larryniven's mixtapes

Themed tape: bongos!

2010-07-04T10:14:00.000-07:00

Or is that "bongoes"? Actually, not all of these may even be bongo(e)s in the first place, but close enough.

1. Thievery Corporation feat. David Byrne - The Heart's A Lonely Hunter
2. The Seatbelts - Mushroom Hunting
3. Michael Viner's Incredible Bongo Band - Apache
4. Santa Esmeralda - Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
5. Paul Simon - She Moves On
6. Dizzy Gillespie - Manteca (Funky Lowlives remix)
7. M.I.A. - Bird Flu
8. Ben Harper - Mama's Trippin'
9. Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros - X-Ray Style
10. Vampire Weekend - Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa

Unthemed tape: in media res

2010-06-04T17:23:00.000-07:00

The idea here was basically to shift the frame of the mixtape so that it starts with what would traditionally be a last or second-to-last song and then have it cycle back around. Two instrumental tracks help this along, and for some reason this mix progresses from musical theme to musical theme a little faster than some of the others (or so it seems to me).

1. Pearl Jam - Better Man
2. Yoko Kanno - Criminals Usually Head South
3. Pixie Carnation - When Did The Lights Go Out
4. Kings of Leon - Genius
5. Joan Osborne - Ladder
6. The Weakerthans - Exiles Among You
7. Counting Crows - Speedway
8. Regina Spektor - Eet
9. Yann Tiersen - La Chute
10. Amy Correia - Fallen Out Of Love
11. Patty Griffin - Moses
12. stellastarr* - Sonja Cries

Themed tape: love songs

2010-04-28T06:28:00.000-07:00

I don't care what they tell you, every mixtape maker has one of these - and no matter what anybody tells you, nobody's is definitive. Here's mine - enjoy.

1. Ally Kerr - The Sore Feet Song
2. Sufjan Stevens - The Dress Looks Nice On You
3. David Gray - Babylon
4. Jack Johnson - Better Together
5. Herman Dune - 1 2 3 Apple Tree
6. The Avett Brothers - Kickdrum Heart
7. eels - Prizefighter
8. Bright Eyes - First Day Of My Life
9. R.E.M. - Be Mine
10. The Decemberists - Of Angels And Angles
11. Nickel Creek - Why Should The Fire Die?
12. Bruce Cockburn - Open
13. Joni Mitchell - All I Want

Unthemed tape: momentum

2010-03-31T08:32:00.000-07:00

The general idea behind this tape was to use instrumentals to generate excitement and energy and then to let the following vocal tracks sort of gradually slow things down until the tape just coasted to a stop. It was also an opportunity to use both "Giving Up The Gun" and "It's Thunder And It's Lightning," which are two songs that recently grabbed me.

Also, watch the transition between tracks 10 and 11 - of all of them, that's the most drastic change. If it works, I'm not totally sure why.

1. Meeting Of Important People - Pretzel Rod Blues
2. The Contrast - Caught In A Trap
3. R.E.M. - Star 69
4. stellastarr* - Tokyo Sky
5. Phoenix - 1901
6. Vampire Weekend - Giving Up The Gun
7. Mosquitos - 27 Degrees
8. The Pillows - Tokyo Zombie (The Knock Came At Dead Of Night)
9. The Weakerthans - Relative Surplus Value
10. We Were Promised Jetpacks - It's Thunder And It's Lightning
11. The Avett Brothers - And It Spread
12. Nickel Creek - Scotch And Chocolate
13. Elliott Smith - Tomorrow Tomorrow
14. Nick Drake - From The Morning

Unthemed tape: "Signs of life"

2010-02-14T14:06:00.000-08:00

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

Themed tape: whistle

2010-01-23T17:23:00.000-08:00

This was a little more difficult to construct than maybe it should've been - everyone can think of a few canonical whistling songs, right, so how hard could it be? Well, as it turns out, those few canonical songs are either not too terribly similar to the others or else are too unserious to put on a mix ("Whistle While You Work," e.g.). The saving grace was that most of the reasonable songs I did find had a positive, upbeat tone, more or less. As a result, this is a much peppier mix than the stuff I usually put together.

In terms of flow, The Bangles are a workable midpoint between Paul Simon's relatively straightforward production and folk/Americana sound to The Drums and their Pixies-style surf guitars. That same overall sparsity of sound carries through into track 6, but since that track builds to a real musical climax I felt like that was a good place to switch gears (that's as opposed to "Let's Go Surfing," which pretty much stays on one level). "I Like Birds" brings back a less experimental, more traditional sound, which stays more or less the same for the rest of the tape.

1. Brother Bones and His Shadows - Sweet Georgia Brown
2. Andrew Bird - Fitz and the Dizzyspells
3. Paul Simon - Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard
4. The Bangles - Walk Like An Egyptian
5. The Drums - Let's Go Surfing
6. Peter Bjorn and John - Young Folks
7. eels - I Like Birds
8. Bob Sinclair - Love Generation
9. Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros - Home
10. The Beatles - Two Of Us
11. Calexico/Iron & Wine - Prison on Route 41
12. Otis Redding - (Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay

Thanks also to all my friends who helped me find songs for this tape!

Unthemed tape: exercise mix 2

2009-12-28T20:05:00.000-08:00

1. The White Stripes - Girl, You Have No Faith In Medicine
2. The Weakerthans - Our Retired Explorer (Dines With Michael Foucault in Paris, 1961)
3. Phoenix - Countdown
4. Donora - Shout
5. Lady Sovereign - So Human
6. Mint Royale - Show Me
7. Faded Paper Figures - North By North
8. The Helio Sequence - Can't Say No
9. The Wallflowers - I've Been Delivered
10. Bruce Springsteen - Secret Garden
11. Tracy Chapman - Give Me One Reason

Unthemed tape: untitled

2009-11-11T20:53:00.000-08:00

This tape cheats a good deal when it comes to flow, but as a consequence it doesn't do anything particularly creative. Tracks 1 and 2 start with two very similar percussion intros and then launch into some heavy guitar riffs, which makes flow basically a non-issue - it's like hearing an echo, almost, of the first song. I tried to take it down a little for track 3 but basically couldn't figure out how, so the momentum carries all the way through track 4, which is an early crescendo for the tape. Track 5 is much cleaner, which is supposed to work like a palate cleanser, but its last few seconds introduce the wavering guitar that characterizes the next two tracks. The eighth track returns to the harder sound, which continues through the end of the tape.

1. The Weakerthans - Aside
2. Counting Crows - Angels of the Silences
3. The Moondoggies - Changing
4. The Low Anthem - Champion Angel
5. Calexico - Deep Down
6. Dan Auerbach - Heartbroken, In Disrepair
7. Robert Plant and Alison Kraus - Fortune Teller
8. The Raconteurs - Steady, As She Goes
9. eels - Lilac Breeze
10. Oasis - The Shock of the Lightning
11. The New Pornographers - Stacked Crooked

(To listen to the playlist in full, instead of these absurd 30-second samples, go here.)

