Traveling the Tried & True Path on Pandora

You all know how much I adorePandora Radio and the whole idea of discovering music based on what your own likes and dislikes are without any "genres", "user ratings" or what's considered "cool" or "radio-friendly". Back in 2006 I first explained how Pandora works in Follow The Clay Path To New Music and since that first blog I always did at least one from each new Clay album: A Thousand Different Ways, and then two for One My Way Here Part 1 and Part 2 - and imagine my excitement when Pandora added in Clay Aiken's Tried And True.

To refresh your memories - from Pandora's About page:

When was the last time you fell in love with a new artist or song?

At Pandora, we have a single mission: To play only music you'll love.

To understand just how we do this, and why we think we do it really, really well, you need to know about the Music Genome Project®.

Since we started back in 2000, we have been hard at work on the Music Genome Project. It's the most comprehensive analysis of music ever undertaken. Together our team of fifty musician-analysts has been listening to music, one song at a time, studying and collecting literally hundreds of musical details on every song. It takes 20-30 minutes per song to capture all of the little details that give each recording its magical sound - melody, harmony, instrumentation, rhythm, vocals, lyrics ... and more - close to 400 attributes! We continue this work every day to keep up with the incredible flow of great new music coming from studios, stadiums and garages around the country.

With Pandora you can explore this vast trove of music to your heart's content. Just drop the name of one of your favorite songs or artists into Pandora and let the Genome Project go. It will quickly scan its entire world of analyzed music, almost a century of popular recordings - new and old, well known and completely obscure - to find songs with interesting musical similarities to your choice. Then sit back and enjoy as it creates a listening experience full of current and soon-to-be favorite songs for you.

You can create up to 100 unique "stations." And you can even refine them. If it's not quite right you can tell it so and it will get better for you.

The Music Genome Project was founded by musicians and music-lovers. We believe in the value of music and have a profound respect for those who create it. We like all kinds of music, from the most obtuse bebop, to the most tripped-out drum n bass, to the simplest catchy pop tune. Our mission is to help you connect with the music YOU like.
We hope you enjoy the experience!

So I decided to start my second exploration with one of the songs I've become addicted to on Tried And True - It's Only Make Believe. A quick check of the attributes for this song, Pandora lists:

• jazz influences
• acoustic rhythm piano
• intricate melodic phrasing
• busy horn section
• thru composed melodic style
• acoustic sonority
• major key tonality
• mid-tempo swing feel

And right off the bat, the first song Pandora chose to get a feel for what I like was a song by the Brian Setzer Orchestra. I love Brian Setzer! This song was Love Partners In Crime and the attributes they list are: jazz influences, demanding instrumental part writing, intricate melodic phrasing and busy horn section. Starting off great - thumbs up for me!

Next came - Van Morrison. Now everyone who knows me knows how I feel about Van Morrison - but who'da thunk he'd be the second song on my Clay Aiken It's Only Make Believe path? They suggested This Love Of Mine from Van's Magic Time album and it was one of two covers he did on that eclectic album.  It's also one of the few songs Frank Sinatra wrote the lyrics to. I can definitely hear the similarities to It's Only Make Believe. A quick check of the attributes and sure enough - it's got: jazz influences, mid-tempo swing feel, major key tonality and busy horn section but it's also adding in:

• blues influences
• dynamic male vocalist. 

Pandora does this to see what other attributes you might like so it can suggest additional music for you. One person may give this a thumbs down and after enough thumbs down to a blues influence, Pandora won't suggest any more. But for me? I'm a blues fan so of course, thumbs up! A quick click on the song title and it brings up additional information about This Love Of Mine. Similar songs . . . well in addition to Pick Up The Tab by Chris Cain Band and Ain't Gonna Worry No More by Wayne Hancock and How Sweet It Is by Michael Buble . . . two Clay Aiken songs show up . . . There's A Kind of Hush and Mack The Knife. Be still my heart . . . Clay and Van. Now that's a connection most people won't make but that's what is so fabulous about Pandora. It's about the music. Not the hype.

Continuing with the blues influence, the next song in Pandora's selection was You Are My Sunshine by Marva Wright, the Blues Queen of New Orleans, and she's terrific.  But Pandora is smart - and they move closer to the attributes we started with by now suggesting I Love Being Here With You. I know this song from one of my Diana Krall albums . . . but this was Queen Latifah's version and no hesitation - thumbs up for sure. I wasn't familiar with her album Trav'lin Light but a quick stop at iTunes added this terrific version to my iPod. Checking in on the song I can see we're back to the jazz influence, busy horn section and mid-tempo swing feel that I found irresistible in It's Only Make Believe.

Sugar Pie by Nelson Adelard is next up and keeps with the attributes originally discussed but also adds some r&b stylings. I've never heard of Nelson Adelard before but with Pandora it's easy to find out background information on the singers they have selected. Wow - how did I miss him? I love this guy but can't find anything on Amazon or iTunes . . . luckily I found his Official Website and was able to pick up some songs there. Now you see why I love Pandora? How else would I have ever heard of Nelson Adelard?

Roomful of Blues brings more blues and electric instrumentation to the mix and I love this next song, Jona Lee Again, it's a group I'm not familiar with (shame on me!) - so I clicked on them to find out more: A nine-piece outfit for the majority of their existence, Roomful of Blues was founded in Westerly, RI, all the way back in 1967, by guitarist Duke Robillard and pianist Al Copley. I really love them - and downloaded the whole Standing Room Only album from iTunes. What a great find!

Obviously there's a reason why I love It's Only Make Believe because song after song is getting a thumbs up and the next one is no exception . . .Duke Robillard. Guess what? He's a founding member of Roomful of Blues! OK - this is making sense. I couldn't buy When Your Lover Has Gone on iTunes but I was able to buy the mp3 from Amazon off the album, Swinging Session with Duke Robillard.

So my path is heading in a very interesting direction and because it's MY path - and mine alone - I'm probably going to get presented with different songs than another person might - even though we'll both start at It's Only Make Believe. It's all based on what I've given a thumbs up or thumbs down to. But I have to admit - I'm way more thumbs up than down on this ride I'm taking.

Next song with a big thumbs up was Keb' Mo' and Wake Up Everybody. This brought back some more r&b influences (and another trip to iTunes) to pick up the entire Peace...Back By Popular Demand which is an album of 10 protest and peace songs from the 1960s and 1970s. For me, a hippie who participated in my fair share of protest marches - this album as a gorgeous rending of some important songs like The Times They Are A Changing and Imagine with some wonderful soul-jazz-funk added to them. Am I glad to have discovered this gem!

