The Grand Music Exchange 2015

The following is an email from my friend Alasdair, which I have cut and paste verbatim, and added a few comments of my own. This is a case of mi casa es su casa or, more accurately, his invite is my invite - so please, join us!!!!

Good morrow.
The time of February is once again upon us, and for Beth and I, that means we exchange music.

Most of you on this list were are part of it last year, but I've taken the liberty of adding a few more of my friends, and for those who don't know (or will be added later and want to know ) the basic story is thus:

• Beth and I are transatlantic friends (We WERE transatlantic friends, but Alasdair has now moved to Vancouver and we are cross-country friends. Also, I would like to share this fact about our friendship: apart from the week we first met, we have hung out in person precisely twice. TWICE! In eight years. I applaud our long-distance skillz.)

• As friends do, we share music. This started back in 2009 with CDs via airmail (CDs! Airmail! SO OLD FASHIONED!)

• a couple of years ago we wanted to open it up to wider circles. (All our friends were jealous of our insider music knowledge, and we're unselfish folk.)

• This is now what we do via dropbox.

There has always been a theme. Originally, it was 'what do I think the other peson won't know?', more recently it has been more structured. This year, it's a little more abstract and I'm going to call it 'The Aural Alphabet'.

Basically, you need to pick a letter from the latin alphabet, and then pick songs or artists beginning with that letter. You choose EITHER songs or artists. No mixing up allowed. (I've chosen the letter B, so I can have a playlist with Beyonce, Beck, Backstreet Boys, The Band, and Blondie OR an album with "Babel," "Be My Yoko Ono," "Barside," and "Bad Blood.")

Other general paramaters are as follows:

1. Only one song per artist
2. 10-ish songs (8 minimum, 12 max)
3. All files have to be 'unlocked'.
4. No more than two songs can be in another person's mix.4. Some people like to craft a perfect running order. Dropbox cares for none of this and decides file order by its own rules, so if this matters to you, include a text file with your drop (feel free to also write theses explaining picks and other themes in said text file)
5. When you upload your files, do it inside a separate folder with the format : Mix Title - Name so we can keep some order to the grand musical chaos.
Feel free to invite others whom you feel might be interested in contributing.
This is also an opt in thing, so hit me up (or hit me up, via twitter/fb/email/commenting on this post) to be included in the dropbox folder. Also let me know if you fon't (sic)want me to email you ever again
Have fun!

Alasdair

p.s. Last year's mix was inspired by the week of pain following a particularly brutal wisdom tooth removal, however, because I'm a lazy arse, I forgot to upload my own 'Making Cloudy Skies Clear' mix. So I've put it in the 2015 folder as a little welcome gift.

There you have it folks. Please join us! It's always a great deal of fun, and there is ZERO pressure to be a music connoisseur (though those are also highly welcome). It's just a great deal of fun and a way to introduce each other to new tunes, or remember ones we love. 

Because music - music makes the people come together. (there's one for whoever claims "M"!)



Letters claimed: B, Y, M, L --> you are allowed to choose one of these letters if you're passionate about it, but if you'd like to choose something that no one else is doing, that is also welcome!