[Severian]

Does anyone here visit http://hypem.com or use the HypeMachine app for iOS or Android?

I just started fucking with it. Cost $4 in the App Store, but it's already paid off, as I've discovered a solid handful of new and interesting songs by bands I had never heard up prior to getting the app.

It's a music blog aggregator website and application. Maybe this is super old news, but I thought I'd mention it. It lets you create a profile and subscribe to a number of high profile MP3/music blogs, as well as a whole freaking shitton of smaller, less well known ones. Then it pretty much allows you to view all the tracks that these blogs (like the Quietus for instance) is currently playing without having to dig through text and features and ads.

It's kind of an awesome service. Like tuning into the blogosphere as though it were FM radio. You can sort songs from all over the internet based on when they were posted, how popular they are, and what genre they fall under. Or you can just kinda look at EVERYTHING and just start picking tracks at random if you like.

I don't spend a lot of time using applications on my phones or tablets for anything other than work. I have Spotify and Apple Music (and now Tidal because, you know, I basically had to fucking get Tidal), but I usually use them to scan for new shit. I'll browse new releases looking for something I may have missed. I hop from one "Similar artists" list to another hoping that, eventually, I'll see a name I don't recognize.

But most of the time I come up empty handed. And that's sucks because I'm constantly looking for new music and when I go a few days without hearing something new, I get discouraged.

 

So I'm having some fun with Hype Machine right now. I feel like I've heard the name, but I've never heard anyone talk about using the app.

It's a fast and easy way to get instant exposure to a fuckload of music (most of which is almost certainly shit). Hear a song you like, favorite it and designate it as either "up," "down" or "weird" .... yeah I don't really get that part of it at the moment.

Anyone else use this?

[Severian]

Really?

[noisereductions]

sorry brah - no idea on this one. But I'm not planning to pay for an app that does basically what Spotify's DISCOVER playlists do. Each week they give you personalized playlists based on what you're listening to - and surprisingly seem to do a damn good job.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by noisereductions

sorry brah - no idea on this one. But I'm not planning to pay for an app that does basically what Spotify's DISCOVER playlists do. Each week they give you personalized playlists based on what you're listening to - and surprisingly seem to do a damn good job.

Not for me man. They just keep showing me super obvious albums I already know. And they're weird about what they base their recommendations on.

I went on a Black Sabbath binge on Spotify like two months ago, and I've binged on tons of other shit since, but still the discover shit is entirely "Because you listened to Black Sabbath," and then gives me a bunch of Deep Purple and Dio, like I'm some kind of asshole who knows nothing about music.

Apple Music's playlists are way better.

Anyway this isn't Spotify. It gives you access to MP3 blogs from all over the Internet. Sometimes it's shit that doesn't even have a name yet by bands that are just uploading their first demos. Brand new shit, weird shi. Spotify may have some of it, but it doesn't advertise this kind of stuff or put in in discover or any of the (very limited) genre/mood/time period playlists.

Spotify has really gone downhill. I used to love the Discover feature when it was a vertical infinite scroll that just kept on spitting out new recommendations. Each based on a different artist that you listened to. Now it's just three or four sides scroll lines of about ten albums each. All of which are pretty basic.

"Because you listened to Kanye West" then (a-duh!) Jay Z, Pusha T, Q-tip, Tribe,
Kid kudi, daft punk" wow! Who'd a guessed? Thanks Spotify!

Not trying to be a dick, I know you use it, but even though you can find rare weird new shit on Spotify sometimes, you have to know where to look. Apple Music does a better job of recommending playlists with less well known artists. There's also more context. The playlists are themed more diversely ... Like "Introduction to Sonic Youth" and "Aphex Twin: influences" and so much more.

Hype Machine just gives you a whole library of brand new, obscure music. You play a track and if you like it it finds more. For anyone who spends as much time as I do trying to track down new music, it's worth a test drive. Already found tons of good shit on there.

[noisereductions]

I think it works for me cuz my time is so limited. I honestly dont spend much time seeking shit i am not familiar with lately.

most of my recommendations are from you and louder and the stray review on something major like Pfork or AllAboutJazz. I must be getting old.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by noisereductions

I think it works for me cuz my time is so limited. I honestly dont spend much time seeking shit i am not familiar with lately.

most of my recommendations are from you and louder and the stray review on something major like Pfork or AllAboutJazz. I must be getting old.

We're all getting old bro. It's just that some of us refuse to mature.