Have you heard the new Death Cab For Cutie track “Black Sun”?

Not “Black Hole Sun,” this is definitely not Soundgarden, and if you don’t know Death Cab For Cutie, even if you’ve never heard of them, that’s irrelevant if you like rock music, you’re gonna get it immediately, you’re gonna wonder where it’s been hiding, why you couldn’t find it earlier.

I did.

Music has become incomprehensible. There’s too much and not enough good and I don’t know where to start. The radio stations are beholden to the labels, and they’re not on demand in an on demand culture, and online there’s a plethora of material and the playlists are too long with too many clunkers and then this guy e-mails me to check out his Spotify playlist and I start listening and I’m positively stunned, he’s managed to extract the key tracks from all these bands I’ve heard of but don’t know how to penetrate.

The opening cut is by Florence + The Machine, who I certainly know but never really got, and I like this but don’t love it, and then the follow-up cut is Alabama Shakes’ “Don’t Wanna Fight” which is good but not good enough and then comes…Death Cab.

This guy picked out the one Noel Gallagher cut you’ve got to hear. It’s good. I’ve read so much hype but I don’t know where to start, now I do.

Then there’s stuff that doesn’t fly on the mainstream radar but is so infectious you wonder why it does not, like Django Django’s “First Light.”

Or how about Proxima Parada’s “Climb To Love”?

Now this playlist is not hip-hop, and it only occasionally crosses over to pop, but if you’re a rock fan, mostly without the roll, if you like that white boy music but feel that they stopped making good stuff in the seventies, before MTV, when everything became obvious, you’re gonna love this!

Now I’m telling you, there are so few tune-outs. Unlike every other playlist I check out. You see curation is a skill.

The guy’s name is “Songpickr.”

All you need to search on is that in Spotify.

Oh, you don’t have a Spotify account? What’s wrong with you? You call yourself a music fan? That’s where everybody is, where the action is, you want to be where the action is, right?

And Songpickr has other playlists, even one for Classic Rock, but the one I’m talking about is: “Songpickr: 2015 Best Songs of the Year (Indie, Rock, Alternative, Folk, Singer-Songwriter, Soul…)”

You search for it and when you find it you click to follow it and then it’s in your playlist list and click to have it sync to your mobile device, so it upgrades on the fly and you can hear the new stuff as it’s put up there.

Now I really like about 70% of the tracks. And I haven’t found a curator this good…EVER! Makes my heart pitter-patter, makes me a believer…

Makes me think music has a chance.

For you, me and EVERYBODY!
_____________________________________

I corresponded with Songpickr and this is what he told me:

I do all the Songpickr playlists but 90% of my time is spent on the “Best Songs of 2015” playlist which has over 72,000 followers today.

I started when Spotify launched in Germany in March 2012. I was one of the first users in Germany.

There was a big Coke summer campaign – one of spotify’s first brand deals – with a nationwide billboard campaign. Clue was users could upload/share their playlists on a landing page and brand them with a cover. I was one of the first users who uploaded a playlist so everybody who went to this landing page saw my playlist. By the end of 2012 I had approx 5-6k followers.

Then I made a mistake: On Jan 1st 2013 I started “Best Songs 2013” – a new playlist with zero followers while other users just renamed their playlist from 2012 to 2013 and kept their followers. Unfortunately I only recognized it when I already had 1-2k on my new playlist and I wanted to keep them.

2013 to 2014 and 2014 to 2015 I didn’t repeat the mistake but simply renamed my playlist at the beginning of the year so I could keep building my followers. A lot of users do “Best Songs of Jan”, “Feb”, “March”, etc. – all separate playlists. They will not reach a critical mass.

SEO within Spotify is important. In the early days basically every word, artist, genre, festival, etc. you put in your title or description text helped surfacing your playlist in the search results. When you typed in Bonnaroo, Coachella, Singer-Sonwriter – Songpickr came up first. Soon the discription texts were kind of abused so Spotify changed their search mechanic. Not working this way anymore.

