Wow, this is very cool. http://www.musicplasma.com/

Nice! That's exactly the kind of thing i've been looking for.

Wow. This is really incredible! How freakin' cool would it be for a music player to pull in the map data from something like this and use it for proximity-based shuffle modes (stay in this "musical neighborhood")?

Wow.

I have one comment - the title should be "The Visual Music Search Engine". I was expecting to find a search engine to help you choose which plasma visualisation you liked best.

Hmmm. It just told me that BRMC is near Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Interesting. It'd be more helpful if I wasn't already familiar with all the bands near the ones I like. It also seems to pay a lot of attention to incestuousness in bands.

I'd say that this is probably not too good for those trying to find more music in an area they're already familiar with. Those trying to find music that they're not familiar with would probably benefit, though.

I'd say that this is probably not too good for those trying to find more music in an area they're already familiar with. Those trying to find music that they're not familiar with would probably benefit, though.

Yeah, I think they focused on breadth over depth when they developed this. As you get into lesser-known artists, the available data isn't going to extend deep enough to make a correlation. My guess is they used AllMusic.com's data for tying genres together, and possibly for other attributes.

If something like this was done Wiki-style where users could add their own artists and associations between them, it might be even more interesting (but of course subject to how knowledgeable the contributors are.)

It seems a leetle weird in that if you search for Orbital, you get a lot of connections to topologically-close bands such as Autechre and Lemon Jelly, but from none of those can you get back to Orbital again. It's as if the graph were directed, whereas surely it ought to be undirected?

Peter

Very cool! Allmusic.com has a text based system to connect bands, but not pretty like this .

EDIT: Did anyone notice if you resize the main wnidow to a smaller size it gets all f'd up?

well I can tell you where all the band width will be going today

Hehe, I somehow got from Flaming Lips to Radiohead to United States Marine Band

*edit*
How exactly does this thing do...it's thing? I mean, where is it getting its info from? Who's opinion? A lot of these connections are very debateable. I mean, I haven't listened to Fountains of Wayne very much, and I may be rushing to judgement, but they simply don't seem very similar to the band I was checking out, Young Fresh Fellows.

Also, I've got an issue with the halos. I don't mind the site using the halos to represent the popularity of an artist, but the help file also states that they also represent how well the artist portrays that genre. Now we're getting subjective.

Oh well, no big deal

Personally, I'd much prefer to see whoever made this site make a second one which only displays formal connections. That would be extremely informative for me. You could select how far down the family tree you wanted to go, how involved the group members have to be in their bands, etc. There was a program that did this in the movie Hype!, but I could never find it. And it only did it for Seattle bands anyway.

*edit edit*
I'm a bit disappointed that they don't have the guy I run a site for in their database, but check out the shape the thing makes when you type in "Skerik"

> I have one comment - the title should be "The Visual Music Search Engine".

Yeah, I kind of thought the same thing, I even typed it that way the first time before I noticed that that was not the way they had it. [shrug] It's French as far as I can tell, so it is probably something that got lost in translation.

It is such a mysterious site. Very little text, one email address, and no description of who it is or where they are getting their info from or how it is done. Other than what I can find in the whois info (which is kind of shaky) I can find no other info on this site.

In reply to:

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How exactly does this thing do...it's thing? I mean, where is it getting its info from? Who's opinion? A lot of these connections are very debateable.

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As far as I remember, the site uses Amazon.com web services, so the links are probably generated from the 'people who bought this also bought...' data

I think Allmusic.com lists formal connections.. although not graphically..

I think Allmusic.com lists formal connections.. although not graphically..

Yeah, of course it does, but the other problem is that you only see one level of relation. There's the artist or group, and a list of all the formal relations to that artist or members of the group. That's not the "family tree" type thing I'm looking for.

Besides, if I'm looking for new music (of the variety I already like), that's actually the way I've always gotten into new bands. I get into a band, and if I like them I find out what else its members have done, or sometimes what's more interesting is finding out what they listen to.

I agree with you 100%. I remember back in high school, sitting in my bed room, reading liner notes I kept coming across the name "Flood" as producer (Depeche Mode, Nitzer Ebb, Curve, NIN, PWEI, etc, etc) so I started looking for stuff he worked on. Would have been easier with the internet if someone had invented it yet..

I also love finding a cool record company... Ninja Tunes, WaxTrax!, 4AD, etc...

That's the way to do it (IMO). I definitely don't branch out enough, but with my methods of listening to music, I prefer to delve as deeply into my favorite genre as far as possible. Thus, since I started listening to rock ("grunge" being my flavor of choice), I've only gotten into new grunge bands by more or less formal connections.

I started listening to Soundgarden. That naturally led to Nirvana, just because it was the most popular grunge and I was new to it. Kurt Cobain's favorite present day vocalist was Mark Lanegan (now my favorite artist). That got me into his band Screaming Trees. The drummer, Barret Martin also formed Tuatara, which included my now favorite saxophonist Skerik who I run a website for.

Without a doubt my favorite way to find new acts. And now that I think about it, that chain above leads me through a multitude of musical styles, especially when considering the other branches I didn't mention.

So basically, excepting a few groups, that's how I find all my new music. I love that method.

And yeah, Justin. I like looking at labels too. Sub Pop is the obvious one for me. SST and FastHorse being a couple others.


ps- I wouldn't try to use this website for classical composers. Apparently Mozart and Beethoven's work pales in popularity when it comes to "Music for Little People." Also, Wolfgang appears to have a direct connection to Raffi

Mudpuppy!