Here at ONELLAMA, we're really fond of our logo llama, designed by
Champaign graphics team Surface 51: It's elegant in its simplicity, yet
cute and fun--and it winks at you! A budding young start-up like us
really couldn't ask for more...
But there IS more: Last weekend, the Central Illinois division of the
American Advertising Federation honored Surface 51 and the One Llama logo
with a Gold Addy Award! The award recognizes creativite excellence in
advertising media design, and a Gold Addy is the highest possible honor.
So we're busting out the Trocadero here at ONELLAMA, and toasting our
friendly neighborhood design team, Surface 51. Congratulations, and
thanks for giving us one more reason to Love the Llama.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
GIMME THE OBSCURE STUFF!
In the age of the Internet, is there really such a thing as "obscure music" anymore? I decided to put the "LLAMA BRAIN" to the test for some of the most obscure stuff I could think of, and I got some great results:
PUNK and INDIE ROCK
I found relative obscurities a-plenty in this category. Here's a very small sample of the indie/alternative ocean available on the One Llama database:
The Dresden Dolls - Macabre, theatrical, and somewhat twisted, this duo might be enjoying the best current coverage (call it "buzz" if you like...) of the bunch. The ONELLAMA database has a few of their album tracks to augment their heavier-rotation hit, "Coin Operated Boy."
Brian Jonestown Massacre - Dedicated to psychedelia and very, VERY twisted, BJM were the subject of the documentary DiG!. The Llama has a good handful of songs from this explosively dysfunctional ensemble.
The Butchies - A North Carolina queercore trio with a very accessible power-pop sound, the Mind of the Llama has a good sampling of their work.
Angie Heaton - Central Illinois's own twang-punk sweetheart, the Llama Brain has a few of her best-loved tunes, including the shoulda-been-a-megahit, "Rollerskate."
Lard - A Jello Biafra side project on the Alternative Tentacles label, this band qualifies as "difficult listening." Yes, the Llama's got 'em.
Scott Walker - An enigmatic and reclusive songwriter, known for his signature strung-out and dreamy atmosphere, Scott Walker has released a small handful of CD's over the past thirty (yes, 30!) years. One Llama gives you a handful, and an earful, of his quintessential tunes.
Wire - Cited by critics as one of the seminal rock groups of the 1970s and 1980s, Wire definitely qualifies as one of the greatest bands you may never have heard of. The Llama can give you a quick 7-song sampler.
FOLK and ACOUSTIC
I found at least a half-dozen numbers each by heartfelt americana artists Greg Brown and Slaid Cleaves, along with classic quirky folk by The Holy Modal Rounders. Surprisingly, I even loaded up a few radical political tracks from the likes of The Prince Myshkins, Anne Feeney, and David Rovics. Check out those last three, by the way, if you're looking for lyrical masterpieces on topics of social change.
THE 1980's
Next, I decided to set the dials on the 'Way Back Machine for the glorious age of Big Hair and Ronald Reagan. In some cases, The Llama remembered even better than I did:
Eight (count 'em, 8!) songs by the San Francisco paisley pop foursome The Three O'Clock. 4 songs by The Dream Academy--but weirdly, their biggest American hit "Life in a Northern Town" is not to be found. Nine tracks by Pere Ubu. Several tracks from Aztec Camera's first album. Plenty of Peter Murphy solo. And the rocksteady classic by Madness, "One Step Beyond," with the video and everything.
Way to go, Llama!
OBSCURITIES OF THE WORLD UNITE!
In the world of Jazz, I decided to focus on local and regional artists of the midwest: Got a hit for vocalist/composer Dee Dee Bridgewater and a small sample of tunes from graceful pianist and bandleader Tim Green.
On the reggae tip, I found some classic memories in the form of Yellowman's "Zunguzung" and "Hard Man Fe Dead" by Prince Buster. Masters of Indian classical music like Hariprasad Chasuria and Amjad Ali Khan are represented, and more coverage there would be great. I even found oodles of lounge/exotica by vintage master of big band bizarre, Serge Gainsbourg, and classic vocal stylings by Iranian traditional singer Googoosh.
WANNA PLAY "STUMP THE LLAMA"?
