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(Once again, this was posted a bit late here. All appear on my Blog on Tuesdays, on time!)

The first new music coverage of 2012 from me (the best of the past month or two, anyway). So new stuff, and a dusting of the old, too.

Playlists: Spotify | YouTube

Track of the Month:

Mind.In.A.Box
Control
Revelations
The star track from the stellar new album, a glorious, glittering ballad in the same realms as Fear. Yes, that good, and it has a chorus to match. A yearning, pretty song that like all of this bands greatest tracks, takes it’s own sweet time to unfold, before delivering that killer chorus – and there is barely a vocoder in sight. Those remarkable live shows over the past year have clearly had a considerable impact on the band’s sound, too – while the theme is similar, there is perhaps a bit more of a human touch to the sound, and this is one of a few songs on this album that clearly has been created for live performance at some point. …

http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/500/20939995/Stevie+Nicks+000i.jpg
http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/71799162/Florence++the+Machine+png.png

http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/219747/The+Who.jpg
http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/12230991/The+Kooks.jpg
http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/23668361/Lily+Allen+05.jpg
http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/58669325/Joss+Stone+PNG+ver.png

http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/4304453/Ray+Charles+ray+live.jpg
http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/55420285/R+Kelly+loveletter.png
http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/500/49721077/Maxwell+GQ.png

http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/9774837/Paul+McCartney+paul.jpg
http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/55078665/Miles+Kane+081126_172230_mileskanelastsha.jpg

http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/38581349/David+Bowie+DavidBowieAladdinSanePNG.png
http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/3335071/Kylie+Minogue+KylieMinogueXPromo2007_03.jpg
http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/28234395/Lady+Gaga+gagafixed.png
…

Last.FM Milestones1st track: (23 Sep 2011)
Linkin Park - New Divide
http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/252/335070.jpg1000th track: (17 Oct 2011)
Korn - Twisted Transistor
http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/252/32578399.jpg2000th track: (09 Nov 2011)
Judas Priest - Breaking The Law
http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/252/45476153.png3000th track: (28 Nov 2011)
Sabaton - Guten Nacht
http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/252/10768739.jpg4000th track: (14 Dec 2011)
Metallica - Killing Time
http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/252/3679639.jpg5000th track: (29 Dec 2011)
Led Zeppelin - Ramble On
http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/252/279035.jpg6000th track: (14 Jan 2012)
In Flames - Whoracle
http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/252/358628.jpgGenerated on 25 Jan 2012
Get yours here




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http://gefto.com/lastfm/mafein/img/?user=ShrimpMonster&period=overall

In no particular order, I list my favorite albums:

Untrue by Burial
Loveless by My Bloody Valentine
Silent Shout by The Knife
xx by The xx
Merriweather Post Pavilion by Animal Collective
Fabulous Muscles by Xiu Xiu
Ys by Joanna Newsom
Bee Thousand by Guided By Voices
Since I Left You by The Avalanches
The Moon & Antarctica by Modest Mouse
Kid A by Radiohead
Bitte Orca by Dirty Projectors
Teen Dream by Beach House
Is This It by The Strokes
Nouns by No Age
Veckatimest by Grizzly Bear
Hunky Dory by David Bowie
Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys
Led Zeppelin II by Led Zeppelin
Blood On the Tracks by Bob Dylan
Rumours by Fleetwood Mac
Halcyon Digest by Deerhunter
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by Kanye West
Fleet Foxes by Fleet Foxes
Person Pitch by Panda Bear
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel
Kaputt by Destroyer
Funeral by Arcade Fire

CDs/DVDs on the back-burner (What I'm going to buy soon):
Dir En Grey
GAUZE (Limited edition w/photobook)
鬼葬 (First press limited edition w/hidden book)
Withering to death. (Limited edition)
Mucc/ムック
鵬翼 (EU edition)
6 (EU/Limited edition)
球体 (EU edition)
lynch.
forgiven
enemy
roaring in the dark


CDs/DVDs I've ordered/pre-ordered:
Lycaon
Cordyceps sinensis
Declaration of war
A Box In Beautiful
(Not sure if I'll ever actually receive these three, it's been over 3 months since I ordered them ><)


CDs/DVDs I'll buy sometime in the future:
Darren Korb - Bastion Original Soundtrack
+
Anything from Dir en grey, Merry, Mucc, 9Goats, Cocklobin, Lycaon (pre-Jouyoku), lynch. and -OZ- I don't have yet.