After my quick trip to iTunes I'm about ready to try another song off Tried and True. I chose What Kind of Fool Am I - which in general terms seems quite different from It's Only Make Believe. But a quick check of the attributes of this song and I see that there are many similarities as well:

• jazz influences
• laid-back swing feel
• intricate melodic phrasing
• through composed melodic style
• prominent percussion
• acoustic rhythm piano
• major key tonality
• orchestral arranging

So my journey starts with Ketty Lester and Lonely People Do Foolish Things. Ketty Lester is a wonderful singer who had a hit in the early 1960s with Love Letters but who's career never really took off. What a treat for Pandora to start off with this little gem who's additional attributes were: r&b influences and vocal-centric aesthetic

Next up is Brian Setzer (remember him from my previous path with It's Only Make Believe?)! This song is Lonely Avenue from the album Songs From Lonely Avenue . . . A Soundtrack to an Unwritten Film . . . an ode to film noir - great album. Lots of similar attributes and of course, thumbs up from me. I love his version and the guitar solo is fabulous.

Beyond the Sea - but not Bobby Darin's version - is up next. Matt Belsante - that's a name I'm not familiar with. He's a young man - only 26 now and this song is from his album Blame It On My Youth, recorded when he was only 23! He has a kind of Michael Buble feel to him but I find his voice and style more authentic. I picked up a couple of tunes off this album from iTunes.

Ohhh - this is fun . . . Harry Nilsson singing Makin' Whoopee!  off his A Little Schmilsson in The Night album and just terrific. It's got the usual attributes but also some new ones: string section beds; a light swing groove and orchestral arranging. I just had to pick up this tune!

Oh look . . . Linda Eder is up next singing This Time Around from her It's No Secret Any More album. Yummy - Linda's version was one my father absolutely adored and played all the time. He discovered her late in his life and her music brought him great pleasure. No hesitation - thumbs up for me!  I guess possibly because Linda's voice is theatrical - the next suggestion is a bit too Broadway for me with Pal Joey's Happy Hunting Horn - but that's an easy fix. Click thumbs down and move on to Bonnie Raitt's Everything That Touches You. This song adds to the jazz influence and string bed attributes with acoustic rock instrumentation and acoustic rhythm guitars. Thumbs up and I'll be eager to see what this new song does to my path . . . but not tonight as I'm ready to close Pandora down for the evening.

I know I'm going to be continuing on these musical journeys discovering fabulous old and new music - old and new artists -- familiar and unfamiliar singers -- all from the kernels there were It's Only Make Believe and What Kind of Fool Am I. And what better way to end this blog than a performance of What Kind of Fool Am I by Clay Aiken at Bringing Broadway Home.



Next trip down Pandora I think I'll check out where Unchained Melody and Mack The Knife lead me. This is addictive!

DISCLAIMER: The photos of Clay Aiken have nothing, zero, nada to do with Pandora or singing these songs or anything . . . they are just simply gorgeous and begged to be used! Thank you to Diana Levine, photographer.

Technorati tags:

Clay Aiken
Pandora
Music Genome Project
Tried And True
It's Only Make Believe
jazz
Brian Setzer
Van Morrison
Magic Time
Marva Wright
Queen Latifah
Nelson Adelard
Roomful of Blues
Duke Robillard
Keb' Mo'
What Kind Of Fool Am I
Matt Belsante
Harry Nilsson
Linda Eder
Bonnie Raitt

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Pandora Path: On My Way Here

Many of the regular readers of ConCLAYve are familiar with my love of the internet radio station Pandora. I've discovered so much wonderful music creating radio stations with seeds of artists like Georgie Fame or Peter Cincotti or from songs like Van Morrison's Moondance. I've also used Pandora to explore Clay Aiken early in his career after Measure of A Man, and then again during the release of A Thousand Different Ways. But I was most excited to see what new music I could find when Pandora included On My Way Here into their database and now I'm having a blast!

For those unfamiliar with Pandora Radio - a brief description is that Pandora radio is the personalized internet radio service that helps you find new music based on your old and current favorites. Here's what they say on their About Pandora page:

About Pandora®

When was the last time you fell in love with a new artist or song?

At Pandora, we have a single mission: To play music you'll love - and nothing else.

. . . Since we started back in 2000, we have been hard at work on the Music Genome Project. It's the most comprehensive analysis of music ever undertaken. Together our team of fifty musician-analysts has been listening to music, one song at a time, studying and collecting literally hundreds of musical details on every song. It takes 20-30 minutes per song to capture all of the little details that give each recording its magical sound - melody, harmony, instrumentation, rhythm, vocals, lyrics ... and more - close to 400 attributes! We continue this work every day to keep up with the incredible flow of great new music coming from studios, stadiums and garages around the country.

With Pandora you can explore this vast trove of music to your heart's content. Just drop the name of one of your favorite songs or artists into Pandora and let the Genome Project go. It will quickly scan its entire world of analyzed music, almost a century of popular recordings - new and old, well known and completely obscure - to find songs with interesting musical similarities to your choice. Then sit back and enjoy as it creates a listening experience full of current and soon-to-be favorite songs for you.

You can create as many "stations" as you want. And you can even refine them. If it's not quite right you can tell it so and it will get better for you.

The Music Genome Project was founded by musicians and music-lovers. We believe in the value of music and have a profound respect for those who create it. We like all kinds of music, from the most obtuse bebop, to the most tripped-out drum n bass, to the simplest catchy pop tune. Our mission is to help you connect with the music YOU like.

What a concept! Music without the labels. Music that's not pushed on the radio only. Music that's not deemed "cool" or "uncool" by bloggers or corporate hacks. And boy have I found music I would never have found without the help of Pandora. And my iPod bulges with stuff I'd never have a chance to hear otherwise.

So imagine how excited I was when I checked and finally On My Way Here showed up in the Music Genome database!!! Now, I love this album and find myself drawn to it almost every day. I'm still constantly discovering new things about each song and my favorites keep changing. But, while there is definitely a consistent theme in this album, the songs themselves range quite a bit in genre for me - so I thought it would be most exciting to discover the different paths each individual song would take me on. Because of that - I'm going to definitely have to break this exploration into a number of different blogs. I'm having too much fun to try to fit it all into one.

