Dueling Apps: Pandora vs. Last.fm, Round Nine: The Flaming Lips
My best iPhone music app experiences are currently with Pandora and Last.fm. I downloaded Pandora almost instantly once I got the phone, but I was pointed to Last.fm by a friend two weeks ago and since the two services are fairly similar in format and functionality, I decided it would be interesting to take one artist each day and build stations for them on the individual services. I will list the first 10 songs Pandora and Last.fm deliver for each artist, and then assess which service offered the best response.
Today, we stage our own fight test with The Flaming Lips.
Last.fm, hit me like you did the first time:
1. The Flaming Lips, “Do You Realize??”
2. Built To Spill, “Carry the Zero.”
3. Yo La Tengo, “Always Something.”
4. Ween, “Waving My D–k in the Wind.”
5. Pavement, “Mercy Snack: The Laundromat.”
6. Mercury Rev, “Goddess On a Hiway.”
7. Grandaddy, “Hewlett’s Daughter.”
8. Spoon, “Anything You Want.”
9. Animal Collective, “Daffy Duck.”
10. Dinosaur Jr., “No Bones.”
Pro: A thoroughly interesting list of bands that share a measure of creative spirit or DNA (in the case of Mercury Rev) with the Lips, and any list that pulls from Pavement’s Westing (By Musket and Sextant) is just solid golid in StaticBlog’s book.
Con: I love it and it’s our official rock song and everything, but isn’t “Do You Realize??” a little obvious??
Pandora, everything’s explodin’:
1. The Flaming Lips, “The W.A.N.D.”
2. Wilco, “How to Fight Loneliness.”
3. Radiohead, “Pyramid Song.”
4. The Shins, “Fighting in a Sack.”
5. The Flaming Lips, “The Spark That Bled.”
6. Modest Mouse, “Bukowski.”
7. Beck, “The New Pollution.”
8. The Smashing Pumpkins, “Perfect.”
9. Wilco, “Solitaire.”
10. The Flaming Lips, “Vein of Stars.”
Pro: The bona fides are all here: three great Lips tracks, plus Lips collaborators Modest Mouse, Lips touring mate Beck, Lips faves Radiohead (they covered “Knives Out” and did “Creep” with Beck in concert), they appeared with Wilco on the “Spongebob” soundtrack, they split an “Austin City Limits” episode with The Shins, and I first met Wayne Coyne at a Smashing Pumpkins concert at Norman’s Hollywood Theatre in 1991. It’s all covered.
Con: Ultimately, it’s just not as edgy as Last.fm’s output.
Advantage: A draw — both services saw two different but ultimately valid sides of the Lips. Either way, the Lips fan is well served.
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It’s not even close! Pandora gave 3 songs be the desired artist….they win…..not to even mention the other selection of artist is better by a long shot….Next!