Shock!

How to make a mixtape pt. 5: flow revisited

2009-10-17T19:32:00.000-07:00

Flow, that nebulous concept that turns a bunch of songs by different people into a cohesive mixtape, really is vital to the success of a tape (or even, if you're a professional producer, an album). When each song seems like a natural fit, the listener won't stop to question their presence on the tape. Even better, the listener won't have to work to figure out what's going on, thus allowing more time for the important things: enjoying the mix and discovering new music. But achieving flow is no mean feat, even for the experienced mixer. Luckily, there are a few ways to fake flow or even avoid it altogether.

1. Use songs that start with a percussion-only intro.
For whatever reason, drum solos seem to have the same musical effect as a palate cleanser has on taste. There does have to be some measure of similarity between songs - it likely won't work, for example, to go from a down-tempo singer-songwriter kind of thing to a hardcore death-metal drum onslaught - but in general it's easier to bridge a gap between tracks with percussion than with notes.

2. Use an instrumental track.
Again, the reason why this works is not entirely clear, but songs without lyrics seem to work well enough as curveballs that they can be used in a pinch as transition tracks. The same rule applies, though: don't go too crazy.

3. Use a spoken-word track with no music at all.
Whereas the first two are merely tricks, this is pretty much out-and-out cheating. Even better, the words themselves don't seem to matter at all, so you can really let your imagination run wild with this one. These can be skits (like rap albums tend to feature), poems, quotes from movies or TV shows, lines from speeches - basically anything works. It seems like these would have to relate in some way to the preceding or forthcoming track, but I promise you that isn't the case. Listeners will be able to tell, of course, when they do, so maybe there are some bonus points to be had, but a connection really not necessary.

4. Call one group of songs "Side A" and the other "Side B."
Despite the fact that this distinction has been obsolete for at least 10-15 years, enough people still understand it that it won't cause mass confusion. Even for those who don't, this should still work - the idea is to create a divide in the reader's mind so that the (hopefully relative) lack of flow between two tracks isn't a distraction. Ideally, this would only happen when you actually planned for it to, but sometimes there isn't another obvious way out. The only caveat here pertains to side length, because if Side A has 8 tracks and Side B only has 2, it's going to look pretty suspicious. It doesn't have to be 50-50, but the relative lengths shouldn't be too far off.

There are almost certainly other ways to address flow problems, but these are the four best that I've found and they should work in most situations. If not, though, there's no rush - it's always okay to start a mix over from scratch or to put one on indefinite hold until inspiration strikes. Or, to quote Darren Aronofksy, "You remember Archimedes of Syracuse, eh? The king asks Archimedes to determine if a present he's received is actually solid gold. Unsolved problem at the time. It tortures the great Greek mathematician for weeks - insomnia haunts him and he twists and turns in his bed for nights on end. Finally, his equally exhausted wife - she's forced to share a bed with this genius - convinces him to take a bath to relax. While he's entering the tub, Archimedes notices the bath water rise. Displacement, a way to determine volume, and that's a way to determine density - weight over volume. And thus, Archimedes solves the problem. He screams 'Eureka' and he is so overwhelmed he runs dripping naked through the streets to the king's palace to report his discovery."

Themed tape: "The Life Aquatic II"

2009-09-07T06:47:00.000-07:00

The last one of these ended up being more evocative of the ocean, so the sound was either close to power pop (to signify adventure or an excited departure from the norm) or else very atmospheric in a sort of relaxed way (to signify the rhythmic nature of tides and so on). When I saw that I had enough water songs to make a second mix, it turned out that they were more river-based, so this mix has a sound that's a little more organic and not as big - when it's loud, it's not grandiose; when it's quiet, it isn't driven as much by tempo. I wonder if this isn't because of the different connotations that rivers have as opposed to oceans or seas, but ultimately what matters more is how the whole thing comes together: the key transitions are from tracks 4 to 5 and 9 to 10, and the last track should have enough cred to make up for its weird placement.

1. Akron/Family - The River
2. The Acorn - The Flood pt. 1
3. Okkervil River - Lost Coastlines
4. Fastball - You're An Ocean
5. Baby Gramps - Old Man Of The Sea
6. The Monkees - Goin' Down
7. Hank Williams, Jr. - Big River
8. R.E.M. - Cuyahoga
9. Ted Leo + The Pharmacists - Biomusicology
10. Amy Correia - Blind River Boy
11. Train - Mississippi
12. Rufus Wainwright - Banks Of The Wabash
13. The Pixies - Where Is My Mind

Unthemed tape: "B-Sides Showcase"

2009-08-29T14:15:00.000-07:00

Besides the musical similarities among tracks two through six, there are also a lot of lyrical likenesses - fire in particular. "Dizz Knee Land" serves as a lighter and less serious break before the tape's conclusion, and "Guest Room" matches the dark, heavy sound of the tape but in a much cleaner way, which (hopefully) brings the tape to a satisfying conclusion.

1. Eels - I Write The B-Sides
2. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Love Burns
3. Sonic Youth - Incinerate
4. Semisonic - Down In Flames
5. The Wallflowers - Murder 101
6. Nightmare Of You - I Want To Be Buried In Your Back Yard
7. Red Collar - The Astronaut
8. Dada - Dizz Knee Land
9. Fountains Of Wayne - Little Red Light
10. The Weakerthans - Tournament Of Hearts
11. The National - Guest Room

Concept tape: Raising Cthulhu

2009-07-24T13:38:00.000-07:00

This is really very heavy on concept, and you have to squint pretty hard for nearly every song to see how the tape works as a narrative - but I think you can also just enjoy it without thinking about any of that.

1. The Good, The Bad, And The Queen - Green Fields
2. Eels - Fresh Blood
3. R.E.M. - Sponge
4. Andrew Bird's Bowl Of Fire - Satisfied
5. Bright Eyes - No One Would Riot For Less
6. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Spell
7. Bill Callahan - All Thoughts Are Prey To Some Beast
8. Yeasayer - Sunrise
9. Calexico - Nom De Plume
10. Nick Drake - Three Hours
11. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Carry Me
12. Counting Crows - Ghost Train
13. Sufjan Stevens - In The Devil's Territory
14. The The - Love Is Stronger Than Death
15. Jason Lytle - Yours Truly, The Commuter

Themed tape: chilling-out songs for summer

2009-06-24T04:17:00.001-07:00

1. Nujabes + Fat Jon - Mystline [Memories]
2. Baby Dayliner - You Push, I'll Go
3. Mint Royale feat. Pos - Show Me
4. Cancer Rising - Scenery
5. Jurassic 5 - Concrete Schoolyard
6. Beck - Where It's At
7. Curumin - Compacto
8. Jack Johnson - Holes To Heaven
9. Mosquitos - Shooting Stars
10. Yo La Tengo - The Race Is On Again
11. R.E.M. - Beachball

Unthemed tape: "Misery At The Funplex"

2009-06-11T08:08:00.000-07:00

This turned out to be sort of my late 80s/early 90s pop-rock teen-movie-style mix (whew! too many adjectives there, methinks). The first part of the mix (up to and including the tape's crescendo, track 6) is composed of these sort of infectious, energetic songs that aren't actually all that positive if you listen to the lyrics, and then the second half is composed of more ballad-esque (but still light and upbeat) songs that are equally not all that positive if you listen to the lyrics. Ward's closing track, at least, is straightforward, but the rest of it could definitely be the soundtrack to somebody's tumultuous high school years or something.

