from my window to yours....

"A good compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do and takes ages longer than it might seem. You gotta kick off with a killer, to hold the attention. Then you have to take it up a notch, but not blow your wad, so maybe cool it off a notch, and you can't put the same artist twice on the tape, except if some subtle point or lesson or theme involved, and even then not the two of them in a row, and you can't woo somebody with Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi" and then bash their head off with something like GBH's "City Baby Attacked by Rats," and... oh, there are a lot of rules....."

Welcome to Shuffleathon 2007.

You might remember that we played this game last year (although it wasn't really finished until this February, for one reason or another). Last year's guidelines were:

"You should look into your heart and into your soul and pluck out the 12 tracks that you feel the most passionate about, the songs that you identify with the most."

That's pretty good, I reckon. Simple. I'm not going to fiddle with that too much except that the minimum number of tracks on your compilation should be 10. There is no maximum restriction except for the capacity of a CD.

Other than that, the only rules are those outlined in the quote above. Your only limitation is your imagination. I want you to go out and make the most kick ass compilation you possibly can.... which I suspect is probably easier said than done.

You can start thinking about your compilation now if you like, or you can wait to see who you have drawn and try and tailor your mix to your audience... it's entirely up to you.

There's still time to take part. All you need to do is to shout out in the comments box below, and I'll add you to the list. I'll close the list of participants in a week or so and will ask everyone taking part to email me their postal address. Once I have all of the addresses, I will do the draw, and I will email each person the name and address of the person they are making their CD for (although if you don't feel comfortable with me handing out your address, I will be happy to act as an intermediary and forward CDs on as appropriate. Note that some of the participants might live overseas to you, so international postage may be necessary....).

By entering the Shuffleathon, you are committing to:

a) Make a compilation CD and send it to the person you have drawn. It would be nice if you gave some thought to what you put on this, but I suppose it's up to you...

b) Receive a CD, give it a fair listen and to put a nice fulsome review online (again, if you happen to be taking part and you don't have a blog, I'll be happy to post up the reviews here). Just remember that someone has poured their heart and soul into this compilation, the least you can do is to give it a proper write-up.

I will maintain a great big table showing who is taking part and whether or not they have sent their CD and whether or not they have received and reviewed their CD, with links as appropriate.

Ready? Here we go....

NAME	POSTED OUT	RECEIVED
1. Tina
2. Sarah
3. Cody Bones
4. Mark
5. Michael
6. Hen
7. Cat
8. Bedshaped
9. Pynchon
10. J
11. The Great Grape Ape
12. Ian
13. Martin
14. Monogodo
15. Threelight
16. Paul
17. Charlie
18. LB
19. Katyola
20. Lisa
21. Graham
22. Me
23. You????

Who else wants in? Quick... there's still time!

Just remember... a compilation is like a window into your soul - so be careful and choose your songs wisely.