Tag Archives: Music

Seriously. @twittersuggests is a White Hot Bucket of Fail. Er, Win. Gah! I Don’t Even Know Anymore

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I first noticed the new experimental @twittersuggests feature a couple months ago when it @mentioned me in a tweet to a newly registered Twitter user. At the time I thought this was a cool way for the company to actively use their own product to help solve a discovery problem for new users to the service. My Twitter account was included in a series of tweets that mentioned other notable accounts (@superamit, @juliebenz, and @sacca), so the secondary reaction was a positive emotional one — I was flattered.

Twitter describes the service on its help pages as:

…an experimental feature that helps you find interesting new accounts to follow by tweeting Who To Follow suggestions, personalized just for you! This feature was created by Twitter, and it looks like a normal Twitter account – it will Tweet recommendations which you can reply to, retweet or mark as favorites.

Pretty cool, right?

Since then not every mention has been as flattering (obviously, the purpose of this service isn’t to dole out flattery to nobodies like myself), but for the most part they have been decent overall. Over time, the quality of the mentions declined. Today tipped the scale. In a tweet posted earlier I was @mentioned alongside what can only be described as a spam account. Nay, a porn spam account. See for yourself:

Twitter Suggests == Fail

So, I may be guilty for tweeting a lot. I may also be guilty for running my mouth off from time to time. But how in the world am I in the same class as a porn spam account? Better yet, how can this possibly be acceptable from an official Twitter account?

How does it work?

@twittersuggests is a feature which looks like a Twitter account – it algorithmically generates suggestions of users to follow and sends them to you.

@twittersuggests will tweet recommendations to you via @mentions, and this Tweet will appear in your @mentions timeline.

Sure, the company describes this with words like “algorithmically” and “experimental,” but it’s really hard to believe that this was launched with any sort of testing whatsoever. If there are any resources applied to this experiment, they certainly don’t appear to be doing any tuning that is having a positive impact. To the contrary, the quality appears to be decreasing over time. The sad thing is, if I were new to Twitter I might find a service like this valuable if the accounts recommended remained of decent quality, but that’s just not the case here. Worse still is that there are so many simple ways this could be avoided.

Before I get pummeled with the argument the “false positives are expensive” argument (Yes, I’ve read @kellan’s excellent write-up, and have firsthand experience with this as well) let me call out that this is an entirely different scenario. The cost of false positives is only applicable when you choose to deny accounts access to basic services. If a company restricts an account from using the basic functionality of a site because of an unsubstantiated suspicion, then sure…that’s expensive.

However, tweeting account recommendations that might otherwise trip overly sensitive spam-detecting algorithms is a choice mistake. Twitter owns this account, they have the right to be overly choosy about the accounts featured in their recommendations, and an account that includes obvious keywords like “sex” and “porn” is a safe one to filter out of that list, just to play it safe. Now, building a recommendations engine is tough. It’s not easy to get these things right, and I’m certainly sympathetic to this. I guess I’m reacting so strongly here because this feels like one of those avoidable mistakes, especially because there is literally no harm in restricting an account like this from being recommended.

In other news…

Speaking of mouthing off…I shared my thoughts on the news of the Beyonce-pregnancy-VMA induced milestone Twitter reached in terms of TPS (FYI — that’s, obnoxiously, “tweets per second”) this weekend, and look what happened. Awesomesauce.

Superchunk retweeted lil' ole me?!

Apple’s Ping: A Broken Social Scene?

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I’m a big fan of Last.fm, but I’ll admit that music-based social networks haven’t completely nailed it yet. Part of the problem lies in the lack of problem-solving for the user. Last.fm gets halfway there, in that it is a simple way to catalog listening behavior into a social profile. It loses in the sense that it is so passive that most people forget to engage. Or if you’re like me, you go whole months without realizing that your scrobbling has lapsed.

Not good.

I’ve never been keen on subscription models for music, although I never thought I’d be keen on a subscription model for movies, yet I’ve been a Netflix member since the beginning. So, I suppose there is room for convincing. That said, the proposition of a cloud based music library bolted to a social network is extremely compelling. When Ping was announced, this was the very first thing that came to mind — the promise of what this thing could become if allowed to grow in the right directions, oh the possibilities!

Imagine my dismay when finding that Ping does offer that very promise, yet fumbles on a few of the basics along the way. Specifically, interaction design around social activity. Yes, a company like Apple can produce iPhone after iPhone with an industry changing UX, yet they seemed to have dropped the ball on some very simple things. Before I dive in, let me preface that all of this is easily correctable, and I suspect we’ll see most of these issues addressed in future updates.

Here goes:

1. The Lonely Island

Joining Ping is an extremely lonely experience. Sure, Apple makes some follower recommendations right off the bat, but they aren’t particularly good ones. To be fair, a network that requires activation like Ping is bound to have limitations in the “People We Recommend You Follow” department, so Apple is wise to offer up recommended artists to follow. Yet, it still chalks up to a miss, and here’s why: I’ve never listened to an MP3 from any of the artists Ping recommends via iTunes. They have my listening data, they have my library, and they already scrape both of these for Genius recommendations, so chances are these are the closest matches they could muster. But some of them are so completely off base that it left me scratching my head.

