gaporter
Well-Known Member
Greetings all! I have been passed the torch by the great and wonderful @Joe Mac to carry on the duty of thread runner for Year 3 of the Needles & Grooves AOTMs. Hence - this thread!
You all probably know the drill by now, but just in case any newcomers are interested, here's the rundown:
One last note for this introductory post is a point I wish to stress: we are, for the most part, a very open minded community when it comes to music on N&G. In just the first two years of doing AOTMs, we have had jazz, metal, singer-songwriter, flamenco, Irish music, glitch pop, punk rock, blues, a covers album, classical, a live album, French post-rock, ambient and much, much more. As you can tell just from that sampling, these AOTMs aren't pinned down by a specific genre or country of origin. I say this to alleviate fears some may have of their record not fitting a certain type of mold or not being accepted by the forum. If you love the album and want to pick it, then pick it!
And with that mouthful out of the way, let's get this show on the road for Year 3!
You all probably know the drill by now, but just in case any newcomers are interested, here's the rundown:
- Each month, someone from the forum chooses a record for the rest of the forum to go out and purchase.
- The thread dedicated to their AOTM is typically started the month before whatever month they are picked for (for example, if you are picking the record for August, your thread will be started in July, and so on).
- The choice of record is almost entirely dependent on the person choosing, though there are some stipulations put in place to try to keep things balance for everyone. The most important thing to make sure of is that anyone can secure a copy of your AOTM (preferably for under $30), regardless of what country they are in. Keep in mind that multiple people from different countries participate in these threads. As long as you can be reasonably sure everyone will be able to get a copy of the album you choose without issue, the sky's the limit!
- For each thread, the person responsible for picking the AOTM is also responsible for coming up with hints for the rest of the forum to use to guess the record they have chosen. This is the main component of the individual AOTM threads; trying to keep the rest of the forum guessing while still providing enough info for it to be solved! Or, if the forum fails to solve the album, it is revealed via an announcement for the person who picked it.
- The announcement date for the record is largely up to person picking; typically in the past, the chooser has composed a write-up to go more into detail for why they picked the record, what they like about it or other assorted info about the record- though one shouldn't feel obligated to do a massive write-up for the record they chose if they're not comfortable doing so!
- After the current month's thread has been wrapped up, whoever has previously been drawn for the following month will then start their thread. Though just because an AOTM's month has ended doesn't mean that discussion of that record should cease - feel free to use it to provide further updates about developments with the record or what the artist is currently up to!
- It has become customary that the person choosing the record runs their own thread, but for the following year while I am in charge of running the general thread, I'm offering to those who wish to pick an AOTM, but perhaps don't feel up to running the entire thread, a helping hand. If you want me to run your thread for you, I will be happy to do so and hopefully make the task of coming up with hints and whatnot easier and less stressful. But, if you want full control over your thread, then that is also welcome!
- And of course, the final rule: be nice.
One last note for this introductory post is a point I wish to stress: we are, for the most part, a very open minded community when it comes to music on N&G. In just the first two years of doing AOTMs, we have had jazz, metal, singer-songwriter, flamenco, Irish music, glitch pop, punk rock, blues, a covers album, classical, a live album, French post-rock, ambient and much, much more. As you can tell just from that sampling, these AOTMs aren't pinned down by a specific genre or country of origin. I say this to alleviate fears some may have of their record not fitting a certain type of mold or not being accepted by the forum. If you love the album and want to pick it, then pick it!
And with that mouthful out of the way, let's get this show on the road for Year 3!
everyone is safe for at least the next month. but come May... it could happen 