1. The Hives - Try It Again
2. Green Day - Castaway
3. The Fratellis - Flathead
4. The Pretenders - Tattooed Love Boys
5. Ted Leo + The Pharmacists - I'm A Ghost
6. The B-52s - Funplex
7. The New Pornographers - Failsafe
8. donora - The Chorus
9. Rilo Kiley - Silver Lining
10. Atom & His Package - Going To Georgia
11. M. Ward - Never Had Nobody Like You

Unthemed tape: "Shatter The Lenses"

2009-05-11T07:37:00.000-07:00

Tracks 1 and 2 represent something that had been stuck in my head for a long time: that "I've Just Seen A Face" sounded an awful lot like a Simon & Garfunkel song. "I Am A Rock" opens well, I think, and that was that. Putting the pair at the beginning also meant I could then move on to more modern material, but then the question arose of how to pivot from the clearly older sound and style of two 60s bands to more complex stuff. Caribou comes in handy in these situations, I find, because his music tends to borrow very strongly from that oldies era but also work in new twists.

Moving into the heart of the tape, I lucked out somewhat when the harmonica outro to "Domesticada" matched the harmonica intro for "Kick The Stones," because that allowed me to cheat a little bit going from a lighter overall sound into something a little blusier and darker. Whitley's blues background matched up with Doughty's, whose energy serves as a preparation for the real star of the tape, "Lisztomania." From there the tape winds down pretty directly, each track taking it down a little bit from the previous one, with "The Method" closing on a weird but decidedly up note.

1. Simon & Garfunkel - I Am A Rock
2. The Beatles - I've Just Seen A Face
3. Caribou - Barnowl
4. Mosquitos - Domesticada
5. Chris Whitley - Kick The Stones
6. Mike Doughty - Unsingable Name
7. Phoenix - Lisztomania
8. Ted Leo + The Pharmacists - Little Dawn
9. A Band Of Bees - These Are The Ghosts (Undead version)
10. R.E.M. - Belong
11. We Are Scientists - The Method

How to make a mixtape pt. 4: flow

2009-05-04T19:48:00.000-07:00

Most attributes of a mixtape are relatively well-defined: every officially released song now has a genre associated with it, it's easy to track band members from project to project, reviewers typically reference historical influences, and, in the odd case where none of these helps add to a mixtape, online music matching services abound. Even with all that, though, the essential component of a mixtape, flow, is the hardest to quantify and formalize.

Loosely defined, a mixtape flows to the extent that each song seems to fit with the previous one. The best mixtapes rely on flow to introduce the listener to musical concepts or themes that they might not like in a different context, which means that flow is crucial to any mixtape that takes any risks whatsoever - which, of course, is exactly what mixtapes ought to do. The question, of course, is how to achieve this feeling that the songs all fit.

Before starting to make mixtapes, it may help to replay some of your favorite albums and note how they cohere as albums. In some cases this will be obvious - prog albums like The Decemberists' "The Hazards Of Love" and Fatboy Slim's "From The Gutter To The Stars" feature songs that literally flow into one another - in other cases it will be less so - "Icky Thump" by The White Stripes is all over the map - and in still other cases it won't seem to happen at all - Kanye West's "Late Registration," for example, uses skits between most of its songs. Generally, though, listening to the beginnings and endings of songs will help to coalesce this somewhat nebulous concept.

There are, of course, a few tricks that I've learned that make this process easier. The first step is always to have in mind the intended artistic direction of the mixtape. If your tape is following the High Fidelity start strong/denoue/crescendo paradigm, for instance, you should know which of those steps you're on and choose appropriately. For tapes that proceed through transitions (in genre, sound, theme, or whatever), the next song should in general contribute to that progression. By being familiar with the flow of your favorite albums, you'll know how your songs fit into these various album archetypes; by identifying one such archetype, you'll be able to narrow down which songs are capable of fitting and thereby make the trial-and-error process much smoother.

And make no mistake: almost every fit you'll find will result from a process of trial and error. Initially this will probably just take the form of plugging in random songs to see if they flow, but over time you should start to establish song-searching heuristics. I've already outlined a few of mine above, but those are by no means exhaustive. When I have trouble finding the next track in an otherwise solid mix, I sometimes cheat and go back to the original album of the track I'm stuck on: if it's a good album, the next track will flow and I'll be able to use something about that next track to inform my search. Along slightly different lines, when I find a song that almost feels right but doesn't quite fit, I try to find out which part doesn't fit by finding similar songs in my music library: if a song doesn't quite feel right, I'll look for something similar but with a slightly different tempo, then something a little more or less melodic, then something with a stronger or more suppressed rhythm, and so on and so forth. Another trick that sometimes generates really strange results is to look for one song that starts with the same note or chord that the previous song ends with - this one is especially fun to implement using editing software, as you can merge the two tracks into one longer song.

When all of these methods fail, it's tempting to just give up and say it can't be done - don't fall into this trap! There are plenty of ways to simulate or avoid flow altogether, some of which I've hinted at in this article. I'll devote my next help post to this topic, as it deserves the attention. In the meantime, remember that it's always okay to start a mix over from scratch or to put one on indefinite hold until inspiration strikes. Or, to quote Darren Aronofksy, "You remember Archimedes of Syracuse, eh? The king asks Archimedes to determine if a present he's received is actually solid gold. Unsolved problem at the time. It tortures the great Greek mathematician for weeks - insomnia haunts him and he twists and turns in his bed for nights on end. Finally, his equally exhausted wife - she's forced to share a bed with this genius - convinces him to take a bath to relax. While he's entering the tub, Archimedes notices the bath water rise. Displacement, a way to determine volume, and that's a way to determine density - weight over volume. And thus, Archimedes solves the problem. He screams 'Eureka' and he is so overwhelmed he runs dripping naked through the streets to the king's palace to report his discovery."

