Recently, I signed up with super boffo music sharing service Grooveshark at the recommendation of a friend. I am having a lot of fun there, and not just because it’s the only one of these services that will accept a filthy lousy Canadian like me.

In theory, it’s just a service where users can upload their own mp3 collections and thus have them available on any web browser, on any platform, via the magic of The Cloud.

But seeing as any user can search all the uploaded songs from all the users and then add said songs to their own virtual collects, and they have over fifteen million users, what it really amounts to is a massive collection of pretty much every song ever, like an mp3 player with every song in the universe already loaded onto it, and that is the sort of thing that a long time music nerd like me simply cannot resist.

At first, I just searched for songs I already know and love and have in my mp3 collection right here on this computer, because I was just tickled pink to be able to find all kinds of my obscure faves on there, and each song, artist, and album with its own page and URL where people can leave comments.

OMG, I can express how much I love my fave music! Bliss.

But of course, what’s the point of just replicating my mp3 question? So lately, I have been going through their Top 100 to find new music, and as a result, I actually like some songs which are currently popular!

Trust me, for an asynchronous eclectic like myself, that is a new and wonderful thing.

And today I figured, why not share those songs with my audience and spread the love?

So here they are :

Hello by Martin Solveig and Dragonette. I admit, this song is not going to be everyone’s cuppa. A lot of people will find it repetitive and simplistic and dull. But I quite like it, it has a minimalist pop feel to it that makes it just slightly surreal, and it’s damned catchy to boot. Plus, the vocalist (Dragonette, presumably, unless Solveig is a castrati) has a voice that is sweet without being irritatingly jejune, and I quite like that kind of voice. All in all, a great little puff of pure pop cotton candy, sweet and light and fun.
(YouTube Link)

Mean by Taylor Swift WARNING FOR GENRE BIGOTS : This is totally a country and western song. If you can’t imagine liking one of those, then spin on. For the rest of us… we get to enjoy this thoroughly delightful little song. It is a great song for all of us who have been bullied, put down, held back, and otherwise crapped on by mean people who tried to make themselves bigger by standing on our backs. It’s also just about the sweetest little angry song you will ever hear. This song could be ska and I would still love it. As is, I have nothing against C&W, and it’s great to hear it used for such a worthy cause as telling mean people where to get off.
(YouTube Link)

How Do You Do It by Quiet Company. Another great pop song, but in quite the old school style. It most resembles the good old symphonic rock of bands like The Yard Birds or The Turtles. So sweetly cheerful and overflowing with easy goodwill that it makes you want to roll around on your back in a sun drenched meadow. Plus, I love the band name, Quiet Company, especially when you combine it with the name of the album, Songs For Staying In. Wow, music for quiet homebodies like me! How can you not love that?
(YouTube Link)

Not Afraid by Eminem. Had to finish off with my man Slim Shady, aka Eminem, aka Marshall Mathers, aka the guy who had to be three times as good as any other rapper just to get noticed because he’s white. So he did it. I am an Eminem fan. Nobody can touch him. He makes all those people rapping about thug life look like the fake front fools they are. He doesn’t need that shit, he just tells it. And this song just kicks it out there solid like there’s nothing to it. Holla.
(YouTube Link)

There’s a few more discoveries, and of course I make more all the time, but that’s enough for now. I will share more of them some other time.

Peace out y’all!