Pandora's Ears

[Angela]

At night when she goes to bed, Marie puts on headphones and listens to a pandora.com radio station she has been developing for herself for several months.  She has named her station Stealing Company, after a duo of the same name whose sound inspired her to devise this mixture of music which shares a number of characteristics.  Specifically, every night she filters a string of Pandora-suggested tunes with either a thumbs up or thumbs down, poking her stylus at the appropriate icon in the near darkness.  All of these suggestions share traits such as “atmospheric”, “downtempo influences”, “slow moving bass line” and “repetitive song structure”.  Bookmarking the ones that have a vaguely special appeal gives her an opportunity to hear those songs with greater frequency.   This allows her to recognize certain strains that would otherwise blend in anonymously with all the others, giving her a means of remaining somewhat oriented to the passing of time.

[Kristine_ES]

i wish i was as brave as marie to try new things.

frankly, if it doesn't sound like (you know who), i'm not sure my ears would give it half a chance.  the blood knows what it wants, won't settle for anything less.  ;) 

[Robert Crisman]

I've been listening to nothing but Dylan the past couple weeks. He orients me to the passing of time in a bit of a different way.

[Angela]

Thanks everyone for reading.  This is an admittedly odd piece.

[Jamie Hogan]

That last line...I don't know, probably I'm way off, but it feels ominous. She needs these types of songs to remain oriented to the passing of time? Sounds to me like she's not in a very good place. Of course, you are so slick that this felt like writing about Pandora, when maybe it's about the situation Marie is in, and how she might mentally escape. Again, I'm probably way off.

[Stephen Torelli]

I had to look this up... very interesting. I don't spend that much time doing home things; we're always out, but thanks.

[Teresa]

Pandora plays in the kitchen while I cook.  I sometimes listen to it in the car.  Well done.

[Paul de Denus]

I tried Pandora several years ago and got bands that didn't sound at all as to what I liked. I-Tunes has the same feature for their albums.

[Bill Floyd]

For the past few years, I've stayed up late on the weekends with headphones on while Amy sleeps.  That's when I listen to either the weirdest of the weird, or the chillest of the chill.  It's another world, man.

I have so much music already that Pandora seems superfluous, but I have to ask: What sorts of bands come up here?  I listen to a lot of music I consider atmospheric and downtempo with slow moving bass lines and repetitive song structure, so I'm always looking for new stuff.  Clue me in!    

[Diana E. Backhouse]

Interesting but as there is 'no access to pandora.com outside the US', I fearI am missing the link, Angela.

[Gita]

I have done the same, only while sitting upright at a computer in a lighted room. You broke the process down to increase the probability of a successful outcome and explained it clearly. You make us wonder which songs Marie loves to listen to the most, i.e., which songs have "downtempo  influences," which is an interesting combo of words in itself.