Tommy Botthof Loves Pandora Radio

By Venus Zine Staff
Published: May 18th, 2010 | 12:00am

Pandora has got to be the most frequented website on my computer. Pandora is kind of like having an older friend who knows your taste in music and recommends all sorts of great new bands you’ve never even heard of. Since my discovery of this magical website, my music collection has turned into more of an arsenal, consisting of more than 5,000 songs and growing at a rate that will surely overload my brain capacity.

The site has been around since 2005, and has grown exponentially—as of March, Pandora boasted more than 700,000 songs in its library and 48 million listeners. Naturally, I don’t love everything Pandora pushes my way, and I’m occasionally a little offended by some of the songs suggested, but it’s still a good place to start.

I have got about 20 different “stations” on Pandora, and they all create very different moods. If I feel like listening to some slow songs, I throw on Elliott Smith, and I get plenty of Jose Gonzales, Nick Drake, Damien Rice, and for some reason Death Cab for Cutie, which seems to weasel its way into just about all of my preferred stations. When I’m feeling a little more upbeat, I ask Pandora to fetch me some Portugal the Man tunes and songs of their ilk. And of course, if I just want to space out for an hour or so, Mogwai takes the virtual stage.

Even if I don’t hear any new songs, Pandora switches things up for me a little bit. When I listen to my ipod, I tend to listen to the same bands over and over, and Pandora rescues me from this mildly compulsive behavior. When in doubt, let Pandora take control of your playlists!

Tommy Botthof is a Venus Zine intern.