It’s a little bit like on Youtube in the early days – everybody experiments. It is tougher now if you didn’t start early: Spotify’s acquisition of Tunigo and Echonest was a game changer. I was lucky because I had uploaded my playlist to Tunigo.com before it was acquired and shut down. After the shutdown nobody could upload playlists themselves.

I follow every artist I add on Spotify, Facebook and Twitter and contact them to tell them that I added a track and kindly ask for a post in return. Because I mostly add newcomers, unsigned artists, indie repertoire the feedback is more positive than I expected. I think they see that I love music, that I am a fan not a business. 40% of my bitly traffic comes from the US. As a rule you can say that artists who have less than 50% of my playlist followers will consider a post but artists with more followers than I have don’t even respond.

I invest more time than anyone else I know to hear, see and find music. And I want to pass on what I find so other people who don’t want to put in the same effort still get easy access to great music they otherwise would not hear on the radio or tv.

You like rock, indie, singer-songwriter, folk, americana, soul – simply follow my playlist and never miss a great song or at least always have enough fresh new music without investing a minute to find it yourself.

Some artists even follow my playlist and profile and listen to my playlist so it shows up in their activity feed.

Also users share and post my playlists via Twitter or privately. Classic word-of-mouth.

I usually do this “playlist work” before I go to bed or in the morning before I go to work. Most of the time is spent on Saturday and Sunday. In total I probably spend around 7h per week to find new music.

I listened 64,000 min on Spotify in 2013 89,000 min in 2014.

I read the relevant music magazines but they became kind of slow and outdated. I don’t want to read about releases two months after I added them to my playlists.

Blogs are better. Spotify, iTunes, Shazam Charts. Hype Machine. Last.fm – nobody talks about Last.fm since CBS acquired it but it is an incredible source for great recommendations if you have a huge “scrobble history”. I have scrobbled 124.000 tracks since 2006 so their machine knows me pretty good.

I also follow approx 200 other playlists from Spotify, Digster, Filter, Topsify, Tastemakers with similar music taste. I listen to ALL tracks they add. You can see patterns. Who copies from who for example. How tracks evolve over time. You call that “playlist seeding”.

My guess is that we will see tons of playlist promotion companies pop up over the next years – like radio, press, online, tv promotion agencies. A lot of labels already added Songpickr to their promotion lists.

In terms of repertoire I like to pick songs which are unique, touch my heart. If I personally don’t like it I don’t pick it no matter how hyped the band is. Credibility is all you have. I don’t like it to be too mainstream but also not too edgy. It should still appeal to many people. It needs to work on shuffle so nothing too extreme on the heavy or arty side. I try to have a mix of different genres that work as a collection.

Of course you need some hits on top of the list in the visible first 10-20 tracks. When I once featured too many unknown artists in the first 10 tracks my new weekly users went down by 50%. People need to see some familiar names as a reference if the rest of the playlist is relevant for them. It is a little bit like the compilation business or radio programming.

Because I like my playlist to work like a radio station I always have between 200-300 songs. Otherwise you will often hear the same songs if you shuffle. I like people to discover new music.

After approx. max. 12 month I delete songs and move them over to my archive playlists. So right now the 2015 playlist features songs from April 2014 to March 2015. It’s always a rolling 12-month-period.

And I update almost daily – at least 2-3 times per week. People see that you care about your list.

While there is time
Let’s go out and feel everything
If you hold me
I will let you into my dream

Steve Winwood was a star in the Spencer Davis Group when he was still underage and referred to as “Stevie,” frontman for the first supergroup Blind Faith, a cutting edge band leader in Traffic and then a solo star in 1981 with “While You See A Chance.” It wasn’t completely uninterrupted, there were some slow days in the seventies, but nothing like the dry spell after “Arc Of A Diver” (yes, there was a mild hit on “Talking Back Through The Night,” but the album was nowhere near as big as “Arc Of A Diver”), and then came 1986’s “Back In The High Life.”