I started my first radio station with On My Way Here. I like this song - but it's not in my top five. What I wanted to see, is if it took me on an obscure path or a familiar one - and I wasn't surprised to see that the path it took me on was familiar. This is a Clay Aiken song. It's got some interesting elements that may not appear in other stuff Clay's done - but on the whole it's not much different from what I've heard before when using Clay Aiken as the starting point for a particular radio station. That's not a bad thing - but it was interesting that much of the music I was played was either music I already had in my general Clay Aiken station. Here are the elements of the song that the Music Genome Project came up with:

country influences
acoustic rhythm piano
use of a string ensemble
major key tonality
mixed acoustic and electric instrumentation
a good dose of acoustic guitar pickin'
acoustic rhythm guitars
prominent percussion
romantic lyrics

Next up - Willie Nelson's Always Now. That must have come from the country influence. I like Willie but I'm not a huge country fan so I didn't want to go in that direction. Hated to do that to Willie but I did thumbs down just to see where I went next. That took me to Michael Ball singing You Had Me From Hello. This was too romantic sounding for me - not what I was looking for - so again, I hit thumbs down. The third song they gave me on this path was an artist I had not heard before, David Corey and a song called The Only Thing That Matters. It's sort of a perfect little pop song - nothing breakout but catchy and enjoyable. The features of the song include:

pop rock qualities
a subtle use of vocal harmony
mild rhythmic syncopation
acoustic rhythm piano
mixed acoustic and electric instrumentation
a vocal-centric aesthetic
a clear focus on recording studio production
major key tonality
string section beds
a good dose of acoustic guitar pickin'
prominent use of synth
acoustic rhythm guitars
prominent percussion
romantic lyrics

Thumbs up for me. Next up is Nich Lachey, This I Swear and it's moving into a too romantic and predictable path for me so I hit thumbs down and move on to Bonnie Raitt, My Opening Farewell. I love Bonnie's voice and even though this song isn't my favorite of hers, it's already on my iPod and I click thumbs up.

Hayley Westenra's, What You Never Know Won't Hurt You which adds

folk influences and intricate melodic phrasing

to the mix. I've also got this on my iPod and love her voice. Next up was Run To Me by Clay Aiken. I'd forgotten how much I loved this song on Measure of a Man. The elements of the song that were new in this addition were an

r&b influence and smooth male vocalist

Of course this got a thumbs up! So now I think it's time to move on to a song that, in my mind, is not a typical Clay Aiken song and see what music I get led to.

I chose Everything I Don't Need for my next seed. Here are the attributes that Pandora listed:

electric rock instrumentation
r & b influences
a subtle use of vocal harmony
major key tonality
electric rhythm guitars
electric pianos
prominent organ
prominent percussion

The first suggested song was Johnathan Rice, What Am I Going To Do - which had many similar qualities listed and a couple of additions:

electric rock instrumentation
a subtle use of vocal harmony
mild rhythmic syncopation
major key tonality
electric guitar riffs
prominent organ
prominent percussion

I really liked this song, knew nothing about Johnathan Rice, but bought this single from iTunes. The great thing about Pandora is that it gives you lots of information about the artist, the album and the song and you can find it with a click of a link.

Mother Hips? Singing Mother Hips? I love Pandora!!! Never heard of it but it got a thumbs up for me. And then I got Little Black Heart by Sister Hazel - another new one for me and another trip to iTunes.

See, I knew Everything I Don't Need was a departure for Clay and would be taking me on a wonderful journey on a new path in Pandora's database. This is fun! And the next song, Hangman by Freezer Door was another surprise. The elements were the same:

electric rock instrumentation
a subtle use of vocal harmony
major key tonality
prominent organ
prominent percussion

and no surprise, I really liked this song. This is a 2008 release and I have no idea where these guys have been hiding - but thank goodness for Pandora. I checked them out on Amazon and listened to the snippets from this album - liked it so much I bought the whole album from iTunes. This path I'm taking from Everything I Don't Need is getting expensive!

My next song was She Gave Good Sunflower by The Black Crowes. This added two new elements:

gospel and blues influences

And another thumbs up. And another song I've never heard or an artist I never heard of . . . Sink by Basshound. And another trip to iTunes. But unfortunately, this song isn't there and it's out of stock on Amazon. Well, I could stay all day wandering down this path . . . but I know I can always return to this radio station - so now I'm ready to try something else.

Lover All Alone. The beautiful song with lyrics by Clay Aiken and music by David Foster. Features of this song, as listed by Pandora are:

acoustic rhythm piano
acoustic sonority
use of a string ensemble
major key tonality
acoustic rhythm guitars
prominent organ
solo strings

James Taylor's Our Town, is the first song I'm presented with. The additional features presented here are:

pop rock qualities
folk influences
mild rhythmic syncopation
a good dose of acoustic guitar pickin'

A lovely song and a thumbs up for me. Next up is Have I Told You Lately That I Love You by Malachi. I love Van Morrison's version of this song and while there's nothing wrong with this version, it's nothing special so I decided to give it a thumbs down just to see what happens next. And the next song is Jason Mraz's Mr. Curiosity. What an interesting song this is. It's a little "precious" but I quite like it's intricate melody and phrasing and the piano work so it gets a thumbs up from me and another trip to iTunes.

Loudon Wainwright and Strange Weirdos are next and as I'm a fan of Loudon Wainwright - this obviously gets a thumbs up from me. What I particularly liked about this was in the features area it lists:

mellow rock instrumentation
great lyrics
mild rhythmic syncopation
acoustic rhythm piano
use of a string ensemble
major key tonality
an emotional male lead vocal performance
a prominent mandolin part
prominent organ
acoustic rhythm guitars

And in the similar songs area - one of the first songs listed is Lover All Alone by Clay Aiken. Good company!

Celine Dion was next with Miracle and even though I can appreciate the beauty of her voice - I'm not feeling this is the direction I want to take this radio station in so I choose thumbs down.

Erasure is next with Love Affair - and the additional element of an emotional male lead vocal performance. Michael Ball doing Raise Me Up is next and that's just not the direction I want to go with this journey so thumbs down for me. Indigo Girls and All That We Left In are next and I'm a big fan of theirs. This is adding a folk influence with beautiful harmonies and poetic and meaninful lyrics. I've already got this on my iPod - but it was great hearing it connected to Clay's Lover All Alone.

I'd better stop here because I'm going to run out of time and money. Interesting that the three songs I've seeded my radio stations with so far all have "major" key tonality. Check back in a few days for Part 2 of the Pandora Path: On My Way Here. I think I'll explore two of the songs that have "minor" key tonality, Where I Draw The Line and Falling and another "major" key tonality song, Ashes - just because I like it.

Do your own exploring . . . and tell me about the new music you get exposed to. Your path will be different than mine by what you choose to give a thumbs up or a thumbs down to. But isn't it wonderful to have the opportunity to discover music that is right for you without the hype? Tell me about it!

Technorati tags:

Clay Aiken
On My Way Here
Everything I Don't Need
Lover All Alone
Pandora Radio
David Corey
Bonnie Raitt
Johnathan Rice
Sister Hazel
Freezer Door
The Black Crowes
Basshound
David Foster
James Taylor
Jason Mraz
Loudon Wainwright
Erasure
Indigo Girls

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Revisiting The Music Genome Project: Follow The Thousand Different Ways Road

Yeah. A Thousand Different Ways has been added to the Music Genome Project! Now I can set up a new Clay Aiken station and follow the path his new CD sets out for me --discovering new music along the way!

