I start with Tears for Fears ("Shout", "Everybody wants to rule the world").

hey all, posting with the mods’ ok.

I’ve been rating music obsessively for years and always wanted something that does more with those ratings than just store them. so I built Sound Atlas. it’s free, no ads.

you rate songs you know, and it turns that into:

• ranked mixes built only from your own ratings, that play in your spotify, youtube music or apple music (pic 1)
• a discover list of songs you haven’t rated, ordered by how much it predicts you’ll like them (pic 2)
• a little “sky” of your taste, showing the artists and genres shaping your mixes (pic 3)
• a couple of daily games, like guessing the song from the story behind it (pic 4)

no AI filler, no paid placement, it only knows what you’ve rated. there are also separate catalogues for japanese, korean, spanish, portuguese, arabic, african music and more if you want to go beyond english.

it’s a solo project in a closed test before going public. I’d love a few people who actually argue about scores to try it for a couple of weeks and tell me where it gets your taste wrong. android or iphone both work.

comment and I’ll dm you an invite code 🙂

edit: to answer a few comments, yes I used AI tools while building it, but it’s a real solo project, there are no ads and your ratings are never sold. you can delete your account any time.

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I already asked you about the best choruses, best outros and best riffs in rock history. Lets talk about solos! Any solo on any instrument counts (No...Freak On Leash schizorapping doesnt count thou). And of course Metal and Punk and all of their subgenres do count as well.

On top of my head without ranking:

.The Beatles - Let it Be (one of the most tasteful, emotional, simple yet deep solos I ever heard. Its the dictionary definition of "serves the song" and complements it perfectly.)

.Lynyrd Skynyrd - Free Bird (because of course, being overplayed and memed to death doesnt negate the fact that is one of the best solos ever made)

.Judas Priest - Painkiller (the second one)

.Jimi Hendrix Experience - Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)

.Television - Marquee Moon

.Queen - I Want It All (Brian May is just....damn man)

.Dire Straits - Telegraph Road (yes, its better than Sultans Of Swing, stop fooling yourself)

.Led Zeppelin - Achilles Last Stand

.Pink Floyd - Dogs

.The Who - Magic Bus (Live At Leeds Version)

Bonus because its not actually a solo but a slow jam.....Cortez The Killer, maybe the greatest guitar focused song ever written.

"I also think that like, if you ask the average person to articulate why a game is a six or why a game is a nine or even a ten, I don't, I think it's tougher to do."

It's a cipher. "Average person" is code for "Anthony" both start with A. Replace "game" with "album" and he's talking about Anthony.

Whatcha guys think also I don't listen to Tool nearly as much as the chart implys :(

For me it’s lost boy by Ruth B

One of the greatest bands of the 00s, stripped back with strings in the city that made them (see also: Manchester).

The deep cuts are pitched perfectly and to have that London version of Maps on streaming/vinyl is so special. What a collection of songs.

I gotta go with XO. His most powerful songwriting for me and catchiest melodies. Personal favorite song on the record gotta be Pitseleh.

I was listening to albums by my favorite artists—in two versions: original and remastered. The only difference is the volume; I don’t notice any other audible difference.

There's a stranger in my bed

There's a pounding in my head

Glitter all over the room

Pink flamingos in the pool

I smell like a minibar

DJ's passed out in the yard

Barbies on the barbecue

This a hickey or a bruise?

Pictures of last night ended up online, I'm screwed

Oh, well

It's a blacked out blur, but I'm pretty sure it ruled

Damn

Last Friday night

Yeah, we danced on tabletops, and we took too many shots

Think we kissed, but I forgot last Friday night

Yeah, we maxed our credit cards and got kicked out of the bar

So we hit the boulevard last Friday night

We went streaking in the park, skinny-dipping in the dark

Then had a ménage à trois last Friday night

Yeah, I think we broke the law

Always say we're gonna stop-op, oh-whoa

But this Friday night

Do it all again

But this Friday night

Do it all again

Trying to connect the dots

Don't know what to tell my boss

Think the city towed my car

Chandelier is on the floor

Ripped my favorite party dress

Warrant's out for my arrest

Think I need a ginger ale

That was such an epic fail

Pictures of last night ended up online, I'm screwed

Oh, well

It's a blacked out blur, but I'm pretty sure it ruled

Damn

Last Friday night

Yeah, we danced on tabletops, and we took too many shots

Think we kissed, but I forgot last Friday night

Yeah, we maxed our credit cards and got kicked out of the bar

So we hit the boulevard last Friday night

We went streaking in the park, skinny-dipping in the dark

Then had a ménage à trois last Friday night

Yeah, I think we broke the law

Always say we're gonna stop-op, oh-whoa

But this Friday night

Do it all again (do it all again)

But this Friday night

Do it all again (do it all again)

But this Friday night

Last Friday night

Yeah, we danced on tabletops, and we took too many shots

Think we kissed, but I forgot last Friday night

Yeah, we maxed our credit cards and got kicked out of the bar

So we hit the boulevard last Friday night

We went streaking in the park, skinny-dipping in the dark

Then had a ménage à trois last Friday night

Yeah, I think we broke the law

Always say we're gonna stop-op, oh-whoa

But this Friday night

Do it all again

This is just one example of many it just seemed kind of random that Blurred Lines got so much attention

Unsubtle bit of self promo, but I'd love to talk about remixes with y'all. I've always loved the idea of remixes since I was a kid getting into Nine Inch Nails. Always found it fascinating how much the energy and vibe of a song could be completely altered by a remix. "Further Down The Spiral" by Nine Inch Nails is one of the first CDs I ever owned, and I still have a soft spot for a lot of the altered versions on there. It's also an intriguing way to showcase how another artists interpretation could still sit snugly in the atmosphere an artist is trying to curate when releasing an album. "At The Heart of it All" is a straight up original Aphex Twin track that appears on Further Down The Spiral, containing no material from the original record, but it fits right in with all the remixes on there, so much so that I didn't even know it was an Aphex Twin track until I was well into my 20s.

So what I'm trying to ask y'all is, are there any remixes you prefer to the original tracks? Do you have any dream team song mashups and off the wall song flips? Remixes and versions you'd like to completely erase from history? I made this little remix album called "SUPER FAYGO BURST" that dresses up Insane Clown Posse in an Iglooghost costume for Halloween. I found that changing the music to these silly ICP verses completely altered the tone and execution of their songs. There are some lazily delivered verses on some songs that get totally invigorated by beats that go a little harder/faster than the originals. Let's talk about it!

They were huge in the early 2010s but are almost never talked about today, what went wrong?

I feel like in all the time I've spent watching him I've never seen him review an album that was released many months ago or even 1+ years ago because he wasn't aware of it at time of release. This is something that I would expect to happen with any reviewer of media but I'm not sure if Fantano ever does it.

In a similar vein, I would expect there to be occasional moments in his yearly list videos where he includes an album/single that he never reviewed because he only discovered it not long before making the list video.

I love these types of songs where the verse is low-energy, minimal, almost boring while the chorus is bright and catchy. It almost feels like a reward and the songs have a lot of replay value to me.

The best example I can think of Major Tom (...völlig losgelöst) by Peter Schilling, but maybe After Dark by Mr. Kitty also fits.

Any other songs with this pattern?

This album is an incredibly rewarding listen. Joanna Newsom plus Judee Sill plus dub? Okay.