1/ So First Off - Tell Us your Name, City and Country and what you currently do for a living?
Erin Murray - Music to Curator
My name is Erin, I live near Lake Cootharaba, on the beautiful Sunshine Coast in Queensland Australia. I am a Writer, I have had many careers prior, Auditor, Plumber, I like this one the best, and I get to spend time at home with my family.
2/ Is This Something You Always Wanted To Do? What Do You Enjoy About It?
I think I always wanted to write, I love describing the things I see and feel. It is great curating a playlist, it creates a space to explore how a particular song makes you feel, and then explain why you love it.
3/ Tell Us About Your First Musical Memory - Why Do You Think You Remember It?
Records, I remember seeing my parents putting records on, I loved looking through the boxes of records, all the amazing album covers - they are so interesting, you know they are special because people are careful with them and they have delicate sleeves, and I wondered how does sound come out of there???!!!
4/ Who Did You Make Your First Mixtape / Playlist For - What Was The Result - Did They Dig It?
For myself, I had a Walkman, I would tape songs off the radio and then listen to them while I was walking to the school bus or to a friends house, my own little world, designed just for me.
5/ What Made You Go Online And Search About Music Curation?
One of my closest friends is Chris, he curates the Music to Burn a Million Miles playlist. After my son was born, he suggested I have a look at the website and chat with Andrew, so I did. I hadn’t really done any creative writing up until that point, it was amazing for me, it really uncovered a hidden joy. Now I write a blog, and people have started asking me to write for them, for money!!! I love it, I don’t know how I got along before writing actually….
6/ Tell us about the name of your Playlist - where did that come from?
Music to The Ocean and Beyond, I love the ocean, and am near to it where I live, I am fascinated by the duality of our existence, the things we can see and touch and the things we can’t. I explore these things whenever I get the chance. So, what is beyond the Ocean? All the things we can’t see? How far is the infinite? The name of the playlist is a metaphor, another benefit of not being a computer generated playlist is that it can have a real context around it. There is an ocean within all of us, what is in there? And, what is beyond that?
7/ What does a track have to have to make it onto your list, is there something special that you look for?
It has to have real emotion, that is what the playlist is about, the ocean inside all of us, what lies there and really what is beyond that. I really go with my gut in everything and believe that things happen at the right time. The lyrics are important to me, if there are any, I use them to relate to the song, if a story or message comes to me when I am listening to the song, and I get a strong feeling, then I know it is the song for the week. It is not a structured approach, but that is the fun of it really.
8/ What can an artist do in their track submission to your list to ensure that you'll listen to their track?
I get quite a few submissions that don’t match the playlist, I don’t know if people realise that all our playlists have stories and themes beyond their title. Each playlist page has an introduction to describe the playlist and a why Music to …… section. It would be great to receive a submission, in which the artist described why they wrote the song, how they were feeling when they wrote it and why they want people to hear it.
9/ We know - these change all the time - but as of this week - what are your all time top 5 favorite tracks.
- R. Carlos Nakai - Echoes of Time
- October Song - Bert Jansch
- Otis Redding - Sitting on the Dock of the Bay
- Melody Gardot – Who Will Comfort Me
- Hilltop Hoods - Higher
10/ And finally - which Music to Curator should we interview next?
Mr Chris McCann from Music to Burn a Million Miles, naturally.