A while back I wrote a blog The Music Genome Project about Pandora.com, which is a website where you can create your own music stations. The foundation is built on The Music Genome Project and the founder, Tim Westergren, talks about how it was created and why:

Together we set out to capture the essence of music at the most fundamental level. We ended up assembling literally hundreds of musical attributes or "genes" into a very large Music Genome. Taken together these genes capture the unique and magical musical identity of a song - everything from melody, harmony and rhythm, to instrumentation, orchestration, arrangement, lyrics, and of course the rich world of singing and vocal harmony. It's not about what a band looks like, or what genre they supposedly belong to, or about who buys their records - it's about what each individual song sounds like.

I was so excited to find that A Thousand Different Ways has been analyzed and added to the database - so I thought it was time to create a new station for myself and see where Pandora took me this time. Rather than using a song from ATDW, I decided to simply start once again with Clay Aiken. Pandora has a new section called Backstage where you can get additional information about albums, artists and songs. Similar artists listed on Clay's page are: Traveling Willburys; Scissor Sisters; The Samples; Survivor and Marti Pellow. I love the Willburys and have just started listening to some Scissor Sisters. I am familiar with some of The Samples and Survivor but know nothing about Marti Pellow. I'm intrigued by the listing.

When I click on ATDW album - the list for simiilar albums includes: Ta-Dah by Scissor Sisters; Two Lights by Five for Fighting; Alex Lloyd's self-titled album; the Howie Day Live album and Jesse McCartney's Beautiful Soul.

I'm very intrigued to see what Pandora's first suggestion will be for me - so I start my new radio station. First up is Land of A Thousand Words by Scissor Sisters. I click to see why this song and Pandora tells me:

Subtle use of harmony, acoustic rhythm piano, use of string ensemble, mixed acoustic and electric instrumentation and major key tonality.

These are the same elements that are noted when I started my Clay Aiken station. When I check the Backstage area for similar songs – they suggest: Clay Aiken – A Thousand Days; Robbie Williams – Better Man; Five for Fighting – Johnny America; Marti Pellow – Close to you and Jon Bon Jovi – All About Loving You.

I know this Scissor Sisters song - and like it. So I give it a Thumbs Up - so it will incorporate their elements into my station. Next suggestion is Five For Fighting’s The Riddle – I like this as well – so it gets a thumbs up too.

Pandora's next suggestion is Yellow by G4. Not feeling it – something about the lyrics – and the rhythms – so thumbs down. It's really not bad, but I want to see what other direction this station can go in. After all, that's the whole point to Pandora . . . give it your musical tastes and see what happens!

Don’t Want To Miss A Thing – Aerosmith. Big ballad - but today I like this. Checked to see why Pandora was playing this song and in addition to the elements noted above, they also included the vocal-centric aesthetic. So I gave it a thumbs up and wait for the next song.

Here’s My Song by Nicolai Dunger. I've never heard of him but I really like this song. Pandora makes it easy to download from iTunes – so I do that. I also checked out Amazon.com to find out more about him.

The Swedish music scene has brought the world many great pop acts over the years and has recently been a hotbed for edgy indie rock. But Sweden has not been known for introducing amazing singer-songwriters to the world. Until now. Enter Nicolai Dunger, a former professional soccer player who was discovered by a producer while he sang on a balcony in his hometown and gave up his sports career to pursue his passion for music. We're glad he did, for Nicolai is a tremendous talent whose voice recalls the joyful pastoral soul of vintage Van Morrison and the melancholy crooning of both Tim and Jeff Buckley.

Well – that explains it. Since I’m a huge Van Morrison and Tim and Jeff Buckey fan –as you can see in my previous blog Haunting Voices. Very cool.

Next up -- Clay’s A Thousand Days. Why? Same as the elements above including the vocal-centric aesthetic. Checked Pandora's Backstage for information on the Song and Pandora lists these as the features of the song:

pop rock qualities
a subtle use of vocal harmony
acoustic rhythm piano
use of a string ensemble
mixed acoustic and electric instrumentation
a vocal-centric aesthetic
a clear focus on recording studio production
major key tonality
a dynamic male vocalist
acoustic rhythm guitars
upbeat lyrics

Thumbs up - well naturally.

England Dan and John Ford Coley – We’ll Never Have To Say Goodbye . Nothing bad – just nothing special. So I gave it a thumbs down just to see where Pandora would take me next. That was to Backstreet Boys and Drowning. I think we’re getting “too romantic” – so I decided to add some more music to the mix. You can do that in Pandora. Just click on I want to add more music. So I put in Lonely No More and Broken Wings by Clay Aiken.

Next up was Tracy’s Song/Only Time Will Tell by Nelson. I've never really listened to them. I kind of liked this. Clicked on Backstage to hear about the Song and it showed similar songs as A Thousand Days by Clay Aiken; Little One by Beck; Love & Regret by Deacon Blue and November Rain by Guns N’ Roses. Interesting grouping – I love Pandora for finding similarities in stuff that is unexpected. Thumbs up.

Creed was next – with Human Clay. Well even with Clay in the title and many of the same elements – I'm not a Creed fan -- just don’t like Scott Stapp’s voice – so thumbs down for me. Sorry Creed-fans.

So from Scott’s grizzly voice Pandora switches to smooth Peter Cetera’s voice – but still – not feeling it. So thumbs down on this one as well.

Next up – The Samples with Sad World. Now this is more my kind of thing. Still many of the same qualities we started with but I really like Sean Kelly’s voice and this is truly touching. Thumbs up for sure. Now we’re cooking.

Marti Pellow and Close To You comes up now. I really like this and when I check the Backstage area – it shows me that A Thousand Different Ways is a similar album to Marti’s Smile. I wanted to buy this from iTunes – but unfortunately, it’s not there. But it goes on my list of albums to check out somewhere else. Smile is from 2001 and was recorded when Marti left Wet Wet Wet (who had the big hit from Four Weddings & A Funeral – Love Is All Around).

Howie Day’s Live album – Collide is next. I can see where Lonely No More’s qualities are kicking into gear with Sad World and now Collide. Thumbs up and I’ve never heard this Live album – so off to iTunes to download this version.

I like where I’m heading now on this Clay Aiken station – next up is U2’s Original of the Species. I never get tired of this so thumbs up. But I’m curious to check the Backstage Song info – sure enough it says:

pop rock qualities
acoustic rhythm piano
use of a string ensemble
mixed acoustic and electric instrumentation
a vocal-centric aesthetic
major key tonality
a dynamic male vocalist
acoustic rhythm guitars

Yup – much in common with Clay Aiken’s A Thousand Days (excluding those damn spinning balls *g*) . . .