Credit Russ Titelman, working without his old partner Lenny Waronker, he modernized Winwood’s sound, almost to the point of pop, and what emerged was a giant hit, “Higher Love.”

You remember, Chaka Khan’s exquisite background vocals and that horrible, endlessly played video wherein Winwood tried to dance. Come on, isn’t that one of the great things about MTV not playing videos anymore, we don’t have to see musicians dance (or act!) who shouldn’t? Whose talent is playing instruments and singing and…

And this being the eighties, this being long before Napster, if you heard a great track you went out and bought the album. And even though it was available on CD, “Back In The High Life” was only 45 minutes long, and each cut told a story, and the one that opened side two resonated with me, especially after my wife moved out and I had a new girlfriend.

The finer things keep shining through
The way my soul gets lost in you
The finer things I feel in me
The golden dance life could be

It didn’t last, it never does. That’s what everybody says that turns out to be true, the first relationship after a long one is the rebound. You’re so thrilled to feel that pulse again that you believe it’s forever. But it’s not. And I’d warn you not to get involved with someone who’s experienced a big breakup but you won’t listen, no one ever does, but believe me, you’re gonna get used and abused, dropped like a hot potato when your new love realizes that as great as you are you’re just not them. As bad as the end of a marriage might be, the fact you made it that far counts for something, you built something, it may have crumbled but you’re not ready to construct that edifice again, and knowing how hard it is to do you don’t want to do it with someone who isn’t right.

But for a while.

So I’m driving up PCH with my hand between her legs…

Well, it started when she called me. For every pushy guy many are waiting for a signal, and if you wink or show initiative we pick right up on it and dive in.

So we went to lunch and we started a relationship and suddenly “Back In The High Life” took on a whole new meaning. That’s right, great albums work in both good and bad moods, they’re constants, that you can rely upon, that will deliver at various times in life.

And back when cassettes still ruled, before there were even CD players in cars, you got behind the wheel of your automobile and played your favorites for your new love, which is what I did.

“The Finer Things” is not a single. It’s got this synth beginning that sounds like a beautiful morning, a sun rising over a yellow brick road that you just can’t wait to jump upon and trundle off into the future on.

And Steve starts to sing and there are so many changes, it’s a Disneyland ride, without the abrupt turns and changes of a roller coaster.

Oh, I’ve been sad
And have walked bitter streets alone

Loneliness. The scourge of life. Your records will get you through until you find someone new.

I will have my ever after

And you can’t lose your optimism, that’s death.

Please take my hand, here where I stand
Won’t you come out and dance with me

We’re all children, looking for a playmate.

Like I said above, that relationship ended. The gory details are relevant, but you’re not gonna hear them here. All I know is when I hear this song it reminds me of her.

But not only her.

When I’m feeling upbeat, when I’m starting a new adventure, when I feel confident, creeping into my brain I hear that synth intro and the words to “The Finer Things.”

I’d love to let you into my dream.

While there’s still time.

Let’s go!

P.S. Will Jennings wrote the words to “The Finer Things” and John Robinson played drums and a bunch of people you don’t know fleshed out the tracks and it oftentimes takes a village to make a masterpiece, when we all come together it can be a beautiful thing.

Rhinofy-The Finer Things

AOL

Makes online easy.

But it turns out online is much more than their walled garden and that cable and telephone companies utilize pricing pressure to get people to sign up for a bundle that includes internet access. Turns out that access is king. All of AOL’s content was no match for high speed access to everything.

AOL survives as a lame portal that gets way too much attention from Wall Street. And if you’ve got AOL e-mail, switch immediately. The truth is you’re missing out on so many messages, with AOL’s spam filters so tight and ever-changing.

GOOGLE

Made search work. Create comprehension from chaos, make the world understandable and usable for a huge swath of people and you’ll get rich.

