Popular site needs a fresh look

Popular music site is looking to update the look along with the new functionality.

http://tinyurl.com/tgfd7

I listed this a while ago, but it did not work out between myself and the designer. Took some time to work on other projects, and now it's time to work on this one again.

The site is getting a more community-driven functionality and it now needs the style to follow that up.

This contest is just for a design for the homepage, but we ask that the designer be willing to go beyond that as there will be MANY inner pages and media elements to design as well. We have a total budget of $5,000.

Please, please, please, only submit if you have experience. We're EXTREMELY picky with what we'll use on this site. We've already had a lot of mockups that we've declined.

- We're looking to likely go with a 2-column design. Content on the left and cube ads/links on the right
- The home page should list the featured mixtapes
- The home page should also list the most popular mixtapes of the week
- As for how the content is laid out on the hompage, we're fans of the straightforward and in your face layouts of http://www.threadless.com/ and http://www.ivoteforart.com/
- We're open on colors, but prefer to keep the site light. We'll consider darker layouts, but it's not exactly what we're looking for.
- As cliched as it is, we'd like a nice web 2.0 feel. Lots of shine, lots of gradients, excellent color balancing etc

- Unprofessional/amateur designs
- Design that is just like the current one
- No flash in the design please
- No grunge style layouts please