Tag Archives: Tori Amos

Thousands of Words and Thousands of Tracks

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With just ten weeks to go until my formal thesis draft is due for review  I was reflecting on what music has accompanied my recent studies. Each week I listen to so much music with the result that across the period of my Honours i could have listen to more than twenty thousand tracks.

It’s been a mix, sometimes a playlist that comes up on Spotify because I can’t be bothered thinking about what I want to listen too. Maybe it’s listening to The Sound, an Auckland based radio station that streams, listening to the audio of a Pay TV station or a focus on an artist. 

Generally it’s been low key smooth music. Generally it’s stress less music.

I’ve been listening to Tori Amos’s Gold Dust quite a lot. It’s a remix of some of her earlier material. When it was released I thought it was OK and that it was a bit of a rehash however on reflection I can see how it repositions some of her classics and lesser known songs with an orchestral feel. The highlight of the album for me is Girl Disappearing.

When it comes to soft rock it’s hard for me to go past The Shins. Continue reading →

Silence is not an option!

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Can’t get it out of my head is quite simply music.

I’m always listening – at breakfast (when I usually write my posts) walking to work, at work, walking home, after dinner, studying, driving, walking the dog, sleeping….

I’m always browsing the small number of CD shops we have in Adelaide, grazing through Spotify, sorry Pandora, for me it’s my favourite streaming service. ITunes Match means all my CDs are at my fingertips.

I have always been one to listen to a whole CD or artist collection but with streaming I am being seduced into Playlists. Spotify’s Radio Button is a great way to get variety when I need a short break from Springsteen, Tori Amos, Joni Mitchell, The Beatles, Rick Wakeman. I can’t believe how much Rick Wakeman I listen too!

Silence is not an option for me.

Study and what to listen too?

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I have always studied and worked listening to music. It provides a background to block out other distractions and it’s a technique I have used since my school days.

My year 12 was completely dominated by Born to Run!

Through Uni, the first time, it was Dylan, Springsteen, Melanie, Supertramp, 10CC and so on.

When I completed my Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance in the early 2000s, it was a combination of old favourites Dylan, Springsteen, Rick Wakeman and newer music REM, White Stripes, Silverchair, and Muse. My children made sure I was listening to what was current as I would usually say I like that and then buy the complete collection – it was a good plan on their behalf! I also filled in a lot of gaps in my music collection across those 3 years.

I am back to study again and after a few weeks of late nights and full weekends with my head in a text book and searching the University library databases it’s all been with the headphones on. I started with the downloads of Springsteen’s Australia and new Zealand concerts, at about $10 per concert they are great value. But even as a Springsteen obsessive that isn’t going to be enough to sustain me. My iTunes library has also had a fair working over as has the recently released iTunes Radio, Spotify and to a lesser extent Pandora.

Whilst I like the concept of the Radio Buttons on iTunes, Spotify and Pandora they tend to see the same songs come up on the play list a little to regularly for me and they can be a little distracting. I prefer to listen to the whole album, the complete collection or whole concert rather than jump around. So apart from Springsteen and the Radio Buttons there has been a little Tori Amos, James Taylor, Carole King and this weekend Joni Mitchell.

As I was taking a break I started to think about what new music there might be to listen too. Surely I can’t sustain the next 2 years and beyond with music from my own youth!

Suggestions will be welcome!