Defy the Algorithm

Last Monday, I put on the Spotify Coffee House Morning playlist. In the past, I remembered it as a collection of upbeat, relaxed songs, ideal for getting ready for the day at home or, as its title suggests, in a coffee shop. After a while, we noticed that we knew every single song because the playlist was “Made for You,” in this case, for glamglare.

This was a total algorithmic failure: Spotify probably used sophisticated formulas to serve the same music we already selected for our playlists. The only interesting part is that – according to Spotify – many of our Song Pick of the Day features are considered fitting for a morning in the coffee house. Should we market it as such?

This experience came on the heels of reading an article in Music Business Worldwide: The Brutal Reality: Power Is Shifting to Ai-Generated Music and Algorithmic Discovery. The author, Stef van Vugt, founded Fruits Music, a company that markets mood playlists with music mainly created by “artist collectives” affiliated with his company. From that perspective, it is not surprising that his take on the future of music is depressing: technology companies will drive music consumption via algorithmic playlists and AI-generated music.

It does not have to go that way. The counterbalance for pushing us towards cheap, convenient, and faceless music is culture. I just finished the excellent book Major Labels about the history of – primarily American – popular music, and the author, journalist, and music critic Kelefa Sanneh makes a central point: music has never been only about sound. It is as much about belonging – or not belonging – to a particular culture.

So, ultimately, all these companies trying to position themselves to skim off from an endless stream of money may end up on the wrong side of culture, the one that nobody wants to belong to.

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New Albums Out Tomorrow

The singer, songwriter, composer, and producer Emika releases her fifth electronic studio album HAZE. I could tell a personal story about every single one of her album releases, which always carry a special excitement for me, but I save this for another day. HAZE, though, is no exception: Emika adds fresh sonic elements to her signature production style in 14 mostly instrumental tracks. “I left my Avant-Garde ideas alone for a while and wanted to just enjoy how grateful I was to keep doing music for another year, thanks to my listeners,” she says.

The second album we want to feature this week is very different but no less beautiful. The 11 songs of Come As You Are by the Irish singer/songwriter Niamh Regan include our Song Pick of the Day “Nice”.

Nine Photos of a Maritime Summer Kick-Off

On Sunday, we took the IKEA ferry to, well, IKEA to check out some furniture that we still needed after having moved with only our bed, desk, and a few baker shelves. Enjoy here nine photos of a sun- and fun-filled day!

(1) A double-crested Cormorant greeted us from the waters around IKEA.
(2) The Verazzano-Narrows Bridge is gone! Fun fact: it is the longest suspension bridge in the US and turns 60 this year!
(3) You know this one, don’t you?
(4) View of Jersey City.
(6) Governors Island (go visit!) in the foreground and the tip of Manhattan in the back. (7) Hester Street Fair at the South Street Seaport. There will be some more.
(8) That’s how the Pier 17 venue looks like when there’s no show. Stunning views over to Brooklyn and, of course, the Brooklyn Bridge.
(9) The boat traffic on the East River is pretty intense. Given that the ‘tidal strait’ that the river actually is, constantly changes its direction of flow, it’s supposedly rather difficult to navigate.