Unthemed tape: "Signs of life"

This tape was inspired by two things: the first track sounded like a great opening track for a mix and the last track sounded like a great closing track. Unfortunately, both lend themselves to being surrounded by less intense songs and neither is itself too intense. Managing the flow of this tape, then, was largely a matter of finding a way to reach some kind of high point.

Track 2's beginning measures are designed to imitate the opening measures of the song that follows track 1 on its original album - a trick I talked about in part 4 of the how-to series. Since the second track ends by slowing down the tempo and fading out, the next track pretty much had to be slower still; track 3, as a result, starts a series of five very subdued songs. I didn't notice this at first, but 3 through 6 alternate between soft, repetitive vocals and prominent, lyrical vocals - a phenomenon I'll have to think more about later. Track 7 concludes that set by stripping away all of the extra instrumentation and leaving more empty space between musical phrases, bringing the tape to its quietest place.


So as to not make a startling break with the rest of the tape, track 8 also begins with some folk-like acoustic strumming, but from there it moves into a much more complex and less traditional rhythm and chord progression that starts the tape moving towards its climax. Track 9 continues that weirdness, but drops some of the more uncommon instruments so that it can lead into the only halfway normal rock track on the mix, which is also its high point. The last three tracks are also united by their (relatively) prominent bass lines, which in other circumstances might not have been as important: having all of the acoustic tracks earlier in the mix, I suspect, highlights that similarity.


1.  Calexico - Letter To Bowie Knife
2.  The Weakerthans - Night Windows
3.  Caribou - Hello Hammerheads
4.  Blitzen Trapper - Black River Killer
5.  James Yuill - This Sweet Love
6.  Neko Case - Vengeance Is Sleeping
7.  Dan Auerbach - Trouble Weighs A Ton
8.  Ramona Falls - Russia
9.  Soul Coughing - Lazybones
10.  stellastarr* - Warchild
11.  Meeting Of Important People - Mothers Pay More