Themed tape: repetitious

2009-04-30T17:22:00.000-07:00

1. The Flaming Lips - Yeah Yeah Yeah Song ("yeah" and "no")
2. Zutons - Pressure Point ("pressure")
3. Annuals - Hot Night Hounds ("goodbye")
4. The National - Ada ("Ada")
5. Nick Drake - Pink Moon ("pink")
6. Bruce Cockburn - Open (WYEP live version) ("open")
7. The Avett Brothers - Die Die Die ("die")
8. Rufus Wainwright - Rebel Prince ("Marigold")
9. Leonard Cohen - Hallelujah ("hallelujah")
10. The Pixies - Gigantic ("gigantic")
11. R.E.M. - Bang And Blame ("bang" and "blame")
12. Counting Crows - A Murder Of One ("change")

How to make a mixtape pt. 3: motivation

2009-04-22T22:36:00.000-07:00

Once you obtain all the technological resources, background knowledge, and skills needed to make a mixtape (and I guess also some music to make it with), the relevant question becomes why. After all, iTunes can put together mixtapes from music you already have and services like Pandora can find you new music by making, in a sense, a neverending mixtape. So why bother putting a mixtape together at all? In this post I'll outline a few sources of inspiration that I've found helpful when making mixtapes. Do bear in mind that these aren't necessarily separate - mixing and matching inspiration types is, of course, acceptable.

Perhaps the most common motivation for compiling a mixtape is to then use it as a means of communicating a message. Looking at the list of requests at Tiny Mix Tapes will reveal that such messages can be rather varied, though the stereotypical cases involve relationships - which is not to say that there's anything wrong with making a "let's hook up" mixtape. But you shouldn't worry about picking a subject too esoteric or obscure, except insofar as the subject actually inhibits your ability to find music to match it. It's often difficult to complete a decent mixtape before a message's expiration date, so to speak, so be prepared either to put a lot of effort into a mix of this sort or to complete it once the message no longer needs sending. I myself have not made many of these, but once I get one I like enough to post I'll reference it here.

For those of us who use music to enhance or change our moods, mixtapes can provide a reliable way to do this. Since artists tend to aim for a certain level of variety in their albums - in tempo, subject matter, instrumentation, and so on - it's usually a challenge to find an entire CD that fits a given mood (TV compilation albums notwithstanding). If you can identify a vibe or emotion that you often find difficult to express, it can be emotionally rewarding to construct a mixtape that crystallizes that vibe or emotion. My "A City Through Bleary Eyes" mix attempts something like this, where the vibe or emotion is the subdued one I get walking or driving through an urban area late at night. The difficulties in making a mix like this include translation (your reaction to late night city travel may not be at all like mine) and its inherent contextual limitations (if I'm feeling energetic, I just won't be able to listen to this mix), but it has a reusability that message mixtapes usually lack.

Probably my most common inspiration for a mixtape is to explore a topic or artistic attribute. My instrument- and topic-themed tapes all fall into this category, which is notable for the deceptive ease with which one can construct them. Since there is such a ridiculously large number of songs available, it will be trivially easy to find 10-15 songs that fit a theme in this way. (Hint: if you are having trouble, just use Google.) The trick here is making sure that the songs all come together to make a coherent album - this concept, which I call flow, will be the topic of my next "how-to" post. It is, at least in my experience, always necessary to make some painful sacrifices with respect to the theme so as to maintain the flow, but perhaps you'll have better luck.

Finally, my favorite source of inspiration: individual songs. Mixtapes, so the story goes, originated as a means by which to spread little-known music, so perhaps it's natural to use them specifically as music-sharing tools. Some of the mixtapes I've created around a song include "Any Kind Of Truth," in which I wanted to find a way to use Death Cab's "Bixby Canyon Bridge" as a closer, and this untitled mix, which I based around Joan Osborne's "Spider Web." When making song-based mixtapes, I try to pick out what makes that song interesting and play off of it - in the first case, it was the haunting sound and vaguely nihilistic lyrics; in the second, it was the way that the song combines elements of folk, rock, and alternative music. I find that the most difficult part of song-inspired mixes is framing the song correctly: one of the things you learn making mixtapes is that any song can be used in a myriad of ways, which makes it easy to lose track of where you originally thought the mixtape was going. One of the things that helps me to avoid this is to pick an opening track that heavily emphasizes one aspect of the song you'd like to highlight. In the case of the untitled mix I just referenced, for example, the first track is strictly folk, which forced me to work back towards "Spider Web" with a series of increasingly musically diverse folk or folk-inspired songs.

No matter which kind of motivation moves you to start a mixtape, patience is a must. If you run into a problem, remember that it's always okay to start a mix over from scratch or to put one on indefinite hold until inspiration strikes. Or, to quote Darren Aronofksy, "You remember Archimedes of Syracuse, eh? The king asks Archimedes to determine if a present he's received is actually solid gold. Unsolved problem at the time. It tortures the great Greek mathematician for weeks - insomnia haunts him and he twists and turns in his bed for nights on end. Finally, his equally exhausted wife - she's forced to share a bed with this genius - convinces him to take a bath to relax. While he's entering the tub, Archimedes notices the bath water rise. Displacement, a way to determine volume, and that's a way to determine density - weight over volume. And thus, Archimedes solves the problem. He screams 'Eureka' and he is so overwhelmed he runs dripping naked through the streets to the king's palace to report his discovery."

Themed tape: blues (for white people?)

2009-04-16T13:25:00.000-07:00

1. The Seatbelts - Forever Broke
2. Johnny Cash - Folsom Prison Blues
3. Joan Osborne - Help Me
4. R.E.M. - Wicked Game
5. Spottiswoode And His Enemies - Building A Road
6. Chris Thomas King - Hard Time Killing Floor Blues
7. The White Stripes - Catch Hell Blues
8. Betty Harris - There's A Break In The Road
9. The Beatles - Yer Blues
10. Robert Randolph & The Family Band - Need More Love
11. Richard Thompson - The Fool
12. Bob Dylan - Subterranean Homesick Blues
13. Ben Folds - Them That Got
14. Eef Barzelay - Jews For Jesus Blues
15. Mike Doughty - Busting Up A Starbucks

Themed tape: techno

2009-04-15T07:31:00.000-07:00

1. ?? -Final Fantasy VII Prelude (techno remix) [listen here - if anyone can fill me in on the actual artist/title details of this song, it would be appreciated]
2. Daft Punk - Aerodynamic
3. Dirty Vegas - Days Go By
4. Fatboy Slim - Praise You
5. DJ Shadow - Guns Blazing (Drums Of Death Pt. 1)
6. analoq - Oil Spill
7. DJ Dado - X-Files theme (Dado Paranormal Activity Mix)
8. Matt Wilson - Real Folked Up (anime remix)
9. OneUp Studios - Tetris
10. Nujabes - World Without Words
11. The Seatbelts - Forever Broke (Fila Brazilia remix)
12. Underworld - Boy, Boy, Boy
13. Michna - Triple Chrome Dipped
14. Yu Miyake - Angel Flavor's Present
15. Zero 7 - In The Waiting Line

How to make a mixtape pt. 2: freeware

2009-04-14T21:11:00.000-07:00

As the word "mixtape" suggests, this form of art was originally executed with cassette tapes, which required at least two tape decks and (if I may be frank) a ridiculously high level of patience. Thankfully, today's technology makes this method wholly obsolete and almost entirely useless: even if you were to put up with the hassles of making a true mixtape, very few people would be able to listen to it. Still, the best or easiest ways to make modern mixtapes are not obvious or (in many cases) well-known. This post will examine some of the tools I've used while making mixtapes in CD form with my computer.

