Open Letter to Life Hacker

Dear Life Hacker:

When sourcing a method to import my extensive iTunes library from my PC to my new Mac Book, Apple suggested the tedious task of burning all 6,600+ mp3s onto dvds, importing, and recreating the meticulous playlists. FML.

That’s when I stumbled upon your article Geek to Live:

How to move an iTunes library from a PC to Mac (and back).

I’ve looked to your site before as a reference guide to making life easier by solving such inconvenient situations which make one think “there must be a better way.”

With that, I would like to thank you for making life easier time and time again. I raise a glass to you – a reference guide to all things amazing. My love for and dedication to you only grows.

Cheers,

Melissa

Soundtrack To Falling In Love

What does falling in love sound like? Below is a list of the top 3 artists who supply the music featured in the movie that is my life. Hopefully, it will help provide a lovely background to your personal love story too.

1. José González first captured my attention with a remake of The Knife’s song, Heartbeats. His album, 10 Days of Covers, features beautiful remakes of good songs and takes them to a whole new level. Best tracks worth checking out: Heartbeats, Teardrop, Hand On Your Heart and Killing For Love.
2. Kings of Convenience are great for upbeat, skip home in la, la, love music. Since the duo consists of  Erlend Øye, I’m counting his solo work in this section. Check it: I Don’t Know What I Can Save You From (original and röyksopp remix), Toxic Girl, I’d Rather Dance With You and Sudden Rush.
3. Four Tet’s talents stretch beyond producing originals, like the breathtaking track Everything Is Alright, and extend to remixing otherwise bland tracks into pieces of art - a perfectly crafted background to any love story. Four Tet remixes worth checking out: Andrew Bird’s Imitosis and Sia’s Breathe On Me.

I know, my love story sounds like a Spanish love-affair. I would love to hear back from you – what makes up your perfect soundtrack to falling in love? What does your list look like? What should I add to my list?

Let me know!

Creating The Perfect Lounge Playlist

The perfect lounge playlist is essential for everyone’s music libraries because it is the only music that really sets the stage for drama and romance in fiercely chic way. This playlist is golden for dinners, cocktail parties, pre-drinks and post-drinks, and any other sexy situations you may find yourself in. The sound ranges in genres from electronic to jazz; but to me, its all lounge.

It also varies by tepos: the slower ones are better suited for winding down, the faster tempos are for getting a party started. I have multiple lounge playlists  arranged by tempo to suite every situation perfectly.

Just brought someone home at the end of the night? Bitter:sweet. Girlfriends dropped in for pre-party cocktails? Hotel costes. Dinner party? Jazz and 90s/80s.

The best Lounge CD series that make a perfect start to a playlist are as follows:

1. Hotel Costes (i – x)
2. Buddha Bar (i – x)
3. Jazz and (80s and 90s)
4. Om series (mixes, various locations)
5. Verve Remixes (i – iii)

The best artists for a slower tempo are as follows:

1. Bitter:Sweet
2. Goldfrapp
3. John Legend
4. Nouvelle Vague
5. Telepopmusik
6. Portishead
7. Massive Attack
8. Air
9. Gotan Project
10. Trentmoller

Best Artists for a faster-paced lounge are as follows:

1. Kaskade
2. Stephane Pompougnac
3. Mark Farina
4. Parov Stelar
5. Blue Six
6. Amy Winehouse
7. Fiest
8. Soulstice

And finally, my favourite lounge songs of all time are as follows:

1. Koop Island Blues – Koop
2. Dream Machine – Mark Farina (Downtempo Mix)
3. All I Want – Jehro
4. Its You Its Me – Kaskade
5. Les Djinns (Trentmoller Remix) – Djuma Soundsystem
6. Sous La Soleil (Cuba Acoustic Mix) – Major Boys
7. Cleopatra in New York – Nickodemus (zim zam mix)
8. As The Day Breaks – Carmen Rizzo
9. Everything is Alright – Four Tet
10. Where Do I Begin (Away Team Mix) – Shirley Bassey
11. Diferente – Gotan Project
12. Loneliness (chill mix) – Blank & Jones
13. Metropolitan – Emmanuel Santarronama
14. Juice – Buddha Sounds CD
15. Faking The Books – Lali Puna
16. Paper Aeroplanes – Angus & Julia Stone
17. (This is Not) A Love Song – Nouvelle Vague
18. Our Remains – Bitter:Sweet
19. Adios – Zimpala
20. Show Me – John Legend

I’ll stop myself at 20, but let me know if there are any vital lounge tracks on your list that make your top 20 and I missed. If there is one thing I urge you to do, it is to give all of these a quick listen. You may like them all, you may like some, you may like none – but you will open yourself up to new music, which really is the greatest gift of all.