Themed tape: bongos!

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

Themed tape: love songs

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

Themed tape: whistle

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!

Themed tape: "The Life Aquatic II"

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

Concept tape: Raising Cthulhu

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

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

Themed tape: repetitious

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")

Themed tape: blues (for white people?)

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

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

Themed tape: instrumentals

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)

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

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

Themed tape: dance party!

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

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

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

Themed tape: guitars

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

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

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