How Can I – by Mike and the Mechanics & Paul Carrick. This is new to me but I really like it. I take a trip to iTunes but unfortunately can’t find the song. So I look up the artist in Backstage - Well that’s interesting. . . Under similar artists – Clay Aiken is included along with Deacon Blue and Pet Shop Boys. No wonder I liked this.

David Pack is next with Tomorrow and Forever. Really like this and a trip to iTunes is successful – downloaded this one.

Shelby Lynne is next – and I’m a fan of Shelby’s and I like Wall In Your Heart. Matt Kearney is up next – I love Matt and Nothing Left To Lose is one of my favorite songs – of course it’s already on my iPod and on repeat a lot. I think the Shelby and David Pack moved me into an area where there’s additional elements not in Clay’s stuff. Here’s what’s listed for this particular song:

mellow rock instrumentation
folk influences
a subtle use of vocal harmony
extensive vamping
meandering melodic phrasing
mixed acoustic and electric instrumentation
major key tonality
melodic songwriting
acoustic rhythm guitars
subtle use of acoustic piano
upbeat lyrics

I decide to experiment and add Here You Come Again by Clay Aiken to the mix to see where that takes me.

Barenaked Ladies is where . . . Peterborough and the Karwarthas. I’ve always enjoyed this song. Here’s the backstage elements of this song:

mellow rock instrumentation
a subtle use of vocal harmony
mixed acoustic and electric instrumentation
major key tonality
a breathy male lead vocalist
acoustic rhythm guitars

I guess the HYCA addition gave me the breathy male lead vocalist. Fun!

Tides’ Tell Me comes up next. This is new to me. I like it but unfortunately can’t get it on iTunes. Don’t Let Go with Bryan Adams and Sarah McLachlen – is lovely. Never heard it before. Really liked this duet.

Next up is Five for Fighting with Freedom Never Cries. I love this song – it’s already on my iPod. But I’m curious about the features so I check backstage:

acoustic rock instrumentation
a subtle use of vocal harmony
acoustic rhythm piano
acoustic sonority
use of a string ensemble
major key tonality
acoustic rhythm guitars

Similar songs includes Clay Aiken’s Here You Come Again. Remember they aren’t analyzing actual words in the lyrics for similarity – just the musical elements and yes I can hear what they are hearing.

Well I've been following this path for quite a well and really enjoying myself. But it’s time to stop. My Clay Aiken station will be there for me to pick up on another day. And look at the new artists I discovered - very quickly: Marti Pellow and Nicolai Dunger – and I’ll be downloading more of their stuff for sure. Also found a few songs I never heard before like the Bryan Adams/Sarah McLachlen duet.

All in all, not a bad trip down the Clay Aiken Pandora path. What a fabulous way to discover music. No “too cool for school” critics telling me what I should like. No music suggested by radio play or popularity. Just music that touches my emotions – through the sound and lyrics.

Right now I’ve got 5 radio stations on my account at Pandora. One starts with Eric Clapton as the initial choice. One begins with Danny O’Keefe. Another starts at Peter Cincotti. And the fouth begins with Eric Andersen. I’ve got my blues, jazz, rock, pop and folk paths all taking me in on a road trip – discovering music that’s tailored to my tastes. What a great concept!

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken
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The Music Genome Project: Or Follow The Clay Path to New Music

Have you ever wanted to discover some new music . . . but every time you turned on the radio – you heard the same old stuff? I adore music – but discovering new music has been hard. Sometimes I get lucky and I’m listening to an NPR station like WFUV 90.7FM and I hear something different and go “wow” – download some stuff or buy a CD. Sometimes someone will suggest a new artist they think I might like. But “popularity” or big bucks rules the radio waves and great artists exist but can be hard to find.

One day I was listening to Air America and Tim Westergren, the founder of The Music Genome Project was on. He talked about using The Music Genome Project to create a site on the internet where people could people could build their own radio station based on music – not popularity or image. Here’s what Tim says on their website:

Together we set out to capture the essence of music at the most fundamental level. We ended up assembling literally hundreds of musical attributes or "genes" into a very large Music Genome. Taken together these genes capture the unique and magical musical identity of a song - everything from melody, harmony and rhythm, to instrumentation, orchestration, arrangement, lyrics, and of course the rich world of singing and vocal harmony. It's not about what a band looks like, or what genre they supposedly belong to, or about who buys their records - it's about what each individual song sounds like.

Pandora is like having your own personal DJ. All the information that was entered into the database was evaluated by musicians. But once the various elements have been analyzed, the computer goes to work. By entering a beginning point – an artist or a song – you are presented with a first song. You say “yes” or “no” to that particular song. If you like it – Pandora will suggest other songs with similar elements. If you don’t like one of the suggestions – the computer will skip and move on to others. You can also add additional singers or songs you like to the station – it will expand the choices.
I found this absolutely fascinating. I love Clay Aiken’s voice. I also love Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, Queen, Tim Buckley, Ten Years After. I love jazz, blues, rock, folk – all kinds of music. I thought it would be interesting to see what would happen if I started with Clay Aiken and followed the path Pandora set out for me.

I decided to enter Clay Aiken rather than a particular song of his. Of course, all the Music Genome Project has to work with is Clay's MOAM. Pandora came back with No More Sad Songs. I checked to see what the general elements of this song were. Pandora told me it had pop/rock qualities, r&b influences, subtle use of vocal harmony, acoustic rhythm piano, dynamic male vocal. I said “yeah, I like this” and waited for the next song to be played. Duran Duran’s Ordinary World was suggested.

I was curious why this was selected as the second choice so I looked to see why this song was chosen. It said “based on what you’ve told us so far, we’re playing this track because it features pop rock qualities, subtle use of vocal harmony, mixed acoustic and electric instrumentation, acoustic rhythm guitars.” Okay . . . sounds good. Hit I like it.

Next song is by someone I never heard of – Mark Joseph. It played a song called “Fly” from his album Scream. This I like. Hey – I found a new artist to look for. I don’t know if I’ll buy a whole album – but I downloaded that song from ITunes and added it to my iPod.

Next up was Nick Lachey – Sorry . . . nope, don’t like that – please skip. Thanks!

Now they are playing Invisible. Yup – like this song. Play more like this. I check the backstage information about this song. Here’s how they describe it:

Features of this Song
pop rock qualities
a subtle use of vocal harmony
mixed acoustic and electric instrumentation
a clear focus on recording studio production
major key tonality
a dynamic male vocalist
acoustic rhythm guitars
subtle use of acoustic piano

The backstage area of Pandora also makes some suggestions for other songs similar to this in quality:

Love Is Leaving by BBMak

The Summer of My Love by Onlyforward

Everythings Perfect by David Pack

End of Camelot by Peter Cetera

Faithfully by Chris Isaak

Gravity by Embrace

Some I’m familiar with – others not. So I load some samples. Yeah, Love Is Leaving by BBMak – another one to add to my iPod. Never heard of Onlyforward – but like this sample. I’ll have to look for them. I adore Chris Isaak and I’ve already got Faithfully. But I never heard of Embrace. Check out some info on them. Chris Martin of Coldplay played on Gravity. It definitely has that Coldplay feeling— can’t find this on iTunes – so I’ll probably have to listen to samples from the album – just might find another purchase for myself on Amazon.

