SomaFM Blog

Phasing out lower bitrate MP3 streams

2010-01-15T22:38:00.001-08:00

We're going to be phasing out our lower bitrate MP3 streams in 2010, and replace them with aacPlus feeds. 24-32k MP3 streams will become 32k aacPlus streams, which sound so much better than the existing 32k streams. 56k MP3 streams will become 64k aacPlus streams.

Eventually, we'll offer 32k and 64k aacPlus streams for all our channels, 128k MP3 streams for compatibility, and 32kb Windows Media streams.
iTunes 9 now has full support for aacPlus (AAC-HE) streams, and this was the main player that didn't support it. Since 1/3-1/2 of all our traffic is people listening in iTunes, this was something that held us back from making more of a switch to aacPlus before now.

Also, as an experiment, we're running a super-high quality 128k AAC feed of Groove Salad that can be played by iTunes 9, Winamp and Foobar2000. Groove salad also has a 64k aacPlus stream you can listen to for comparison.

We will also be adding Flash-based streaming this year, which will work well for many people in office settings where they can't install a media player.
The listener numbers for the low bitrate MP3s has drastically fallen over the last year, and I can't think of any reason to keep the low-bitrate MP3 streams running. If you think we should for some reason, leave a comment and let me know.
I'm hoping that we'll get more adoption of the 64kb aacPlus streams which frankly sound as good or better than the 128k MP3 streams.

Shine: I WISH I KNEW YOU - SHINE (live)

2010-01-14T01:39:00.001-08:00

Looking forward to seeing these guys at SXSW. We play Shine on Lush and Groove Salad, and if you're going to SXSW in March you should make a point to see them.

I WISH I KNEW YOU - SHINE (live)
by lesgrandsmanitous

Nitya's Top 10 Albums of 2009

2009-12-22T11:03:00.000-08:00

1. Jon Hassell - Last night the moon came dropping it's clothes in the street [buy]

2. Nils Petter Molvaer - Hamada [buy]

3. Arve Henriksen - Cartography [buy]

4. Esbjörn Svensson Trio - Leucoctye [buy]

5. Jan Garbarek - Dresden [buy]

6. Fresu Youseff Aarset - Jazz Italiano Live 2008 (CD from the Italian weekly L'Espresso)

7. Markus Stockhausen - Electronic Treasures [buy]

8. Marilyn Mazur with Jan Garbarek - Elixir [buy]

9. Vassilis Tsabropoulos - Melos [buy]

10. Zen Zadravec - Coming of Age [buy]

Meghan's Top 10 Albums of 2009

2009-12-18T15:42:00.000-08:00

1. YACHT - See Mystery Lights [buy]

2. Wallpaper. - DooDoo Face [buy]

3. The Bird and the Bee - Ray Guns are Not Just the Future [buy]

4. Miike Snow - Miike Snow [buy]

5. Passion Pit - Manners [buy]

6. Starfucker - Jupiter [buy]

7. Peter, Bjorn and John - Living Thing [buy]

8. Juan Maclean - Future Will Come [buy]

9. My First Earthquake - Downstairs [buy]

10. The Raveonettes - In and Out of Control [buy}

Elise's Top 50 Indie Pop Rock Albums of 2009

2009-12-11T17:36:00.001-08:00

Elise just released her list of her Top 50 for 2009.