But you won’t stay rich. In mobile search is secondary, it’s all about the app.

But what is most interesting about Google is it got a pass. Utilizing its mantra of “Don’t be evil” to market itself as a new kind of company (that only lasted until earnings faltered), Google’s history is about the public and press giving it a chance when it does not deserve one. Sure, Google gave us Gmail, a slightly better Hotmail, but it makes no money on YouTube, Google Plus is an invasive disaster and Google Glass was a sideshow that got a ton of publicity while WhatsApp and Snapchat got all the glory.

Just because someone is good at one thing, do not assume they’re good at everything. Furthermore, just because someone is rich, that doesn’t make them smart and indomitable.

UNIVERSAL MUSIC

They said Doug Morris could not be replaced.

But they were wrong.

Lucian Grainge is younger and hungrier and knows, like Doug, it’s ultimately about hits, but today it’s also about so much more. Grainge is plumbing the digital universe. How successfully, we’re not sure, but at least he’s trying. Furthermore, Grainge is empowering the younger generation, most specifically by making John Janick head of Interscope. Doug Morris helped revitalize Sony, but there’s no new blood, no one to lead the charge once he’s gone.

JIMMY IOVINE

Learned it was about attaching yourself to a winner.

Whether it be Stevie Nicks or Bruce Springsteen or U2 in the old days.

Or Ted Field in the middle days.

Or Dr. Dre in the late days… Jimmy learned that if you’re not a genius, you sidle up to geniuses, pave the way for them to create, being their best friend all the while. Come on, would the headphones have been as successful if they were called “Jimmy I’s Beats”? OF COURSE NOT!

IRVING AZOFF

It’s about survival. And Irving has. Survived, that is.

Respect he who lasts, it’s a skill unto itself.

EVAN SPIEGEL

Who? Mr. Snapchat, who’s now a billionaire.

It’s easy to be a one trick pony. But now Spiegel has pivoted Snapchat into a content company, something prognosticators did not foresee, increasing dramatically the value of the enterprise. Like Mark Zuckerberg before him, Spiegel refused to sell out at a low price, he believed in himself and his vision. Those who take the short money, however large, are losers.

MARK ZUCKERBERG

Facebook is an advertising company, not a social network. After his HTML5 mistake, Zuckerberg pivoted and made Facebook the king of mobile advertising. It’s like a klezmer band deciding it’s better to make pop music. Well, a very successful klezmer band. Proving, even if the Winklevosses came up with the idea, they never could have turned Facebook into the juggernaut it has become.

TAYLOR SWIFT

Realized to win big today it’s about marketing. Tunes are essential, but with it being so hard to reach everybody, he or she who owns the marketing skills becomes known worldwide. Assuming this is your desire…

KANYE

Is so busy complaining he forgot it’s about music. Taylor Swift, his nemesis, never forgot that music comes first.

BILLBOARD CHART

Once you manipulate the statistics, you’re history. We don’t want formula, we want easily understandable facts. Which is why YouTube views and Spotify listens are so valuable. Once you start weighting, people’s eyes glaze over and they tune out.

AMAZON

It just works and it’s trustworthy. Hate Jeff Bezos all you want, but who else do you trust? Bezos always put the customer first, and then he sold them more things. It’s like Walmart with its low prices but with even more. If you hate Amazon you don’t use it.

COSTCO

Part of the fabric of America. Sold by its users. Not everything can be delivered by UPS or FedEx. Costco is about high quality, low prices and treating its workers and customers right. Rep is everything today. And he who forgets this ultimately loses. Sure, prices are low at Walmart, but not only does the Bentonville giant kill downtowns dead, they put their employees on welfare. Furthermore, Walmart was so inured to their profits they could not see the future, i.e. the internet coming. You’re never the winner forever. Sleep with one eye open. Always.

