits

I headed to this show with some pretty high expectations, based on my ever-deepening love for Titus Andronicus's latest album, The Monitor. I am happy to report that Thursday's show exceeded even those expectations. They were, in a word, brilliant.

(Complete review at Donut Age)

Thu 15 Apr – The Thermals, Past Lives, The Coathangers

1. Is the basement of the First Unitarian Church as strange a venue for a show as you'd expect a church basement to be?

2. Does it nevertheless have a sound system loud enough to feel the kick-drum in my sternum?

3. Is it true that there's no alcohol for sale, so everyone there is drinking paper-bag-wrapped beers they bought from the neighboring convenience store?

4. Were The Coathangers ferocious and awesome?

5. Have I already forgotten the name of the OK-but-unremarkable second band?

6. Did The Thermals basically rock the shit out from the first note they played?

7. Did they play "Pillar Of Salt" and "Here's Your Future," and were those songs fucking awesome?

8. Was there a mosh pit?

9. Did I participate in the mosh pit?

10. Was the mosh pit experience, as usual, a somewhat threatening yet exhilarating descent into a raw, sweaty sea of humanity?

11. Did the show allow me to forget, however fleetingly, the utter horribleness of existence?

A. Yes.

Haven't run this in a while, but as of today, I can boast of being super-eclectic in my listening habits:

Take your top 50 artists. For each of these artists, collect the top 20 similar artists (where the artist itself is the #1 most similar). The resulting number of unique artists is your super-eclectic score. You can compute your own score at http://anthony.liekens.net/pub/scripts/last.fm/supereclectic.php

My super-eclectic score is currently

731/1000

The most similar artists for my profile are Pavement (7), The Replacements (6), Guided by Voices (6), The Decemberists (6), Sonic Youth (5), The Hold Steady (5), The Magnetic Fields (5), Okkervil River (5), Mission of Burma (5), Spoon (5).
For the sake of completeness, I'll note that my regular eclectic score is now up to 95, but I won't post the whole long thing that that script generates.

Sat 25 Apr – Titus Andronicus, Lucero The weekend before last, I made an excursion to Louisville to see my fellow New Jerseyans, Titus Andronicus. I was recently introduced to this band through a gift of their The Airing Of Grievances (2008), and I'd been digging the album (especially My Time Outside The Womb and Titus Andronicus) so I was looking forward quite a bit to the show.

The evening got off on the wrong foot, however, as I sauntered into Headliners about 9:40 to find Titus Andronicus already playing. It hadn't occurred to me that the band I wanted to see would not necessarily be the headliner... (Complete review at
Donut Age)

I have started playing around on 8tracks.com, which has taken over for the RIAA-squashed Muxtapes.com in the field of mix-hosting and sharing. My mixes live at http://8tracks.com/donutage/.

Don't know why I am so obessesed with this measure, but here goes:

Take your top 50 artists. For each of these artists, collect the top 20 similar artists (where the artist itself is the #1 most similar). The resulting number of unique artists is your super-eclectic score. You can compute your own score at http://anthony.liekens.net/pub/scripts/last.fm/supereclectic.php

My super-eclectic score is currently

562/1000

The most similar artists for my profile are Pavement (15), Wilco (12), Spoon (11), The Decemberists (11), Modest Mouse (11), The Shins (11), Built to Spill (11), The Arcade Fire (10), Pixies (9), Yo La Tengo (9)

Pretty middle-of-the-road, but I am happy to report that my latest non-super eclectic score has gone up recently:

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

87/100

The 87 related artists for my profile are A.C. Newman, Afghan Whigs, Al Green, Belle and Sebastian (2), Black Flag, Black Lips, Bob Dylan, Brave Old World, Broken Social Scene, Built to Spill, Cartola, Cat Power, Chava Alberstein & The Klezmatics, Count Basie, Curtis Mayfield, DeVotchKa, Dinosaur Jr., Duke Ellington, Duke Ellington & Louis Armstrong, Earl Knight, Ella Fitzgerald, Flogging Molly, Frank London's Klezmer Brass Allstars, Fugazi, Gal Costa, Gilberto Gil, Guided by Voices, Guru Feat Dc Lee, Hüsker Dü, J.U.F., Jens Lekman, John Vanderslice, Jorge Ben, Klezmer Conservatory Band, Kultur Shock, Leonard Cohen, Lifter Puller, Local H, Lou Reed, Magazine, Marvin Gaye, Mission of Burma, My Bloody Valentine, Nat King Cole, Neil Young, Neutral Milk Hotel (3), Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (2), Novos Baianos, Okkervil River, Pavement (3), Pixies (2), Reigning Sound, Ronnie Jordan With Roy Ayers, Sarah Vaughan, Sly & The Family Stone, Sonic Youth, Spoon (4), Stephen Malkmus, Stevie Wonder, Sufjan Stevens, Television Personalities, The Arcade Fire (2), The Breeders, The Burning Bush, The Decemberists, The Ettes, The Fall, The Feelies, The Fiery Furnaces, The Flaming Lips, The Microphones, The National (2), The Pastels, The Replacements (2), The Shins, The Vaselines, The Walkmen, Thurston Moore, Tiger Trap, Tori Amos, Wire, Wolf Parade, Wussy, Yo La Tengo, fIREHOSE, st german, Ленинград

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 Arctic Monkeys Babes In Toyland Bad Brains Band of Horses Belle and Sebastian (2) Big Black Bob Dylan Bratmobile Brian Eno Broken Social Scene Built to Spill Can Cat Power Centro-matic Circle Jerks Coldplay David Bowie Dead Kennedys Descendents Destroyer (2) Duke Ellington Ella Fitzgerald Flogging Molly Frank Sinatra Fripp & Eno Garbage Green Day Guided By Voices Hüsker Dü (2) Joy Division Julie Ruin Le Tigre (2) Leonard Cohen Magnolia Electric Co. Miles Davis Minor Threat Mission of Burma My Bloody Valentine (2) Neutral Milk Hotel (3) Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds No Doubt of Montreal (2) Okkervil River (2) Pavement (6) Pixies (2) Ramones Ray Charles Sahara Hotnights Sebadoh Sleater-Kinney Songs: Ohia Sonic Youth (2) Spoon Stereolab Sufjan Stevens Talking Heads The Clash The Decemberists The Dresden Dolls The Fall The Fiery Furnaces The Killers The Mountain Goats (3) The New Pornographers (3) The Replacements (2) The Strokes The Thermals The Velvet Underground (2) The Walkmen The White Stripes (2) TV on the Radio Wilco Wire Wolf Parade (2) XTC Yo La Tengo