December 12, 2008
Friday random ten: Let's get groovy

I'll say this for the Genius feature - even as I've been critical of it for not being as broad in its scope as I think it should be, it's not always easy to guess what direction it will take when you feed it a song. For example, when I input "Spinning Wheel" by Blood, Sweat & Tears, I expected a blues-oriented list. Apparently, the Genius algorithm was geared more towards an era match than it was towards a genre match, so what I got was this:

As listed

1. "Spinning Wheel" - Blood, Sweat & Tears
2. "It's Too Late" - Carole King
3. "The Air That I Breathe" - The Hollies
4. "Kodachrome" - Paul Simon
5. "Rock and Roll Hoochie Coo" - Rick Derringer
6. "Jesus Is Just Alright" - Doobie Brothers
7. "That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be" - Carly Simon
8. "Casey Jones" - Grateful Dead
9. "Canticle/Scarborough Fair" - Simon and Garfunkel
10. "Morning Has Broken" - Cat Stevens

As played

1. "Spinning Wheel" - Blood, Sweat & Tears
2. "The Air That I Breathe" - The Hollies
3. "Long Distance Runaround" - Yes
4. "Blue Sky" - The Allman Brothers
5. "Goodnight Saigon" - Billy Joel
6. "That's All" - Genesis
7. "That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be" - Carly Simon
8. "Train, Train" - Blackfoot
9. "Sledgehammer" - Peter Gabriel
10. "Kentucky Rain" - Elvis Presley

With a couple of exceptions in the second list, most of these songs would be right at home in the soundtrack of a movie set in 1973 or so. That's not the direction I'd have chosen for matchmaking with a song like "Spinning Wheel", but hey, that's why it's the Genius and I'm not. Happy Friday!

Posted by Charles Kuffner on December 12, 2008 to Music
Comments

Original song: P.I.L. - Poptones

Genius list:

1. The Fall - The Man Whose Head Expanded
2. Television - Friction
3. The Gun Club - Sex Beat
4. PJ Harvey - 50ft Queenie
5. Dinosaur Jr. - Little Furry Things
6. The Cure - Play For Today
7. Kinks - 20th Century Man
8. Velvet Underground - There She Goes Again
9. Belle & Sebastian - Like Dylan in the Movies
10. P.I.L. - Chant

And to cap off the night, a free Death Metal show at River Oaks Theater!

INSIDIOUS DECREPANCY
FUNERAL RITES

MIDNIGHT
RIVER OAKS THEATRE
ALL AGES
FREE
UPSTAIRS BAR WILL BE OPEN


Posted by: tpc on December 12, 2008 7:30 PM
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