1.	Grizzly Bear	Veckatimest	[buy]
2.	Neko Case	Middle Cyclone	[buy]
3.	The Dodos	Time To Die	[buy]
4.	Animal Collective	Merriweather Post Pavilion	[buy]
5.	Grand Archives	Keep In Mind Frankenstein	[buy]
6.	Jets Overhead	No Nations	[buy]
7.	Wilco	Wilco (the album)	[buy]
8.	Phoenix	Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix	[buy]
9.	John Vanderslice	Romanian Names	[buy]
10.	The Clientele	Bonfires On The Heath	[buy]
11.	Starfucker	Jupiter	[buy]
12.	..And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead	The Century Of Self	[buy]
13.	Amy Millan	Masters Of The Burial	[buy]
14.	The Pains of Being Pure at Heart	The Pains of Being Pure at Heart	[buy]
15.	Andrew Bird	Noble Beast	[buy]
16.	Fanfarlo	Fanfarlo	[buy]
17.	The xx	xx	[buy]
18.	Mew	No More Stories Are Told Today I'm Sorry They Washed Away No More Stories The World Is Grey I'm Tired Let's Wash Away	[buy]
19.	Gregory Pepper and His Problems	With Trumpets Flaring	[buy]
20.	Telekinesis!	Telekinesis!	[buy]
21.	Monsters Of Folk	Monsters Of Folk	[buy]
22.	A B & The Sea	Simple as Seagulls	[buy]
23.	Doves	Kingdom of Rust	[buy]
24.	David Bazan	Curse Your Branches	[buy]
25.	Tegan & Sara	Sainthood	[buy]
26.	The Wooden Birds	Magnolia	[buy]
27.	Wye Oak	The Knot	[buy]
28.	Maps	Turning The Mind	[buy]
29.	Headlights	Wildlife	[buy]
30.	Port O'Brien	Threadbare	[buy]
31.	Vandaveer	Divide & Conquer	[buy]
32.	Julian Casablancas	Phrazes For The Young	[buy]
33.	Sea Wolf	White Water, White Bloom	[buy]
34.	Division Day	Visitation	[buy]
35.	Fruit Bats	The Ruminant Band	[buy]
36.	Generationals	Con Law	[buy]
37.	Parlour Steps	The Hidden Names	[buy]
38.	The Trash Can Sinatras	In The Music	[buy]
39.	Metric	Fantasies	[buy]
40.	Islands	Vapours	[buy]
41.	Matt And Kim	Grand	[buy]
42.	The Twilight Sad	Forget the Night Ahead	[buy]
43.	The Receiver	Length of Arms	[buy]
44.	Forest City Lovers	Haunting Moon Sinking	[buy]
45.	Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions	Through The Devil Softly	[buy]
46.	Latvian Radio	Seven Layers Of Self-Defense	[buy]
47.	Great Northern	Remind Me Where The Light Is	[buy]
48.	Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele	The Good Feeling Music of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele	[buy]
49.	Camera Obscura	My Maudlin Career	[buy]
50.	The Decemberists	The Hazards Of Love	[buy]

Listener of the Month: December!

2009-12-03T12:31:00.000-08:00

[a photo Ellis took of the STS- 129 lift-off]

Ellis, who lives in Florida, is our listener of the month! Lately, Ellis has had the opportunity to watch two NASA shuttle launches and on both occasions SomaFM served as his soundtrack. As he says, "at points the interplay between the music and mission communication can be epic!"

While Ellis' favorite station is usually Groove Salad - or Xmas in Frisko during the holidays - he also likes Suburbs of Goa and Beat Blender. Thanks for your support, Ellis!

SF MusicTech Summit!

2009-12-02T17:58:00.000-08:00

The San Francisco MusicTech summit is right around the corner! The 5th annual summit will feature panels on everything from music in games to finding funding for your new music-related venture.

Speakers range from Dave Allen - founding member of Gang of Four - to Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye Blind. The summit is sure to be a great place to learn about advances in the field of music and the convergence of great tunes with great tech.

SF MusicTech is located at the Hotel Kabuki in Japantown, San Francisco. Registration begins at 8 am. Sign up for SF MusicTech here.

New Hoodies!

2009-12-01T13:34:00.000-08:00

Check out our new "stealth" black-on-black hoodies! Just in time for winter, SomaFM is making it's stealthy, brand new hoodie design available to our supporters.

So keep warm and subtly show off your support of SomaFM by wearing our stylish and high-quality zip-up hoodie. Hoodies are available with a $85 donation. They're also available in bundles of our other premiums and are ready to ship today.

ATTN: PopTron Fans!

2009-11-25T10:30:00.000-08:00

If you're a fan of PopTron and will be in San Francisco on Friday night, check out the Peaches, Wallpaper. and Amanda Blank show at the Grand at Regency Center. All three bands are PopTron favorites and all are known for their eccentrically entertaining live sets. See you there!