An important first step to making mixtapes is having a consistent, easily accessible, and searchable music library. By that I mean a collection of digital songs organized both in their disk location (e.g., C:\My Music) and in a piece of software that allows for searching and sorting. So long as you use only one program to obtain digital music, you won't have to worry about organizing the songs on-disk: that'll happen automatically. Two good programs that will do this are iTunes and Winamp. The first has the benefit of an attached music store and compatibility with other Apple products, whereas the second has a much smoother interface - either will suffice, though. (If you have an mp3 player, it may come with its own software that does these things. That should be fine, but make sure that it features the ability to create and maintain playlists.)

Not all music or other audio content can easily be bought, either on a CD (which can then be ripped) or directly as a digital file. Dialogue from movies or TV, live performances, streaming media, and audio from other sources can be hard - if not impossible - to find as a simple digital audio file. If your computer can play the audio in question, though, programs like Audacity will enable you to record the desired audio from your soundcard when you play it and then export it into a convenient file format (like a standard mp3). Such programs will also allow for more advanced editing, such as combining tracks and using the common sound mixing features (fade in/out, tempo speed up/down, echo, etc.). Besides making non-music audio clips available for your mixtape, these programs will also help if you have an audio file in an unusual format that your CD burning software doesn't understand.

As for trasnferring the mix onto a physical medium, the same software you used to rip music and store your library - iTunes or Winamp, if you took my advice - should also have the ability to burn CDs. In fact, it should have the specific ability to burn playlists, so if you compiled your mixtape as a playlist (hint hint), two or three clicks will suffice to turn it into a physical object. Unless you're in a big old rush, choose a middling speed to write to the CD - it won't hurt you any to wait for a few minutes longer and it'll go a long way towards ensuring that the resulting mix CD actually plays correctly. (Burning a CD typically takes up a significant chunk of a computer's processing power, so choosing a lower speed will give you a larger margin of error and therefore more ability to safely use other programs while the CD is being processed.)

If making a physical mix is either impossible (say, due to hardware constraints) or just inconvenient, one can also transmit mixtapes in a purely digital fashion. For purists, sound editing programs like Audacity will enable you to export the entire mix as one audio file, thus better emulating the original mixtape experience and facilitating file transfer (as a general principle, it's easier to transfer one file than many): just string one song after another, leaving room for 1- to 2-second pauses between songs as appropriate, and export the whole thing as a single file. If you'd rather keep the tracks separate, data compression programs like Winzip or WinRAR will place all the songs in a single folder-like file such that the recipient can simply open the resulting file and then listen to the individual tracks at their leisure. While most email providers won't allow large attachments, most IM programs allow file transfers of any size (GTalk and AIM certainly do) and the internet has no shortage of filehosting websites (just Google for some). Finally, if you're lucky or dedicated enough to have access to your own server, freeware programs like mixwidget and opentape will enable you to share your mixtape with anyone online - but if you're savvy enough to run your own server I think you can figure those out on your own.

And as always, remember that it's always okay to start a mix over from scratch or to put one on indefinite hold until inspiration strikes. Or, to quote Darren Aronofksy, "You remember Archimedes of Syracuse, eh? The king asks Archimedes to determine if a present he's received is actually solid gold. Unsolved problem at the time. It tortures the great Greek mathematician for weeks - insomnia haunts him and he twists and turns in his bed for nights on end. Finally, his equally exhausted wife - she's forced to share a bed with this genius - convinces him to take a bath to relax. While he's entering the tub, Archimedes notices the bath water rise. Displacement, a way to determine volume, and that's a way to determine density - weight over volume. And thus, Archimedes solves the problem. He screams 'Eureka' and he is so overwhelmed he runs dripping naked through the streets to the king's palace to report his discovery."

Themed tape: instrumentals

2009-04-14T11:25:00.000-07:00

1. Iain Ballamy - The Myth Of Creation
2. Masuda Toshio - Mushi Utage
3. Tosca Tango Orchestra - La Cosa Pequena
4. Yann Tiersen - La Fenetre
5. Rodrigo Y Gabriela - Diablo Rojo
6. Haketa Takefumi - Kappa No Furusato
7. Claude Bolling - Baroque And Blue
8. Tsuneo Imahori - Stories To Tell
9. George Winston - Cast Your Fate To The Wind
10. Pot Hocket - Daydreaming Again (Words Drowned By Fireworks)
11. Mychael Danna - Fuse Box
12. Yuki Kajiura - Magic And Sword
13. Piero Umiliani - Crepusculo Sul Mare
14. Simon & Garfunkel - Anji
15. The Seatbelts - Elm
16. David Bridie & John Phillips - Super 8
17. Joe Hisaishi - Hoshi Wo Nonda Shounen
18. Nobuo Uematsu - Fisherman's Horizon (full orchestral version)
19. Yoshida Kiyoshi - Natsuzora (wrong version)

How to make a mixtape pt. 1: what is this mixtape deal about, anyway?

2009-04-13T13:19:00.000-07:00

I have nothing clever to say here, so I'll just be direct: a mixtape is a compilation of songs that the compiler thinks go well together. That's a bit vague, but only because mixtapes come from a wide range of artistic motivations: to address a lyrical theme, to explore an instrument or other musical element, to honor a genre or artist, to serve as a soundtrack for an event or for another work of art, and so on. The extent to which the mixtape succeeds, in some sense, will therefore depend on the extent to which the songs go well together in a way that matches the artistic motivation: to construct an exceedingly simple example, a mixtape designed to show the versatility of the accordion can suffer from both a general lack of cohesion and from a lack of versatile accordion-playing.

Traditionally, mixtapes are used to create buzz for little-known bands, to send messages ("let's get back together," e.g.), to serve one's own personal ends (athletes sometimes have pregame mixtapes), and/or just as gifts. While the most common piece of advice is to tailor the tape to one's audience (see here, here, here, here...), that piece of advice can in some cases be more of a hindrance than a help. In this series of posts (conveniently tagged as "help") I'll share as much as I can of my mixtape-making expertise, and I'll end every post witht he same concluding paragraph, because it's worth repeating.