Now I thought I’d also add something to the mix and see what Pandora comes up with. So I said add some Queen please.

Pandora starts by playing “Tie Your Mother Down”. Good – but I want to know why. So I hit the button to tell me why that song? Well it seems that this song also has subtle use of vocal harmony, major key tonality and dynamic male vocals. Yeah. I always thought Freddy and Clay had dynamic vocals in common. So this gets a thumbs up from me.

Next up – This Is The Night by Clay. Well I do like this song – but I don’t want this particular radio station to become too ballady. So I say “No” to this song and they skip it and give me a song called Come To Me by Eyeinside. Well I’ve never heard of this group - you can get background information from Pandora while you are listening to the songs. This is a Canadian heavy metal group but this particular song is extremely catchy. Great – another new group to look into.

Sarah McLachlen is next – they are playing Adia. I love her and this is gorgeous. It’s interesting to read why they suggest it – but there are musical connections between all these artists. And it’s fascinating to see why I react to certain songs and singers the way I do.

Pandora then suggests Survivor’s "The Search is Over" and Indigo Girls “Andy” but this radio station is now moving too far to the “sensitive” side for my taste – so I say no to both these songs.

Oh, boy that's a switch – “We Will Rock You” is up next. Oh yeah, that’s more like it. But why? So I hit that button and again I’m told there’s mixed acoustic and electric instrumentation and subtle vocal harmonies. We’re in business and this gets a thumbs up. I can’t wait to see what’s next.

Loud by Richard X. Heyman. Never heard of him – but this sounds great. So I ask Pandora to tell me more about him. Appears he’s a sadly overlooked pop craftsman of the 90’s but his albums are widely regarded in power pop circles as instant classics. Well I don’t know about the critics – but I really like this tune – so off to iTunes – but they don’t have this particular song. I’m going to have to go back later and listen to the songs they do have – this guy is someone I want to hear more of.

Sammy Hagar is up next – “Make It Alright” – check to see why and Pandora tells me

electric rock instrumentation, subtle use of vocal harmony, mild rhythmic syncopation, mixed acoustic and electric instrumentation, a vocal-centric aesthetic, major key tonality, groove based composition, electric rhythm guitars, an emotional male lead vocal performance, upbeat lyrics.

Lots of similar qualities to the other music I like on this station I’m creating – but this one just doesn’t do it for me – so I hit No and wait for the next suggestion.

Something called Down & Dirty by Y and T. Okay. Never heard of them either (how have I missed them?) – but this is really catchy. I can’t believe I didn’t know them in the 80’s . . . but this is good – thumbs up and a note to myself to check out some of their stuff later on Amazon.

Now they are playing something called Nothing Left To Lose by Mat Kearney. Another artist I never heard of . . .but another I really like. Yup – he’s also got the subtle use of harmony, mixed acoustic and electric instrumentation and major key tonality. Like Clay Aiken. And this is really really good. Bought on iTunes and added to my iPod.

This is great fun! I'm discovering new artists and also learning a bit about what elements I'm drawn to musically.

OK – guess it’s time for Idol stuff – Kelly Clarkson’s Because of You. I can see the musical similarities as outlined in the information but I don’t need Pandora to tell me about Kelly’s stuff since it’s all over the radio. . . so click No so I’m off to hear something new.

Sammy Hagar again. But this time it’s Mas Tequila. Yeah, I like that. It’s got a hard rock beat but also has the subtle use of vocal harmony, major key tonality and the dynamic male vocals I now know I’m drawn to. Plus some other stuff like dirty electric guitar solo and political satire lyric. Cool.

Next couple of songs – nope don’t work for me – a song by AC/DC and one by Accept – so I say no to those and I get another type of song to listen to. This is more of the indie acoustic singer-songwriter type stuff. Matt Nathanson and a song called “Sing Me Sweet”. Definitely like this and it’s bought on iTunes and added to iPod.

Seriously . . . this is addictive. And what I love is seeing what particular elements of Clay’s songs – like dynamic male vocals, subtle use of vocal harmony, major key tonality and mix of acoustic and electric instrumentation show up in other songs I’m drawn to.

So now I’ve got my pop/rock station I started from Clay Aiken. And every time I go back to Pandora - I can follow that path to new music.

I also spent many more hours playing with other genres. I started one that’s more blues that I used an Eric Clapton song as a jumping off point. Started another station for jazz that started with Andy Bey.

So – if you’re eager to discover new music and bored to tears with listening to the same stuff over and over on the radio – or if you just like the idea of experimentation and finding what elements of music you are particularly drawn to – check the Pandora site out.

One final thing that is definitely worth mentioning. The Music Genome Project doesn't know there's such a thing as genre. It's more sophisticated than that, and so it's not just going to play you any old random country music if you enter Johnny Cash. Instead it rather works off the hundreds of data fields stored about every song and artist. This means you will often be surprised by what you're played. And the surprises for me have been really wonderful.

I cannot wait for Clay's new CD and for his new music to be added to the Music Genome Project. It will be fascinating to do another radio station starting with something from the new album and see where it takes me!

Hey, that’s another thing the Music Genome Project and Clay Aiken have in common – Great Surprises!

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, Music Genome Project, Pandora, No More Sad Songs, Invisible, Duran Duran, Queen, Sammy Hagar, Y&T, Richard X. Heyman, Mat Kearney

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Continuing Down The Pandora Path On My Way Here - Part 2

If you're new to the fabulous concept of Pandora Radio, you can read about it in the first part of my exploration here Pandora Path to On My Way Here. I could have spent days just exploring the 3 songs I started my radio stations at Pandora with and enjoying the new artists I was fortunate to find. I've already downloaded the entire Freezer Door album from iTunes and checked out their myspace . I bought some Johnathan Rice and after listening to more songs on his Myspace, I went back to iTunes and bought more.

But I had such a blast I couldn't wait to continue my journey with Part 2 - and chose to work with 3 new songs: Falling, Where I Draw The Line and Ashes.

FALLING

Features include:

electric rock instrumentation
a subtle use of vocal harmony
minor key tonality
electric rhythm guitars
acoustic rhythm guitars
prominent percussion

First up is Parlor by Kent – a Swedish group of the 1990s. Has the same electric rock instrumentation and subtle use of vocal harmony and the minor key tonality. Thumbs up and a chance to learn more about Kent.