Show at 9 pm, tickets are $23.50.

Relax with DJ Mike Bee

2009-11-20T13:01:00.000-08:00

If you're looking for a place to chill out with some beats during the hectic holiday week, check out the Ambi-sonic's Relax at Shine Lounge on Wednesday, November 25th. Relax takes place the last Wednesday of every month and will be featuring special guest DJ Mike Bee this week.

Apart from being the electronica buyer for the famous Amoeba Records store on Haight, Mike Bee is also well know in San Francisco for his mixing skills and impeccable selection, spinning obscure dance tracks and atmospheric drum and bass. Joining him will be Al-Kal and the Ambi-Sonic collective of DJ Traffic, Future BC and DF Tram. Cover is $3 from 9-10 and $5 from 10-2. Shine is located at Mission and 9th, a mere 3 blocks from the Civic Center BART station.

Röyksopp and Jon Hopkins in San Francisco

2009-11-13T13:15:00.001-08:00

This Thursday, November 19, Röyksopp and Jon Hopkins will be playing at The Grand at the Regency Center. You've heard Röyksopp on Groove Salad, Secret Agent, and Poptron, and how you have chance to experience the Norwegian duo's unique blend of atmospheric ambient and electropop live. British artist Jon Hopkins' sound ranges from complex melodies to bold bass and the depths in between, and is frequently played on Groove Salad, Cliqhop, Space Station Soma, Drone Zone, and Mission Control. More Information

Not in San Francisco? You can catch them together again in L.A. at Club Nokia on November 18th, and Royksopp will be playing Webster Hall in New York on November 23rd and 24th.

Cool Listener Mail!

2009-11-12T10:00:00.000-08:00

We got this really neat note in the mail the other day and I'd like to thank the sender.

Thanks for your support and your kind words, Linn! And tell the French-speaking whale we said "de rien".

Listener of the Month for November!

2009-11-09T12:55:00.000-08:00

Our listener of the month is Alex van Dijk. Alex has been listening for several years and currently favors Secret Agent. In particular, he loves the bits of dialogue in between songs. His favorite is below.

Mr. Newberry: What have you been doing with your life?
Marty: Uh... professional killer.
Mr. Newberry: Oh! Good for you, it's a... growth industry.

(from Grosse Pointe Blank)

[Alex at NASA]

Alex most frequently listens to SomaFM while he's working at his cool job at NASA. Thanks for your support, Alex!

Múm at the Independent!

2009-11-05T15:00:00.000-08:00

Icelandic, electronic and experimental are three of our favorite adjectives at SomaFM. In case that's in doubt, check out any of our coverage of Iceland Airwaves, which you can find here, here and even here.

A band that fully embodies those three adjectives, Múm, will be at the Independent this evening. Múm is widely appreciated here and is played across 7 different channels, a true testament to the diversity of their work.

Go see Múm at the Independent tonight! Show starts at 8. Tickets are $23. 21+. Sin Fang Bous will be opening.

Special Halloween Programming on Doomed

2009-10-30T12:52:00.001-07:00

We've got special programming on Doomed for Halloween night, and it will be a great soundtrack for your Halloween events. The same great dark music you've come to expect with additional scary ambient sounds mixed in to make it more like Halloween should be: Extra Scary!

So tune into our commercial-free, special Halloween programming on Doomed all weekend long and set the mood for a chilling celebration or just a night ~~scaring the wits out of~~ giving out candy to the neighborhood kids.

Halloween Spider Ball

2009-10-26T13:04:00.001-07:00

With the abundance of Halloween parties large and small happening in San Francisco this weekend, but the one that captures the essence of the underground of San Francisco will be Spider Ball, offering a truly unique Halloween experience. Hosted by the Burning Man collective Playa Love and happening at the historic Bentley Reserve across from Embarcedero Center. Two stages and six full bars, with beds for seating and a separate chill room. The festivities begin at 10 pm Halloween night with performances going until the early morning. Headlining the event are ambient electronic music artist Random Rab, diverse world beats from Oakland group Beats Antique, and bass-heavy dance music from VibeSquaD.

