April 19, 2005

MoFi CD Swap 4! The title says it all: who's in for another round of CD-swapping goodness?

How to join: 1. Please email this information to mbourqui at gmail dot com: a) Real name. b) MonkeyFilter handle. c) Email address (to make it easier for me to copy-paste your info to your group.) d) Postal address (in the exact format in which it should be written.) Swap veterans, please send all of your information again, regardless of participation in previous CD swaps. You can opt in by leaving a comment on this thread, but you must email as well for it to be official. (Requests! If you would like to be in a group with a specific monkey friend (or not be in a specific monkey's group) you can let me know these and any other requests in this email and I'll do my best when I arrange them.) 2. First-time swappers only. Go to the external BBS message board and make an account (click "register" near the top-right) with your username matching your MoFi handle. Also, read the extensive FAQ for just about all the info you'll be needing. Both the FAQ and the board are part of Shotsy's MoFiCDX site linked permanently on the front page sidebar, but you'll probably want to bookmark the BBS to keep track of all important announcements and your group's discussion. 3. Be sure to vote in this thread's poll for when we should have our swap date. If you can't make a definite yes before knowing when the swap date is, go and vote now and we'll decide in the next week or two when the deadline will be (and you can choose to opt in or not then.) Sign-ups will be open from now until the middle of next month, at least. Groups will be announced two weeks before the mailing deadline, once we decide when that is. Oh, and in case you were wondering: Shotsy, who did most of the organizing of the previous CD swaps, has said previously that he's taking a break from moderation (at least for this round) so I'm afraid you're stuck with me as moderator for now. Unless we have better ideas, I'm going to keep everything running just like how we've done in previous rounds. If you have questions, double-check the FAQ, then email me at the above address if you still need anything.

posted by Mfpb 2 21 19 years ago
  • Previous CD Swap threads: MoFiCDX MoFiCDX 2 MoFiCDX 3
  • Me me me!
  • Me!
  • count me in....sounds like a party...
  • I'm in. And y'all'll be lucky to have me in your group. I just got the cassingle of Parents Don't Understand. I'll be representin' tha Willenium, bitches!
  • (I wonder if this means Jeff from our group should finally send out his mix for the last one...)
  • count me in. i promise that it will be a new cd, though, not one that has been posted before.
  • Nifty! I wanna play!
  • Oops. Just read the FAQ. Much of my music has been converted to MP3. Is a disc of MP3s objectionable?
  • ... or not. I've still got 20 tracks of interest full CD format...
  • What do you use to burn CDs? iTunes will burn a normal stereo-playable audio CD from mp3s. I'd recommend downloading it, since it's free.
  • OK, can do,
  • Awesome, I've been waiting for this. Sending an email with all my vitals now.
  • Out of curiosity, does anyone ever post tracklists of their mixes? (I bet somebody does, independently.) I'm still not REMOTELY indie enough to join, but I'm interested in finding out new things, so that's the next best thing.
  • I'm so in! I got great music last time, and I'm still enjoying it. Thanks, guys, and special thanks to Mfpb 2 21 for picking up the baton.
  • Opening my mailbox and seeing little packages from monkeys really makes my day. I'm in.
  • now it's just figuring out what to do after the cocks and bees mix from the last swap!
  • Wurwilf - I'm totally not indie, and I've been participating anyway. Just make a good mix and your fellow swappers will be happy. Or at least I hope they've been happy and not just blowing smoke up my ass...
  • I will vouch for the quality of MsVader's mixes without the use of smoke, white or black.
  • Well, by indie I mean I don't have scintillating, violently original musical taste which nobody has heard of but me and some guy 234 miles from the nearest sign of civilization. You've heard of every single band and artist I've ever listened to. Trust me. So it would be a complete waste of time for me to bother people with my mainstream crap - I just love mix tapes/CDs and am curious about what people do with them.
  • I have a lot of albums in my collection, Wurwilf, by mainstream crap-style bands where the songs that I love the most were never released into the wild as singles. Good music is good music, regardless of if it's Top 40 or double-secret-plus-plus underground stuff.