Ping: Recommendations

Browsing deeper into the recommendations revealed another off-putting issue: The recommendations sometimes duplicate, which throws off the count. That means I see the opportunity to browse through 16 recommendations, only to find out that I’m actually offered 14, and the duplicates don’t even match my musical preferences. What does this say? Right off the bat, this gives me the feeling that I won’t find anything of interest for me here from an artist perspective. But that’s OK, I would be happy enough just to connect with friends and share music likes and dislikes. Ping leads with this call to action, but it isn’t exactly the easiest thing to do. To make matters worse, your option to search in iTunes or Ping doesn’t really offer a remedy, but more on that in a bit.

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On transparency: Let them see the lines

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OK Go’s latest video, the second they’ve produced for their song “This Too Shall Pass” sparked this post. My wife was catching up on the goings on around the web this morning at breakfast, and despite having been sent the video 100 times I’d yet to actually watch it. Mind you, I’ve followed the backstory and was totally aware of the motivations behind the move by the band. I’d just neglected to actually sit down and watch the damn thing. It’s good, and I’ve embedded below for those who, like me, were somehow living under a rock all week.

The driving force behind this post was to discuss the band’s deft use of transparency to create viral videos, promote their work, and singlehandedly become a household name through the use of social media and the Interwebs. I’ll get to all of that, because it’s fun. But first, a primer.

Media companies typically wrestle with issues of transparency, and to say that they “don’t get it” is an understatement. There are exceptions to every rule, but most of these exceptions extend from businesses and brands whose core business is closely linked to their consumers and customer support. Before we dive into this, let’s take a look at some of the brands that have successfully jumped onto the transparency wagon in positive and impacting ways.

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10 years to reflect: An evening with Mates of State

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The duo

Jason Hammel and Kori Gardner kicked off their careers as Mates of State 10 years ago, and the Cafe Du Nord played a pretty key role in the band’s early days. Last night the married duo returned to SF to celebrate by doing what they do best — pump up a crowd with one helluva frenetic set.

Some notes to make it all the more interesting:

  • Yesterday was Jason’s birthday, and the crowd serendipitously conspired to interrupt the set with an impromptu round of “Happy Birthday.”
  • The band played their planned set, but took requests from the crowd as well. This worked out well on some occasions (read: their cover of Jackson Browne’s “These Days”), and not so well on others (read: Kori was unable to remember how to play “Tan/Black” because it had been too long).
  • The duo performed a pretty healthy sampling of My Solo Project tracks, including “I Have Space” which Kori claims they’ve only played live once or twice.
  • Kori debuted a new song that had an awesome closing line, which she’d hinted at on Twitter.
  • We were treated to their cover of Tom Wait’s “Long Way Home.”

The duo, blurred and in action

Add to all of this:

  • The Mates of State have been a staple in my life for a decade now. I shot a music video for their song “Goods (It’s All in Your Head),” and their music has been the soundtrack to many a life moments…
  • The last time we saw the band perform live, we discovered weeks later that we were expecting Amelie. Subsequently, Amelie has grown up listening to Mates of State, knows many of their songs by memory, and is one of the few kids that were not introduced to the band via their appearance on Yo Gabba Gabba! (although upon viewing the episode, she proceeded to flip out screaming “That’s Mates of State!!!!!”)
  • After the show, Kori and Jason hung around and were totally approachable. I chatted with Kori for a bit, told her about Amelie and asked her to record a video message for her. She encouraged us to come to an early show the next time they come into town as their kids will be there and would love to meet Amelie.
  • It turns out the name Amelie was also on their short list of baby names. Small world indeed.

Anyway, it was a great night that will be hard to top. Follow the jump for a set list and a video message from Kori to Amelie.

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They Might Be Giants in-store performance

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I grew up listening to They Might Be Giants music. I was the geek who had to explain that the band name “They Might Be Giants” was not just some self-referential joke on Tiny Toons when Particle Man and Istanbul famously appeared, but instead the name of an awesome band I’d been enjoying since a friend introduced me to Ana Ng.

Yes. That was me.

In what was both inevitable and deft, the two Johns (Linnell and Flansburgh) made the decision to forge their way into children’s music, producing new kid-centric albums alongside their rock albums. It’s not much of a stretch for the duo, their best music has always resulted from the melding of upbeat musical experimentation with dark, introspective, and sometimes cynical subject matter via their lyrics. Linnell’s lyrical prowess has not waned on the children’s albums, but rather shifted focus ever so slightly.

amelie's TMBG wall

The move has been wildly successful for the band – netting awards and accolades while building up a new generation of devoted fans whose transition to the band’s back catalog should be seamless when the time comes. When preparing for Amelie’s arrival, we decided to line the walls of her nursery with letters of the alphabet. On one wall, her name is spelled out in colorful wooden letters, and on another I jokingly arranged the letters T-M-B-G over her bed. We laughed, and it stuck.

bed, bed, bed

bed, bed, bed is very tired

Months before her arrival I happened upon a signed copy of the band’s bedtime storybook/album, “Bed, Bed, Bed” and immediately picked it up. The songbook quickly became a part of our nightly routine, and as you can see, the book has seen better days. In fact, Amelie is reading from the book while I type this out, she loves it.

