A REPORT FROM HQ

PART 1)  GETTING ISH DONE.

My achey fingers are happy to report that I have gone back to the 2009 blog entries and added genres to all of the files, and reuploaded all of the archives. 

If you go to http://thetastates.com/mp3s/blog/ and download blog20090102 through to blog20091219b, these MP3s will now have genre tags that match the system I started in 2010. 
(For those wanting to download a large list of files, I recommend the Download Them All extension for Firefox.)
I do not recommend downloading the 2008 and 2007 blog entries at this point, as I will eventually go back and put in their genres as well. 
Seriously, 2009 alone should keep you busy for what, like a month?

The genres are just general guidelines, which often refer more to the specific scenario in which you would enjoy the tracks, more so than a strict definition of sound.

Again, a summary of the genres:
 Hiphop:  The rhyming over beats goes here.
 Beats:  Dubstep, IDM, downtempo, jungle, etc.  A mixed bag for the late-night basshead crew.
 Dance:  Mostly 126 BPM-esque party music.  Sort these tracks out for your workout mixes and dance parties.
 Folk:  Softer music hovering abstractly in the folk traditions.
 Pop:  Pretty much anything that is radio-friendly and easily approachable.
 Experimental:  Only sample this genre if you are in to adventurous sounds.
 Lighter:  Grab-bag genre for the lighter things that don't fit in the above.  Could be ambient, jazz, soundtracks, etc.
 Harder:  Grab-bag genre for the harder things that don't fit in the above.  Could be metal, breakcore, screamo, etc.


step 1)  I recommend unzipping a number of entries, maybe say 10 at once, and then loading them in to Itunes or whatever music program you prefer.
step 2)  Sort them based on Genre, and use that as your guideline to file them in to folders you want, or proceed with mass deletions of genres that you know you just don't have time and/or desire for.
stpe 3)  Keep being awesome.



PART 2)  HOW ISH GETS DONE.

I get a number of questions about how I find new music.  I've been a music addict since childhood, and a "DJ" since 1998, so my techniques have been refined over the years thanks to emerging technology.

I'll spare you my history, but what I do now is a multi-pronged approach:
1)  Use Google Reader to subscribe to RSS feeds for all of my favourite online music stores:  Juno.co.uk, Beatport, Bleep, Turntable Lab, etc
2)  Use Google Reader to subscribe to music review and media blogs:  too many to name.
3)  Use Google Reader to subscribe to many MP3 album blogs:  I mostly actually just use this for older experimental music, but sometimes that appears on the blog.
4)  Follow various torrent sites, looking specifically for artists I like and for artists I don't know that receive a lot of interest.  ("scene releases" is actually a fairly reliable way to find singles)
5)  Have a robot scour a list of 200 MP3 blogs nightly and download all of the MP3s from them that it can.  These are then sifted via bulk processes. (about 5 GB/week)
6)  The content is then placed on a USB drive daily:  new purchases, new downloads, older but-recently-downloaded albums, and a huge bulk load of random web-scoured MP3s.
7)  I then just listen to music all day long at my job, often siftling very quickly through larges swathes of music.  I generally clear 3 GB to 4 GB of music daily.  (A DJ quickly learns how to sift through mass quantities of sounds, especially electronic music.  Even still, my perpetual backlog grows daily.)
8)  Exceptional discoveries are sorted in to folder to be shared with the internet masses via this blog.
9)  Everyone lived happily ever after.
10) Oh, and everyone died.  Eventually.

So it's definitely a busy hobby with no real end in sight.
And that's where you come in:  By actually producing something useful and providing a service which can help streamline your life, I get to experience the warm sensation of not feeling like I am wasting my entire life!  HURRAY! 
Caitlyn can find a sense purpose in the drudgery of the constant toil!  HUZZAH!

But it's not all about YOU PEOPLE! (sheesh!)
Doing this allows me to readily compile highlights of all the great music I find, so that I will always have the best new music to listen to at my fingertips.  I listen to all of these entries a few times on my mp3 player when at the gym or on walks.  This process is also very useful for preparing my DJ mixes, basically a rather intricate sifting and review process.
If I look back over any year's period, I will have now have an incredibley thorough list of all of my favourite music from that time.
In a similar way, when I am old and bed-ridden, I will always be able to return to my DJ mixes to rediscover my favourite tracks of a lost era.


So enjoy!
~C*