The Mix Tape Song

In mid November, I made my first mix tape in years. It made me really happy, putting it together and then listening to it shortly thereafter. Although the last time I made a mix tape was either 1999 or 2000, I did a lot of music programming at WGSU (all of the loop show beginning in the Great Summer of 2003, and never really disappearing to this day).

To keep costs down, I taped over an old tape that was labeled “Fried Phish” on one side and “Baked Phish” on the other. I thought this was really clever back when I was 15. It was a mix of various tracks off of Phish’s studio albums, before I got a small collection of live tapes. I kept the labels on the tape anyway.

Recording on a little boombox, it didn’t come out that clear. Maybe after so long the tape can’t be taped over. During the quiet songs, particularly Explosions In The Sky and Low, you can hear “Guelah Papyrus” and “Split Open and Melt.” I tried to negate this effect by including many loud, punk songs. The punk songs are also there because this tape has one purpose and that is to keep me awake at the wheel. I have been listening to a tape of London Calling, by The Clash, and this was meant to compliment it.

Since I was listening at work, many songs talk about work (Millencolin, Russian Futurists, Bouncing Souls). I also wanted to choose songs that I wouldn’t get sick of, so I chose a lot of old favorites (Promise Ring, Pinhead Gunpowder, Jawbreaker, Get Up Kids). I also wanted to change it up – starting with a country song (B.P.B.), going to a shoegazer song (Stars), then 80s pop, then punk – you get the idea.

Here is the track listing:

Bonnie “Prince” Billy “Agnes, Queen of Sorrow” from Greatest Palace Music
Stars “Ageless Beauty” from Set Yourself On Fire
The Replacements “Alex Chilton” from All For Nothing / Nothing For All
Millencolin “Random I Am” from For Monkeys
The Promise Ring “Best Looking Boys” from Boys and Girls
Explosions In The Sky “Memorial” from The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place
Little Wings “Boom!” from Light Green Leaves
Little Wings “Look at what the light did now” (ut oh left the tape rolling too long – who cares this is a good song too)
Pinhead Gunpowder “Junkpile” from Shoot The Moon
The Lucksmiths “Great Lengths” from Warmer Corners
The Russian Futurists “Let’s Get Ready To Crumble” from a free label mix cd
Summer at Shatter Creek “My Neighbor’s Having a Seizure” from an Absolutely Kosher sampler
The Postal Service “Suddenly Everything Has Changed” (Flaming Lips cover) {IMMEDIATELY CUT OFF!!!}

Side B:

The Bouncing Souls “Kate is Great” from an old warped tour sampler
Kalpana “And They Were Dubbed Assassins” from their new ep
The Mountain Goats “Pigs that ran straightaway into the water, Triumph of” from We Shall All Be Healed
Braid “A Dozen Roses” from Frame and Canvas
Belle and Sebastian “Dirty Dream Number Two” from The Boy With The Arab Strap
Casiotone For The Painfully Alone “Number Ten” from Pocket Symphonies for Lonesome Subway Cars
Jawbreaker “Basilica” from Dear You
Low “Laser Beam” from Things We Lost In The Fire
Novi Split “Me an Andy” from Keep Moving
The Get Up Kids “I’m A Loner Dottie, A Rebel” from Eudora
The Pink Cammies “The Moon” from Game Over, Baby
Bright Eyes “Easy/Lucky/Free” from Digital Ash In A Digital Urn
Pretty Girls Make Graves “Speakers Push The Air” from Good Health
Superchunk "Pink Clouds" from Come Pick Me Up {IMMEDIATELY CUT OFF WITHOUT MERCY!!!}

I’ve had over a month to listen to this. The Bouncing Souls song is consistently great. With the opening line “I used to have a home with a room and a bed, a porch and a driveway and a big garage, but I traded it in…” how could it not be? The Kalpana song slays and I can’t wait for them to give it a proper release. The biggest surprise on this tape is “Alex Chilton.” This song’s energy gets me every time. The Casiotone song is sweet, short, and perfect. Jawbreaker’s guitars come in like flames, especially at the end. The Pink Cammies fucking rock the boat in a big way, to say the least.

The biggest disappointments on this mix are the emo tracks, which were the ones I didn't think I could go far wrong with. The Get Up Kids rather flop on bringing me back to 2001. Off of their Eudora comp, the last two tracks would have been better. Braid, too. I don’t know what possessed me to put one of my favorite songs ever on a mix tape to myself. I would have been better off with a less-played Hey Mercedes track. The Bright Eyes song was my attempt to stay current, yet party like 2002, which is impossible.

The Novi Split track is dead on, though. I like to stay positive with music, but man that new Death Cab blows. Sell it and head over to Redder and buy this (it’s on sale) instead. This is inventive, spontaneous, and great – a project of Death Cab’s friends David J and Ben Barnett (Kind of Like Spitting). It’s a great car listening track, you’ll know when you hear it.

Here is a link to that song: Novi Split - Me an' Andy
Cloak and Dagger also has more on this release: link
Redder Records has it for sale: link

The trick to this is finding tracks that are both familiar and not familiar. Music listening is a paradox in this sense. You have to know what’s going on, but you have to be surprised. When making a tape like this – pick the third best song on the cd, pick your friend’s favorite song on the cd. You have to change it up. That’s what I miss about WGSU, and what I was trying to revive a bit with this tape.

I love the last track, though. “Speakers Push The Air” asks me if I remember what the music meant. With this mix tape, I think I do.

That's when I reach for my Volvo.

So, I finally got my own car. I would have been peeing my pants with excitement had it been like six years ago, but I’m still more excited than I have been in a very long time. I received a prime example of the Volvo 740. It is a sedan, it’s Swedish, and it’s buried in the snow in my yard. I drove it home last week from Albany to my house at night. It drives incredibly smooth. I will post here detailing my ownership experience of the rolling wonder.

There are two things you need to know about my Volvo, so far. First: It has heated front seats. These are handy in this upstate tundra. Second: It has an NRA bumper sticker on the back. It is mostly peeled and worn off, but still visible. Although I am 100% supportive of the constitutional right to bear arms, when I think of the NRA all I can think of is Charlton Heston’s “over my dead body” scene from Bowling for Columbine. - that and The Planet of The Apes. Thus, I have covered up the NRA sticker with a “!!!” sticker, which is more my speed.