Music Quiz: Artist by Popular Spotify Songs III

Welcome back to the third week of the Spotify quiz series. Eleven contestants have completed the first two week of Spotify quizzes. The leaderboard now looks like this:

ParticipantWeek 2Total
Sheik Yerbouti2040
Geoff (1001)1938
John (2loud2old)1938
jprobichaud1838
Rich Kamerman1838
Tony1838
Jim1736
J.1735
Max (badfinger20)1835
Paul1534
Chris (moviesandsongs)1433

I scored 19/20 in the third week. You can compete at:

https://www.sporcle.com/games/MSUKent/artist-by-popular-spotify-songs-iii/

In other news, I’m terrible at catching live gigs but my wife gifted us tickets to see The New Pornographers. It was an unusual gig – usually they’d play in a smaller venue, but because it was part of the New Zealand Festival of the Arts, they played the Michael Fowler Centre, a seated venue that usually hosts classical events. It has a 2,200 capacity, but was only half full – not surprising when there’s a bunch of classy gigs at the Festival. I would have also liked to have seen festival curator Laurie Anderson, Weyes Blood, and Nadia Reid.

It was a difficult task to play in front of a subdued, seated audience – two ladies in their seventies were seated in front of me – but the band were professional. It was a slightly altered lineup – long time members A.C. Newman, Neko Case, and Todd Fancey played, as well as newer members Joe Seiders and Simi Stone. They were augmented by a couple of ring-ins; a young bass player and an incredibly tall keyboard player who covered Kathryn Calder’s vocal parts.

The most impressive part of seeing The New Pornographers live is their vocals – Neko Case was impressive, and drummer Joe Seiders is an important part of the vocal mix. A.C. Newman doesn’t have a distinctive voice, but he sounded gorgeous, and showcased his falsetto in ‘The Laws Have Changed’. Highlights included the ensemble vocals on ‘Testament To Youth in Verse’, and ‘Dreamlike and On The Rush’, which was subdued on record but was a great rocker live.

31 Comments

  1. 20;20. Fairly easy for the first batch, last two points made me think. Second time the red-headed stranger has shown up in a quiz recently.

  2. SCORE
    19/20
    The rapper I guessed…it was the…uh modern version of Alice Cooper…not better mind you…just modern.

  3. 20/20 with only 14 seconds to spare.
    Love the New Pornos BTW, I should be seeing them for the second time this summer. They’re like Broken Social Scene, though, you never know who will be in the band when you see them.

  4. I scored 19 this week. Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy…
    Never seen the New Pornographers live… They’re definitely a band I’d love to catch at some point.

Leave a Reply

Read about the discographies of musical acts from the 1960s to the present day. Browse this site's review archives or enjoy these random selections:

More review pages

The Beach Boys Solo

Amazingly, for a band divided into factions since the mid-1960s...

Lindsey Buckingham Album Reviews

Even if you don’t know him by name, you’ve surely...

Queen Album Reviews

Bassist and vocalist Tim Staffell quit trio Smile, but not...
Queen II

Charli XCX Album Reviews

Charlotte Emma Aitchison took her stage name from her teenage...

Warren Zevon Album Reviews

Warren Zevon was born in Chicago, the son of a...

Simon and Garfunkel Album Reviews

Simon and Garfunkel met as teenagers in a school play...
Simon and Garfunkel Bookends

I add new blog posts to this website every week. Browse the archives or enjoy these random selections:

More blog posts

Vampire Weekend’s Albums Ranked

Vampire Weekend were formed by students at Columbia University. Frontman...

The Plague by Scott Walker: Great B-Sides

Scott Walker is one long-time favourite artist who I’ve barely...

Five Best Bruce Springsteen Albums

It took me a while to warm to Bruce Springsteen...
Bruce Springsteen Darkness on the Edge of Town

Jenny Lewis Albums: Ranked from Worst to Best

Jenny Lewis’ musical career is the second act in her...

Semi Detached by Split Enz: Great B-Sides

In 1978 New Zealand art-rockers Split Enz were in crisis...
Frenzy Split Enz

Fever by Carly Rae Jepsen: Great B-Sides

The b-side is largely a 20th century commodity – from...

Subscribe

Subscribe to receive new posts from Aphoristic Album Reviews.