Published Dec 5, 2006
I love Christmas shopping; I love this time of year. While others complain about the crowds, I float along in a haze of joy from the wondrous seasonal music. Oh, I do want to hear you and your drum, and come with all the other faithful, and hear about that holly jolly soul Frosty. But basic requirements of workplace productivity, showering, etc., all prevented me from spending Thanksgiving-Christmas in malls, listening to the piped-in music, and who can trust K-Earth to not play some Beach Boys in December? So, for years, I’ve been mostly holiday music-less, apart from singing “O Tannenbaum”1 to myself in July.
But now, thanks to the free Pandora service, I’ve had marvelous holiday music piped directly into my office all day long. My Holiday Easy Listening station has brought me warmth and happiness all day.
Of course, I listen to other kinds of music as well. Pandora has been a great way to get more into Alt-Country. I’ve even made a more folk/pop-influenced version of that station.
When I feel like being more, you know, trendy, there’s always my College Rock station, or my Slowcore channel.
When it’s time to speed things up, I have my straight-ahead punk station; none of those whiny Southern California groups there. Since so much of today’s good punk seems to come from women, I highly recommend my Hot Punk Chicks channel2.
And then, for those days, I’ve got some blues too.
It really seems like Pandora’s playing every day for me. I mostly listen through the wonderful Pandora.fm mashup, which integrates my Pandora channels with my last.fm profile, which tracks what I’m listening to (last.fm can also watch iTunes). It’s great, when working alone, to have these great new internet tools to make music my constant — and free! — companion.
1 Alternatively, Maryland, My Maryland; “Huzza! she spurns the Northern scum!” indeed.
2 I do not, in fact, warrant that all of the female punk-rockers played there are hot. But a surprising number are.