Pandora and Arcade Fire

Well, I think I've finally done it! For a while now, I've played around with what to listen to while at the computer. CDs and Mp3s are fine, but I want to hear a variety of music, and also, new music that I wouldn't have listened to on my own. My husband and I have tried Radio Paradise, a free internet radio station, but have found it to be really hit or miss. We love some of the songs, but others make us want to scream.

I've also tried Pandora, and before tonight, I've had relatively little success. Pandora is another internet radio website, but with a twist. You enter music that you like, and it creates a "station" that plays music that is similar to the artist or song that you entered. I liked the concept, and so I started an account (totally free). I entered Bruce Springsteen, but he has such a large range to his sound that just about everything could match. I also tried creating stations off of artists where I only liked/knew 2 or 3 of their songs. This didn't work very well either, because the songs I like weren't really representative of their sound as a whole.

So, I left Pandora alone for a while. Tonight, as I'm putting off grading student presentations, I thought I'd try again. And what do you know? I finally had success! This time, I entered a band--Arcade Fire--where I liked one of their whole CDs, not just 2 or three songs. The other advantage to Arcade Fire is that they are a relatively new band, so they haven't had time to put out the massive amounts of music that someone like Springsteen has. They just have two albums out--Funeral (2004) and Neon Bible (2007). I've found this combination of my wide interest in the group and their relatively limited output to be a really good one that captures the kind of music I'm interested in listening to tonight. Some other groups that I also really like--such as Death Cab for Cutie and Artic Monkey--have also come up on the playlist, which is cool. And what's even better--I've heard some groups that are new to me and that I like, which means that ultimately, Pandora is doing exactly what it was designed to do.