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I’ve been surfing through the Spotify catalog for a couple of years now, and in my travels I’ve come across my share of strangeness and oddities hidden in the backwaters. I’ve also noticed some unusual quirks, serendipitous playlisting and even the odd game or two.
Here’s a look at ten Spotify Games & Easter Eggs to keep you amused!
1. The Warlock Of Spotify Mountain
British synthpop band Hurts were the first (and so far, only) band to release an interactive audio novel on Spotify. Narrated by Anna Friel (Pushing Daisies, Brookside), in Don’t Let Go you listen to a story segment then choose a code to pick your path to the next scene. It’s a bit like those old Games Workshop choose-your-own-adventure books. There are eleven possible endings, with clips from the rather fine album Happiness along the way. It’s a brilliant idea and shows just how versatile Spotify can be. Click the image below to begin the adventure!
2. The Various Artists Guy
Every wondered, just who is that guy called Various Artists? He’s released more records than anyone else on the planet so you must have heard of him. Well, here he is:
CAUTION! CLICK THIS IMAGE AT YOUR OWN RISK!
3. The Guess The Mix Game
Thanks to some bugs from record companies not labeling their music properly, Spotify users can have hours of “fun” guessing which mix is which on releases like this Björk single:
These five tracks are all different mixes with different lengths, but the song name remains the same. Time to whip out your Shazam then…
4. The Best Way To Throw An Insult
It’s the new rickroll! Put together that “special” playlist using song titles to say what you really want to say. Then simply send the Spotify link to your nemesis (let’s be friends – check out this awesome playlist I made just for you!), sit back, and laugh about how you just totally pwned that guy. For example, here’s one I keep handy for emergencies:
Or, you know, make one with sweary words if you like. Watch out how you name your playlist though: Spotify updated their Ts & Cs recently, so make sure you don’t use any naughty words in your playlist names.
5. The Totally Useless Unless You Rip It Track
Source streams from the record labels for Spotify are often the same ones used for MP3 purchase stores like iTunes. So you’ll find several “Exclusive to iTunes” releases on Spotify, as well things like this:
You’re supposed to cut out the samples to make multipart tracks for your own remixes, but on Spotify this sort of “bonus” is fairly useless. That said, this track does include an introduction from legendary synthpop producer (and hero of mine), the late great Martin Rushent (the man behind The Human League’s Dare).
6. The Listen To All Of This And Win A Medal Game
If you can listen to this entire “reading” of Frankenstein, then you deserve a medal!
I love the idea of audiobooks on Spotify, but when they’re read by a Speak and Spell machine for the love of Bender please don’t bother!
7. The Time Traveling Music From the Future
Not content with the goal to provide all the world’s music, Spotify take it a step beyond and already have music from the future!
http://open.spotify.com/search/year:2019
8. The Band Of Many Names
A synthpop band I’ve loved for years, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark released a terrific album last year (History of Modern). It took me weeks to notice it on Spotify though, since instead of being listed under Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark (where all their other releases are), it was listed under OMD instead. And there’s even more tracks listed under O.M.D.!
What other multi-name bands like this can you find? An alternative to this game is the “Many Bands Of The Same Name” game, although that’s a lot easier and mostly for beginners. Your starters for ten are: The (the?) Prodigy, Broadcast, and Sky.
9. Supersize Me!
Some albums on Spotify have supersize cover art, like this album from The Cure:
9. Harry Potter And The The Longest Track On Spotify
Some songs on Spotify last for for less than a second. But others are nearly as long as The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy (Extended Edition). Well, not quite, but here’s some that are pretty long:
Can you find one longer than 199 minutes, 53 seconds?
10. The Unsearchable Bands
I’m a huge fan of Matt Johnson aka The The. Remember Infected? That was him. The The are a bit tricky to search for on Spotify, but he named the band long before Internet searches were invented so I’ll let him off. But these bands should really know better (yes, these really are band names):
- !!!
- †‡†
- Gr†ll Gr†ll
- ℑ⊇◊⊆ℜ
- GL▲SS †33†H
Of course, the argument is that these bands are especially cool precisely because they’re hard to find. And in Spotify, provided you can type it you can use the quotes to be sure to get better results. For example, to search for The The, don’t just type The The, type artist:”the the”
Thanks to: Ola (trancify.me) and Ulysses (spotifyclassical.com) for suggestions. We had some wacky (and rude) track and album suggestions too, but I’m saving those for another day!