CDs
#
30 Seconds to Mars - A Beautiful Lie

A
A Day To Remember - Homesick (Special/Deluxe Edition w/DVD)
Avenged Sevenfold - City of Evil
Avenged Sevenfold - Avenged Sevenfold

B
Bullet For My Valentine - Bullet For My Valentine
…

Top 50 Artists
1) The Beatles - 28,523
2) The Hush Sound - 24,314
3) Jason Mraz - 10,354
4) Arctic Monkeys - 6,477
5) Marina & the Diamonds - 3,615
6) Maroon 5 - 2,963
7) Lily Allen - 2,177
8) The Lonely Island - 2,152
9) Glee Cast - 1,745
10) Gold Motel - 1,700
11) Queen - 1,669
12) Charlotte Sometimes - 1,585
13) The Last Shadow Puppets - 1,570
14) Panic at the Disco - 1,395
15) Muse - 1,314
16) Kate Nash - 998
17) Franz Ferdinand - 994
17) Cobra Starship - 994
19) John Lennon - 926
20) Anya Marina - 790
21) Matt & Kim - 783
22) Duffy - 712
23) We Are Scientists - 684
24) The Bird and The Bee - 669
25) Natalie Portman's Shaved Head - 655
26) The Beach Boys - 652
27) The Killers - 647
28) Katy Perry - 610
29) Ke$ha - 570
30) Forgive Durden - 536
31) George Harrison - 530
32) Britney Spears - 497
33) Little Boots - 476
34) Kaiser Chiefs - 465
35) Kasabian - 416
36) Nicki Minaj - 404
36) Victorious Cast feat. Victoria Justice - 404**
38) Jessie J - 403
…

Last Saturday, I discussed the issues with the current similar artist formula...especially Metallica being top 10 in similarity with The Offspring (like what?).

Well, since then, I put my programming skills to work and well, I built a little program to test to see it would work with other artists. Results were noticed on several bands/artists as their similar artists over went a make over. However, it did lead to new problems as I tried testing it out super-mainstream acts including our favorite band...Radiohead.


Rage Against the Machine showed up as a similar artist.


...well, apparently. Radiohead's top 250 similar artists currently are all over the place in random genres. A bigger batch of similar artists would be needed to get the best results, but the question is...is my new formula better. I'm going to show you some examples of artists top 25 similar artists...before, and after. You guys make the decision.


Oh, you don't remember the formula? Very well...time for a quick summary
…

* Indicates new additions to collection (Monthly)

A:

AC/DC - Back In Black (Vinyl)
AC/DC- Backtracks
AC/DC- High Voltage
Aerosmith- Rocks (Vinyl)
Alice Cooper- Love It To Death*
Alice Cooper- The Life and Crimes of Alice Cooper 4 Disc Set
Amon Amarth- Twilight of the Thunder God
Amon Amarth- Surtur Rising
Asia- Asia (Vinyl)

B:

Bachman Turner Overdrive- Four Wheel Drive (Vinyl)
Bachman Turner Overdrive- Bachman Turner Overdrive II (Vinyl)
Bad Company- Straight Shooter (Vinyl)
Bathory- Blood Fire Death
Bathory- Blood on Ice
Black Sabbath- Paranoid
Black Sabbath- Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Black Sabbath- Heaven and Hell
Black Sabbath- Mob Rules
Black Sabbath- Greatest Hits 1970-1978
Blind Guardian- Somewhere Far Beyond
Borknagar- Empiricism
Burzum- Fallen

C:

Celesty- Legacy of Hate
Cheap Trick- Cheap Trick at Budokan (Vinyl)
Creedence Clearwater Revival- Bayou Country (Vinyl)

D:

Death- Leprosy
Death- The Sound of Perseverance
Deep Purple- Perfect Strangers (Vinyl)
…