I tried my hardest to stump the Llama, and was pretty impressed with how the database performed! Can you stump the Llama by finding artists ONELLAMA doesn't list but really should? If so, feel free to let us know at contact@onellama.com, or leave a comment under this post!
--PK for OneLlama.com
PUNK and INDIE ROCK
I found relative obscurities a-plenty in this category. Here's a very small sample of the indie/alternative ocean available on the One Llama database:
The Dresden Dolls - Macabre, theatrical, and somewhat twisted, this duo might be enjoying the best current coverage (call it "buzz" if you like...) of the bunch. The ONELLAMA database has a few of their album tracks to augment their heavier-rotation hit, "Coin Operated Boy."
Brian Jonestown Massacre - Dedicated to psychedelia and very, VERY twisted, BJM were the subject of the documentary DiG!. The Llama has a good handful of songs from this explosively dysfunctional ensemble.
The Butchies - A North Carolina queercore trio with a very accessible power-pop sound, the Mind of the Llama has a good sampling of their work.
Angie Heaton - Central Illinois's own twang-punk sweetheart, the Llama Brain has a few of her best-loved tunes, including the shoulda-been-a-megahit, "Rollerskate."
Lard - A Jello Biafra side project on the Alternative Tentacles label, this band qualifies as "difficult listening." Yes, the Llama's got 'em.
Scott Walker - An enigmatic and reclusive songwriter, known for his signature strung-out and dreamy atmosphere, Scott Walker has released a small handful of CD's over the past thirty (yes, 30!) years. One Llama gives you a handful, and an earful, of his quintessential tunes.
Wire - Cited by critics as one of the seminal rock groups of the 1970s and 1980s, Wire definitely qualifies as one of the greatest bands you may never have heard of. The Llama can give you a quick 7-song sampler.
FOLK and ACOUSTIC
I found at least a half-dozen numbers each by heartfelt americana artists Greg Brown and Slaid Cleaves, along with classic quirky folk by The Holy Modal Rounders. Surprisingly, I even loaded up a few radical political tracks from the likes of The Prince Myshkins, Anne Feeney, and David Rovics. Check out those last three, by the way, if you're looking for lyrical masterpieces on topics of social change.
THE 1980's
Next, I decided to set the dials on the 'Way Back Machine for the glorious age of Big Hair and Ronald Reagan. In some cases, The Llama remembered even better than I did:
Eight (count 'em, 8!) songs by the San Francisco paisley pop foursome The Three O'Clock. 4 songs by The Dream Academy--but weirdly, their biggest American hit "Life in a Northern Town" is not to be found. Nine tracks by Pere Ubu. Several tracks from Aztec Camera's first album. Plenty of Peter Murphy solo. And the rocksteady classic by Madness, "One Step Beyond," with the video and everything.
Way to go, Llama!
OBSCURITIES OF THE WORLD UNITE!
In the world of Jazz, I decided to focus on local and regional artists of the midwest: Got a hit for vocalist/composer Dee Dee Bridgewater and a small sample of tunes from graceful pianist and bandleader Tim Green.
On the reggae tip, I found some classic memories in the form of Yellowman's "Zunguzung" and "Hard Man Fe Dead" by Prince Buster. Masters of Indian classical music like Hariprasad Chasuria and Amjad Ali Khan are represented, and more coverage there would be great. I even found oodles of lounge/exotica by vintage master of big band bizarre, Serge Gainsbourg, and classic vocal stylings by Iranian traditional singer Googoosh.
WANNA PLAY "STUMP THE LLAMA"?
I tried my hardest to stump the Llama, and was pretty impressed with how the database performed! Can you stump the Llama by finding artists ONELLAMA doesn't list but really should? If so, feel free to let us know at contact@onellama.com, or leave a comment under this post!
--PK for OneLlama.com
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
For the Scrubs fans
What makes a song similar to another? Is it how it sounds? Is it the mood that a song puts you in? Is it the words?
There are different things that make a set of songs similar to one another. One of the things that we believe is important to song similarity is the context of the song. There are a few songs that remind you of something ("the songs I heard on spring break" or "stuff I listen to when I study").
Sometimes the relationships are hidden in the music, the lyrics, or a memory.
Sometimes it's even deeper.
