Thursday, November 26th 2009

By Grace Evans

Last year my friend introduced me to the Cut the Crap playlists, a current and eclectic playlist of diverse bands available for download every month. On the last day of every month a new Cut the Crap becomes available on mininova.org, before being leaked to other torrent sites. The playlist includes bands such as Röyksopp, Passion Pit, MSTRKRFT, Pilot Speed, the Gossip, Beck, Vampire Weekend, Spiral Beach, Islands and Coeur de Pirate. Josh Parto is the mind behind Cut the Crap playlists. Hailing from Kitchener, Ontario, Parto is sixteen years old and in his grade eleven year.

About a year and a half ago, after downloading a playlist of over one hundred songs, Parto realized that he could make his own playlists and that people might want to listen to them. “I think it was probably just summer boredom, I just sort of decided to do it, but I think it was also around the time I downloaded someone else’s playlist, and it was one of those really long ones with over one hundred songs, and it took me three months to listen to the full thing, that’s when I sort of realized I could have my own take on playlists, shorter with a specific order and sort of make it my own thing and hopefully people would like it,” Parto told me.

He spends each month listening to new music and fine-tuning the order of the songs before uploading the final playlist list on the last day of the month: “As I discover songs, I sort of imagine what the order’s going to be in my head. Because you know as I buy CDs, or read music magazines, I’ll find new bands … and the playlists are really just the songs I listen to from that month.”

And while he takes into consideration people’s suggestions for songs as well as current trends in music, Cut the Crap playlists are compiled primarily of songs that Parto personally likes: “For the most part it’s just what I like, sometimes I do sort of stretch to the outer limits of my sort of musical interests to appeal to other people, but it’s definitely all stuff that I like … It’s really sort of just an archive of what I like and that other people like it too is just really awesome.”

While it’s hard to get an actual number of the amount of times that the playlist is downloaded each month, Parto was able to find the numbers for the September 2009 playlist on mininova.org alone, which were over one thousand downloads. And the scope of the playlist is huge: Parto told me: ‘”A few months ago, this guy from France emailed me about how much he liked this local band that I had included on the playlist, called Kidstreet … and he was asking me how he could get their CD, but unfortunately they don’t have a CD yet. But yeah, just like all over the place.”

“Apparently [Kidstreet] got an interview in an Australian magazine because the guy who interviewed them downloaded my playlists so that was pretty cool…They actually came up to me and told me that, or asked me if I was the guy that makes Cut the Crap playlist and I said yes.”

Parto says that usually a few people every month email him or add him to Facebook to say hello. In addition to picking the music for his high school before the morning announcements, Parto says that his friends download the playlist every month, and some of his teachers know about his hobby.

For the future, Parto is considering something in broadcasting. But he has his eye on a job that he would be perfectly suited for: “I like the idea of picking music for a TV show, but I’m not sure if that’s a actually job, but that would be an awesome job I think.”

I asked Parto what he thinks his best playlist is: “I like the [August 2009 one] … I’m really proud of each one that I make, but for some reason … I keep listening to the songs in that one, even though it was a few months ago. I don’t usually ditch the songs after the month is over, but that one has the most staying power of any of the ones I’ve ever made I think.”

At the end of his mininova.org upload, Parto writes: “buying music and attending concerts is worth your money – please do it!” He told me: “What I usually do is, I buy all CDs … I’ve never bought from iTunes or anything …If there is a band I’m interested in, I’ll find three or four songs from their most recent CD or whatever CD I’m interested in … and if I like those three songs enough, I’ll buy the full CD, and it’s kind of a risk but it’s usually worth it.”

This combined with his regular attendance of local shows, demonstrates his commitment to supporting artists. Essentially he gives these bands free coverage, because many people who are uploading the playlists are hearing local Canadian bands in various countries where they might have otherwise never heard of them.

The name Cut the Crap? “It’s definitely cut the crappy music, I mean that’s my opinion I guess, um it sort of goes back to the other playlist I downloaded, I think it had 150 songs, like a huge amount for just one month, I mean I ended up deleting most of it so it wasn’t even worth it in the end. I found one really great band that I liked but most of it was crap.”

Parto’s top three songs that you should listen to right now: Miike Snow’s “Black and Blue,” Vampire Weekend’s “Horchata” and Beck’s “Timebomb.” Find out about new CTC playlists at the only official website: http://mindset.tumblr.com.