Top 5 Interlude - Do The Shuffle

Regular readers will have noticed the lack of top fives recently. Usual story, busy at work, busy at home, not enough time to spend doing trivial things that keep me happy. I'm planning to get a Christmas one up next week but in the meantime here's something a little different.

My friend Michelle recently passed this on to me via Facebook. Follow the instructions below and see what set of songs pops up. For me it was probably as good an indicator of my current taste in music as any of my Top Fives. I've tagged a few people via Facebook and will reproduce their replies in the comments section below. I reckon there is a Sony award winning radio show in this.

Most important rule - be honest. Don't keep shuffling forward for "cooler" songs.

1.) Turn on your MP3 player or the music player on your computer.
2.) Go to SHUFFLE mode. Hit the play all songs button.
3.) Write down the first 15 songs that come up - title and artist.
4.) If you're doing this on Facebook create your own note and choose 20 people (or how ever many you like) to be tagged. Please make sure to tag me! If you're just doing this via the blog let me know what you get in the comments box below.

Dave's 15 Shuffle tracks

01. Mojo Pin - Jeff Buckley
02. Paper Planes - M.I.A.
03. The City Consumes Us - The Delgados
04. Addicted - Amy Winehouse
05. Daddy, Daddy - The Birds
06. Hold On, Hold On - Neko Case
07. Let's Get Funky - Hound Dog Taylor & The Houserocker's
08. Serve The Servants - Nirvana
09. China Doll - Julian Cope
10. I Saw Her In A Mustang - The Vandals
11. Monkey Gone To Heaven - Pixies
12. Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge On Seattle - Nirvana
13. No Feelings - The Sex Pistols
14. Stork & Owl - TV on the Radio
15. Two Beads At The End - Minutemen

I'm really pleased with the results, in my head this makes me look cool, eccletic and informed. In reality most of you will either be thinking "what a rubbish set of songs" or "who the hell are the Minutemen".

Top 5 Most Played Songs on my iPod

Something a bit different this week to celebrate the completion of a musical challenge I began back in August 2008. I've now listened to all 3512 songs on my iPod in alphabetical order of song title. It was like a massive shuffle with absolutely no repeats. I'm pleased that for the most part I enjoyed every song and there were only a few albums I felt the need to remove having finished. These then are the songs that I have played more than any other.

1. "Neighbourhood #3: Power Out" Arcade Fire (37)

2. "I Will Follow You Into The Dark" Death Cab For Cutie (25)

3. "Going Missing" Maximo Park (24)

4. "Hold Me In The River" Brakes (22)

5. "The Lowest Bitter" Les Savy Fav (21)

Which is all embarrassingly indie-centric. I guess these all come from albums I have really loved in the last couple of years. The Arcade Fire would have claimed a clean sweep, with tracks from "Funeral", had I not restricted each artist to one song. I'm looking forward to adding some new music to the Pod and having a free choice in what to play.