So, I’ve been anxiously awaiting the opportunity to take her to a kids show (the band typically schedules two dates per city, one deemed the kids show, the other the rock show). They didn’t have one scheduled during their stop in SF, but instead played a free in-store performance at The Booksmith to celebrate the release of their new book, “Kids Go!”

Needless to say, Amelie loved the show. Here are some photos from the trip to see the band:

Video from the show and a full set list after the jump:

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Put this music in your eyes and ears

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The excellent music team at Current has a new special out called Embedded. The concept is simple: send a small two-person crew out to spend some all-access time with a band, get the story no one else is willing to tell, and make it available to the masses. Each episode focuses on one artist, and also includes shorter segments like “Tour Stop” (in which the crew spends a day with an artist in a town while on tour, typically the day of a show), “Soundboard” (short video mini-reviews from music bloggers and critics around the web), and “Impromptu” (segments shot in partnership with La Blogotheque). I absolutely cannot wait to see the final episode, a week spent with The Decemberists prior to embarking on their “A Short Fazed Hovel Tour.”

For now, please to enjoy two “Impromptu” clips:

the arcade fire

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Why “The Beatles in mono” is not a “Kubrick aspect ratio” issue

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oh artistic intent, where would we be without you? we’d certainly have fewer arguments discussions brewed amongst the fanboy cine/audio-phile crowds, that’s for sure. when it comes to long-standing debates in the film and music worlds, non-wages larger than The Beatles catalog in mono vs. stereo, and Kubrick’s final five films in 1.85:1 vs. 1.33:1 aspect ratios.

The Beatles are to Kubrick as sound fidelity is to image composition.

both are tough battles, but i’m here to go on the record about something that is, for once and for all, a clear cut case:

The Beatles in mono is clearly not debate-able in the same way that aspect ratio is in regards to Kubrick’s famous final five.

what the hell am i talking about?

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“Don’t tread on me” [TMBG, online community, and entitlement]

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this Labor Day weekend comprised of a long road trip out to Visalia for a family gathering. road trips = music, and since my daughter has been on such a They Might Be Giants kick lately i decided to spool up anything from the self-titled pink album all the way through their latest release, Here Comes Science. (incidentally, if you haven’t listened to the new album yet, it’s excellent).

at some point along the way home we were knee deep into John Henry when I Should Be Allowed To Think popped on. inadvertently, i thought of work — specifically how the song relates to online community entitlement issues.

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Review: The Decemberists at the Fox Theater – A Short Fazed Hovel tour

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the five wan vagabonds descended upon oakland’s fox theater last night, and brought friends, music, and an evening to remember — as they are want to do.

for those unfamiliar with the decemberists’ latest effort, ‘the hazards of love,’ please stop what you’re doing and sink into the album with a nice cup of tea, some liner notes, and an open mind. for those already indoctrinated, the album can only be described as inevitable, given the band’s lit-rock-meets-thematic-concept proclivities. frontman colin meloy has stated in many interviews that ‘hazards’ was originally conceived as a musical. once deemed too complex for the stage, meloy opted for the rock opera treatment.

either way, the ability to bring the conceptual telling of a love affair between a changeling and a bowery girl to the stage has piqued many a interest. in fact, some of my co-workers are avidly working on a music show for current, and in the process spent some time with the band during their rehearsals for ‘a short fazed hovel’ tour. to say that i was a little jealous was an understatement.

colin is 'the rake'

to celebrate the kickoff of the tour, the current music folks posted some of their (stellar) photos from their time spent with the band. do yourself a favor and check them out — they’ve got it featured on the current music channel and boy do they put my meager efforts to shame.

amidst questions about the feasibility of bringing the album to life on stage, the band has responded in kind — performing the entire album in one full 62 minute set during the tour, and packing pivotal guest vocalists shara worden (of my brightest diamond) and becky sparks (of lavender diamond) along for the ride.

to further entice audiences, the crew has opted to play a second set at each show, the latter comprised of a smattering of older songs. to give you a sense of what greeted bay area audiences wednesday night, follow the jump to get a glimpse at the set list and watch video from the performance.

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Current gets a new flash player

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i love the new flash video player Jonathan and Rod crafted. it’s pretty lightweight, sleak, and damn if it doesn’t function well. granted, i’m completely biased, but i think it’s one of the best players out there. i’m super stoked to see it live.

check it out yourself:

and here’s some widescreen action courtesy of The Rotten Tomatoes Show:

The Rotten Tomatoes Show on Current: Wanna make a movie where characters age shift? Gather your ethnic minority voodoo and take Brett Erlich’s advice