  • Wurwilf, you're negating the value of getting an object from the mysterious beyond that was made for you by another person. I've gotten mixes not to my taste, but there was no less joy in receiving them. Just because I've heard it doesn't mean I don't want to hear it again. You're being horribly presumptuous in saying that I've heard everything you have. This goes for all the other fence sitters who gaze from the outside. It's not all about the music! Don't just be a voyeur, hop in!
  • Wurwilf, my tastes run very mainstream too, but I participated in the last swap and loved it. The mixes I received were about a 50/50 blend of bands I knew and bands I never heard of. There were gems in both groups.
  • I find that the best mixes I've made are the ones where I created a mix that I really liked for myself. If you're really happy with it, chances are that it's got good flow, or a nice blend of styles, or creates a consistent mood, etc... The mixes that I end up not liking at all are the ones where I tried too hard to be obscure. Don't do that. Just make a mix that sounds good to you. And there's something wonderful about listening to music that someone else has chosen to share with you that makes it sound new and interesting and special - even if it's something you're familiar with or don't particularly like. Hearing through other people's ears - it rocks!
  • I'm keen to try this time. Whee!
  • I'm in!
  • Wurwilf, in the first cd swap I got a mix chock full of classic rock tunes - all of which I had heard, and none of which I actually owned. Another monkey included a bonus cd full of music I remembered from my childhood. They each now have a place of pride on my iPod, along with the other mixes I've gotten from each swap. The tunes mean something special to the monkey who sends them, and I'm privileged to have a get-to-know-that-monkey moment when I listen to a mix. Now that's cool.
  • patita, with all due respect you have it absolutely backwards. I am not slagging anyone's musical taste. Far from it. I'm sure everyone else's mixes are awesome; that's why I'm looking for tracklists, so I can fog up the glass with a peek at the party even though I can't come in myself. ...so, now that we're clear, does anyone have lists? I'm guessing no, from the reaction, which is okay too. Just thought I'd ask.
  • A few people do put their tracklists up on the CD Swap board. You'd need to hunt through the old threads on there to find them, though.
  • Wurwilf - this thread of CD art has some track lists on it and might give you a general idea. Poke around the forums a bit and you might find more. You totally should participate if the only thing stopping you is self-conciousness about your own music. The art of mixes, at least in my opinion, is not necessarily just what's on there, but which tracks you decide to put on one mix, how you arrange them, what ties them together (if you choose to have a common theme). While some swappers may have "indie cred" (and that's not me) it doesn't mean that I've not gotten tons of enjoyment out of mixes of songs I've heard before.
  • nope, Wurwilf, I wasn't accusing you of slagging on taste. I was pointing out the value in the exchange beyond the music. You seem determined to not join in the fun, so I won't pursue it.
  • I can't join in the fun. Sorry about not being clear enough. I'm not "resisting"; I cannot. This is a party for people with cool taste. I am not a person with cool taste. Which is why I asked. If I could, if I had a hard drive full of 100,000 awesome as hell songs that none of you had ever heard and a scintillating, original, universal yet unique theme to tie 20 of them together and make your heart stop with my absolute brilliance, plus gorgeous cover art, I'd be on this in a heartbeat. But I don't have any of that. I just like music and I want to know more about it, which is why I asked about the tracklists, and now I have some links so that's the end of my question. Thank you.
  • Once again count me in.
  • I'm into a decent amount of indie rock. I recognize well over half of the music forks releases on his blog. But I doubt I'll delve too deeply into indie stuff on my mix; my fellow monkeys are probably even more indie and probably way cooler, and they've already heard it all. So I'll probably go with a folk/country/rock mix. That's the music I like best anyway.
  • You know Smo, if everyone has your attitude, we'll have a 100% mainstream swap.
  • Well, is any folk-rock really mainstream? It's funny, I don't recognize most mainstream rock or country because I listen to the radio so rarely (and I can't stand most of the latter). Great mainstream songs would be more of a surprise for me. Hell, I don't even know what is mainstream. I'd be willing to bet that "mainstream" to a lot of monkeys would include band like The Arcade Fire, Bloc Party, the Decemberists, etc. But to other people these bands aren't mainstream. So I think there's room for both "mainstream" (i.e. top 40) and obscure mixes, and of course a mix of both. Anyway, I'm not saying there won't be any surprises on my disc, even for diehard fans of Lost Highway-style music (is that obscure?). I'm just saying I'm not going to try to wow everyone else with uber-obscure picks.
