Quarterly Music Recap

It's the beginning of April, so it's as good a time as any to do a quick recap on the music I've been listening to this year.

This process has been made easier by last.fm keeping detailed listening statistics on my spotify account. Now, this is a little misleading, since a large chunk of the music I've been listening to has been at work and not on spotify. A couple quick examples: I know Pretty Lights, Nicki Minaj, Ennio Moricone, Skrillex, Childish Gambino, and Wick-It the Instigator have been the artists I've listened to the most: that's a rough idea of the heart of the rotation I bounce around at work.

But on the other hand, Spotify is almost exclusively my listening device at home, so the last.fm records are perfectly valid.

One cool stat: since the beginning of the year, I've listened to songs by some where along the lines of 500 unique artists. That's a crazy statistic, and one that only the new world could produce. Remember when you had five CDs in your car that you listened to over and over again? Neither do I. I kinda miss those days, in a lot of ways. In a lot of other ways, I'm thrilled to have so many options available on so many days. Despite the wealth of access, I still feel like I've missed out on most of the important musical developments of the year. Oh well; such is life.

Here are the leading artists that have provided the soundtrack for 2012 so far.

1. Bonobo 306 plays
2. The Flaming Lips 291 plays
3. Radiohead 176
4. The Cinematic Orchestra 114
5. RJD2 82
6. Blue Sky Black Death 71
7. Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears 71
8. Matisyahu 50
9. Dave Matthews Band 46
10. M83 45
11. Weezer 43
12. Kanye West 42
12. King Khan and the Shrines 42
14. tUnE-yArDs 38
15. Jay-Z 36
16. Serj Tankian 30
16. mwithoutYou 30
16. Big Gigantic 30
19. The Dresden Dolls 29
19. Fleet Foxes 29
19. Foster the People 29

Now, this all comes with the enormous caveat that I've probably listened to Hot Like Sauce by Pretty Lights 306 times at work in the past month, so these numbers are likely skewed. Still, not a bad list. Not bad at all. Two things pop out: I don't remember listening to Flaming Lips, Radiohead, or Dave Matthews Band AT ALL, so obviously old favorites can continue to accompany you even when you're not wholly aware. Also, My tastes have skewed pretty heavily indie rock lately, with some jam and electronica and hip hop thrown in for good measures. My days of Zeppelin and Jethro Tull have long passed me by.

For the record, the top tracks:

1. M83 Midnight City 13
2. tUnE-yArDs Bizness 11
3. Bonobo Terrapin 10
3. Frank Ocean Novacane 10
5. RJD2 Ghostwriter 9
5. RJD2 Good Times Roll Pt 2 9
5. Bonobo The Keeper 9
5. Bonobo Kiara 9
5. Bonobo Eyesdown 9
5. Fleet Foxes Helplessness Blues 9
5. Blue Sky Black Death Sleeping Children Are Still Flying 9

And pretty closely related, the top albums:

1. Bonobo Days to Come 65
2. Bonobo Black Sands 59
3. Blue Sky Black Death NOIR 55
4. RJD2 Deadringer: Deluxe 44
5. Dave Matthews Band Central Park Concert 42
6. tUnE-yArDs w h o k i l l 38
7. Bonobo Animal Magic 37
8. Jay Z Watch the Throne 36
9. Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears Tell 'Em What Your Name Is! 35
10. The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots 34
10. Radiohead - Pablo Honey 34

See you on the other side.

Good stuff all around.