Our goal at One Llama is to understand these relationships, by automatically analyzing the acoustic qualities of the music, the social "contextual" qualities of the music, and how music relates to each user differently.
Here's an example I often talk about to further explain the above point: Let's look for the opening theme for the TV show Scrubs (Superman by Lazlo Bane) on One Llama. Here's the playlist our recommendation engine generates. All the songs on this list have been featured in the show (Scrubs fans, enjoy!). Now all those songs together make a great playlist, but the common factor is not necessarily their sound features or lyrics. The common factor is the fact that those songs have been featured on the same TV show.
What factors do you think are important in deciding whether songs are similar are not? Is there a factor that you think is important (maybe not the most important, but deserves mention) and is normally ignored by recommendation engines? As usual, feel free to leave some comments!
Nikhil Pandit
One Llama Media, Inc.
http://www.onellama.com
Discover, Share, Roam Free!
There are different things that make a set of songs similar to one another. One of the things that we believe is important to song similarity is the context of the song. There are a few songs that remind you of something ("the songs I heard on spring break" or "stuff I listen to when I study").
Sometimes the relationships are hidden in the music, the lyrics, or a memory.
Sometimes it's even deeper.
Our goal at One Llama is to understand these relationships, by automatically analyzing the acoustic qualities of the music, the social "contextual" qualities of the music, and how music relates to each user differently.
Here's an example I often talk about to further explain the above point: Let's look for the opening theme for the TV show Scrubs (Superman by Lazlo Bane) on One Llama. Here's the playlist our recommendation engine generates. All the songs on this list have been featured in the show (Scrubs fans, enjoy!). Now all those songs together make a great playlist, but the common factor is not necessarily their sound features or lyrics. The common factor is the fact that those songs have been featured on the same TV show.
What factors do you think are important in deciding whether songs are similar are not? Is there a factor that you think is important (maybe not the most important, but deserves mention) and is normally ignored by recommendation engines? As usual, feel free to leave some comments!
Nikhil Pandit
One Llama Media, Inc.
http://www.onellama.com
Discover, Share, Roam Free!
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Hey everyone! I'm Nikhil Pandit, one of One Llama's music lovers and developers.
I am glad so many of you are enjoying our product, and we hope you'll share the llama with others! The Playlist Maker not only allowed us to provide a good service to people, but also solved a genuine problem we faced.
About a year ago, I started listening to some music that is quite often categorized as “Ambient Dub” music. Some of the music in this genre is the kind of stuff that you would want to listen to while relaxing. It’s also great music to fall asleep to!
Unfortunately, I was completely new to this genre and so had a hard time finding stuff that I liked. I decided to look for some songs using the Playlist Maker. Here’s a playlist I made. It’s focused on a small set of artists and has a couple of songs that I didn’t know about earlier and really liked (check out “Red Dust” and “In the Waiting Line” by “Zero 7”). Another cool thing about this playlist is that the song “Teardrop” by “Massive Attack” is the opening theme to the show “House M.D.”! (I got really hooked onto that show a few months ago and randomly finding the opening theme while listening to other songs was a special treat).
Has the Playlist Maker helped you find any cool songs and/or artists? Something that you had never heard before? or something that you heard again after a long time? Have you created a playlist that you think is really cool and would like to share with your friends or with the world? Feel free to leave some comments!
Nikhil Pandit
One Llama Media, Inc.
Discover, Share, Roam Free!
Thursday, March 22, 2007
News from The Llama Labs!
We here at the One Llama team are working hard to add some really cool features to our llama land.
We are really interested in getting your feedback on which features you think would make your llama experience even better!
Some of the features which are simmering in the labs are:
1) A really cool new discovery mode, which will allow you to explore the music universe by navigating the links between music (we may post a preview of it here soon!)
2) An iTunes plugin that will allow you to export the llama lists you are making into your iTunes window.
3) Songs by independent and unsigned artists to go along with your playlists.
4) The ability to save and export your llama
Please let us know what you think by leaving us a comment here, sending an e-mail to contact@onellama.com, or filling out the feedback form on the website. We are eager to hear what things we can do to make your llama experience even better!
Thanks for all your feedback, and for helping to make the One Llama launch ROCK!
Amit Sudharshan
One Llama Media Inc.
http://www.onellama.com
Discover, Share, Roam Free!