It's always okay to start a mix over from scratch or to put one on indefinite hold until inspiration strikes. Or, to quote Darren Aronofksy, "You remember Archimedes of Syracuse, eh? The king asks Archimedes to determine if a present he's received is actually solid gold. Unsolved problem at the time. It tortures the great Greek mathematician for weeks - insomnia haunts him and he twists and turns in his bed for nights on end. Finally, his equally exhausted wife - she's forced to share a bed with this genius - convinces him to take a bath to relax. While he's entering the tub, Archimedes notices the bath water rise. Displacement, a way to determine volume, and that's a way to determine density - weight over volume. And thus, Archimedes solves the problem. He screams 'Eureka' and he is so overwhelmed he runs dripping naked through the streets to the king's palace to report his discovery."

Unthemed tape: "Any Kind Of Truth"

2009-04-13T08:10:00.000-07:00

1. Weezer - American Gigolo
2. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Weapon Of Choice
3. Midlake - Roscoe (edit)
4. Calexico/Iron & Wine - Burn That Broken Bed
5. Black Crowes - Oh Josephine (World Cafe live edition)
6. Counting Crows - Mercury
7. Tom Petty - Mary Jane's Last Dance
8. Joan Osborne - Dracula Moon
9. My Morning Jacket - Lay Low
10. R.E.M. - You
11. Death Cab For Cutie - Bixby Canyon Bridge

Themed tape: 90s radio music (that doesn't suck)

2009-04-10T10:46:00.000-07:00

1. Fastball - The Way
2. Blur - Song 2
3. Presidents Of The United States Of America - Peaches
4. Semisonic - Closing Time
5. Better Than Ezra - Good
6. Eve 6 - Inside Out
7. Green Day - Basket Case
8. The Bodeans - Closer To Free
9. Violent Femmes - Blister In The Sun
10. Blind Melon - No Rain
11. The Cardigans - Lovefool
12. No Doubt - Don't Speak
13. 311 - All Mixed Up
14. Sublime - What I Got
15. Beck - Loser

Unthemed tape: untitled

2009-04-09T07:37:00.000-07:00

Side A
1. John Hartford - Man Of Constant Sorrow (instrumental)
2. Nickel Creek - When In Rome
3. Bright Eyes - Middleman
4. Bob Dylan - Man In The Long Black Coat
5. Iron & Wine - White Tooth Man

Side B
6. Joan Osborne - Spider Web
7. Arcade Fire - Wake Up
8. Andrew Bird - Fitz And The Dizzyspells
9. Rufus Wainwright - April Fools
10. Herman Dune - Suburbs With You
11. Mike Doughty - Looking At The World From The Bottom Of A Well
12. West Indian Girl - What Are You Afraid Of

Themed tape: dance party!

2009-04-08T10:14:00.000-07:00

1. Mike Doughty - I Just Want The Girl In The Blue Dress To Keep On Dancing
2. R.E.M. - Fireplace
3. Black Kids - I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You
4. XTC - Life Begins At The Hop
5. The Cat Empire - Two Shoes
6. The Beatles - I'm Happy Just To Dance With You
7. The B-52s - Love Shack
8. The Dismemberment Plan - Do The Standing Still
9. Zutons - Dirty Dancehall
10. The Traveling Wilburys - Wilbury Twist
11. Gorillaz - Rock The House
12. No Doubt - Hella Good
13. Muscles - Ice Cream
14. Fatboy Slim - Song For Shelter

Themed tape: Oh, Canada

2009-04-07T07:52:00.001-07:00

1. The New Pornographers - Letter From An Occupant
2. Sam Roberts - The Gate (radio version)
3. Barenaked Ladies - Light Up My Room
4. Islands - Don't Call Me Whitney, Bobby
5. Bruce Cockburn - One Day I Walk
6. Broken Social Scene - 7/4 (Shoreline)
7. The Weakerthans - This Is A Fire Door Never Leave Open
8. The Dears - Untitled
9. Caribou - She's The One
10. Joni Mitchell - Both Sides, Now
11. Leonard Cohen - Hallelujah
12. Moxy Fruvous - The Drinking Song

Themed tape: songs that I, for one, find eerily similar

2009-04-06T20:25:00.000-07:00

1. Train - Drops Of Jupiter

2. Counting Crows - Recovering The Satellites

3. Calexico/Iron & Wine - Burn That Broken Bed

4. Nickel Creek - When You Come Back Down

5. Richard Thompson - Mr. Stupid

6. XTC - The Mayor Of Simpleton

7. Death Cab For Cutie - Pity And Fear

8. R.E.M. - Hope

9. Semisonic - Sunshine And Chocolate

10. Death Cab For Cutie - Someday You Will Be Loved

11. The Decemberists - Apology Song

12. John Vanderslice - Angela

Mixtape request queue

2009-04-06T20:01:00.000-07:00

Just comment with your idea for a mix and I'll try to get it to it, uh, eventually. I reserve the right to refuse to fill your request, especially if it can't be done well; I will not, for example, compile a mixtape tribute to Celene Dion.

Themed tape: guitars

2009-04-06T13:19:00.000-07:00

1. Rodrigo Y Gabriela - Juan Loco
2. The White Stripes - Little Cream Soda
3. Tom Petty - American Girl
4. Dire Straits - Sultans Of Swing
5. Extra Golden - Ilando Gima Onge
6. The Brian Setzer Orchestra - Caravan
7. The Freddy Jones Band - In A Daydream (live)
8. Fionn Regan - Hunters Map
9. Nick Drake - Road
10. Richard Thompson - 1952 Vincent Black Lightning
11. The Offspring - Come Out Swinging
12. Sonny Landreth - Uberesso
13. The Seatbelts - Live In Baghdad
14. Weezer - Only In Dreams

Themed tape: jam/jazz

2009-04-06T10:51:00.000-07:00

1. Jaco Pastorius - (Soul Intro) The Chicken
2. The Seatbelts - What Planet Is This?! (extended version)
3. Action Figure Party - Action Figure Party
4. Michael Viner - Apache
5. Mr. Scruff - Champion Nibble
6. Santana - Oye Como Va
7. Junichi Kanezaki + Diligent Circle Of Ekoda - WHAT'S TIME!?
8. Iron & Wine - Lovesong Of The Buzzard
9. Paul Simon - Stranded In A Limousine
10. Deodato - Also Sprach Zarathustra
11. Mocean Worker - Right Now
12. Fila Brazillia - Soul Sauce (Verve Remixed 2 version)
13. Al Hirt - Green Hornet
14. The Cat Empire - The Car Song
15. Dave Matthews Band - Ants Marching
16. Ben Harper - Mama's Trippin'

Themed mix: drums

2009-04-06T09:48:00.000-07:00

1. The Pillows - March Of The God
2. Johnny Foreigner - Our Bipolar Friends
3. Xploding Plastix - Treat Me Mean, I Need The Reputation
4. The National - Brainy
5. Menomena - The Late Great Libido
6. The Offspring - Americana
7. Green Day - Jinx
8. Green Day - Haushinka
9. The Police - Message In A Bottle
10. No Doubt - Ex-Girlfriend
11. Andrew Bird's Bowl Of Fire - How Indiscreet
12. Streetlight Manifesto - Point/Counterpoint
13. The New Pornographers - Star Bodies

