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30Hz Recommended Music

30Hz Recommended: Fanfarlo

You might have heard me plug the band Fanfarlo on here in the past (here, here and here). If not, no worries. I’ll catch you up. I dig Fanfarlo. Now that we’re up to speed, I should let you know that Fanfarlo released a new record today called Let’s Go Extinct. It’s a more unified sound than their past records — though everything they’ve done all hinges around the kind of mid-tempo pop music perfected by the Talking Heads. Let’s Go Extinct could be read as a kind of concept album, but I haven’t had enough time with it to really consider whether that notion carries. What I will do is share one of my favorite tracks off the new record. Here’s their video for “A Distance.”

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30Hz Bl-g Music

Taming the Morass: Organize Your Digital Music

**like any good recipe, please read through the entire article before taking any drastic steps**

How to Organize Your Digital Music

I acquire a lot of music. This may come as no surprise. All of it ends up in files on my computer. CDs get ripped into iTunes, vinyl records come with download codes. Emusic and Amazon offer their own headaches. No matter how meticulous I might be about maintaining my files, it all ends up in one big clusterfuck. There are no happy endings in the curation of digital media.

…but it might be time to rewrite the narrative.

Finally growing fed up with my old systems of digital acquisition, organization and storage, I went on a manhunt for a system that will:

A) keep my files in the right place;

B) store them efficiently;

C) keep my laptop hard drive unclogged.

I also have certain particular needs that stem from my own compulsive disorders. But we’ll get to those as I detail the methods I’ve uncovered in good time. First I must dispel a few assumptions about how this process will go. If you want this to be an easy process, it will not be free of financial investment. If you have a small collection or have unlimited time you can organize your entire collection without incurring any charges. When I learned what I’d have to do to avoid paying, I gladly donated $30. This process also requires some patience, thinking a step ahead. This is something at which I’m not necessary very good. I will explain my stumbling points so you do not succumb to the same pitfalls.

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30Hz Bl-g 30Hz Recommended Music

30Hz Top 100 Songs of 2013

I’m only one dude. I essentially have four jobs. I have no idea when I find the time to listen to enough music to come up with 100 favorite tracks. My 2013 playlist contains more than 7 days worth of music. And that doesn’t even count all the stuff I check out on Spotify and dismiss. But even with all that listening, it’s blind, dumb, stupid luck when a certain song catches my fancy. On some occasions, a song is thrust in my face with the force of the 800 lb. mainstream music machine and those songs must endure hundreds of listens. Staying power, m’f’ers. See: Arcade Fire, Daft Punk. Other times I fall instantly in love with a record. The songs grab me immediately. Those are the easy ones. The bands and the songs I control. See: Frightened Rabbit, Lady Lamb the Beekeeper, Polica. And then there’s that final category. Hearing a song, being in the right frame of mind to accept its advances. You might hear a song a dozen times before it catches you at just the right moment. See: half the songs on this list. For every great song on this list, there are hundreds of equally worthy songs that I just didn’t hear or didn’t hear at the right time in the right place. And to those songs, my apologies. Try harder next time. Everyone else, enjoy the list. Find some new music. Support great artists and music worth listening to and so on and so forth. And keep in mind that the ranking system is just for fun. Any of these songs could movie ten spots in either direction given my mood…

The 30Hz Top 100 Songs of 2013

30Hz Best Songs of 2013