  • In other words, if it comes down to great music that's on the edges of obscurity vs. decent music that only me and my cat knows about, I'll go with the stuff I like best. I don't think anyone should feel that their tastes aren't cool enough, you know?
  • And how would I feel superior, then? Even I need something to think I'm better than everyone else, you know.
  • Let me warn you all right now, there will most likely be a Mariah Carey track on my mix. Maybe even a little something by Emma "Baby Spice" Bunton. Consider yourselves warned. Mwahaha.
  • Mine will likely be that mainstream obscure stuff Smo was talking about. What can I say, it's what I like.
  • While I love all the mixes I've received, the ones I listen to over and over again are the folksy ones. Somewhere along the way I developed a fair liking for mellow guitar tunes.
  • sidebar bump-up
  • Just out of curiousity, what's the general time frame for this swap? I rather enjoyed the last one, and would like to participate again - but I might not be around when the swapping goes down. Do we have a schedule set?
  • We do NOT have a schedule determined as of yet - I've been asking participants and maybe-participants to vote when they want to have it. That page should give you a general idea - right now, it's looking like the majority want to wait until July until swapping, although several (including me) prefer to have it much sooner, in May. Which brings up a good point - does anyone have any "conflict" periods where they would NOT be able to swap?
  • Well, since I brought it up - I can do it up till the end of May. After that, I'm out.
  • I missed this, I'm in, though May and June are both pretty crappy, but I'll do my best to get it done. I don't know if mine will be good because I didn't get any feedback on my last swap. I have to assume it sucked. Sorry, guys. I have a few ideas for the next one though. I'll make it punchier.
  • Also, in response to Wurwilf - the playlists/tracklists of everyone in my group from the last exchange can be found here. A pretty eclectic mix - I'm really glad I participated.
  • End of June is probably...tricky for me. But I figure not impossible if I'm organised. Plus making mixes may be a good distraction from labour.
  • OK, how about this: I close user signups around May 20 and have groups announced by the 25th; that way, people who need to get this done earlier (USian students squeezing this in before going on summer vacation perchance?) can do so. Then, if you want, I can push the mailing deadline back to, say, July 1, allowing people who prefer it later to have more time later on to do so. The only problem with this that I see is groups getting dichotomized into half sending their CDs before the end of May and half of them sending them on July 1 (or, like many of us, weeks into July if something comes up)... which might be kinda weird. Your thoughts?
  • tracicle, since you're bashi and you're delivering end of june and everyone loves you, i think you deserve total immunity to all rules. do whatever you want. seriously. you could send me a moldy cheese cracker and i'd still think you're the bees' knees. (not THAT bees.)
  • although now that i think about it, having a much longer sending period might give each person more of a chance to listen to each mix if they arrive in the mail spread out over a longer period of time. ok, i'm really done now.
  • *bump*
  • I am in! And I humbly request to be put into mandyman's group. I'll see your Mariah and raise you a Paula Abdul and a Swing Out Sister!
  • I'm catching up on mofi reading, so I'm late with everything. But I wanted to point out that I'm Indier than Thou (mp3). And I have decided I'm going to try to have a Sesame Street/Muppets/Fraggle Rock track on EVERY mix I ever make. Even the hard core all swearing rap/heavy metal blend I'm sending to my grandmother.
  • Count me in. Message to Wurwilf: I may have heard every tune in your collection (doubt it), but I can guaran-damn-tee I probably don't have a copy of it. You serve the purpose of spreading mainstream joy on those of us who have lived under the rocks of obscurity (though quite happily and willingly.
  • Looks like I gotta make a new name in Shotsy's CDX forum. Didn't read the fine print--I have a different name here. OK, I'll change that & then mail the info. And puh-leeeze don't put me in a group with js. It's not that I have anything against him or his mixes, but since he uses MY computer to burn them, I pretty much figure I have a copy already.
  • New thread with juicy info for swappers here.
  • Count me in also - phew, to think i was so kind a down about missing the last one and that i just noticed this thread.
  • Groups have been organized and info has been mailed. See the boards for more.