Themed tape: "A City Through Bleary Eyes"

2009-04-06T09:04:00.001-07:00

1. Iron & Wine - Peace Beneath The City
2. The National - Fake Empire
3. Semisonic - She Spreads Her Wings
4. Eric Clapton - Layla (Unplugged version)
5. The Brian Setzer Orchestra - Sleepwalk
6. John Mayer - Neon
7. Smashing Pumpkins - 1979
8. Widespread Panic - Up All Night
9. The Seatbelts - Road To The West
10. R.E.M. - New Orleans Instrumental No. 1
11. The Wallflowers - One Headlight
12. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under The Bridge

Themed mix: pianos

2009-04-05T14:42:00.000-07:00

1. Au - RR vs. D
2. What Made Milwaukee Famous - Resistance St.
3. Menomena - The Late Great Libido
4. Joe Jackson - Invisible Man
5. Fiona Apple - Please Please Please
6. My Friend The Chocolate Cake - A Midlife's Tale
7. Ben Folds - Philosophy (Ben Folds Live version)
8. Neil Young - After The Gold Rush
9. Joni Mitchell - My Old Man
10. Rufus Wainwright - The Art Teacher
11. Nick Drake - One Of These Things First
12. Fionn Regan - Bunker Or Basement (w/out secret track)

Themed mix: strings

2009-03-30T12:05:00.000-07:00

1. Yann Tiersen - l'Arrivee Sur l'Ile
2. Bob Dylan - Mozambique
3. Yuki Kajiura - Canta Per Me
4. The National - Squalor Victoria
5. Amy Correia - Angels Collide
6. Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire - 11:11
7. Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - Carry Me
8. Ben Folds - Fred Jones, Part 2
9. Glen Hansard, Marketa Irglova & The Flames - Falling Slowly
10. Rufus Wainwright - Evil Angel
11. The Beatles - Eleanor Rigby

Unthemed mix: "New Year, Old Problems"

2009-03-28T15:38:00.000-07:00

1. Death Cab For Cutie - The New Year
2. Deerhunter - Nothing Ever Happened
3. The Wallflowers - Laughing Out Loud
4. Donora - Shh
5. R.E.M. - Undertow
6. The National - Mistaken For Strangers
7. Semisonic - Singing In My Sleep
8. Train - Free
9. Counting Crows - Anna Begins
10. Alexi Murdoch - Orange Sky (WYEP Live And Direct live version)
11. Fleet Foxes - He Doesn't Know Why
12. Okkervil River - A Girl In Port

Unthemed mix: "What's Familiar Just Won't Do"

2009-03-28T15:30:00.000-07:00

1. Stellastarr* - My Coco
2. All Girl Summer Fun Band - Something New
3. Tullycraft - The Punks Are Writing Love Songs
4. XTC - Don't Lose Your Temper
5. Wheatus - Teenage Dirtbag
6. Harvey Danger - Flagpole Sitta
7. Eels - Souljacker pt. 1 (Hot Fuzz soundtrack version)
8. Sons And Daughters - House In My Head
9. The White Stripes - Fell In Love With A Girl
10. Goo Goo Dolls - Bulletproof
11. Tonic - Future Says Run
12. Counting Crows - Children In Bloom

Unthemed tape: untitled

2009-03-28T15:26:00.000-07:00

1. Conor Oberst - I Don't Want To Die (In A Hospital)
2. The Cat Empire - Sly
3. Occidental Brothers Dance Band - Circle Circle Circle
4. Vampire Weekend - Campus
5. Ra Ra Riot - Dying Is Fine
6. Devotchka - Transliterator
7. Okkervil River - Unless It's Kicks
8. R.E.M. - New Orleans Instrumental No. 1
9. Madeleine Peyroux - You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go
10. Yann Tiersen - Comptine d'Ete n3
11. Cloud Cult - The Ghost Inside Our House
12. Fionn Regan - Bunker Or Basement (w/out secret track)

Themed tape: women

2009-03-27T09:53:00.001-07:00

1. Ben Folds Five - Kate
2. Me First And The Gimme Gimmes - Elenor
3. Zutons - Valerie
4. Cake - Jolene
5. The National - Ada
6. Black Crowes - Oh Josephine (World Cafe live version)
7. Death Cab For Cutie - Cath...
8. The Decemberists - O Valencia!
9. Vampire Weekend - Bryn
10. Simon & Garfunkel - Cecelia
11. Nickel Creek - Eveline
12. Iron & Wine - Jezebel
13. Okkervil River - O, Dana
14. The Kinks - Lola

Themed tape: "All's Fair At The Fair"

2009-03-27T08:30:00.000-07:00

1. Joe Hisaishi - Jinsei No Merry-Go-Round
2. Amy Correia - Carnival
3. Tsuneo Imahori - Fool's Paradise
4. R.E.M. - Wall Of Death
5. Dire Straits - Tunnel Of Love
6. Iron & Wine - The Trapeze Swinger
7. Iain Ballamy - Spanish Web
8. Joni Mitchell - That Song About The Midway
9. The Decemberists - Shiny
10. Soul Coughing - Soft Serve
11. Yuki Kajiura - Rain And Storm
12. Semisonic - Falling
13. Richard Thompson - I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight
14. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Roller Coaster Of Love
15. Cake - Alpha Beta Parking Lot
16. Eels - Blinking Lights (For You)

Themed tape: "The Life Aquatic"

2009-03-26T14:13:00.000-07:00

1. Yann Tiersen - Le Fromveur
2. Richard Thompson - Johnny's Far Away
3. Cake - Ruby Sees All
4. Martin Carthy & Family - Hog-Eye Man
5. The French Kicks - Abandon
6. Rogue Wave - Lake Michigan
7. Broken Social Scene - 7/4 (Shoreline)
8. The Pillows - Thunder Whales Picnic
9. The Heavenly States - Lost In The Light
10. Weezer - Surf Wax America
11. The Pixies - Wave Of Mutilation
12. Menomena - Oahu
13. Death Cab For Cutie - Brothers On A Hotel Bed
14. Modest Mouse - Missed The Boat
15. R.E.M. - Find The River

Themed tape: movies

2009-03-26T13:57:00.001-07:00

1. The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
2. Counting Crows - Mrs. Potter's Lullaby
3. Eels - Daises Of The Galaxy
4. Fear Of Pop - I Paid My Money
5. Cake - End Of The Movie
6. The Beatles - Act Naturally
7. Paul Simon - That's Why God Made The Movies
8. Semisonic - Gone To The Movies
9. Colin Meloy - Tristan And Iseult

Unthemed tape: exercise mix 1

2009-03-26T13:46:00.000-07:00

1. XTC - Love At First Sight
2. No Doubt - Just A Girl
3. Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig
4. The New Pornographers - The Bleeding Heart Show
5. Jim White - Crash Into The Sun
6. Mike Doughty - 27 Jennifers
7. Cake - Short Skirt/Long Jacket
8. M.I.A. - Mango Pickle Down River
9. Michael Franti And Spearhead - Say Hey (I Love You)
10. Joe Strummer And The Mescaleros - Techno D-Day
11. Polaris - Coronado II
12. Vampire Weekend - I Stand Corrected
13. Beirut - Scenic World

Themed tape: "Can You Hear Me Now?"

