The current that I stand upon so still
by Jen Ross
June 2012
by Jen Ross
June 2012
Only in very rare circumstances can I bear music playing while I read or write. I'm more likely to have a 'white noise' track playing in the office than music. The bus journey to and from work is usually the only time I'm offline during the day, and the regular time I listen to music (though on the way home I'm equally likely to listen to This American Life podcasts). Music bookends my working day, and on rare musicless days I am restless and unhappy.
My bus playlist is an itunes 'smart playlist' called 'best and brightest' (which I learned how to make online about 5 years ago, but can't find the link for now). At any given time it contains 200 songs fed from two other playlists: songs I've rated over 4 stars (out of 5) but haven't played for a while, and songs that I haven't rated at all and that I've played fewer than 4 times in total. The combination ensures I get a mix of things I love alongside new stuff I don't yet know well.
The 'new stuff' often comes from my periodic trawls through hypemachine (hypem.com), a music blog aggregator. I scan my RSS feed for song or artist names that catch my eye. I download, put songs into itunes, and eventually they make their way into the playlist, and the bus journey.
Over the years, via this method, I've discovered I have a real liking for scandinavian pop and scottish indie bands, and that quirkily-named songs are a mixed bag, but irresistible to me… thanks, interwebs.
This mix was selected from what's in that playlist tonight that originated serendipitously, from strangers online. A few are tracks I heard for the first time tonight (whitman, uncles, st vincent & the national). A few are from musicians I now adore (joanna newsom, bright eyes, meursault, dan mangan). The others are songs I especially like, from singers and bands I mostly just have this one track from and know little or nothing about. It's sort of a special, web-sourced edition of my commute.
Dr Jen Ross is a lecturer on the MSc in E-Learning at The University of Edinburgh
My bus playlist is an itunes 'smart playlist' called 'best and brightest' (which I learned how to make online about 5 years ago, but can't find the link for now). At any given time it contains 200 songs fed from two other playlists: songs I've rated over 4 stars (out of 5) but haven't played for a while, and songs that I haven't rated at all and that I've played fewer than 4 times in total. The combination ensures I get a mix of things I love alongside new stuff I don't yet know well.
The 'new stuff' often comes from my periodic trawls through hypemachine (hypem.com), a music blog aggregator. I scan my RSS feed for song or artist names that catch my eye. I download, put songs into itunes, and eventually they make their way into the playlist, and the bus journey.
Over the years, via this method, I've discovered I have a real liking for scandinavian pop and scottish indie bands, and that quirkily-named songs are a mixed bag, but irresistible to me… thanks, interwebs.
This mix was selected from what's in that playlist tonight that originated serendipitously, from strangers online. A few are tracks I heard for the first time tonight (whitman, uncles, st vincent & the national). A few are from musicians I now adore (joanna newsom, bright eyes, meursault, dan mangan). The others are songs I especially like, from singers and bands I mostly just have this one track from and know little or nothing about. It's sort of a special, web-sourced edition of my commute.
Dr Jen Ross is a lecturer on the MSc in E-Learning at The University of Edinburgh
