Author Topic: The Obscurometer  (Read 7114 times)

kosmo vinyl

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The Obscurometer
« on: January 11, 2013, 02:43:44 pm »
http://obscurometer.com/

Clearly I have very "suspect" taste in music


<blanks> overall obscurity level is...

    Bev Lee Harling - 88.6%
    The Moons - 89.7%
    Cliff Hillis - 92.8%
    The World Record - 90.1%
    Shoes - 82.9%
    Milo Greene - 80.5%
    Jets Overhead - 82.5%
    The Stars Explode - 98.4%
    The dBs - 92.5%
    Tim Burgess - 86.4%
    The Heartbreaks - 81.5%
    The Primitives - 71.6%
    Alto Verde - 98.9%
    Jimmy Cliff - 51.0%
    The Heavy - 62.9%
    Saint Etienne - 54.9%

    The Red Inspectors -  96.9%
    Third Coast Kings - 93.5%
    The Bamboos - 69.0%
    Calibro 35 - 86.8%
    Hannah William & The Tastemakers - 97.6%
    The Monophonics - 96.5%
    Kylie Auldist - 79.5%
    Menahan Street Band - 76.9%
    John Boutte - 89.9%
    Elikeh - 96.9%
    The Cactus Channel - 92.7%
    Michael Kiwanuka - 68.7%
    The Funk Ark - 93.1%
    Lee Fields and the Expressions - 81.2%
T.Rex

hutch

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Re: The Obscurometer
« Reply #1 on: January 11, 2013, 02:57:14 pm »
so they give you an overall score?

I'd love to see Azaghal do this and get a 100% obscure score.

kosmo vinyl

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Re: The Obscurometer
« Reply #2 on: January 11, 2013, 03:04:32 pm »
it's the band's "obscurity" level as determined via last.fm, i'm sure there is some mumbo jumbo going on with the final calculation.

The least obscure act is Coldplay- 0%

 
T.Rex

azaghal1981

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Re: The Obscurometer
« Reply #3 on: January 11, 2013, 03:06:14 pm »
I have no last.fm account.
احمد

kosmo vinyl

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Re: The Obscurometer
« Reply #4 on: January 11, 2013, 03:22:05 pm »
the obscure rating given an artist is based on other last.fm user's.

I'm assumed by this statistic

Average Artist Obscurity:    92.1%
T.Rex

atomicfront

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Re: The Obscurometer
« Reply #5 on: January 11, 2013, 03:29:51 pm »
http://obscurometer.com/

Clearly I have very "suspect" taste in music


<blanks> overall obscurity level is...

    Bev Lee Harling - 88.6%
    The Moons - 89.7%
    Cliff Hillis - 92.8%
    The World Record - 90.1%
    Shoes - 82.9%
    Milo Greene - 80.5%
    Jets Overhead - 82.5%
    The Stars Explode - 98.4%
    The dBs - 92.5%
    Tim Burgess - 86.4%
    The Heartbreaks - 81.5%
    The Primitives - 71.6%
    Alto Verde - 98.9%
    Jimmy Cliff - 51.0%
    The Heavy - 62.9%
    Saint Etienne - 54.9%

    The Red Inspectors -  96.9%
    Third Coast Kings - 93.5%
    The Bamboos - 69.0%
    Calibro 35 - 86.8%
    Hannah William & The Tastemakers - 97.6%
    The Monophonics - 96.5%
    Kylie Auldist - 79.5%
    Menahan Street Band - 76.9%
    John Boutte - 89.9%
    Elikeh - 96.9%
    The Cactus Channel - 92.7%
    Michael Kiwanuka - 68.7%
    The Funk Ark - 93.1%
    Lee Fields and the Expressions - 81.2%


I think their system for detecting obscurity is pretty broken.  Tim Burgess has had 3 #1 albums and 2 #2 albums in the UK as the lead singer of the Charlatans.  I dont' think you can get much less obscure than him and yet he is rated at an 86.4 percent. 

kosmo vinyl

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Re: The Obscurometer
« Reply #6 on: January 11, 2013, 03:35:38 pm »
the obscurity rating would be based on his two solo records not his Charlatans albums.   

see also James - 51.5%
Tim Booth - 84.5%
T.Rex

atomicfront

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Re: The Obscurometer
« Reply #7 on: January 11, 2013, 03:43:35 pm »
the obscurity rating would be based on his two solo records not his Charlatans albums.   

see also James - 51.5%
Tim Booth - 84.5%

I think you have the term obscure confussed with how much someone like someone's music. People know who Tim Burgess is so he is not obscure. They choose not to listen to his solo work becuase they do not like and thus it is not reported on last fm.

