Music

A couple days ago I finally finished setting up a really great playlist for my blog. If you recall awhile back I found a site, FileDen, that was the only file storage site that I could make work with Project Playlist. I uploaded my 100 songs, the maximum allowed by Project Playlist in a single playlist, and it worked perfectly for two days until the bandwidth on a free FileDen account was exceeded. I have that playlist back up and running, and theoretically it should last just fine unless my reading audience exceeds five.

Here's what I did, and it's a matter of opinion whether it's because I care about music so much to go to so much effort for a blog with such a huge audience, or if it's just that I'm a nerd. I bet it's halfway between. I actually set up 20 FileDen accounts and spread the 100 mp3 files between them. This meant I had to set up 20 bogus email accounts as well. It really wasn't that much effort, just tedious; but I could multitask while files were uploading.

The harder thing was sifting 100 songs out of my music library. I think I've done a pretty good job. There's quite a variety, from Cake to Björk to Harry Connick, Jr., and even a few of my favorite tracks from movie soundtracks. I left off the Weird Al, but I tried to stay away from mainstream stuff for the most part, even mainstream stuff I like. What's the point of sharing music everyone's already heard? So I have some very unique music on there, the oddest of which is probably Portishead, who is quite well represented in the playlist. There is a bit of mainstream stuff, songs that are just too good to ignore, and if there is a song from a mainstream band such as Evanescence, it's likely not a major release (I think her "Origin" album, from before she was famous, is far better than anything she's released since). Of course I included Dark Center of the Universe, by Modest Mouse, which is where I got the name for this blog (I'm not very creative at coming up with names). I think it's as good a representation of my taste in music as can be managed in only 100 songs, even though quite a lot had to be left out.

I'd love to hear feedback on what you find interesting, what you like and don't like and why, and any music you'd like to recommend to me. In a few future posts I'll probably go through some of it and explain why I like it and maybe put some of it in context (like some of the Björk songs, which come from an excellent soundtrack to an awful movie, Dancer in the Dark). Meanwhile, I hope you hear something you enjoy, especially something new that might broaden your musical horizons.

Since some of the song names don't always appear properly in the playlist (MacOS plays nice with Icelandic names like "Dánarfregnir og Jarðarfarir," but the Windows server I uploaded them onto in FileDen doesn't), and for reference, here's a list of all the songs and the bands responsible for them:

