I'm here to tell you about this app called Boil the Frog, and you better be all over it.
You know the allegory: if you put a frog in boiling water it will jump right out, but if you put a frog in room temperature and slowly turn up the heat, you'll boil the frog.
With that in mind, here's how it works.
You pick two artists, enter their names into the search bar, then listen. The app will create a musical playlist that will flow from one musician to the other.
Possibilities include:
Marilyn Manson to Disney
Elvis Presley to Elvis Costello
Beethoven to Adele
Twisted Sister to Flogging Molly
MIKA to Nicki Minaj
John Cage to The Chainsmokers
...and everything in between.
If you listen directly on the site, you get little tastes of all the songs. If you like what you hear, you can save the playlist to your Spotify account to listen again.
The one drawback is that you can't connect to individual songs, just the artists (4'33'' and Let It Go were not destined to be in the same playlist).
It's great for discovering new music that's in between two artists that you like, amusingly connecting music that is seemingly unrelated, or easing your loved ones into death metal.
And that's how you boil a frog.
Boil the Frog was built by Paul Lamere, and is powered by Spotify and The Echo Nest.