Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Friday Music: This stuff works

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  • Ian Dalziel, in reply to Scott Chris,

    Acid house...

    It's an allegorical grapefruit.

    I should have seen that....
    Hang on, are you taking the pith?

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Jos,

    Mr Shearer isn't too bad!
    :)

    Whakatane • Since Jan 2012 • 877 posts Report Reply

  • tarlen, in reply to Scott Chris,

    It's an allegorical grapefruit. Each of the nine segments represents a different phase of the listening experience from first hearing to overexposure.

    That's better than the truth, go with that.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2010 • 19 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes, in reply to Jos,

    Mr Shearer isn’t too bad!:)

    Tell me if I’m wrong but are the first words of this song “The fix is in, there’s a ne-ocon dance on in Epsom”?

    I love the mocking tone of the chorus and that the “Mickey’s” have been slipped and the Joker is Cocky and Vicious.
    Sounds familiar…

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes, in reply to TracyMac,

    .

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    I don’t mind a bit of blood myself, but I want to choose the time and place I encounter it, thanks.

    Would that not change the entire point of said piece of art? Lets face it, blood in and of itself , doubt it is meant to conjure up thoughts of luscious lips. Well, don’t think so but hey, I could be way behind the 8 ball.
    ETA, Borrowed Laptop so posted above under wrong name .fixdit.

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Clorpet Codtail, in reply to Russell Brown,

    Hi Russell,
    Am I the only one who has picked up on what appears "dodgy" goings-on on theaudience.com?
    I was really happy when I saw this site launched but not so much now after I consider the following:
    (1) The website promotes a privileged few bands over the rest by use of a "DISCOVER" button. If you click this button you are presented with a band - fair enough - but after multiple clicks you realize that the same small group of bands are just popping up over and over. This is obviously skewing the voting and is not fair to the other bands not on the privileged "DISCOVER" list. There is no mention on the website how one can get on the "DISCOVER" list.
    (2) On Saturday morning radio 95 BFM played a top 10 count-down show of songs ranked on theaudience top 10. The rankings on the show bore no resemblance to what was actually on the charts. An example being the band “King Kapisi” which I had been following was announced as number 2 on the charts. It was actually on the charts at number 70! And from my close following had never been seen in the top 10 in the days previous. This was not the only result reported that was massively different from what was actually being displayed on the website. How you get on this different list is not made clear on the website either.
    (3) The number of votes for each song and the time (like the timeline thing on SoundCloud) received is not available. The website is not displaying transparency.
    (4) Why be able to vote for the same song again and again every day?
    Chur

    Auckers • Since Jun 2012 • 2 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes, in reply to Clorpet Codtail,

    The rankings on the show bore no resemblance to what was actually on the charts.

    “The Charts”? There are several lists of popular music. BFM Top Ten, Cheese on Toast Essential Ten, Kiwi FM Top Ten to name but three. Then there is the “Official NZ Top Ten” issued by RIANZ and now we have a new model, The Audience, given to us with the help of NZ on Air. The Audience was launched on the 31 May this year and relies on feedback from site visitors and seems to list only unreleased material so I can’t see how it even could mirror the commercial charts.
    This from Biggie

    theaudience.co.nz
    THURSDAY 31ST MAY

    How do you discover new music?

    Next week the public will be able to discover new, unreleased New Zealand music on an exciting new level, not seen in NZ before.

    All will be unveiled next Thursday 31st May 8am. This socially interactive music website specifically focuses on songs that have not been commercially released and supporting up-and-coming NZ artists.

    theaudience will create a central point for new and emerging artists to showcase their music, and to connect and communicate directly with new fans.

    And for fans of new NZ Music, it will be an exciting and easy way for you to discover fresh local music, and support artists in a really exciting way.

    If you are a musician and reading this – you should be involved.

    Register here:

    Give it a while to settle and gain some market and it may well turn out to be a more accurate self selecting measure of subjective popularity than some of the others. Personally I don’t feel the need to be told what to like but that’s just me.

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Clorpet Codtail,

    Am I the only one who has picked up on what appears "dodgy" goings-on on theaudience.com?

    I doubt it's "dodgy". I'll ask them about it though.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Clorpet Codtail,

    Righto ...

    The bFM Top 10 is taken from whatever the chart looks like at 9am on Thursdays. But they only launched at 8am last Thursday -- so unbeknownst to the person compiling it at bFM the chart was basically all beta data. D'oh!

    The orange button is a "curated discovery path" -- ie, several dozen hot tracks chosen by The Audience staff are placed in a loop (so no, it's not a random select of the whole catalogue). But, possibly because there was a bug somewhere, the same tracks kept coming up. I'm told it's being looked into.

    You basically get onto the Discovery button loop by impressing the people fielding new tracks as they come in. Which is fair enough -- a degree of curation is useful on these sites.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Andrew C,

    What a great site.

    Its possible I am a bit thick and have not figured out how to do this yet, but on a wish list would be (in order of preference):

    1a. find some way to move automatically and start playing the "next" track. Like in hype machine. Not the next in a playlist I have created, but the "next" track in the relevant list (more on this later). I like having Hype running in the background and every so often when a track catches my ear I take a look and dig deeper.
    1b. Ability to skip next/previous when listening to an automatic playlist.
    2. filter in/out tracks I have voted for
    3. filter in/out tracks I have listened to

    By "next" I mean next in line from some list of tracks generated by the site based on my choices. For example the current chart is a list of tracks (no real choices there). Or the latest songs added by date could be another. Or the current chart after removing songs I have already voted for. Etc.

    BTW, if the above are already possible please let me know how (im none too sharp on the old techno stuff)

    Auckland • Since May 2008 • 169 posts Report Reply

  • chris, in reply to Russell Brown,

    You basically get onto the Discovery button loop by impressing the people fielding new tracks as they come in. Which is fair enough -- a degree of curation is useful on these sites.

    So more of a "curated music website" than a "music discovery website"?

    Mawkland • Since Jan 2010 • 1302 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to chris,

    So more of a "curated music website" than a "music discovery website"?

    In what sense are the two incompatible?

    But it's more like Hype Machine in function than We Are Hunted -- where the whole chart is compiled and ranked by the owners according to some secret sauce.

    There are two elements of curation: the 40-odd tracks behind the Discovery button, and the two you-might-also-like this tracks flagged on each Track page. But the chart is ranked by user vote and anyone can open an account and upload. What's missing for the moment is a "new uploads" section.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Oh and Loui the Zu has a Soundcloud account, where nearly everything's downloadable.

    I'm really liking this guy a lot.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • chris,

    In what sense are the two incompatible?

    totally compatible, only that the ‘discover’ button could be more transparently labelled ’picks’/ ’recommended” or something. This obfuscation misleads. On a plus note, the site is fast as lasers from here. and yeah, with Mr Codtail I think including the number of votes for each song wouldn’t be an objectionable improvement. You and Andrew’s report was great Russell, I'm pleased to see ideas being picked up, and Louie the Zu – yes! Very international.

    Mawkland • Since Jan 2010 • 1302 posts Report Reply

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