We are really interested in getting your feedback on which features you think would make your llama experience even better!
Some of the features which are simmering in the labs are:
1) A really cool new discovery mode, which will allow you to explore the music universe by navigating the links between music (we may post a preview of it here soon!)
2) An iTunes plugin that will allow you to export the llama lists you are making into your iTunes window.
3) Songs by independent and unsigned artists to go along with your playlists.
4) The ability to save and export your llama
Please let us know what you think by leaving us a comment here, sending an e-mail to contact@onellama.com, or filling out the feedback form on the website. We are eager to hear what things we can do to make your llama experience even better!
Thanks for all your feedback, and for helping to make the One Llama launch ROCK!
Amit Sudharshan
One Llama Media Inc.
http://www.onellama.com
Discover, Share, Roam Free!
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Welcome!
Welcome everyone to the first ever One Llama blog post! We are extremely excited to have finally launched our new website, and we hope you find it as useful as we do!
One Llama Media Inc. is a company focused on making it easy for users to find great music. We use complex wizardry and channel the ancient power of the llama to do this. Our goal is simple, helping you find great music..
One Llama is producing quite a few tools that will make music organization as simple as watching a llama spit (which you can see on our website) but the tool I would like to introduce you to today is the Playlist Maker.
The Playlist Maker, which is located on our homepage is designed to let you quickly and easily create the perfect playlist. The idea was simple, a user should be able to type in a song, and with one click get back a near perfect playlist. I say near perfect, because we know that there's always a song or two that you may not like. So, with a couple of clicks of "love it" or "hate it" you can make the playlist exactly what you want. Then click on "Play All", sit back, and enjoy your llama tunes.
Another feature we have added is the ability to quickly share your playlists (or as we like to call them llama lists) with anyone. After you've created a playlist, click on "Send to a friend", and your playlist instantly will get sent to any e-mail address. It's easy, and fun!
We have linked most of the songs through to Amazon, iTunes, and Rhapsody. Rhapsody has a wonderful service which allows us to stream to you 25 free songs per month. If you're a Rhapsody subscriber you can listen to as many as you want!
We hope through this medium to gain your feedback on everything Llama related. We'd love to hear any suggestions, and ideas on what features we should add next. One feature currently in the labs that we are excited about will allow you to export your playlist to iTunes.
We hope to have updates often, by different members of our team. Until then, on behalf of the One Llama team, I'd like to welcome you to One Llama, and hope you have a nice visit!
Amit Sudharshan
One Llama Media Inc.
http://www.onellama.com
Discover, Share, Roam Free!
One Llama Media Inc. is a company focused on making it easy for users to find great music. We use complex wizardry and channel the ancient power of the llama to do this. Our goal is simple, helping you find great music..
One Llama is producing quite a few tools that will make music organization as simple as watching a llama spit (which you can see on our website) but the tool I would like to introduce you to today is the Playlist Maker.
The Playlist Maker, which is located on our homepage is designed to let you quickly and easily create the perfect playlist. The idea was simple, a user should be able to type in a song, and with one click get back a near perfect playlist. I say near perfect, because we know that there's always a song or two that you may not like. So, with a couple of clicks of "love it" or "hate it" you can make the playlist exactly what you want. Then click on "Play All", sit back, and enjoy your llama tunes.
Another feature we have added is the ability to quickly share your playlists (or as we like to call them llama lists) with anyone. After you've created a playlist, click on "Send to a friend", and your playlist instantly will get sent to any e-mail address. It's easy, and fun!
We have linked most of the songs through to Amazon, iTunes, and Rhapsody. Rhapsody has a wonderful service which allows us to stream to you 25 free songs per month. If you're a Rhapsody subscriber you can listen to as many as you want!
We hope through this medium to gain your feedback on everything Llama related. We'd love to hear any suggestions, and ideas on what features we should add next. One feature currently in the labs that we are excited about will allow you to export your playlist to iTunes.
We hope to have updates often, by different members of our team. Until then, on behalf of the One Llama team, I'd like to welcome you to One Llama, and hope you have a nice visit!
Amit Sudharshan
One Llama Media Inc.
http://www.onellama.com
Discover, Share, Roam Free!
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