You Genius

Bit of a geeky post this one, sorry! Apple released iTunes 8 last night at an event where the main news was the launch of the new iPods. The usual fanfare and hypefest ensued nobody will be surprised to know. Quite how Apple have got to the point where a new product launch is broadcast as headline news by serious news sources is surely the greatest marketing story of the age. But I digress; amongst the new features on iTunes is the ability to create "Genius Playlists" - by using a database at iTunes central (or wherever) it can suggest a playlist based on any given song. Well almost any given song - it didn't like "Batcat" by Mogwai which is strange given that I bought it from the iTunes store!

Anyway I've been pretty impressed so far. Here is what it came up with this evening...

1) Hoover Dam - Sugar
This was my choice for the starting point. I've been listening to a lot of early 90s American alt-rock lately. For those not in the know, Sugar was what Bob Mould did after Hüsker Dü. They released one classic album Copper Blue which contains this song and was album of the year in NME in 1992.

2) The Silence Between Us - Bob Mould
Not a great jump there really. This is off a sampler for Anti records who put out Mould's recent album, Distirct line. You have to pick and choose with his solo output as he does wonder quite far from the template established with his previous bands, but this is definitely a return the the alt-rock sound he is best known for.

3) The Lung - Dinosaur Jr.
Another classic album, Dinosaur Jr's second - You're living all over me - is the source for this song. Most of their back catalogue has been reissued relatively recently in remastered form and is well worth looking out for.

4) Sitting Still - R.E.M.
Surely they need no introduction? This is from their debut album on IRS, Murmur. A few years ago I listened to all their albums in order and it's fascinating to see the progression. There isn't a bad one from Murmur to New Adventures in Hi-Fi, although they did lose their way a bit after that.

5) Gold Soundz - Pavement
Another classic album, this is from the Desert Origins reissue of Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (although it did appear on the original).

6) Academy Fight Song - Mission of Burma
From the reissue of the EP Signals, Calls and Marches, this wasn't on the original release but made it onto the 97 and 08 reissues...

7) Almost Ready - Dinosaur Jr
Back to Dinosaur Jr, this is from last year's LP, Beyond. This was the album where the original line-up reconvened after Lou Barlow had left to do his Sebadoh thing for much of the 90s. Not quite a return to the scuzzy sound of You're Living All Over Me, it still sounds better than most of the pretenders to the alt-rock crown.

8) Cherry Coloured Funk - Cocteau Twins
A short diversion from the fuzzed-up guitar sounds so far, this is from the Twins 1990 classic Heaven or Las Vegas.

9) Get Ready for Love - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
I just can't seem to get away from Nick Cave on this blog - even random selections include him! This is probably the rockiest song on the Abbotoir Blues disc of the double album with The Lyre of Orpheus and is probably a bit of a pointer as the direction Nick would take with the Grinderman album, and his next bad seeds album, Dig, Lazarus Dig!

10) Mahgeeta - My Morning Jacket
My Morning Jacket really came to attention here in the UK with Z, but this is from it's predecessor It Still Moves. A lot of people prefer this to Z, I'm not totally convinced...

The next 10:
11) Apartment Story - The National
12) Mr Tough - Yo la Tengo
13) I Could Be Dreaming - Belle and Sebastian
14) Man on the Moon - Sugar
15) Rattled by the Rush - Pavement
16) Respectable Street - XTC
17) Tarpit - Dinosaur Jr
18) Constructive Summer - The Hold Steady
19) Incinerate - Sonic Youth
20) Catapult - REM

Given that I have more Sonic Youth than any of the other bands on the list in my iTunes library, it's a bit of a surprise that I had to wait til song 19 to hear some... But as I said, I like this feature and may blog on it again (I'm quite lazy like that!)