Hype Machine

I am been listening to the Hype Machine all week. So loving the top 50 Albums. Particularly how they have rolled out 10 a day over the past week. Some, of course, were already on my list.

Here are my new faves of the moment which should spend some time in heavy rotation. The Dodos, Blitzen Trapper, Devotchka, Why, Beach House, Frightened Rabbit, Wolf Parade, M83, and Sigor Ros (although everyone in my house is already into them),

A brilliant site. Listen to the album, decide if you like it, easily buy the MP3, download and send it to your iPod. Love the web. Love technology.

Hype Machine is slow and simply pushes you into listening to the music that everyone else is listening to. In other words, Hype Machine promotes a lack of true musical exploration and lists the “big” stuff going on right now. A great alternative is elbo.ws, which mainly functions as a search engine rather than a list of things to mindlessly listen to and follow. Rather than popularizing current music, it simply gives a search engine. Essentially, Hype Machine without the crap.It seems like people nowadays are finding all of their music through these sites, when really they should be doing it in a more social manner. Torrent trackers and other sites that provide forums with the music readily available promote a healthy and more community focused way of finding music. Sure, the legal status on those might not be the best, but if anything, torrents and torrent communities have fueled the music industry and have introduced people to new artists and nostalgic rarities.Drone-like Hype Machine is the anti-social way of finding and discovering music. Other than for a rare MP3 search, it’s useless.*Sigur Rós – don’t listen to their new album, though. Ágætis Byrjun is by far the greatest album they’ve ever made. 10-minute long epics and a truly unique sound not found on any other record. The new album is overproduced, too cheery, and falls below all other Sigur Rós albums.

Comments (Archived):

Laura Jan 11, 2009

Hype Machine is slow and simply pushes you into listening to the music that everyone else is listening to. In other words, Hype Machine promotes a lack of true musical exploration and lists the “big” stuff going on right now. A great alternative is elbo.ws, which mainly functions as a search engine rather than a list of things to mindlessly listen to and follow. Rather than popularizing current music, it simply gives a search engine. Essentially, Hype Machine without the crap.It seems like people nowadays are finding all of their music through these sites, when really they should be doing it in a more social manner. Torrent trackers and other sites that provide forums with the music readily available promote a healthy and more community focused way of finding music. Sure, the legal status on those might not be the best, but if anything, torrents and torrent communities have fueled the music industry and have introduced people to new artists and nostalgic rarities.Drone-like Hype Machine is the anti-social way of finding and discovering music. Other than for a rare MP3 search, it’s useless.*Sigur Rós – don’t listen to their new album, though. Ágætis Byrjun is by far the greatest album they’ve ever made. 10-minute long epics and a truly unique sound not found on any other record. The new album is overproduced, too cheery, and falls below all other Sigur Rós albums.
Justin Jan 11, 2009

Laura,Boy you really have a chip on your shoulder re: Hype Machine or you’re a shill for this elbo.ws site. I think we are on the downward slope of the long tail on Hype Machine. Now if you want to go further down the tail and discover music that is being listened to by Nigerian-Americans with a fondness for post punk, neo-ska, Soukous music then maybe you’re right.Btw: only two more days until NPR Music previews M. Ward’s new album. Oh, yes, me loves my InterWeb.