Paul Randall » music

My Albums of 2012

Paul — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 13:04:26 +0000

Without doubt Spotify has allowed me to explore new music like I have never before. Artists whose names I’ve heard briefly mentioned I would check out, and many of those I have then gone on to love and several have made my list.

I didn’t quite make a top 10, so instead I am just going to list the albums that I listened to most during 2012.

Albums of 2012

Frank Ocean – Channel ORANGE
Jessie Ware – Devotion
Swedish House Mafia – Until Now
Labrinth – Electronic Earth

Notable mentions (and some not released this year but played a lot)

Annie Mac Presents 2012
Bonobo – Black Sands Remixed
SBTRKT – SBTRKT (Released in 2011 but I only recently discovered this)
Joker – The Vision (Again, released in 2011 but only recently discovered)
Calvin Harris – 18 Months

Scrobble history

My last.fm profile has everything that i’ve listened to over the last few years. Cheesy or not (even when playing the office Christmas songs all day!) It’s a great way of looking back at things you’ve loved and how your tastes change.

7 Song Shuffle

Paul — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 08:53:48 +0000

With a concept shamelessly copied from a piece on the radio today, here are the rules:

Get MP3 player
Shuffle songs
Leave a comment with your 7 song shuffle

So, here it goes.

7 Song Shuffle

P.Diddy & The Bad Boy Family – Bad Boy For Life
Nas – No Idea’s Original
Lupe Fiasco – The Map
Queens of the Stone Age – Gonna Leave You
Kelly Clarkson – Because of You
Prodigy – Shoot Down
The Jam – That’s Entertainment

If you want to play the game as well, leave a comment.

The One Song Sketch

Paul — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:41:22 +0000

One song, one piece of paper. Just doodle.

The point of this exercise was to see what kind of things I created when listening to different types of music; trying not to think about anything too much – just to have a doodle to see if what you listen to affects your creativity.

I just sat down and had a list of shuffle songs playing straight after the other. Occasionally lyrics made me draw certain objects, but usually I started on one main drawing and added parts to it as the song went on.

I tend to listen to anything when designing, but have always thought that what you listen to can change the look or style. I guess because of the tempo, or genre.

My somewhat dubious muscial taste really does cover a wide spectrum. Just have a look at my profile to see what I mean: http://www.last.fm/user/paulrandall so should I choose what I listen to when designing based on the client?

My Doodles

Song: G-Unit – Lay You Down

Song: Red Hot Chilli Peppers – Make You Feel Better

Song: Green Day – Are We The Waiting

Song: Jamiroquai – Starchild

Song: The Jam – Town Called Malice

I’d love to see what kind of things you come up with, based on the type of music you are listening to at the time. I have setup a Flickr group for these type drawings, or you can post a comment linking to a TwitPic or similar photo or scan.

They really don’t have to be masterpieces. Jason Santa Maria’s post, entitled pretty sketchy summed this up to me.

So, will I make a more conscious choice of what to listen to when designing? To be honest, I think your mood affects your style much more. If you are relaxed, tense, tired or stressed that will affect you more than listening to Hip-Hop, Dance or Pop but it was interesting to see what got drawn anyway.