Prior to using any tool to help me search intelligently for new bands, tracks or types of music, I merely categorized it myself and tried, sometimes in vain, to describe what I was looking for to others. My main love is that of Symphonic Metal, at least that is what I have learned it is called. To me this is fast, rhythmic, trance inducing, guitar laden, heavy metal overlayed with rich melodic vocals. The focus is on the rhythm, depth, and the power of the instruments highlighted by vocals that add richness and character to the music. This is music that you can feel as well as hear.

My exposure to Symphonic Metal was pretty limited even when I tried to look around. In the beginning of my search I really could not narrow down what it was I was looking for. I could not quantify what specific parts of the music I liked in a terms that made search engines happy enough to produce usable results. * Any search for a metal band would land thousands upon thousands of hits.* Frustration was setting in quickly.* Prior to heading back to the album collection came a gift from Olaf. Pandora! And I don’t mean that allusive box.

Pandora is a fantastically simple web-based radio where each channel, that you create, plays music based on what you like.* You tell Pandora what you like by entering the name of a band or song.* It uses the Music Genome Project to find a Vector of the music you entered.* These Vectors are then presented to you as a stream of songs from a wide variety of bands that share the same Genes that make up the Vector.* You can further tailor any results by telling Pandora you like or dislike a particular song it has presented to you.* It uses this feedback, much like a Naive Bayes Classifier, to refine the list of Genes that appeal to the particular channel you created.

Pandora.com schooled me in what I really like about the music I listen to: use of string ensemble, paired vocal harmony, a vocal-centric aesthetic and minor key tonality, hard rock roots, a subtle use of vocal harmony, extensive vamping, mild rhythmic syncopation, demanding instrumental part writing and mixed acoustic and electric instrumentation.

I have discovered many bands that I would likely never have heard of just entering a song or band I liked to hear and pruning the results I was presented.* Here are but a few of my favorites:

• Nightwish
• Ark
• Xandria
• Beautiful Sin
• Kamelot
• Elis
• Aesma Daeva
• Waltari
• Rhapsody Of Fire
• Leaves’ Eyes

My quest to learn about new music out there has only really started but I look forward to using not only Pandora Radio but also any new generation of tools that come along to help.

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