Hooked Up by Minibar shows up next. This song is listed as a similar song to Falling by Clay Aiken and it’s no surprise that I liked it a lot and also that I grabbed it from iTunes. Interesting band, originally from UK and relocated to California in 1999 – they have a distinctly American sound – hook-ridden poppy songs and very cool – similarities to Falling are the electric rock instrumentation; subtle use of vocal harmony, acoustic rhythm guitar, minor key tonality, plus electric guitar riffs. Their Minibar Myspace is a great place to hear more music and learn a bit about them.

Another song listed as similar to Falling comes up next -- Lighnin In A Bottle by Adlin & Appleford. Features include:

electric rock instrumentation
country influences
a subtle use of vocal harmony
minor key tonality
a prominent harmonica part
a prominent mandolin part
acoustic rhythm guitars
prominent percussion

I actually like this country influence with terrific harmonic riffs. Thumbs up for sure.

What I find so interesting is the connection to a lot of alt/indie/country sounds I'm getting with Clay's Falling. I'm really hoping that those listeners who are getting Clay's song when they take their journey from the other end are actually giving it a chance and listening. They may discover his music the way I'm discovering new artists to me.

Hero's Welcome by Lodger is next and while I can’t figure out why – I just don’t care for the lead singer's voice. Listened for a minute or so and then thumbs down.

Where I Draw The Line by Clay Aiken is next. With features like:

subtle use of vocal harmony, minor vocal tonality, electric rhythm guitar, prominent percussion, plus acoustic rhythm piano and mild rhythm syncopation.

And thumbs up for me for sure! Interesting connection to Falling and it was a treat to hear it pop up unexpectedly.

Love this song up next by an Austin, TX group called Palaxy Tracks is Camera which has much of the same features but an addition of mellow rock instrumentation and intricate melodic phrasing. And I like it a lot so off to iTunes to buy it.

Death Cab For Cutie happens to be one of my favorite indie groups and Soul Meets Body from their Plan Album is up next – which again has the minor vocal tonality and subtle use of vocal harmony and acoustic rhythm guitars – plus the addition of subtle use of strings. This is already on my iPod so it definitely gets a thumbs up.

Alice Cooper’s Pick Up The Bones is next and his voice grates so just not interested. Blue Jean by The Cloud Room comes up after that and again, it just doesn’t seem to be moving me in the direction I want to go so thumbs down.

Back on track with Ring On by Soft which then leads me to

Last Goodbye – The Gufs another group I've never heard of and am glad to discover.

pop rock qualities
a subtle use of vocal harmony
mild rhythmic syncopation
repetitive melodic phrasing
minor key tonality
groove based composition
electric guitar riffs
acoustic rhythm guitars
prominent percussion

Lots similar to Falling and I definitely like it. From their Holiday From You 1999 album. Bought it on iTunes and I’ll stop back and pick up a few more tracks I’m sure. Milwaukee band – have toured with Rob Thomas. Why don’t I know about them? Seven years since their last album they are recording again. They’re great! Thanks Pandora. And a great place to end this path for now . . . I’ll definitely be back.

WHERE I DRAW THE LINE

a subtle use of vocal harmony
mild rhythmic syncopation
acoustic rhythm piano
minor key tonality
electric rhythm guitars
acoustic rhythm guitars
prominent percussion

First song Pandora plays is Amy Grant's live performance of Eye To Eye with many of the same features as WIDTL - but also the addition of:

basic rock song structures
acoustic rhythm piano
mixed acoustic and electric instrumentation
a prominent flute part
romantic lyrics

and it gets a thumbs up from me.

Once again, I'm hearing an artist I never heard before -- Jesse Malin singing Love Streams. Interesting background on the artist, Jesse Malin, and since they say "His love for Neil Young, Tom Waits, and Steve Earle affected his work" and those are three of my favorites - it's no surprise that I really like this. Once again, it's too easy to buy stuff from iTunes and I'm hitting my account a lot!!!

I'm veering a bit too country with the next song, Witching Hour by Austin Collins. Many people have said they hear a country-crossover possibility for Where I Draw The Line - and obviously so does Pandora as they are definitely giving me songs with country influences. And this song lists Where I Draw The Line as a similar song in their About The Song section. I'm enjoying this even though it's probably more country than I want to go - but I play it through with a thumbs up to see where I'm taken next.

Surprising, next song isn't anywhere near as country but it's definitely good -- Flaming Wreck by Pernice Brothers. There's a little bit of Colin Blunstone of The Zombies in the vocals of lead singer, Joe Pernice, and as a huge Zombies fan - that's a good thing!

And after that - Falling shows up and boy does that sound great. What a terrific radio station this is turning into and of course, ending it with Falling is a great way to move on to Ashes. I'll definitely be back to see what else Where I Draw The Line brings me.

ASHES

Features are:

electric rock instrumentation
country influences
a subtle use of vocal harmony
major key tonality
electric rhythm guitars
acoustic rhythm guitars
prominent percussion
romantic lyrics

I'm curious to see where this takes me - as this has the major key tonality that Falling and Where I Draw The Line do not - and this also has a notation of a "country influence".

First song up is Switchfoot's Dare You To Move – which is a kind of sweeping anthem that’s pretty good from Switchfoot and it has a great bass – so thumbs up.

Carry You by Jimmy Eats World is next and this definitely gets a thumbs up from me, plus a trip to iTunes for the download and a visit to their Myspace. I remember hearing Jimmy Eat World in the late 1990s and early 2000s - a lot of people did. But lost track and hadn't really heard anything recent. Which is a shame because they are really good. This is from their 2007 release Chase The Light. I'm glad Pandora reintroduced me to them.

Next up is another Jesse Malin song, On to Tomorrow Night . I already gave him a thumbs up for anther song that showed up in my previous station - and this one is deserving of another trip to iTunes.

Portastic’s You Blank is a change of pace – It started to grow on me the more I listened but just couldn’t get into Mac McCaughan’s voice that much – so decided for now to give it a thumbs down and see where I go next --- which was to David Mead. I like him and find Make It Right really catchy. It’s a great little pop song – unaffected vocals and good mix of mixed acoustic and electric instrumentation. And, according toDavid's Myspace, he's a Brooklyn boy - so definite thumbs up!

My next song is It’s the Only One You’ve Got by 3 Doors Down . Wow - I really love this song – great guitar riffs and lyrics. I've head their single, It's Not My Time and liked it - but I really love Only One You've Got. It's got a gutsy, rousing feel to it that I think is actually very similar to Ashes. I went and got the whole self-titled album from iTunes.

Jack Ingram’s What Makes You Say brings in a bit of the country influence but I’m not getting into it so I click on thumbs down.