ELON MUSK

PayPal was not sexy, but it laid the foundation for Mr. Musk’s reputation.
We all need people to believe in, heroes shall we say. They used to be musicians, because they spoke the truth and were beholden to no one. But musicians have been devalued because their me-too music is bland and they’re whored out to corporations, the enemy in the public’s mind, bitching all the while. Whereas techies strike off into the wilderness and come back with gold. They innovate and titillate us and we believe in them. If you’re not doing something different, if you’re not reinventing the wheel, stop making music, we’ve got no time for you.

MICROSOFT

Yesterday’s king, today’s common man. Everybody peaks, nothing is forever. People are gunning for your throne. And the more you’re invested in the way you’re doing things, the more vulnerable you become. Disruption is easier with digital tools. Therefore, you must disrupt yourself. But it’s hard for the rich and comfortable to do this.

BILLIONAIRES

Money used to be inherited, now it’s usually made. We must educate our young rich to give back. Many of them do.

POLITICS

An inside game of gotcha that’s so ridiculous, that only serves the insiders and the corporations who pay for it, that the public has tuned out. Ask not what your government can do for you, it’s too busy doing it for itself. (No, this is not right wing pabulum, the government should employ more people, it should enhance the safety net, but the poor don’t serve and they’ve got no voice and you can vote all you want, but the gerrymandering and corporate donations mean the game is stacked against you, the whole country is stacked against you unless you’re smart and educated, so you can’t bitch unless you have a degree and understand the landscape, which rules out so many.)

I discovered this in a ski video:

JaPaos ski video

One of the great things about the internet is you can pursue your passion, I’m combing skiing sites incessantly, and knowing they got 48″ in Taos last week I clicked through to see what was going on. And I heard a track playing in the background which infected me. So I pulled out my iPhone and Shazamed it and lo and behold it was Hozier. You know Hozier, the guy with the international hit that all the girls liked, the sensitive guy I was overworked on and didn’t get until now.

Maybe because the iteration synched with the video was a live take and the immediacy stung me, that’s life, when it’s just lived and not premeditated. That’s what’s wrong with the modern music business, nothing sees the light of day before its time, and by that time, after they’ve added so much and streamlined it, you no longer relate to it, all the humanity has been eliminated.

If you listen to this iteration of “To Be Alone” you’ll know what it was like back in the midsixties when we discovered Clapton and the bluesbreakers. Not that Hozier exhibits Slowhand’s prowess on this track, but the soul, it’s there. Along with a dash of Cat Stevens, before he got too cute.

Check it out.

P.S. How am I supposed to find this stuff? It’s not like Hozier hasn’t been in the news, but the two tracks they promoted didn’t do it for me. There’s something radically wrong with the music business infrastructure, and it’s got nothing to do with piracy or Spotify payments. It’s become so money-focused that the music takes a back seat. We’re promoting what appeals to the head but not the heart. Music lovers don’t count. Not that I give the makers a pass. Their bitching and self-promotion turns me off. But thank god for the youngsters who’ve got enough time to dig deep and uncover this stuff. And synch it to their homemade productions. That’s right, technology is not the enemy. Remix culture is good. It raises that which deserves attention above the surface. If only we could have a weekly playlist of what we need to hear as opposed to what we’re supposed to hear. But blame corporate radio too, read this story in “Billboard” how Brandy Clark didn’t have a chance on country radio:

“Why Must Country Singles Be ‘Worked’ By Labels to be Played on Commercial Radio”

P.P.S. I’m including the studio take and the live Spotify Sessions take in this playlist. The studio version is close, but just doesn’t capture the magic. The Spotify iteration is very close. Because if you’ve got it, you can replicate it, all you need is yourself.

P.P.P.S. All you oldsters bitching that this is not new, that the lyrics are good but not spectacular…remember that the English blues cats were a sore imitation of the Delta bluesmen at first. You’ve got to start somewhere. Once again, there’s positively someone real singing this song, no machines. And this is only something music can do, only music can touch you in this way.

More like this please.

Hozier “To Be Alone” Spotify