john butler trio

Music Revisit: 60,000 Scrobbles

Jeromey Balderrama

Note: This is a follow-up to a post I wrote back in 2012 when I passed the 40,000 Scrobble mark.

It’s taken 9 years, but I’ve eclipsed 60,000 listens, or Scrobbles using Last.fm.  For those who don’t know, this is a site that tracks your listens and provides data and recommendations based on your interests.  However in the years that have passed, streaming services have eaten the lunch of Last.fm’s latter goal and unfortunately it seems the site is relegated to tracking. Given how much data I’ve been pumping into them, I’m glad that CBS is still keeping them around – for the time being.

It’s taken over three years for me to amass the next 20,000 songs, which is probably slower than most given that I listen to podcasts during essentially every commute.  As you’ll see below most of my rankings haven’t changed that much, although there has been a shift in the songs that have become more popular.

Dropped off the list:

  • Pearl Jam, previously at #1 with 475 plays.

10. Ozomatli (517 Plays, New to Top 10). Ozomatli is still a mainstream in my listening, and is my default go-to band when I want to hear some music in Spanish. Top Album: Don’t Mess With The Dragon. Top Tracks: Can’t Stop, La Gallina, Cut Chemist Suite

9. Outkast (557 Plays, Previously #9). If there was one group that I wish would get back together and play music, it would be Outkast. Unfortunately with all things in life: it’s just not that easy. Until then I’ll just need to be comforted by my Andre 3000 playlist.  Top Album: Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. Top Tracks: Ms. Jackson, Rosa Parks, Hey Ya!

8. Jimmy Eat World (562 Plays, Previously #8). I still haven’t seen them play live yet, and I’m wondering if that window is starting to close.   Top Album: Chase This Light. Top Tracks: Here It Goes, Open Bar Reception, A Praise Chorus

7. Red Hot Chili Peppers (733 Plays, Previously #5). RHCP may have suffered from not being on streaming platforms for part of the last three years. They finally got their stuff together and sre still putting out great music. Top Album: Stadium Arcadium. Top Tracks: Under the Bridge, Soul to Squeeze, Dani California

6. O.AR. (737 Plays, Previously #6). I’ve really liked a lot of their new stuff that they’ve put out. I’m a little surprised that Peace didn’t make it into my top three tracks, given how much I’m listening to it. Top Album: All Sides. Top Tracks: Love and Memories, This Town, Fire

5. John Butler Trio (816 Plays, Previously #7). Their plethora of great new music helped them swap places with RHCP.  I’ve actually done drum covers of Used To Get High and Close To You.  Top Album: Grand National. Top Tracks: Used to Get High, Daniella, One Way Road

4. Five for Fighting (872 Plays, Previously #5). I’m sad that my favorite singer-songwriter isn’t really releasing new material at this point. Top Album: Slice. Top Tracks: The Riddle, 100 Years, Slice

3. Michael Franti & Spearhead (924 Plays, Previously #4). I’m really enjoying the latest stuff that Franti and Spreahead are putting together, with the messages being more in-line with their earlier stuff.  Top Album: Stay Human. Top Tracks: One Step Closer To You, Hey Hey Hey, We Don’t Stop

2. Muse (1,216 Plays, Muse #2). One of my other favorite bands who don’t seem afraid to try different things with different albums. I’ve had a harder time getting into their new stuff, but that has more to do with the fact that they’re releasing so much, so fast. Top Album: Black Holes and Revelations. Top Tracks: Time Is Running Out (another fun drum cover), New Born, Hyper Music

1. Dave Matthews Band (2,812 Plays). No big change except for the fact that I can’t get enough of my favorite band and am hopeful they can release some new material this next year. Top Album: Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King. Top Tracks: Two Step, #41, So Much To Say

Thank you for checking in on this journey with me. Just for kicks, I also grabbed my top 5 favorite songs (statistically speaking) from the last year:

  1. Mark Ronson – Feel Right
  2. The Weeknd – Can’t Feel My Face
  3. Daft Punk – Get Lucky
  4. Enrique Iglesias – Bailando (Spanish Version) – my daughter loves this one
    1 Mark Ronson – Uptown Funk

Two Drum Covers in Two Days

Romey

After a busy couple of weeks, I finally got the opportunity to sit down and do some meaningful drumming and recording some new covers.

I went back to the John Butler Trio well again and brought up my favorite JBT songs: I Used To Get High.

With this cover, I went ahead and played around with some new angles. I turned my kit around 180 degrees and moved the main camera to capture the view from the front. I took my second camera and placed it next to the floor tom looking up.  I then took my little web cam and placed it on one of the overhead mic stands to capture a view of the  hi-hat and snare.  After going through the whole recording process, I ended up only liking the angle that was on the lowest-quality camera (the overhead). I still had a lot of fun recording the cover and decided to go ahead and post it.

