My Most Listened to Music of 2014

I’m not finished blogging.  And that dearth of posts wasn’t some planned hiatus (don’t worry, I would have warned you).  I just stopped making time, I guess.  I used to really think about my blog a lot.  If something notable would happen, I’d file it away.  At night, I would think of cute blog titles.  When bored, I might think about how I would write down an event or story.  But this last year was full of surprises.  I won’t be sorry to see 2015 become my past.  I had been in my post-bac program working very hard to get to grad schhol–and that didn’t happen.  So everything changed.  And we moved to a new state.  Again (for me) and that’s always a huge logistic, emotional, and time adjustment.  I got caught up in just getting back to a secure, stable place.  Finding the job and getting enough hours and a good schedule, check-check, and check!  Getting my car all legit for Utah-check.  And exploring this new city and state–a mission in progress.  Between that and the daily things, blogging just fell by the wayside.  But I’m in no way giving it up.  I’ve worked very hard on this collection of posts–and I do enjoy it, when it doesn’t become an obligation.  So I’m going to try to think about it again.  No promises on the quality or quantitity of posts just yet.  I just promise to put it in my mind.  Besides, I love looking back at a year, count downs, and looking ahead–which January is ideal for.

Here is a post that I’m not sure why I didn’t publish LAST December.  I probably intended on making it better–which is also  a reason I haven’t written in awhile.  I wanted to have solid ideas, write well, edit, and make sure the posts were GOOD.  Well, I’m taking that pressure off, and just getting things out there for awhile.  So about my 2014 music listening:

This isn’t some feeling I have, it’s based on statistics from my LastFM scrobbles.  If you’ve been living under a rock, and don’t know what that is, here’s a description:  An add-on that sends every song played (itunes, Spotify, ipod, ANY program/device that plays music) to the website.  The site compiles most listened to artists, songs, and albums.  And they do it for the week, month, 3 months, 6 months, year, and overall.  Really, if you just learned a bunch of stuff–you should check out LastFM and start scrobbling.

So without further ado:

10]  Akon

Has still got it.  I’ve always liked him, and still do.  It’s good for running and during squeegee time at work too.

9]  Hans Zimmer

I think this came about out of Spotify’s Classify list.  You can pick a mood/instrument/era/etc and listen to music that represents that.

8]  Dumpstaphunk

Because I tried to give all the Gorge Caravan bands that Dave picked a fair shake.  But despite many listens, I wasn’t really feeling this one.

7]  Piano Tribute Players

For studying purposes.

6]  Linkin Park–>Burn it Down

They are one of my long time favorite bands, and they put out an album in 2014.

5]  Brian Tyler

Honestly, I can’t even tell you who this is.  Lesson–be careful what you listen to if it means nothing.  Maybe it’s on a soundtrack of some sort?  I really don’t know.

4]  Moon Taxi

WTF?  Prep for Gorge Caravan–which we didn’t end up listening to.

3]  Vitamin String Quartet–>top song:  With or Without You

A girl has to study.  But it doesn’t have to be a bummer.  I get to listen to my favorite songs without distracting lyrics, no problem with that!

2]  Brandi Carlile–>top songs 1-3:  Turpentine, Fall Apart Again, Closer to You (who knew?)

My musical girlfriend HAD to be in the top spots.  And congratulations on 3 amazing openers at the Gorge!!!

1]  Dave Matthews Band–>with 1-5 most played songs:  Lie in Our Graves (a summer tour staple), The Stone, Ants Marching, Crush, and Crash.

Of course.  Because of concert prep, excitement before and after the ticket purchase, excitement before and after the concerts, and just all the billions of versions of each song–it’s obvious it added up.

A Music Update

Here is a fun post in honor of me going back to my part-time schedule tomorrow and being productive for the last 27 days of summer (WHERE DID THAT TIME GO?!):

The formula is taken from my last FM stats.  This captures i-tunes, i-pods, Spotify, all of it.  Also, I looked at each time increment captured and got an average that is representative of long and short term listening habits.

1.  MY FAVORITE LISTENING FORUM:

-Spotify.  It’s not perfect, and it always craps out when I try to use it to sync my i-pod, but it has almost everything and it’s free.  Sure, I could do without the ads, especially the ones that jump under my mouse when I scroll, but it’s still less spammy then Apple.

