Here's the cover and notes for Mr. V's playlist:
Ever since I was hooked by the film High Fidelity, I've wanted to start making and sharing compilation tapes. When I got word that Interference had a contest for this very artform, I was hard within seconds. So I committed to taking part in this contest, and when I began, I was planning on having no plan - that is, chucking some of my favourite songs together and trying to make them flow. However, for some reason I couldn't get that to work, so I soon threw that out the window, and started on a sort-of concept album. It's about love, girls, that whole chestnut. I tried to reflect it in the album art, which I whipped together quickly in Paint one night when I was bored, and I quite like, really. I didn't realise it at the time but it's inspired by/a ripoff of Is This It by The Strokes, one of my favourite albums (whose songs of which I couldn't find any room for here, unfortunately).
It follows a loose story - guy wants girl, guy gets girl, guy likes girl, guy has problems with girl, guy and girl are over. Most of us have been there to a degree. It's nothing particularly innovative - in fact, probably a bit overplayed - but I'm 18, and at the moment it's who I am and what I'm feeling, and to be honest it wouldn't be right for me to put out some pretentious bullshit for the sake of impressing you guys. In terms of music, this is a real mixed bag, to an extent. While there's no insane genre-crossing, there's songs from different eras, countries and genres. I tried to make the selection a mixture of my favourite songs, the best songs from a few of the artists, and a few songs that I don't think too many of you would have heard. Sadly there's a lot of songs or artists I couldn't fit in here - not because of time restraints but because they just didn't fit. Oh well, there's always next time - for which I'm already planning...
The end result is something that I'm really happy with. I was planning to to be short (between 40-50 minutes, like most albums, sorta), but towards the end I remembered a few old favourites and found a way to throw them in, so it just clocks in at around an hour and ten minutes. Even though I'm very fond of this playlist - it's something I've lived with and toyed with and listened to for around a month now - I'm all ears in terms of feedback, not only for song choice (even though I think all the songs here are rad), but for the order and the cohesiveness and all that. Given it's my first such playlist, I think it's only fair. In fact, that's one of the things that makes these contests so attractive to me. If I can pick up a handful of new songs, a few new favourite artists, and find new ways of listening to old favourites, then it doesn't matter if I don't make it out of the group stages, or win the whole bloody thing.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed putting it together. I give you... All You Ever Wanted.