Ugata Heardis

Some highschool friends that I recently got in touch with have a neat thing going on. They call it the Ugata Heardis project. So far there have been 2 complete rounds with the third round in progress.

The way it works is that you

• have a list of cats who are "in" for the round.
• Each cat who is in gets a list of the names and addresses of the other cats who are also in.
• Then, you serve up a mix cd or double gatefold mix epic of songs and audio that you feel your peers just MUST be exposed to. Hence the name : Ugata Heardis.
• Then, if there are 6 cats who are in you make 5 copies of the disc(s) {6 minus your self = 5} and send them out to the peers.
  
• After a while a survey is emailed out to the peers from a co-ordinator where you vote for your favorite tracks from
• Each album that you didn't submit
  
• Your favorite tracks over all that you didn't submit.
• The co-ordinator then tallies up the results of the most popular tracks over all and you get to see which songs from your mix were favorites.

There are a couple of minor sub rules such as, no more than 2 tracks from one artists (the project is about exposure and breadth, rather than say making a mix and the last half be the B-side to Tattoo You. No matter how tempting that might be.

It's really a great idea. I love making mixes and I love the veritable avalanche of new music that you get. And it's great to hear other folks exercise their mix/dj skills. Most folks theme a mix and then the cover art can get off the hook. It's good times. This last round that i've joined in on has a sub-theme: Running Blind. Which means you send out the mix to be appreciated WITHOUT a track list. then, 2 weeks later you let the folks in on the secret of the artist and track names. So, if you REALLY want your peers to appreciate the suble colors of your pat boones and perry coumos, or your insistence that Tuvan throat singing is far and away inferior to Tibetan throat singing - you can. You can torture or show mercy.

I've already received a set in the mail One entitled Black Black and is a batch of industrial assaults that attempt to burn my face chemically. the other is Strawberry Pocky - which is chocked full of cartoon, raymond scott style musics, and some actual standup comic bits, with a sugar coating of Pop Songs. what fun.

Spread the culture of the Ugata Project. It is unseemingly tasty. It is, yea, unwholesome in it's delights.