2009-03-26T13:33:00.000-07:00

1. Cake - No Phone
2. No Doubt - Spiderwebs
3. Manitoba - I've Lived On A Dirt Road All My Life
4. R.E.M. - So. Central Rain
5. Deerhoof - Offend Maggie
6. Ezra Furman And The Harpoons - Take Off Your Sunglasses
7. Paul Simon - The Boy In The Bubble
8. Fountains Of Wayne - Hung Up On You
9. The Decemberists - Angel, Won't You Call Me?
10. Ben Folds - Dog (studio version)
11. Little T & One Track Mike - Shaniqua

Concept tape: A Winter Romance

2009-03-26T13:27:00.001-07:00

1. Sting - Ghost Story

2. Joni Mitchell - Urge For Going
3. Nick Drake - Place To Be
4. Bon Iver - Blood Bank
5. Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal
6. Iron & Wine - Faded From The Winter
7. Sarah McLachlan - Unchained Melody
8. Fionn Regan - Snowy Atlas Mountains
9. Greg Laswell - Sing, Theresa Says
10. Aimee Mann - Wise Up
11. Death Cab For Cutie - The Ice Is Getting Thinner

Themed tape: (alt) electronica

2009-03-26T13:01:00.000-07:00

1. The Tough Alliance - Something Special
2. Mint Royale w/ Lauren Laverne - Don't Falter
3. Beck - Think I'm In Love
4. Muscles - Ice Cream
5. Architecture In Helsinki - Heart It Races (Trizzy's Rusty Tin Can remix)
6. Tokyo Police Club - Be Good (RAC remix)
7. hellogoodbye - I Saw It On Your Keyboard
8. Animal Collective - My Girls
9. MGMT - Time To Pretend
10. School Of Seven Bells - Chain
11. Frou Frou - Only Got One
12. The Postal Service - Natural Anthem

Unthemed tape: "Yeah Yeah Yeti"

2009-03-26T12:44:00.000-07:00

1. Cake - You Turn The Screws
2. Bright Eyes - The Calendar Hung Itself
3. R.E.M. - Hope
4. OK Go - The House Wins
5. Semisonic - Secret Smile
6. Eels - To Lick Your Boots
7. Caribou - Yeti
8. The Flaming Lips - Yeah Yeah Yeah Song
9. The Tah-Dahs - Mixtape = Love
10. The New Pornographers - The Jessica Numbers
11. Traveling Wilburys - The Devil's Been Busy
12. The White Stripes - I Think I Smell A Rat
13. Goo Goo Dolls - Laughing
14. Weezer - Undone (The Sweater Song)

Themed tape: boys & girls singing together

2009-03-26T12:12:00.000-07:00

1. Peter Bjorn & John - Young Folks
2. Mates Of State - My Only Offer
3. The Postal Service - Nothing Better
4. The The - Kingdom Of Rain
5. The Decemberists - Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then)
6. Aimee Mann and Michael Penn - Two Of Us
7. Joan Baez and Donovan - Colours
8. Richard Thompson - There Is Beauty...
9. Nickel Creek - Speak
10. Bob Dylan - Mozambique
11. Jenny Lewis w/ The Watson Twins - Handle With Care
12. Robert Plant & Alison Kraus - Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)

Themed tape: hip-hop/rap

2009-03-26T11:33:00.000-07:00

1. B Real, Busta Rhymes, LL Cool J, and Method Man - Hit 'Em High
2. Dilated Peoples - Back Again
3. Blue Scholars - Inkwell (Crashed Cop Car remix)
4. Kanye West - Diamonds From Sierra Leone (bonus track version)
5. Wu-Tang Clan - Severe Punishment
6. The Coup - My Favorite Mutiny
7. Del The Funkee Homosapien - If You Must
8. KRS One - Hush
9. M.I.A. - World Town
10. Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc.
11. The High Decibels - That Dude
12. Outkast - Bombs Over Baghdad
13. Prefuse 73 (feat. Diverse) - Plastic
14. Beck - Hell Yes (ghettochip remix)
15. Evangelion Vox soundtrack - Armageddon
16. Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip - A Letter From God

Themed tape: profanity

2009-03-26T10:26:00.000-07:00

1. Paul And Storm - Epithets
2. Eels - Old Shit/New Shit
3. Ben Folds Five - Song For The Dumped
4. Cake - Nugget
5. The Bloodhound Gang - I Hope You Die
6. The Modern Lovers - Pablo Picasso
7. Jarvis Cocker - Running The World
8. Loudon Wainwright III - Good Ship Venus
9. The Decemberists - A Cautionary Song
10. Dynamite Hack - Boys In The Hood
11. AC/DC - Big Balls
12. Fatboy Slim - Fucking In Heaven
13. Tom Lehrer - Smut (secret track, maybe?)

Unthemed tape: "Fever Dreams"

2009-03-26T10:21:00.000-07:00

Side A
1. Hum - Stars
2. R.E.M. - Let Me In
3. The White Stripes - I'm Slowly Turning Into You
4. Shivaree - Thundercats
5. Low - Breaker
6. Menomena - Wet & Rusting
7. Nick Cave - Fire Down Below

Side B
8. Tsuneo Imahori - H.T.
9. Ben Folds - Zak And Sara
10. Paul Simon - Late In The Evening
11. Iron & Wine - Boy With A Coin
12. The Decemberists - California One Youth And Beauty Brigade
13. Bright Eyes - I Must Belong Somewhere
14. Tullycraft - The Secret History Of Devil's Paw

Themed tape: poor role models

2009-03-26T10:15:00.000-07:00

1. The White Stripes - Rag And Bone
2. Richard Thompson - Read About Love
3. Johnny Cash - Folsom Prison Blues
4. Nick Lowe - I Trained Her To Love Me
5. Rodriguez - Sugar Man
6. Death Cab For Cutie - You Can Do Better Than Me
7. The Police - Every Breath You Take
8. The Pogues - Fairy Tale Of New York
9. Pet Shop Boys - It's A Sin
10. Ben Folds - Rent-A-Cop
11. Cake - Hem Of Your Garment
12. Green Day - Longview