How do you organize your music files? Do you meticulously categorize them into folders by genre or do you group them according to your personal preference? Or maybe you just click on "shuffle" and that's that?
I categorize my music roughly according to genre and mood. Certain days or times of the day makes me want to listen to something that will either complement my mood or help improve it.
Cool Grooves. Here's where I keep my jazz, reggae, and bossanova tunes. Listening to them takes me to the beach, to a lovely rainy day or to somewhere far off where I can just chill. I have Jamie Cullum, Bob Marley, Astrud and Joao Gilberto, Lou Rawls, Miles Davis plus a lot more.
Cotton Candy. Sweet pop tunes like those from The Corrs, Colbie Caillat and Plumb that are for whenever.
Don't Break Anything. Everything from glam rock to heavy metal to alternative is in this folder. I usually listen to them when I'm mad or when I need some energy or I just want or do some head banging.
Easy Rider. I made this playlist last year in preparation for 14 hours of flight with 2 stops along the way. And I've kept it, and added some more, to help keep me relaxed during travel.
Flower Child. I love the 60's! Here's where you'll find Peter, Paul and Mary, The Monkees, Simon and Garfunkel and Fleetwod Mac, to name a few.
Girl Interrupted. Songs from the ladies which range from empowering to angry chick music. Some of the artists I have here are Joni Mitchell, Ani DiFranco, Lily Allen, India Arie, KT Tunstall and Indigo Girls.
Guilt Trip. Okay, there are songs that I just love but get dissed about for their cheesiness. I have songs from Air Supply, Barry Manilow, Styx, England Dan and John Ford Coley for starters, hehe!
Jingle Bells. My favorite, all year-round pick me upper - Christmas songs! :)
Old School. This is another playlist dedicated to rock music but these are the classics from bands such as The Who, Led Zeppelin, The Kinks, The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix.
Psychedelic 80's. Yup, all my music from the 80's are lumped in here - from Madonna to Tears for Fears to Rick Astley to The Smiths to OMD and more. It's for those days when I feel like reliving my childhood.
Reel Sounds. These are my favorites from the movies, TV and show tunes from Broadway. Some of the soundtracks come from Dawson's Creek, My Bestfriend's Wedding, Only You, Watchmen, 500 Days of summer, Fiddler on the Roof, et al.
Secret Garden. Sometimes, I feel very stressed and I need to retreat into a place where I can commune with my soul and collect myself. Classical pieces from Beethoven, Vivaldi and other great masters plus Enya's ethereal sound are the perfect accompaniments for this mood. I'm thinking of adding some opera here, too.
Studio 54. What can I say? Disco music is fun! Picture Cameron Diaz dancing to Donna Summer's Last Dance in Charlie's Angels and that's me when I play this list. :)
Training Day. Nothing pushes my pace more when I'm running on the treadmill than music with the perfect beat and this is where they're all at. You can find The Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim, The Postal Service and a variety of other artists listed in this one.
Unbreakable. When I'm depressed, sad or frustrated and my spirit needs a little push to help keep me going, this is what I listen to. It's a mix of positive, inspirational songs and gospel music.
Vodka Martini. No, these aren't drinking songs but what most would call the "oldies" - Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, and others. Listening to them makes me feel like I'm back in the 50's, sitting in a snazzy hotel bar or a club with my vodka martini in one hand and these incomparable artists singing on stage.
Maybe you've noticed that I don't have a playlist that highlights sad songs. I can't say my entire library is devoid of them but when I'm down in the dumps, the last thing I want to do is wallow with music that'll depress me further.
I also still have songs that I'm not sure where to throw in so I need to come up with a few more lists. I'll probably create one for MoTown and another for OPM. Oh, and I need another one for indie music. Will work on that later.
And that's what I listen to. Care to share your music playlists with me?
Mood Music: Thank You For The Music by ABBA
Thanks for sharing this, really a big help for me. My itunes is very much sorted according to artist and just have a separate playlist for the songs I want to listen depends on my mood which eventually leads to a cluttered playlist. Halo-halo na. Mind if I take your idea how you organize your songs? I like it!
ReplyDeleteBy the way, mind sharing some artist you really like? :)
Go ahead! :)
ReplyDeleteAs for artists, I have lots that I like since my taste is so eclectic. I mentioned some in each of my playlists above. I'm a bit partial to older songs and artists, hehe.
It's a combo of playlist by artist and by mood (e.g. Beach mush, Pinoy lalala, etc.).
ReplyDelete