In the last week or so there have been about 140,000 new tracks uploaded to Spotify, with the usual mixture of good, bad and what-the-hell.   There have been some big names like Robbie Williams, Slayer and Foo Fighters as well as welcome obscurities and some that just have intriguing names. Here are a few that caught my eye:

• Robbie Williams’ new album Reality Killed the Video Star.
  Not unpleasant, but doesn’t do a lot for me.  Produced by Trevor Horn, and with a nod to his first record in the title.  I much preferred Rudebox, even though it took a critical mauling.
• Foo Fighters Greatest Hits.
  Good but pointless on Spotify.  |Why have a greatest hits album when you can make your own playlist from all the other albums?
• World Painted Blood by Slayer and Those Whom the Gods Detest by Nile
  No surprises here.  If you like Slayer or Nile you will like these.  OK in small doses.
• Several albums by Mariachi Garibaldi
  Straightforward mariachi music.
• A Gathering of 8 Norwegian Prog Metal Bands
  A compilation/sampler that does exactly what it says on the tin.  The place to go for Minas Tirith, Trivial Act and Spiral Architect.
• Another dozen albums by Sly & Robbie
  How many records have they made?
• Jailbird EP by David Cronenberg’s Wife
  Pleasant enough – I’ll admit it was the name that drew me in though.  Makes me wonder.  TV programmes are now often given names designed to fit into and stand out on the EPG of Sky+ boxes.  Will bands one day choose names based on how they will get listed in online services?
• A couple of EPs by Erk Tha Jerk
  Another one where the name stood out.  Turns out to be bog-standard autotune-heavy R&B.  Interesting only to compare the ‘clean’ and ‘dirty’ versions to see how they manage to make the lyrics to Right Here acceptable for broadcast – on a par with the “forget you” dubbing of Beverley Hills Cop.
• La Corniche by Cheb Abdou
  Rai music from a ‘Cheb’ I had not heard of before.  Not  bad, although not in the Khaled or Chem Mami league.
• Two whole albums of Planet Rock remixes (Vol 1 and Vol 2)
  Makes you wonder if Afrika Bambaataa ever did anything else or is just endlessly flogging the same dead horse – even if it is a very good horse.
• Tono EP my Minimono
  Minimalist electro.
• Straight Outa Lynwood by Weird Al Yankovic
  Includes the Green Day pastiche Canadian Idiot

A couple of disappointments though.  Baaba Maal’s latest album, Television, appeared on the list but it turns out to not be available in the UK.  Also two albums by Brave Belt are on the list of new additions but they are not available in the UK.  Not sure if this is the same Brave Belt that was a sort of spin-off of Bachman-Turner Overdrive, and can’t even listen to it to find out.

There must be thousands of brilliant tracks amongst those 140,000 that I will never even get to hear, not to mention in the other few milion tracks available. At a fringe meeting of the Labour conference somebody (either Ben Bradshaw or Feargal Sharkey?) said that one online service had something like 9 million tracks available but the records showed than about 6 million had never been played even once.

That statistic sort of torpedoes the long tail theory, but I like my odd forays into the long tail, dipping into the unheard just to see what is there.