Proceeds from the event will go towards the Black Rock Arts Foundation whose mission is to support and promote community-based interactive art.Tickets are available online with general admission for $55 and VIP tickets (drinks included) for $120. (Imagine Castro Halloween bash meets Burningman Decompression and you get the drift of the party.)

Please help support night-time entertainment in San Francisco

2009-10-23T22:20:00.001-07:00

San Francisco Police Department Commander of Field Operations of the City of San Francisco James Dudley is trying to put an end to nightlife in San Francisco. He is proposing that bars and nightclubs be closed at midnight.

Dudley is best known for his continuous and relentless crackdown on night life in North Beach, turning the Broadway corridor into a virtual police state. He is responsible for the large presence of police officers, including those with riot helmets. He was responsible for the actual closing of Broadway Street so that taxis were unable to pick up fares when the clubs closed.

Now he wants to expand these tactics city-wide as par of the war on fun.

Members of the San Francisco night life community including clubs, bands and customers, will be rallying their support for the Entertainment Commission on Monday Oct 26th 1PM before the Board of Supervisors.
The Entertainment Commission has come under attack of late by those groups who seek to limit the variety of entertainment venues in this world class city. The night life industry is a significant economic engine driving the San Francisco economy and that industry along with its talent and customers are rallying to show support for the Commission.

The legislation before the Board will empower the Entertainment Commission to enforce its own permits. The industry feels strongly about the Commission that regulates them and intends to demonstrate to the board of supervisors and the police that they too have a voice.

Performing on the steps of City Hall will be the Jazz Mafia, an acoustical jazz group. Performing inside City Hall will be the night life industry and their customers who too are citizens of this great urban metropolis.

For more information: supportentertainment.com

Sonic Oddities Live at Oddball Films

2009-10-21T11:52:00.000-07:00

This Friday, October 23, is a chance to experience the wonderful cinematic weirdness that is Oddball Films. Director Stephen Parr will be hosting his Sonic Oddities Live program, exploring the relationship between sight and sound with a combination of film shorts and clips accompanied by live music. The visuals promise to be unique, featuring claymation, bizarre commercials, religious propaganda, surreal animation, and offbeat classic footage experimenting with the "science of sound", among others.

Percussionist Jordan Glenn, woodwind player Cory Wright, and guitarist Andrew Conklin will make up a trio performing improvised tunes along with the scenes on the screen. Sonic Oddities Live will highlight the connection between the visual and the auditory, enhancing perception through a one-of-a-kind event. The program will be held at Oddball Films headquarters at 275 Capp Street in San Francisco. Admission is $10 and you can learn more or make reservations by calling (415)558-8117 or contacting info@oddballfilm.com. Enjoy the show!

Listener of the Month: October!

2009-10-20T10:55:00.000-07:00

Our listener of the month is Jean Michel. You might recognize him from that video clip of a Russian talk show we posted earlier, where he speaks about SomaFM.

For our non-Russian-speaking listeners, the video translates as follows:

The host says "Most of our [Russian] top managers, when asked, like to read serious newspapers but Jean-Michel likes to listen to music."

Jean-Michel goes on to say that SomaFM is "sweet" electronic music. He explains that SomaFM has 14 channels and his favorite is Lush because of the female vocals. Thanks for the shout out Jean-Michel!

Starfucker @ Bottom of the Hill

2009-10-05T16:39:00.000-07:00

Sometimes in the middle of a hectic week, good live music is a must. Head over to Bottom of the Hill this Wednesday, October 7th, to catch the upbeat tunes of three groups from Portland, Oregon that fuse pop and electronica with an indie sensibility. Starfucker blends catchy beats with melodic harmonies and samples and are frequently played on Indie Pop Rocks and Poptron!

Listen to Meghan's interview with the group. Their touring partners Deelay and Ceelay are a powerful duo that combine percussive pyschedelic pop and synched projected visuals for a full sensory experience. Completing the lineup is Strength, known for their disco-influenced dance beats. The show starts at 9 pm, and tickets are available for $10.

