As long as I can remember, I have been fascinated with music playlists. When I was young, I would agonize for hours about which songs would make the cut on my 45, 60, or 90 minute cassette tape, all the while debating the feeling and mood established by the song order. How does the song start, what is its tempo, how does it end and most importantly, what does it say?!!
With the rise of MP3s and the iPod, the traditional mixtape has now evolved into the electronic playlist, allowing music fans to create a mix of favorite songs and genres to any occasion. To celebrate this recent phenomenon, I recently launched a website called FIQL (pronounced “fickle”) that lets music fans trade playlists and the stories behind their creation.
Each week, I will pick a handful of interesting playlists from the site (FIQL.com) and share them with all of you. These playlists, submitted by regular folks, run the gamut from witty to thought provoking and everything in between.
When these lists were first submitted to the site, I wasn’t familiar with all the songs. However, I found the stories/concepts interesting enough that I wanted to hear what the songs sounded like. Isn't that what sharing music is all about?
Below are five playlists and the descriptions written by their creators (in no particular order) that I want to share with you all this week. To see the playlist click on the link – where you can also listen to samples if you'd like.
1. Krazy Kount
Yeah, a playlist with a gimmick: The tracks keep count; you'll be surprised how well they all mesh together! (couldn't make a list that goes all the way to "99 Luftballoons!")
Click here to view the music playlist and listen to samples
Article comments
1 - uao
Mike has put together an exciting and useful site, and it looks to hold much promise for the future, so I'll second his recommendation to take a look.
When I was a teenager, back in the cassette mix-tape era, I used to dream of a playback machine that could create a completed random mix tape at the flick of a button, no fuss, no muss.
I never realized it's become possible on a PC. Nobody even had a PC when I made my first mix tapes.
I love random shuffle, it really is a great way to become familiar with stuff you'd otherwise maybe never meet.
2 - Eric Olsen
I am very excited about the direction things are going on the web in general and here on Blogcritics specifically regarding playlists, which really is a way of looking for various connections between songs. Thanks and welcome Mike!