On Saturday I had some alone time after my daughter went to bed and did something that I had been wanting to do for sometime: drum while she was sleeping.  It turns out that she slept through the whole evening of my drumming, which made me happy – thus I decided to cover “Happy” by Pharrell Williams to celebrate my opportunity to drum some more:

I did some more tweaking of the camera angles and was a bit more satisfied with the result.  I’ll need to continue to adjust things for the next video a bit, as it looks like one of the cameras had a tough time focusing.

I’d love to get any feedback on the covers, the video, or anything else: I’d definitely love to hear from you.

New Drum Cover–Close To You

Jeromey Balderrama

If you were to judge by my posts on here, you wouldn’t have realized that last week I failed in my attempts to record a drum cover per week, letting a week slide without one.  However, I posted a “better late than never” cover of one of my favorite songs, John Butler Trio’s “Close To You”.

I have to admit I cheated on this one. I used to cover this song when I was playing with Ken and the Action Figures, so my prep time was cut down quite a bit.  While this song isn’t the most technical one out there, it features a solid groove and an awesome solo section.  It’s songs like this that have made Nicky Bomba one of my favorite drummers. I have a fond appreciation for the sounds that he’s able to generate from his kit.

After I finished recording this cover, I played around with another JBT song. Something tells me that you may see another cover from this band soon.

As always, I’d love any feedback.

40,000 Scrobbles & Counting

Jeromey Balderrama

Note: This is a follow-up post to a follow-up post, when I Scrobbled 29,000 songs back in May of 2010.

Back in December of 2006, I heard of this site known as Last.FM that tracked the music you listen to and offered recommendations based on those stats. While I rarely take advantage of the radio stations and streaming, I am fascinated by the data my “Scrobbles” bring.  Two years ago I jumped the gun and eagerly published my list before I reached 30,000 songs, so after patiently waiting for 40,000 I am eager to see how much musical tastes have changed over the last two years and 11,000 songs.

Dropped Off the Last List:

  • Gym Class Heroes (363 Plays, Previously Ranked #10).  This dropped all the way to #13.

#10: Pearl Jam (402 Plays, Previously not on the list). When the Pearl Jam Twenty documentary came out last fall, I binged on their music for a month straight. If I were to put together a Mt. Rushmore of albums of my teenage years, Ten would have to be on there. Top Album: rearviewmirror (greatest hits 1991-2003) Top Songs: Daughter, Given To Fly, Even Flow.

#9: OutKast (476 Plays, Previously at 7).  Andre 3000 is one of those renaissance men who seems to do anything besides what he does best.  OutKast has fallen down on my list simply because they haven’t produced anything relevant in nearly 6 years.  Top Album: Speakerboxxx/The Love Below Top Songs: Ms. Jackson, Rosa Parks, Hey Ya!

#8: Jimmy Eat World (502 Plays, Previously at 6). Not much to say here, except that this is a solid band that I still want to see live some day. Top Album: Chase This Light Top Songs: Here It Goes, Open Bar Reception, A Praise Chorus

#7: John Butler Trio (562 Plays, Previously at 9).  I think these guys haven’t even peaked when it comes to their music, each album gets better and better. Top Album: Grand National Top Songs: Daniella, One Way Road, Used To Get High

#6: O.A.R. (565 Plays, Previously at 8).  Another band on my “Need to see Live” list, their newest album King, is really good. Top Album: All Sides Top Songs: Right on Time, War Song, This Town.

#5: Red Hot Chili Peppers (594 Plays, Previously at #3).  RCHP was a band that I definitely missed these last few years, and am glad that they’re back with I’m With You, but these guys need to get their stuff together and get on Rdio, which is how I’m consuming 90% of my music today. Top Album: Stadium Arcadium Top Songs: Under the Bridge, Soul to Squeeze, Dani California.

#4: Five For Fighting (613 Plays, Previously at #5). John Ondrasik has got to be the classist musician out there. Top Album: Slice Top Songs: The Riddle, 100 Years, Slice.

#3: Michael Franti & Spearhead (728 Plays, Previously at #4).  When I last wrote about them, I was hoping that their next album would be like their earlier stuff. Sound of Sunshine is as good as you can get, producing one of my favorite songs in Hey Hey Hey.  Top Album: Stay Human Top Songs: One Step Closer To You, Hey Hey Hey, People in tha Middle.

#2: Muse (842 Plays, Previously at #2). Whether it’s working out, coding or having a party, Muse is a great soundtrack to life. Top Album: Origin of Symmetry Top Songs: New Born, Hyper Music, Time Is Running Out

#1: Dave Matthews Band (2011 Plays, Previously at #1). 2012 looks like to be a big year for them, with an album supposedly coming out sometime before December. Now if they would just come back to Denver… Top Album: Big Whiskey and the Googrux King Top Songs: Two Step, #41, Crash Into Me

Thanks for indulging me in the vanity of looking at my listening habits.  If you’d like to check out some of my statistically favorite songs, I’ve created an Rdio playlist.