1. Rooster - Alice in Chains 
   
2. Nutshell - Alice in Chains 
   
3. Siúil A Riún - Anúna 
   
4. Bittersweet (Instrumental Version) - Apocalyptica 
   
5. Seemann (ft. Nina Hagen) - Apocalyptica 
   
6. Faraway - Apocalyptica 
   
7. Helden - Apocalyptica 
   
8. Play Dead - Björk 
   
9. It's in Our Hands - Björk 
   
10. I've Seen It All (ft. Thom Yorke) - Björk 
    
11. Scatterheart - Björk 
    
12. New World (ft. Massive Attack) - Björk 
    
13. All Is Full of Love - Björk 
    
14. Hyperballad (ft. The Brodsky Quartet) - Björk 
    
15. Það Sést Ekki Sætari Mey - Björk Guðmundsdóttir & Tríó Guðmundsdóttir
    
16. Wonderful Life - Black Box Recorder 
    
17. I Wonder - Blind Melon 
    
18. Sheep Go to Heaven - Cake 
    
19. Cool Blue Reason - Cake 
    
20. Dream On - Depeche Mode 
    
21. Blasphemous Rumours - Depeche Mode 
    
22. Enjoy the Silence - Depeche Mode 
    
23. Lento - Elliot Goldenthal 
    
24. Zeus Cannon - Elliot Goldenthal 
    
25. She Moved through the Fair (ft. Sinéad O'Connor) - Elliot Goldenthal 
    
26. Finale - Elliot Goldenthal 
    
27. Today Has Been Ok - Emilíana Torrini 
    
28. Ten to Twenty (Sneaker Pimps Cover) - Emilíana Torrini 
    
29. To Be Free - Emilíana Torrini 
    
30. If You Go Away - Emilíana Torrini 
    
31. Lay Down (Candles in the Rain) - Emilíana Torrini 
    
32. Ruby Tuesday - Emilíana Torrini 
    
33. Tuna Fish (Acoustic) - Emilíana Torrini 
    
34. The Ecstasy of Gold (L'Estasi del'Oro) - Ennio Morricone 
    
35. The Last Day - Evanescence 
    
36. Anywhere - Evanescence 
    
37. Why (ft. Emilíana Torrini) - GusGus 
    
38. Danny Boy - Harry Connick, Jr. 
    
39. Gollum's Song (ft. Emilíana Torrini) - Howard Shore 
    
40. What are You Asking Me? - James Newton Howard 
    
41. I Cannot See His Color - James Newton Howard 
    
42. Little Wing - The Jimi Hendrix Experience 
    
43. Hurt - Johnny Cash 
    
44. Woodstock - Joni Mitchell 
    
45. Blue - Joni Mitchell 
    
46. Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin 
    
47. The Man with the Golden Gun - Lulu 
    
48. Angel - Massive Attack 
    
49. Teardrop - Massive Attack 
    
50. Dissolved Girl - Massive Attack 
    
51. Group Four - Massive Attack 
    
52. You Brought Me Up - Méav 
    
53. New Dawn Fades (Joy Division Cover) - Moby 
    
54. Dark Center of the Universe - Modest Mouse 
    
55. Butterflies and Hurricanes - Muse 
    
56. Ruled by Secrecy - Muse 
    
57. Knights of Cydonia - Muse 
    
58. Sunburn - Muse 
    
59. 99 Luft Balloons - Nena 
    
60. Stormy Weather - Nina Nastasia 
    
61. You Know You're Right - Nirvana 
    
62. Hold Your Hand (ft. Emilíana Torrini) - Paul Oakenfold 
    
63. Behind Blue Eyes (Acoustic) - Pete Townshend 
    
64. Too Much of Nothing - Peter, Paul and Mary 
    
65. Roads - Portishead 
    
66. Strangers - Portishead 
    
67. Cowboys - Portishead 
    
68. Western Eyes - Portishead 
    
69. All Mine - Portishead 
    
70. Seven Months - Portishead 
    
71. Elysium - Portishead 
    
72. Half Day Closing (Live) - Portishead 
    
73. Plastic - Portishead 
    
74. Threads - Portishead 
    
75. Hunter - Portishead 
    
76. Humming - Portishead 
    
77. Who Wants To Live Forever - Queen 
    
78. Nebel - Rammstein 
    
79. Halleluja - Rammstein 
    
80. Engel - Rammstein 
    
81. Mein Herz Brennt - Rammstein 
    
82. Pretty Little Ditty - Red Hot Chili Peppers 
    
83. Aeroplane - Red Hot Chili Peppers 
    
84. Mo Li Hua (The Jasmine Flower) - Rolla High School Chamber Choir 
    
85. Paint it Black - The Rolling Stones 
    
86. Flugufrelsarinn - Sigur Rós 
    
87. Hjartad Hamast - Sigur Rós 
    
88. Ný Batterí - Sigur Rós 
    
89. Viðrar vel til loftárása - Sigur Rós 
    
90. Starálfur - Sigur Rós 
    
91. Dánarfregnir og Jarðarfarir - Sigur Rós 
    
92. Gong - Sigur Rós 
    
93. I Am a Rock - Simon & Garfunkel 
    
94. Tonight, Tonight - The Smashing Pumpkins 
    
95. Muzzle - The Smashing Pumpkins 
    
96. Grazes - Sneaker Pimps 
    
97. Half Life - Sneaker Pimps 
    
98. Lightning Field - Sneaker Pimps 
    
99. Farewell Transmission - Songs:  Ohia 
    
100. Highway Song - System of a Down
     

If you ever notice a dead link (the song turns red and the playlist skips to the next one), please let me know and I'll take care of it. Thanks!