Things I Wouldn't Have Learned If Not For Pandora

One of the super-nifty things about the Pandora radio service (26 days until the music goes tits up) is the unexpected surprises that turn up in your playlist. Since it uses the musical genome of the songs you've picked out to find similar songs and artists and not, say, something as reductive as a genre or specific sound. But songs that are still quite probably what you'd like to listen to. Even if you've never heard of them and wouldn't have considered browsing by that section of the music store yourself (Which makes so much sense that, of course, they're trying to kill it off. Seriously, 26 days. Get on the phone to your Senator-Congressman, write a letter, tell a friend, do something so this doesn't disappear down the rabbit hole. I know I have.). But every so often you get thrown a real oddball. For example, I seeded a station with MC Frontalot and, soon enough, it was full of Eminem clones. Which makes a bit of sense when you think about it, since I've always thought Frontalot was a slower, indier, nerdier Slim Shady. But not exactly what I'd set out to create.

Things like that happen all the time. It's at the point where I seed stations with wacky stuff just to see what'll turn up.

But, right, point. Um, I had one when I started...

Oh, right, without this meandering trip down the musical pathways, I'd never have known that my nascent interest in the nerdcore genre (You know... MC Chris for the win.) translates into a hankering for Welsh rappers. Or indie artists from South London. Who knew?