Another year of music is in the bag. 2015 was a good one! Once again we crack open summarizr to see what we have…
Which artists did we listen to the most?
- Nine Inch Nails (261)
- Frank Turner (246)
- Tame Impala (227)
- deadmau5 (225)
- Awolnation (158)
- Coldplay (156)
- Metallica (146)
- Pink Floyd (142)
- Less Than Jake (136)
- The War on Drugs (129)
The stats this year are a bit skewed because I replaced my Revo 3700 (a full-sized computer) with a Raspberry Pi 2 (a credit card sized computer) to save a bit on power. In the process I converted from using MPD to Kodi, and I didn’t take the time until recently to address Last.FM scrobbling with the latter. Oh well, it is still interesting!
So NiN comes in at the top spot this year. I think this is mostly me listening to “The Fragile” and “Hesitation Marks” at work. I find both of those albums familiar enough that they don’t distract me while coding, yet still block out enough of the ambient office noise to make a difference with respect to flow.
Frank Turner is the real newcomer here. I came across his stuff while perusing CDs at the Cascades Library. The particular album was “England Keep My Bones,” and I fell in love immediately. I went out and purchased his catalog as soon as I could, and I haven’t regretted a minute of it. He has a fantastic voice and moving lyrics. I highly recommend him!
My other crush of the year was with Tame Impala, who released their (yes, I know it is really one guy) album “Currents” after much anticipation. It was and is everything I expected, and has been in constant rotation. My favorites from the album are “The Less I Know the Better” and “Reality in Motion”. Rock on!
AWOLNATION came out with another one during the year as well, which didn’t disappoint. I expected a good amount of weirdness along with his singing magnificence and that’s what I got! Favorites from this one are “Hollow Moon” and “Woman Woman.”
How many different artists did we listen to?
502 (versus 727 last year)
I’m not going to put too much stock into this figure for this year. I didn’t listen to nearly as much SomaFM and I ended my Spotify subscription as well. This meant I was on my own media-wise. I have a broad and diverse collection, but it can’t compare to those of the larger services out there. Oddly enough, Spotify spammed me to death towards the end of the year with a three-for-one deal that I could have taken. If I knew the music-listening situation at my new job, I might have agreed to it! As it stands I don’t know how musically oriented the office is, and I’d rather not give off a bad impression as “the new guy with the headphones on all the time.” Maybe next time!
How many tracks did we listen to per month?
- January: 978
- February: 623
- March: 1052
- April: 1266
- May: 822
- June: 726
- July: 891
- August: 845
- September: 554
- October: 386
- November: 278
- December: 355
Looking at these numbers I can guess that I swapped computers at some point in September. The scrobbling count dropped dramatically during that time! I didn’t even get my yearly boost from SomaFM’s Christmas channel in December. Shame.
Which artists did we listen to the most by month?
- January: Toy (67)
- February: Nine Inch Nails (46)
- March: Frank Turner (94)
- April: Ramin Djawadi (96)
- May: Thomas Newman (84)
- June: Pink Floyd (32)
- July: Boston (37)
- August: deadmau5 (189)
- September: Metallica (40)
- October: Nine Inch Nails (40)
- November: Nine Inch Nails (45)
- December: Coldplay (51)
Toy takes January, when I was definitely on a psychedelic rock kick. I think I came across them on Tame Impala’s “similar artists” page. They take a little getting used to, but remain a solid choice if you’re a rock fan.
The composer Ramin Djawadi is another notable on this list. He did the soundtrack for Game of Thrones, and with the show playing during the month we certainly took advantage of the album. If you’re in the mood to feel epic while you’re doing household chores, this is the guy to queue up.
Another noteworthy artist here is Boston. After reading a random Reddit comment about how the group recorded and produced their first album (in short: Tom Scholz being amazing), I picked it up. I couldn’t believe I didn’t already have it, given how amazing it is. Every single song on the album is still in rotation on the ratio, even today. Crazy.
What song did we listen to the most?
The War on Drugs - Under the Pressure (16 plays)
It is no surprise that I really like indie and psychedelic rock, so of course this track makes sense. I love the way this guy blends different sounds together, and that is immediately apparent in this track. Listen to it and you’ll see!
How many different artists did we listen to, per month?
- January - 75
- February - 75
- March - 102
- April - 110
- May - 88
- June - 100
- July - 118
- August - 125
- September - 92
- October - 49
- November - 58
- December - 48
I’m pretty happy with my diversity for the year. I try not to get into any ruts, and it is clear that didn’t happen. Continued visits to the library and various thrift stores should help to keep these numbers similar in 2016.
What album did we listen to the most?
The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream
Check this guy out. Indie rock at its best!
So there went 2015! All in all a pretty decent year of music. I look forward to what 2016 brings, although I can’t say I’ve heard much about what to expect. Maybe a new full-length album from the Foo Fighters or perhaps NiN? I’ll be happily grooving regardless.