What my real last.fm stats would be.

I had an account that I stopped using, thereby creating the current last.fm account that I scrobble to. I decided to do the math, and this is what my chart would really look like.

Bob Dylan - 4,343
Angels & Airwaves - 2,971
blink-182 - 2,696
The Beatles -
Rush - 1,062
Elvis Presley - 1,050
Wilco - 1,004
Queen - 897

First Listen: Stephen Kellogg And The Sixers - Gift Horse

Artist: Stephen Kellogg And The Sixers

Album: Gift Horse

Genre: Singer-Songwriter / Indie

Will I Keep?: Oh my gosh, yes. I was fooling around on Spotify (my favorite program ever) and was clicking on "similar artists" to add some new faces and names to my Spotify collection. When I came upon this band, I wanted to listen to their entire album Gift Horse instead of moving on to find another artist to discover. I love his voice, I love the lyrics, I love the music. I can see myself listening to a LOT more of this album and the rest of their discography. My only pet peeve is Spotify has them listed AS Stephen Kellogg AND The Sixers, which is clearly their name, but last.fm has them as Stephen Kellogg & The Sixers, so every song I play by them has that annoying green asterisk next to it because they think I'm spelling their name wrong.

What I listened to last week.

A lot of what I listened to this week was soft stuff because I listened to it overnight or early in the morning when I was battling insomnia. 50+ plays for Bruce is a weekly trend. Listened to one of Zac Brown Band's albums early in the week and loved it; need to listen to it again. I screen capped this last night before I went to bed - Joshua Radin might have kicked out one of the artists with 15 plays; I listened to a couple of his tracks Saturday evening and listened to one of his albums to go to sleep.

First listen: Newton Faulkner - Hand Built By Robots

Artist: Newton Faulkner

Album: Hand Built By Robots

Genre: Acoustic, Singer-Songwriter

Will I keep: Absolutely. His album was recommended to me when I posted on a forum and asked people what albums they fall asleep to. He's a little too upbeat to fit that category for me, but he's incredibly talented and catchy. He fits nicely into my Jason Mraz/Jack Johnson chill mix, so that's where some of his songs have gone. This album is a very easy listen. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes soft acousticy stuff. 

Albums I fall asleep to.

I haven't used this blog in forever, and that will change in the near future. My life has been busy lately, but my music collection is growing and changing and I should document that.

I used to have an episode of Friends or I Love Lucy on when I'd close my eyes at night and try to fall asleep. Listening to voices seemed to help. But I realized relaxing music would probably be a smarter choice. I've been having trouble sleeping for about a month now, and for the last solid week I have had music playing - usually just an album's worth - over my Spotify app as I try to fall asleep. I thought I would compile my list here and add on as I discover more. I hope to have a different album about every two weeks so I don't get bored.

Jack Johnson - In Between Dreams
Jack Johnson - Sleep Through The Static
Jack Johnson - On And On
Jack Johnson - Inaudible Melodies

Yeah. Jack is great. Any of his albums are relaxing and work nicely.

Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog
Iron & Wine - Around The Well

I assume the rest of their discography would work as well, these are just the two I've tried so far.

Moby - Hotel

I'm going to explore his other albums to see if they are as soft; I'm not familiar with him but this album came up on someone's "top 5 albums to sleep to" that I found.

It's 8am and I had a horrendous night's sleep last night again; will put on one of Jack's albums and hope I can relax for awhile. It is Saturday, after all.

15 Song Shuffle

Today's Theme: Entire Library

Boston - Livin' for You. I can't rank Boston lower than that, but it was a slow and kind of boring song. 7

Keith Urban - Tu Compañía. Love this song. 9

Elvis Presley - Fool. His voice melts my heart. Next. 10

The Who - Too Much of Anything. A song I hadn't really listened to before, but I liked it. I mean, it's The Who. 9

Pink Floyd - Two Suns In The Sunset. It's my first time even listening to Pink Floyd. I've always been meaning to give them a chance, but just haven't. I don't think this was the best song to start with. 5

Bob Dylan - Delia. I can't rank him lower than a 10, plus I love this covers album. 10

Oasis - Guess God Thinks I'm Abel. You know I've really fallen in love with this band. What's The Story is such an amazing album. Might spin it today, in fact. 9.5

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Can't Stop. Their talent just blows me away whenever I listen to them. Especially their bassist. 9.5

+44 - Chapter 13. I did like this band and this CD. I like this song but it isn't my favorite as far as +44 goes. Vocally it doesn't compliment Mark's voice all that much. 8

John Lennon - What You Got. As much as I love Lennon I haven't listened to his solo stuff all that much. Only the Imagine album. Definitely not a song I would've expected from him. It's catchy as hell! 9

Sanctus Real - Lead Me (Acoustic Version). Finally, a Christian song slips in! I haven't listened to this band much, but this song is good. 8

Bloc Party - Zephyrus. I haven't listened to them in a long time. I always forget why. They have such a unique sound, at least comparatively to the rest of my library. This isn't my favorite song by them, but it's still good. 8.5

Bob Dylan - Shenandoah. Figured another Bob one might come up. I do enjoy the harmonica at the beginning. But this is not an album I listen to ever. It's an okay song. 7.5

Hit The Lights - Breathe In. A pop punk song really stands out in this shuffle. One of the only pop punk bands I've kept in my library throughout the years. Not sure why they are set apart, but I like their stuff. 9

Wilco - Someone Else's Song. Wilco is a heck of a nice closer. 10

Overall grade: 86% / B

What I listened to last week.

I finally got on a Bob Dylan kick - it was long overdue! I also listened to Muse for the first time in awhile. Oasis is such easy listening, I could listen to them for hours in a row, I think. I don't know why I didn't discover them sooner.