Archive for the 'Music' Category

My Top Five Most Played Artists in iTunes

So I was just taking a look at my iLike’s most played artists chart and thought it’d make for an interesting post. So, without further ado here are my top ten most played artists according to iLike.com (keep in mind, these charts don’t take into account music I play on my iPhone or otherwise).

  1. The Dropkick Murphy’s
  2. I like the Dropkick Murphy’s but would not go as far as to say they’re my favorite band of all time. Still, since I’ve installed iLike on my iTunes, they’ve topped the charts. I’ve been using iLike for about a year so take these results as you will. Anyway the Dropkick Murphy’s are a kickass band and with the recent sports success around Boston it doesn’t surprise me I’ve been blasting their music. Their latest CD, The Meanest of Times, is quite good and I’d recommend giving it a listen if you haven’t already.

  3. Ronald Jenkees
  4. Well, I’ve written about Ronald plenty of times here, here, again here, another time here, countless other times, and I gave his debut album a very impressive review so by no means am I surprised he ranks highly in my personal charts. Ronald’s beats are so tight, I’ve used his Rocky Remix song as the main ringtone on my iPhone since I bought the phone.

  5. The Doors
  6. When I was a little kid (less than ten), my mom took me to one of her friend’s home for a dinner party. After everyone ate the adults start conversing and doing boring adult stuff so I went and hung out with their son who was in his early 20’s (I think). Honestly, I don’t remember too much about him but I remember he was a huge fan of The Doors and had a very sick car that went very fast. At that time, I didn’t know that much about The Doors other than that they were apparently a great band that met an early end after Jim Morrison’s death.

    Anyway, the kid took me for a ride in his car (my memory tells me it was a souped up Camaro but it was a while ago) and I was literally holding onto the seat belt in complete and utter fear and exhilaration as he drove around. We ended up back at the house safe and sound but while driving I was scared. Still, I remember sitting in my mom’s car on our drive back home thinking that guy was one of the coolest people I’ve ever met.

    Unfortunately, like the career of Jim Morrison, this story does not end well. A few months after that dinner party, that guy ended up getting into an accident in his Camaro (again, I could be way off on the car being a Camaro) and he did not make it.

    Over the years I’ve come to appreciate The Doors more and more but they’ll forever remain a band whose memory is intertwined with death, not just for me but for many of the band’s fans. Yet, the band still sells a million plus albums every year. Needless to say, The Doors are epic.

  7. Modest Mouse
  8. It seems every couple of months I go through a Modest Mouse phase and play their music a ton, and then grow a bit tired of it and don’t listen to it for a few months. Personally, I have to be in a very specific mood to fully enjoy Modest Mouse, otherwise the Isaac Brock’s voice starts to annoy me.

    When I’m in the right mood, Modest Mouse rocks. Their unique sound coupled with Brock’s unique voice create an addictive sound that’s near impossible to find in other bands.

  9. The Who
  10. This band’s placement in my top five most listened to artists is the most surprising of the five. While the other four groups have a good chance at being in my top ten favorite artists of all time, The Who just don’t capture my passion the same way. Don’t get me wrong, they’re a great group and have released some great music but I was a bit shocked I’ve listened to them that much. Perhaps they were on a loop one night and picked up a lot of play counts.

    Still, The Who have a huge discography of solid songs and have influenced many artists.

Considering that my iPhone is taking over as my most used medium for listening to music, I wonder how different this list would be if I tracked the songs I listen to on my iPhone. On the other hand, since my iPhone can only hold so many songs at once my choices are limited and some artists would surely receive a disproportionate amount of plays.

Web Quotes and Counterpoints III

We haven’t discussed my buddy Ronald Jenkees in a while, so let’s check out what’s happening on his youtubes. From the Ronald Jenkees himself:

My friend accidentally figured out that Oklahoma’s Malcolm Kelly’s freestyle went perfectly with my beat “Remix to a Remix”. So he helped me cue the video up and it’s actually cool.

Hella cool dude. This mashup of Kelly’s rap and the Jenkees track go perfectly together. Give it a listen and view below.

Big, big thanks to macosxhints.com for finding this great hack for the iPhone and to Kelley over at 50leaves.com for testing its effect on signal strength. Here’s the three basic steps for this hack from macosxhints:

  1. Cut out a 2″ x 3″ piece of aluminum foil.
  2. Fold foil in half horizontally (foil is now 2″ x 1.5″).
  3. Tape foil from the bottom right corner (on the back of the iPhone) up to the middle of the text iPhone using electrical tape.

Sounds silly but it works. I’ve gone three hours now with no interference from my iPhone, and I used to get interference every 15 minutes or so. I’ve had no drop in signal either and have received and made calls as usual. The iPhone looks a bit funny with tinfoil and electrical tape on the back of it but it’s OK.

A Contest: Free Ronald Jenkees CD

It’s with great pride and honor that adampieniazek.com brings you its first ever contest. It’s been nearly six months since this blog’s first post and to celebrate I’ll be giving away a free copy of Ronald Jenkees’ self-titled debut album.

Back Cover of Ronald Jenkees CD

Through the months, all of this blog’s crucial statistics have improved (on pace to blow out my high mark for unique visitors tonight), except one: comments!

So, in an attempt to increase those numbers, this contest will be very simple; simply comment on this post and you’ll entered for a chance at Ronald’s awesome CD! For those who don’t want to wait a week, you can order Ronald’s debut album directly from his blog.

At the end of the contest, all comments will be reviewed and all valid comments (not spam) will be tossed into a pool and randomly chosen. You can comment on anything you want, but I’m interested in how you first heard about Ronald Jenkees and what do you think of his music?

This contest will end next Monday at midnight. Make sure you leave an e-mail address when commenting so I can get in contact with the winner. Good luck!

Coming Soon: Free Ronald Jenkees CD!

I know I’ve been slacking a bit with this blog; the combination of very nice weather and lack of classes until 2008 have been quite the distraction (must take advantage of it while it lasts)! For those readers who saw I bought an iPhone and have been waiting for my opinion, it’s been one week and so far it is awesome! There are a few bugs (Safari randomly shutting down, couple of screen freezes) and annoyances (no copy & paste functionality, no iChat) but it is an extremely fun and powerful little gadget. Knowing Apple, they’re hard at work on these bugs and will hopefully add copy & paste very soon (check out this demo of how copy paste could work on the iPhone).

I feel my blogging energy coming back after the slowdown over the past few weeks and to make up for the slowdown I’ll be hosting my first contest here. The details are still being formulated but the top prize will be an unopened copy of Ronald Jenkees’ self-titled debut album and will go on for at least one week. Look for the final details either tomorrow or Sunday. Also, be on the watch for a full review of the iPhone and a review of a fellow Boston Latin School alum’s album, Contak’s Dangerous by Definition. Until then, everyone have a great Friday night and go Sox!






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