Perfumed Letter by Bill Mallonee is next and again, someone I’ve never heard of, but a song I really like. Lyrically interesting and has a bit of the British invasion feel to it in the slightly psychedic feel to the music. Perfumed Letter is a 2003 release - but I went to his MySpace to hear his more recent stuff. I can't believe he's released 25 albums and I'm only just hearing him.

Golden Smog with Can’t Even Tie Your Own Shoes and another one that gets thumbs up followed by Replay by All Our Good Friends . This is a bit too “precious” for me - doesn’t have the drive I’m looking for so I hit thumbs down and take a real turn back into a more rock feel with Make Ends Meet with Connor O’Brien . This song is terrific - with great percussion and the addition of a wah wah pedal. Big thumbs up and a trip to iTunes.

Jimmy Eat World is back with Chase This Light and some new features like the introduction of "folk influences” and” a good dose of acoustic guitar pickin'”. Great energy and huge chorus and and a thumbs up for sure. Once again, I've added some great stuff to my iPod, and had a blast doing it.

Ashes, Falling and Where I Draw The Line are 3 of my favorites from Clay's On My Way Here. It's obvious to me that many of the musical features in these songs are what I'm looking for when I gravitate to other music. Supporting a site like Pandora Radio makes a lot of sense. Here's hoping that others are discovering Clay Aiken's new music in the same way.

Part 3 will be coming with Weight Of The World, As Long As We're Here and Sacrificial Love. Should be interesting.

I love hearing about the music you're discovering - so please comment and tell me what you've found that I might have missed!

Technorati tags:

Clay Aiken
On My Way Here
Falling
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Freezer Door
Johnathan Rice
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Kent
Minibar
Adlin & Appleford
Palaxy Tracks
Death Cab For Cutie
The Gufs
Switchfoot
Jimmy Eat World
Jesse Malin
3 Doors Down
Bill Mallonee
Golden Smog
Connor O'Brien

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There's A Whole World Of Music Out There - Live A Little

So, Clay Aiken’s A Thousand Days is playing a bit on the radio. I know that the general consensus is that radio play is important and I’m sure it is. But I also know that if I’m listening to the radio, it’s either Air America or Fordham’s public radio station WFUV 90.7 where I can hear Patty Griffin, Taj Mahal, Paul Simon, Tom Waits, Morphine, Stephen Stills, Chris Smither, Van Morrison, Muddy Waters and Radiohead all on the same station. Pretty obvious why I’m not a fan of “popular” radio.

To radio or not to radio. Such a dilemma. I started thinking about the CDs I’ve bought in the last 6 months. Of course, there was A Thousand Different Ways by Clay Aiken. I also picked up Neil Young’s Living with War. And I had to get Eric Clapton & JJ Cale’s Road to Escondido. I’m a huge Georgie Fame fan and a bunch of imports are now listed for preorder on Amazon.com so I had to preorder Fame At Last. And I also picked up Diana Krall’s From This Moment On.

Where do people hear about new music anyway? What ways are they exposed to all the incredible stuff that’s out there? I know for me it’s Pandora.com. I have mentioned a couple of times how much I adore Pandora for discovering new music in Revisiting The Music Genome Project and Music Genome Project: Follow the Clay Path to New Music.Because of some of the artists I was exposed to there, I bought Matt Nathanson’s Beneath These Fireworks and Matt Kearney’s Nothing To Lose just a couple of months ago. Then there are indie stations and friends recommend stuff. Sometimes you hear something that just clicks with you on a movie soundtrack or a tv program. Or get lucky and catch something good in an unexpected place like watching a late night show. But all the wonderful artists that I gravitate to are never hyped. And I think only Eric Clapton and JJ Cale’s cd is standing on Billboard’s recent chart – at #65!!!!!! Sheesh.

So for those of you who may be bored with the same old-same old . . . eager to see what else is out there . . . Looking to do a little music exploration . . . take a trip to Putumayo World Music . As stated on their website “

Putumayo World Music has become known primarily for its upbeat and melodic compilations of great international music characterized by the company's motto: “guaranteed to make you feel good!

And boy, does it ever!

I recently ordered two compilations from Putumayo. The cds come with wonderful inserts in French and English and Spanish describing all the songs and artists in detail – great reading and really informative.

French Café is a collection of classic and modern French music featuring some of the greatest names in the history of French music as well as new artists who are inspired by classic chanson, gypsy jazz and musette. As a fan of Pink Martini – I was excited to hear Paris Combo, with the same kind of happy, jazzy, flavor. I immediately went out and bought one of their albums, Motifs, and I was not disappointed. Check them out on this video:



I fell in love with Mathieu Boogaerts whose song, Ondule, is a wonderful mix of chanson, reggae and electronic music. This video is Mathieu (on the right) singing with Mathieu Chedid – great great fun!



And one of my favorite cuts on this cd is by Polo. I’m a fan of Django Reinhardt’s music – so Polo’s really reached out to me – a swinging gypsy jazz song.

The second CD I ordered was Blues Around The World described in their catalogue as

a collection of musicians from Mississippi to Mauritania, Memphis to Madrid, demonstrating the powerful influence of the Blues on musicians in every corner of the earth.

What an incredible combination of talents on this CD. Simply amazing.

First song on the album was Listen My Son by The Unseen Guest, a group led by an Irish musician, Declan Murray, and an Indian musician, Amith Narayan. I loved it and immediately went and ordered their album, Out There.

Big Mama and Victor Uris – great guitar and harmonica blues performed in Catalan but oozing Mississippi blues spirit - what a treat this is.

One of my favorite collaborations on this cd is Back Around, by Bonnie Raitt and Habib Koite. I’m already a Bonnie Raitt fan – but I’d never heard of Habib Koite who is from Mali . One listen to this song and his fabulous guitar work and I went back to Putumayo and ordered Baro, an amazing album. Here’s a clip of Habib performing Batoumambe:



Amar Sundy, a member of the nomadic Tuareg tribe who inhabit the western Sahara Desert, spent time in Paris and then moved in 1986 to Chicago, working with legendary Albert King. In the early 1990s, he returned to Paris and his cut, Ouallache, is a great combination of American jazz, French lyrics and African/Mid-East influences.

There’s so much incredible music out there . . . you can spend hours wandering the Putumayo site just listening to clips and clicking Buy. I know I’ve still got to pick up Louisiana Gumbo, Mali to Memphis, Congo to Cuba and Samba Bossa Nova , It’s a great way to sample amazing musicians, lyricists and singers. It’s a big world out there – filled with wonderful surprises. Start traveling!

So . . . what does this have to do with Clay Aiken? Nothing really except that the fans of this wonderful singer are a mixed bunch - far removed from the stereotype perpetuated by the so-called media. And if Clay ever wants to duet with Habib Koite - I'm there in a heartbeat!

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken
Putumayo
Paris Combo
chanson
Mathieu Boogaerts
Blues
Habib Koite
Amar Sundy
world music

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