A bit of outsourcing

I guess I am not exactly getting 2009 off to an auspicious start with my paucity of posts. What can I say, I'm a busy person. However, possibly I should be a more high-tech, high-powered busy person since I finally succumbed and got an iPhone, which means I could theoretically be like, blogging from anywhere, right? In practice however, this just means that long story short, I have another iPod. (If we are going to get technical, a fifth iPod. Yes, I know, this is gross.)

Getting this meant I had to at long last use the iTunes store, which apparently needs your credit card info even for you to be able to download free apps, which is all I want. This I don't love. But this also meant I could finally begin using the "Genius" function that they recently added to iTunes.

WTF is Genius, you ask? Genius is their attempt to get you to buy more songs, yes, but I think of it more as Apple's attempt to like, rationalize the mixtape-making process (possibly I've been reading too much Weber, but bear with me). You choose one song to start from, hit a little sort of nuclear-symbol-looking thing, and ta-dow! It will give you 25, 50, even 100 songs that it thinks will suit your taste. If you want (I don't, but who knows what y'all are into), it will also recommend songs you might buy from iTunes.

I've been using this a lot since activating it, and somewhat enjoying it. Often I'll be like, "I'm in the mood for X," which I mean just like, as a generic example but which if you like you can assume means I'm in the mood for the early 80s LA punk band. So I click on "Los Angeles" or "White Girl" or whatever, and it'll theoretically shoot me out a mix instantly. Occasionally, it'll tell you Genius can't figure it out (either you've misspelled something, or in my case more often it's some person who's not even signed or whatever so iTunes says it doesn't know about them).

Anyway. You know I make these weird monthly mixes anyway, so I thought we'd put Genius to the test together on my picks for this month, and see if we like it's style, or if I should stick to doing things the old-fashioned way.

5 songs I heart right now, and what Apple thinks that means I'll also heart

Donnie Iris, "Ah! Leah!"
Idk who the hell Donnie Iris is (he looks like the missing fourth dad from Full House or something), but you know this song is right up my alley -- heavy guitar, talky verses, soaring, unintelligible chorus -- this song is like the bastard child of DLR-era Van Halen and Loverboy. Yes, I said it, Loverboy. Based on this Genius tells me I will like other 80s guitar pop ("Fantasy" -- OMG LASER GUITARS, watch at least the beginning of this video), slightly nasal singers ("Dream Police"), and songs about desirable women ("She's a Beauty"). And indeed -- David Lee Roth-era Van Halen ("And the Cradle Will Rock...") and Loverboy ("Turn Me Loose"). Um, did I call it, or what!? Who's the genius now?!

White Zombie, "Thunder Kiss '65"
I did this because 1) in spite of many unfortunate choices Rob Zombie has made in the intervening years, you really can't hate White Zombie 2a) he looks like an amazing hippie version of Nikki Sixx in this video and 2b) those gogo dancers are freakin' hot and mainly 3) I wanted a metal pick that would have less in common with the bulk of my music to see what happened. And what did? Basically a mix of all things metal and rock, from the Edgar Winter Group to the Stooges to Iron Maiden to Pantera. And randomly, right in the middle of it, "Love Song." Ummm... sure. I guess a slow jam might be in order there? But really probably not.

Chaka Khan, "Fate"
If you went to a club in the early '00s, you know this song, because it's the core of that cheesy "Music Sounds Better With You" song. As for me, I just like a really good disco-y Chaka Khan song. Genius agrees with me here, giving me more disco ("I'm Your Boogie Man" -- also made into an early '00s minor club hit), but also funk (both George and Gwen McCrae), and then bad 80s party R&B (DeBarge, Lionel Richie). It's not wrong, but I would have liked it to get a little more creative here... and a little less cheesy. Then again, I did give it disco Chaka Khan... hmm....

The Korgis, "Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime"
I'm not even sure what this song is about, but man is it depressing. And this is one where Genius really comes through. It gave me, as a matter of fact, a great mix. It has decided based on this track that I will enjoy a mellifluous mix of Neneh Cherry, disco and dance music ("Let's All Chant"), punk (The Stranglers), Kate Bush, and loads of new wave (including Ultravox and Belouis Some -- P.S. that last video is NSFW). It's basically right about all of these things, and this is actually the first one that's a really diverse, creative mix yet seems to hang together reasonably well.

Roy Ayers, "Everybody Loves the Sunshine"
I have been loving the sunshine here lately, so I've been playing this one a lot. Genius seems to think that because I like Roy Ayers, I'll also like ... instrumentals? It has chosen both "Rico's Blues" and "Crockett's Theme" from Miami Vice, as well as Bob James, Herbie Hancock, and Herb Alpert. Hmm. I mean, these are all my songs, so technically yes, I like them, but the connection here is not apparent to me. Particularly also because I have loads of other funk and R&B tracks for it to consider... I even have more songs about it being sunny! I even have more R&B and funk songs about it being sunny! ("Sunrise" and "Walking into Sunshine," just off the top of my head.) So really Genius, come on and work a little harder here!

BONUS TRACK: Gwen Stefani, "Luxurious"
Okay, this is not actually a song I heart, but I wanted to see what would happen if I gave it something 1) actually popular and 2) that I didn't own much else it would find that was extremely similar. The answer: Weird stuff! It does think I like female singers, from classic (Stevie Nicks) to current (Leona Lewis). Since Gwen Stefani's producers always try to make her songs sound strangely not-current, it also recommended lots of 80s pop (Crowded House, Tears for Fears). Last, it threw in anything I had that was at all recent -- which means it put in music from Gossip Girl and The O.C. for the most part (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Spoon). And I guess in order to come up with 25 recommendations, it just started throwing stuff in there -- that's my only explanation for Stone Temple Pilots and Elton John.

Long story short: Genius is more like Psychic. It asks you a leading question ("So, what song would you like to listen to right now?") then uses that to try to figure out things about you ("I see you like synth pop music. But what is this? I think I also see the Cure in your future"). Sometimes it's right, but sometimes it's completely off. And it prefers to keep going in one direction, given the option -- as it turns out, giving it a song I had the least other similar songs to gave me the most interesting and diverse playlist. Maybe this is just me though -- I like having the unexpected ones thrown in, rather than simply songs by related artists or from the same genre. Will I keep using this though? Yes. I mean, it only involves hitting one button so, again, efficiency (and some amount of predictability) -- yes, it's our old buddy Weberian rationalization again. But will I also keep making my own mixes? Heck yeah dude! If I'm in the iron cage, I'm still going to be rocking out in there.