Top Artists for the week ending Sunday 22 January 2012

Since the only automatic Last.FM importer seems to have stopped working, I’m going to start posting it manually each week at some point. This also gives me an excuse to start actually writing about it as well.

  1. Anthony Green - 13
  2. Chris Cornell  - 8
  3. Skrillex, 12th Planet & Kill The Noise - 8
  4. The Weeknd - 7
  5. Skrillex - 6

I didn’t listen to a whole lot of music this week because I’ve been tuning into KPCC (NPR) on my commute to keep up with all the political crap that’s going on and I spent the weekend in Mammoth snowboarding. It was basically whiteout conditions so I didn’t want to distract myself by listening to music.

The Anthony Green tracks are from his new solo album. I love Circa Survive and I loved his EP with Saosin but I’ve never been a huge fan of his solo stuff besides the song “I’ve Been Dying to Reach You”. Unfortunately, most of these tracks got played on shuffle with other people in the car so I haven’t given it the full attention it deserves. From what I can tell, it’s similar to the first album but I’m liking what I’ve heard so far a bit better.

Chris Cornell’s new Solo/Acoustic/Live album Songbook is pretty neat. He performs stripped down versions of tracks from Soundgarden, Audioslave, Temple of the Dog, and his own, as well as a couple covers. It’s a neat album and it’s fun to hear acoustic takes on a lot of these songs, but I don’t think it will stay on my playlist very long. Also, the acoustic versions of his songs off the Timbaland produced shitfest Scream are only slightly less horrendous than the originals.

Skrillex, eh. I bought the new EP. I’m not a huge fan but I can be in the mood for it occasionally. The standout track is “Summit” featuring Ellie Goulding, the rest I could take or leave. And the iTunes bonus track, which is kind of an orchestral tribute, is just unnecessary. Not bad, not good, unnecessary.

Last but not least, The Weeknd, my favorite new artist. A couple friends had been talking about them for months and I finally gave in when I heard their amazing/haunting “Dirty Diana” cover. Then I discovered that they put out three albums, all free for download. The Weeknd is R&B, but not like anything else that’s out there, the actual music is atmospheric and almost film scorish. I would highly recommend picking up at least the latest release Echoes of Silence here, or listen to everything on their Soundcloud page.

Source: last.fm