N&G AOTM Year 5: General Thread & Archive

avecigrec

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Year 5!

The Needles & Grooves Album of the Month is almost old enough to roll out the anniversary pressings...

I am @avecigrec and I'm thrilled and honoured to continue being your host here at AOTM Central. We very recently reached the end of our original list of pickers and have entered a new phase where anything goes! The list is loaded up with second-timers and is still open to any and everybody who wants to give it a go. We welcome you, and look forward to seeing what it is you'd like us to hear!

The game remains unchanged but in case you need a refresher, or 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 balanced 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 from the person who picked it.
  • The announcement date for the record is largely up to the person picking; typically in the past, the chooser has composed a write-up to go more into detail about 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.
And with that, I think all the bases are covered in terms of explaining the AOTMs. I realize much of that is redundant for those who have been in the game since June 2019, but even if only one new person hops aboard this year, I'll want them to be able to know what's going on with the AOTMs so, hopefully, I've explained it thoroughly enough for anyone unfamiliar.

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 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!

  • *Prices being as they are these days, it is proving increasingly more difficult to hit this $30 mark; ultimately the most important aspect is making things as accessible as possible for the community at large to engage with your thread - if your perfect album crests over that price point by a little bit, don't let that stop you; if it goes over by a lot, though, some folks may not be able to come along for the ride. If you have any questions or doubts at all, feel free to ask in this thread - folks are good about discussing matters and want to see everybody win in the end.
 
VOL. 49
JULY 2023
TBA
Chosen by @Colonel_Angus
hank-hill-king-of-the-hill.gif


Concocting clues that should get me past 3 days before someone guesses it correctly










::cough @mgp cough::
 
So year 5, ecxciting!

Hopefully we can get to volume 60, which is actually record 61…

I was wanting to do a 7x7 first 49 collage and thought I'd have to wait until the Colonel's reveal until I remembered there was a volume 0!

Now I just have to wait (very patiently - thank you for all your hard work @RenegadeMonster) until photo uploads are enabled again to post it.
 
I respectfully wish to submit a complaint about being unable to proceed with shenanigans in the new guess thread.
 
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