How to search for sexy violinists? Don't ask the Google librarian.

Google search results are now formulaic. The constant prioritization by relevance now means that any search topic is likely to turn up a main site, a series of paid ads, one stately Wikipedia entry, a news report, one YouTube video, and perhaps a comment in The Huffington Post.

It's the knowledge equivalent of a salad bar: The best information, all lined up, ready to go.

But damn if some topics don't cry out for spice, and here comes Addict-o-matic to serve up buzz. Addict is a bit like a spontaneous RSS feed, except with a beautiful layout that politely crams groups of web finds on one page, starting with social media first. You get blog postings, Digg raves, Flickr photos, YouTube videos, top news, and yes standard relevance-based web listings (but those are clustered nicely at the bottom).

We tested this recently with a search for Lili Haydn, a violinist who could be the offspring of Yo-Yo Ma, Tori Amos and Salma Hayek (if three-way genetic sharing were possible ... hmm). Google gave us Wikipedia. Addict-o-matic gave us photos, videos, blog rants, and news.

Nice work by site founder Dave Pell. Found via Seth.