Anyway the most obscure I could find by typing bands names in was "the bible" at 90.5%.


kosmo vinyl

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Re: The Obscurometer
« Reply #8 on: January 11, 2013, 03:53:11 pm »
since the "obscurity" appears to be based on number of times a track is scrobbled on last.fm... more people listen to the Charlatans/James than Tim Burgess/Tim Booth, thus the solo recordings are considered more obscure.  I'm sure your going to find that for most side projects, that only the most diehard of fans tends to listen to them.  And in the case of Tim Burgess his solo project is far different from what the Charlatans release, so it's going to appeal to less fans.

 
T.Rex

kosmo vinyl

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Re: The Obscurometer
« Reply #9 on: January 11, 2013, 03:58:19 pm »
further proof

Foo Fighters - 8.1%
Queens of the stone Age - 23.0%
Led Zeppelin - 18.9%

Them Crooked Vultures - 50%
T.Rex

HoyaSaxa03

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Re: The Obscurometer
« Reply #10 on: January 11, 2013, 04:06:12 pm »
Artist   Obscurity   HoyaParanoia's Playcount

The Beatles   11.7%   906

The Magnetic Fields   47.9%   831

Bob Dylan   21.5%   701

Jens Lekman   54.2%   647

Drive-By Truckers   63.7%   632

The Replacements   56.8%   493

Belle and Sebastian   31.4%   445

The Rolling Stones   10.9%   441

M83   33.7%   414

Pavement   42.3%   392

Radiohead   3.1%   390

The Beach Boys   23.7%   388

Camera Obscura   45.8%   383

The Smiths   25.8%   347

Paul Simon   39.6%   336

Tom Waits   34.9%   331

The Decemberists   32.7%   296

Morrissey   38.6%   291

Wilco   37.4%   271

Ella Fitzgerald   34%   266

Charlie Parker   51.3%   266

Ryan Adams   41.1%   249

David Bowie   15.8%   246

Prefuse 73   55.1%   245

Cee Lo Green   46.5%   245

New Order   31.7%   238

The New Pornographers   47.9%   238

of Montreal   39.7%   231

The Byrds   39.8%   225

The Clash   24.8%   225

Pixies   25.2%   220

Against Me!   52.2%   220

Arcade Fire   22.7%   218

The Walkmen   46.5%   217

Ramones   29.8%   214

Miles Davis   35.2%   212

Superchunk   66.5%   212

Spoon   34.6%   209

Explosions in the Sky   40.3%   209

R.E.M.   18.2%   203

Creedence Clearwater Revival   24.9%   202

Elvis Costello & The...   56.6%   202

The Shins   23.4%   200

The Jam   46.9%   195

The Apples In Stereo   55.8%   195

The Cure   18.1%   194

Modest Mouse   22.7%   193

Guided by Voices   55%   193

Drake   19%   186

Yo La Tengo   42.8%   184
(o|o)

atomicfront

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Re: The Obscurometer
« Reply #11 on: January 11, 2013, 04:08:18 pm »
This one is pretty accurate on the relative quality of the music produced:

Phil Collins: 31.7
Genesis 37.9
Peter Gabriel 39.4

atomicfront

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Re: The Obscurometer
« Reply #12 on: January 11, 2013, 04:19:15 pm »
This only uses the top 50 artists from someones last fm account.  So if the artists music isn't very good people most likely it won't make very many top 50 whether it is obscure or not.

Darth Ed

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Re: The Obscurometer
« Reply #13 on: January 12, 2013, 03:00:30 am »
I don't listen to a lot of obscure stuff, I guess. My average was 39.9%.

Here are my most obscure:

God Is an Astronaut   51%
The Magic Numbers   52.6%
Neko Case   53.4%
Natalie Merchant   53.5%
Big Star   57.9%
Sleater-Kinney   60.3%
A.C. Newman   61.6%
The Dears   62.7%
The Rosebuds   68.1%
The Essex Green   71.6%
Robyn Hitchcock   74.1%
Pela   79.1%
Dead Heart Bloom   86.7%
ilyAIMY   95.9%

i am gay and i like cats

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Re: The Obscurometer
« Reply #14 on: January 12, 2013, 09:26:57 am »
natalie merchant?

this meter should have a "sucks big dick as well"  rating