Indie 69 April 2010 Playlist

😦

(April Fools prank removed)

First! I had an issue. No M3U file this month. But if you use Winamp, you can easily create one yourself. Just select all the files, right-click and choose “play in Winamp”. Then under list opt. choose “save playlist”. It’ll be back next month if I can make it work the way I want it to.

At first I thought April was going to be crappy. But then as the month of March marched along, toward the end of the month the good stuff started rolling in. And there’s some seriously good stuff. We got an extremely different new EP from PT Walkley, who continues to shock, surprise, amuse and deliver. We got a concept album from the son of a great, infamous outlaw country legend that defies expectations and especially genre. We got an album of extreme pop sweetness from an artist who is typically very pop, but not THAT pop. Holy cow! A new album from a pre AND post-punk British artist who continues to deliver surprises after being in the industry for 4 decades(holy carp, how old is he now? 60??!!) ! We got a very good new track/album from a group of critical darlings who delivered a release that I think is better than their acclaimed one, yet continues to baffle and disappoint fans and critics alike. And that’s all in the first 10 tracks of the playlist, most of which came in during the last week. *whew*

And you can grab the finished monster HERE as well as all the regular haunts. (by the time you read this blog post, it will have been seeded well, so happy downloading!)

Normally, I’d have something to rant and rave about here, but honestly I’ve been having a good month in spite of all the horror going on in the world of the Internets and the musics. As you may have noticed, I am sticking to my “direct permission only” model for the blog and so far it’s working great. That’s not saying that doing it another way is wrong or bad, in fact I think posting a track or even two of any release is going to do absolutely NO bad and absolutely TONS of good for the promotion of the artist or release. I believe the reports of the death of the album format are premature and exaggerated. But as this concept starts to be believed, I hope we don’t get artists and labels being more protective of individual tracks being shared. As radio becomes even more programmed and even less inclusive/diverse, the options for most artists to get a single track heard by a new audience become more and more limited.  The blogs are what’s left for everyone else other than the Lady Gagas, Black Eyed Peas and Coldplays of the world. (sorry, BEPs and Lady Gaga, I didn’t mean to insult you there, especially not you, Gaga!!)

Well, that and the playlists and streaming online radio. But even the streaming stations are feeling limited. Sirius is still cool from what I’ve heard. Or at least one of their stations.

By the time you read this, I hope to have included a few more extras this month, including but not limited to more wallpapers for the Zune and perhaps some Zune HD backgrounds. Let me know if you love/hate these. I know the Zune is not huge, but I’ve been having a mostly positive experience with it. (more on that in a later blog post dedicated to that subject)

Some changes this month:

1. I’ve decided to quit the “Indie 69 Month Year” thing in the ID tags as the name of the album. Instead I’ve been leaving them as is or blank. I noticed on the Zune, doing it the old way meant that I had 69 albums, all called “Indie 69 March 2010”. This will put a stop to that. (turns out, not so much.. but may be helpful with other software/players)

2. I’m including extra mp3 tracks in the extras folder. I’m finding that there’s just so much new music from so many new sources lately that 69 just aint enough, but not by much. So look for 3 or 4 in the extras folder this month and from now on. But not so much as to make the playlist huge. I think one of the nice things about mine is that it’s a little smaller than some of the others, data-wise. With the exception of Feb playlists, which will be double sized, I plan on keeping it this way.

3. I am considering doing a 10 best playlist halfway through the month. If that sounds like a great idea, let me know. If you think it’s just a dilution or a waste of time, let me know.

As always, to check out what the other playlist folks are doing every month and for even more tracks, check out the BIRP community.

Everyone have a great April and get out there to your local CD store. Those guys are really struggling now and they need your help. I just recently visited Chico, CA ( a college town ) and found NO CD stores open on a week night after 6pm and only ONE on the main strip, period. Sad! Don’t let Wal-Mart and Target be the only places now to buy a CD except for the Internet. Both of those stores have proven in some ways that they respect censorship more than they respect artists. When and if that happens, the world will be just a little darker and it’ll make the baby Jesus cry. And not necessarily in that order.

See you in May, fellow hipster douchebags. lahl.

P.S. – CRIZNITTLE IS BACK!!! HOLYCARP! Great news, huh?

Image Credit:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9119782@N07/3451335844/

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