Sharing music recommendations

I’m going to break with my usual programming to announce my love for the Magnetic Fields album 69 Love Songs. Normally they’re not my thing, and I haven’t warmed to any of their other albums, but every single track on this one is just achingly beautiful. The recording is rudimentary, sometimes the voices falter and the playing isn’t perfect, but the songwriting hits the spot every time. Every so often I’ll forget about it for a couple of months, but then my iRiver brings up a track and I’m forced to listen to it from start to finish.

Of course, I’m a sentimental sod – my favourite films of the past few years were Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Lost in Translation and Brokeback Mountain – but don’t let that stop you. Definitely worth a listen.

I really only mention this because, after however many years they’ve been around, I’ve finally joined Last.fm, a social networking service that builds a profile of the music you listen to and then – using other people’s preferences – tells you what other music it thinks you’d like. I’m unconvinced that it’ll completely work, but the theory is sound, and of course I like the idea of recommendations through your connections. If anyone else is a member of Last.fm, hey, connect to me. I’d love to discover some new sounds.