2.  FAVORITE ARTIST (most to least played status)

-Brandi Carlile avg 2nd

-Indigo Girls avg 7th = DMB avg 7th

-Maroon 5 avg 8th

-Mumford & Sons avg 9th

-Taylor Swift avg 10th

3.  FAVORITE SONG LYRICS

-Right now, “Age of Worry” by John Mayer resonates with me

4.  TOP PLAYED SONG

-in the last 6 months = Brandi Carlile’s remake of “Take Me Home, Country Roads”

– for the last year = Brandi Carlile “Hard Way Home”

-overall = Taylor Swift “Mean”

5.  TOP PLAYED BAND

-still the Indigo Girls overall with 6,253 listens

-in the last year, DMB = 1,441 listens

-past 6 months = Brandi Carlile = 448 listens

6.  BEST STUDY MUSIC

-Vitamin String Quartet

-I like the fast movements of Tbilisi Orchestra

http://youtu.be/83XU3aKZxiA

7.  BEST RUNNING MUSIC

-“Here Comes the Boom,” Nelly

-“Lose Yourself,” Eminem

-“My Time,” Fabolous

8.  BEST DRIVING MUSIC

-John Denver

-Trampled by Turtles

—>

Can I just say A] I must be tired because I’ve been working on this post for a ridiculous 2 hours now and B] I am now totally obsessed with watching DMB on YouTube now?  There is everything!  The show I actually saw at the Gorge, official videos, lyrics, and fan stuff!!!!  I never go on YouTube–THIS must be the reason, it’s a vortex-time-stealing machine. . .

Best of 2012: LISTENING

Where do you even start when trying to say your favorite 10 artists in the year?  Well, it’s an impossible task–so you turn to the quantitative data, of course.  Here is what Last FM says I liked best in the last year, based on my own scrobbles.

MY Favorites in 2012 (as per Last FM stats):

10.  Maroon 5

It seems these guys had a frenzy of albums, remixes, and singles this year.  I like them because there’s a syncopated beat unlike anyone else.  More listens are in order for 2013!

9.  The Avett Brothers

Rogue bastards snuck in.  I listened in order to prepare for Labor Dave Weekend.  They were opening, and I thought I’d attempt to gain an appreciation.  And their discography is quite extensive, though I can’t say I ever caught on to them.  But here they are in my top-listened. . .

8.  Jason Mraz

What with a new album out, and of course a sentimental favorite of mine since he was my first concert ever–I am not surprised he still frequents my most-listened list.

7.  Taylor Swift

I WISH she had produced a new album, or had more songs.  This place on the lst seems low compared to how much I like her songs.  Her writing really speaks to me.  Plus, I saw her biography once and am super-impressed that she was hired as a song-writer (for other artists) so young.

6.  Mumford & Sons.

Love!  My current favorite album.  I enjoy every single song, which hardly ever happens.  The only downfall is they never tour in the U.S.

5.  Piano Tribute Players

On the list because I can’t always study to violins, and I had not discovered where the heck the heavily advertised Classify was actually located.  Good covers all the same though.

4.  Indigo Girls.

Thanks to Spotify, and easy access to many artists all the time, I branched out this year.  My Indigo Girls are still a (if not THE) fave, but the fell to 4 due to exposure.  Still amazing.

3.  Brandi Carlile.

Younger.  Cuter.  Closer in proximity.  Transcending genres.  Here’s some love for my secret girlfriend Brandi.  I never tire of her music or concerts.  I always hunger for more.  And one day, maybe I’ll finally get to meet her.

2.  Vitamin String Quartet.

Really a tribute to how much a studied last year more then anything.  I listened to lyric-less music to study, and they are #2 most played.  Yay good grades.

1.  DMB

Somehow, I became a real fan.  I’m not sure when it happened because really, they were Cool’s thing and I was just supportive.  I never before had “felt” them, even though “Crash” was amongst the very first 12 CDs I ever owned (thanks BMG Music Club!).  Sometime, in listening and in preparing for and attending the Gorge concert–I became hard-core.  Now I have more listens then Cool.  And their cute, and amazing selection of merch doesn’t hurt either.