I'm Listening To This

I'm always rifling through tracks on iTunes (I used to do it on allofMP3.com while it was online) to discover new music for my iPod. I thought I'd post a sampling of some new bands/music I'm currently loving.

I couldn't find a service to do this properly so I just pulled some videos from YouTube. I really wish there was an easier way to blog music. I'd love a service that provides music with cover art and would let me post individual tracks, entire albums, or music videos straight to my blog. If it integrated with iTunes and if I was able to blog an entire playlist I had created that would be awesome (especially if it was formatted nicely with cover art). I have accounts at iLike and LastFM but I don't think they provide this functionality (not the way I'm describing). Those sites are overly complicated and community-based (read: not quite what I'm looking for). I signed up for their services but I hardly use them. The only thing I use iLike for is a widget for my MySpace page. LastFM will allows users to post recent music to blogs but I want more than simple music aggregation. What I really want is to be able to put together "mixtape"-type lists and then share them. I want to post them to my blog and to my social networks (like facebook for instance). Seriously, how cool would it be to create a virtual "mixtape" for a friend or for your boyfriend/girlfriend and then be able to post it to them on facebook (complete with your own custom cover art)?

I've done some searching and discovered a service called ProjectPlaylist that seems a little closer to what I have in mind. I don't think it's exactly I'm looking for and the UI is clunky but I will be signing up for an account and checking what they offer. There's also a company called Goodstorm that is actually promoting a "mixtape"- type widget. I'll check 'em both out and blog about them later.

The other problem with current music services is visual presentation. I hate the generic little players that most music services provide. I want something a little more sophisticated and with more of a bloglike visual presentation. It has to look nice and be simple to use. What I'm thinking of is basically something like Tumblr-for-music with a widget that integrates with facebook (so I can post those mix-tapes I mentioned). This service would have to have access to a kickin' music library, upload ability, and cover art for albums. And it would most definitely have to integrate with iTunes and my playlists.

But enough ranting. Here's what I'm loving. Enjoy.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Date With The Night
This band is punky and edgy and fun. I'm really digging them right now.


Blue Foundation
Silence (End of the Day)
Another group whose music I recently discovered. Moody and sexy.


Explosions In The Sky
Greet Death


The Fountain (Sountrack)
Track: Death Is The Road To Awe
This track blows my mind. I love it. I love soundtrack scores and this movie has one of the best.


So how do I find new music? Services like LastFM and iLike are too cumbersome to be helpful. Music recommendations are hit and miss. The best way I've found to search for new music is to browse iTunes (or allofMP.com) and find an artist I like and then check out the "Listeners Also Bought" section. I then head straight to their "Top Songs", sample a few tracks, and figure out whether I like them or not. I also like to check out the iMix area on iTunes. So basically I stumble around until I find what I like. That actually gives me another idea for a music service. A StumbleUpon site for music would be a totally amazing way to discover new tunes. Ahh, I wish I had some venture capital lying around (sigh).


Related Linkage:

Flickr Mixtape Cover Art Pool
http://flickr.com/groups/mixtape

The Hype Machine - Music Discovery
http://hypem.com