World Space Week

2009-10-01T14:30:00.000-07:00

Few people often take time to contemplate the wonders of space. On it’s 10th birthday, World Space Week aims to change that. With synchronized events from Australia to Zambia throughout the week of October 4th, World Space Week rallies schools and universities, the aerospace industry, astronomy clubs and science museums in order to bring space to the forefront of our awareness.

This year’s theme, Space for Education, seeks to motivate students everywhere through exposure to the cosmos. But World Space Week is about more than just students. Highlights such as Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté's address from space and the opportunity to send a digital message into space can appeal to everyone.

SomaFM loves space, so we're excited to be involved with World Space Week. With special programming on Mission Control all week and coverage of NASA's Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) search for water on the moon and "impact event" on October 8th and 9th.

If you’d like to attend, organize or volunteer for a World Space Week event, you can visit them here or contact them here.

Digital Bliss vol 2 Release Party!

2009-09-30T13:33:00.000-07:00

The lovely ladies of Digital Bliss, vol. 2 (one of SomaFM's favorite new compilations!) are celebrating their record release this Friday at 111 Minna in San Francisco. The album - which features exclusively female electronic artists - is being hailed as the Downtempo release of the year.

Weather Pending, Celeste Lear, Divasonic and Return to Mono - all musicians featured on Digital Bliss - will be playing sets. Show starts at 9. 21+. $10.

For LA listeners, Digital Bliss will also be hosting a record release at Zanzibar in Santa Monica. Performers are Auradrone, Divasonic and Celeste Lear.

A portion of the proceeds of Digital Bliss volumes 1 and 2 is donated to NextAid, an LA-based non-profit aiming to help African children.

An Evening of Chillout Music in San Francisco

2009-09-29T10:46:00.001-07:00

Our friends from local ambient DJ crew Ambisonic, along with AL Kal present an evening dedicated to
chillout music, at Shine (Mission between 9th and 10th, San Francisco), Wednesday, September 30th, from 9PM until 2am. Featuring Ambisonic DJs DF Tram, Traffic and a Live PA by Al Kal and Nonagon.

There aren’t that many venues for chill music in San Francisco, so we want to give a big thanks to Shine for letting Ambisonic take over the space for the evening.
There will be a combination of DJ and Live PA sets. Ambisonic is trying to make this a regular monthly happening so if you live in the San Francisco area we encourage you to come out for this. ($3 before 10; $5 after).

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival

2009-09-28T15:59:00.000-07:00

If you're a fan of the Americana and alt-country music found on our channel Boot Liquor, you should definitely head over to Speedway Meadow in Golden Gate Park this weekend for the FREE Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival. The concert will be held this Friday-Sunday (October 2, 3, & 4) and will span six different stages across the park.

[Dave Alvin & the Guilty Women]

Boot Liquor listeners will recognize acts like Dave Alvin & The Guilty Women (who also played at last years HSB), vocalist Neko Case, and influential songwriter John Prine, among others. Big names in bluegrass such as Lyle Lovett & His Large Band, Steve Earle & The Bluegrass Dukes, Gillian Welch, Emmylou Harris, and famed New Orleans songwriter and producer Allen Toussaint will also grace the stages and surely draw the crowds.

Hope to see you there!

Trying to get some work done?

2009-09-25T13:30:00.000-07:00

While we have heard from many listeners that the beats found on our stations provide them with an aurally pleasant atmosphere while working, SomaFM has been named among the "best sounds for getting work done" by Lifehacker.

Citing studies that have shown that minimally engaging music increases productivity, author Kevin Purdy notes that while classical music such as Mozart have long been touted as enhancing the brain, ambient music has often been chosen for the same purpose. Several of our channels— Groove Salad, Secret Agent, and Drone Zone— are named as favorites to achieve this state of musical stimulation while performing tedious tasks. We want to thank Lifehacker for bringing attention to one of the many ways our station can bring enjoyment to listeners anywhere.