Has anyone tried using the new Spotify Play Button yet? If you don't already know, it lets you sort of embed a little player into a web page, which looks nicer than links. Apart from that I'm not really sure how great it is because the listener still needs to have Spotify running in the background and it's not really an embedded widget, more of a prettier link I suppose. Anyhow, here's Brucie.

Hello,

I did a best of January blog posting last month & asked for any great tracks that have been discovered or rediscovered through the month. I then put all this on a Spotify playlist for everyone & along the way discovered some cracking music!

I am going to do another for February if anyone is interested? Here are my two tracks that have kept me sane in February;

Agnes Obel - Riverside (Lulu Rouge remix)

Silence- The Ting Tings

This is pretty selfish sorry - I just want to discover more new bands :)

Anyone missing Mark Lamarr's God's Jukebox will enjoy these 2 enormous Spotify playlists (6,259 tracks, 11 days playing time) that I have just discovered.
http://open.spotify.com/user/johndavis66/playlist/5VyygDxnnjdQOG3NWydTCh
http://open.spotify.com/user/johndavis66/playlist/1EbnmchFZw1CZF4Gg8s9vX

I see that a load of Bob Dylan's back catalogue has arrived on Spotify. Some tracks on certain albums seem to be unavailable though e.g. Highway 61 Revisited on the album of the same name, It's All Over Now, Baby Blue off Bringing It All back Home. Most odd. Any explanations?

As it's the last day of January & it's usually quite a bleak month (new year resolutions were broken on the 5th, post Christmas blues, freezing cold etc. etc.), I thought I would try & spread a little joy amongst the massive.

What songs have you enjoyed listening to this January? Pick one or two that you have liked & I will compile it all into one Spotify playlist & then post the link for your perusal. It doesnt have to be a new song, just anything that has staved off those January blues.

Here are mine;

The Maccabees - Pelican

The Human League - Seconds

Whilst on the iTunes store I noticed how many bands' most popular songs were not my particular favorite. However, there were one or two exceptions such as Fool's Gold and Hey Jude. How many do other members agree with on iTunes, Spotify and other similar sites ?

I seem to have subscribed to a large number of 'best of 2011' type Spotify playlists from various publications. Not sure I'll have time to listen to them all, but here they are:

Guardian Best Songs of 2011: http://open.spotify.com/user/guardianmusic/playlist/6zHWYWWmqOymmIW2KfB3...

NME best tracks of 2011: http://open.spotify.com/user/vivaissy/playlist/7dir0HcnutfrJc0dKo3ebt

Quietus Albums of 2011: http://open.spotify.com/user/quietusjohn/playlist/3dZAwsEcdF0DBqcki1s8mq

Top 100 tracks of 2011 by Pitchfork: http://open.spotify.com/user/pitchforkmedia/playlist/4ajBV7IPKfCi87Dhkof...

NPR's Top 100 of 2011: http://open.spotify.com/user/diginutt/playlist/1m2nn0KfsozXZC79LWlEYm

fRoots Critics Poll 2011 - New albums: http://open.spotify.com/user/murkeychris/playlist/6SHrX2LxzJExZhBJGVvoSU

Gilles Peterson - 1st All Winners of 2011: http://open.spotify.com/user/niniouz/playlist/09uzLmtZcSUq6nnw6BGmdN

Plus, on a related tangent are:

Murkey's Marvellous Mixtape 2011: http://open.spotify.com/user/murkeychris/playlist/0j9ydWQbGGp83HYYD6JKI2

RIP 2011: http://open.spotify.com/user/hoxsd/playlist/2iYQNGUhbrmHNgUO4MKCRc

Glastonbury 2011: http://open.spotify.com/user/murkeychris/playlist/3kOc8pc3gNxYSMOVPUr6up

Enjoy! Any more for any more? Particularly less mainstream ones.

Chris

As I write, the house is resounding to music being played by my 10-year old ...from Spotify. He loves music (Killers, Muse etc) but has never owned a CD, cassette or vinyl album, and wouldn't know what to do with one if he was given it. I wonder if he's in the first generation who will never own any recorded music? It's not that odd really ...apart from a few impulse DVD purchases, I've never owned a TV show, so why should music be any different? Of course, we're sorry that they won't ever have the thrill of reading an album sleeve, but maybe musicians should launch every album with an accompanying booklet or magazine, for the benefit of the increasing number of fans who will never buy their music?

Anyone been following the Guardian's recent History of Modern Music? As usual with these exercises, the attempt to shoehorn music history into x key events usually turns out to be mostly unsatisfactory but it's worth a look :

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog+music/series/a-history-of-modern...

Each genre section is accompanied by a Spotify playlist which is worth a listen. If you've got a Spotify account and combine the playlists into a single History of Modern Music list, then you're guaranteed a lot of interesting variety! As long as you don't mind Leftfield's 'Born Slippy' being followed by Art Tatum's 'Tea For Two'.

I got one of the last Glasto resale tickets on Sunday after messing up my registration earlier in the year. Yessss!

In celebration I've spent (too) much of the day making the Glastonbury 2011 playlist on Spotify of (where possible) one track from each of the acts playing. Check it out if you're going or just want a snapshot of what's out there musicwise at the mo:

http://open.spotify.com/user/murkeychris/playlist/3kOc8pc3gNxYSMOVPUr6up

The full line up is at: http://glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/line-up-poster/

Let me know any recommendations that I might not be familiar with. And crucially, which version of Pentangle is playing?

Just looking at a very interesting article on the BBC web about changes to Spotify

It seems Spotify are now going to allow you 10 free hours per month unless you subscribe. Very interesting comments at the bottom of the article.
The debate will rage on. Mr Hepworth has argued the point many times.
Have a read and see what you think
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/rorycellanjones/2011/04/spotify_...

The new Paul Simon album, So Beautiful Or So What, released today and available on Spotify already.

http://open.spotify.com/album/437FhC4jXaUMkQ6ladgXke

The new Foo Fighters is also up there.

Public service announcement ends.

Ok, so some of you may have noticed the unusually bright object in the sky of late (and no I'm not talking about the one in Japan). For a nation of supposedly grey, rainy drudgery, the summer appears to have come early. This is categorically a good thing. Everything seems that bit more positive, the green fields shimmer, and ladies seem a whole lot more attractive all of a sudden.

All of this and its still only the beginning of April. Good times.

Consequently I have put together an hour's long playlist of songs to bring you (or at least me) joy in the sunny times. I'm in the office today, so get to look at the sun from afar, but these tracks put me in a summery mindset. So I thought I'd share.

That is all. As you were.

http://open.spotify.com/user/badger_king/playlist/5qD5v57Q6Ykr1GtJJy8bCj

I really like spotify but one thing that would be a great addition would be the songwriting credits. That's all - just a little moan really.

Today I will mostly be putting up shelves and maybe painting the bathroom ceiling.

Being the sort of person who enjoys DIY about as much as sandpapering my own skin (which is likely to happen when I attempt DIY), I need some music to get me through the day.

So I thought I'd ask the Word Massive to contribute to a DIY themed playlist to help me survive my privations.

http://open.spotify.com/user/gribbles/playlist/3z2YeGgcKRdWZnDlX6dLb8

Tenuous links very welcome - Jan Hammer is already in there...;-)

TIA,

gribbles