Muxtape

I made you a mix tape. Listen to it!

I really rather miss cassette tapes, I preferred them to CDs in many ways. I’ve never been all that bothered about sound quality, and there was something personal about a home-made tape recording, probably related to the fact that you had to sit and listen to each track as it was transferred across and push buttons to make it start and stop. I even have a blank TDK D90 stashed away somewhere for purely nostalgic reasons, despite not even owning a tape deck anymore. I used to love making mixtapes. Muxtape goes some way towards recreating the experience, allowing you to make your own 12 track virtual mixtape and share it with the world.

Here’s the tracklisting for mine: you can click the numbers for links to buy the records the tracks are taken from.

1. Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea - (In The Aeroplane Over The Sea)
   I bought the album this is from purely because loads of people on the internet raved about it. It is brilliant.
2. Stereolab - Cybele’s Reverie - (Emperor Tomato Ketchup)
   This record came out in the mid-nineties, and I remember seeing the adverts and hearing good things about it, but I never actually got around to buying it and listening to it until a couple of months ago. It turns out that I really like Stereolab and should have sought them out much sooner.
3. British Sea Power - Down On The Ground - (Do You Like Rock Music?)
   Any band that writes a song about an Antarctic ice shelf deserves a listen. BSP are possibly the only band who have done this (although I would be very pleased to be corrected). I think this one might be about the dodo but I’m not certain about that.
4. Mint Royale - Don’t Falter - (On The Ropes)
   My reasons for choosing this song are far to slushy to elucidate here. It has that Lauren Laverne singing on it, she was in Kenickie, who were brilliant.
5. The Bluetones - My Neighbour’s House - (The Bluetones)
   The Bluetones are still going, which surprised me, and their last album, from which this track is taken, was actually really good, which surprised me even more.
6. Graham Coxon - Freakin’ Out - (Happiness In Magazines)
   Blur were actually a bit boring a lot of the time, but Graham Coxon on his own is much more interesting. This one is great for bouncing around to.
7. Simple Kid - Self-Help Book - (2)
   The second Simple Kid album also includes a smashing song called Old Domestic Cat, but this one fits in with the theme of mental instability that I seem to be developing in this bit here.
8. Dusty Springfield - The Windmills Of Your Mind - (Dusty In Memphis)
   This is just crackers. When I listen to this I envision Don Quixote and Sancho Panza riding up the King’s Road into swinging-sixties London - now there’s a movie pitch for you.
9. Manic Street Preachers - Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head - (Help)
   The Holy Bible is one of the best albums ever committed to tape, but it’s rather heavy going so I chose this instead. It was the first song that the Manics recorded after Richie Edwards disappeared, for the War-Child Help album, and it’s ace, nearly as good as the original B. J. Thomas version.
10. Julie London - Desafinado (Slightly Out Of Tune) - (Various Compilations)
    This is my favourite Julie London track, and I used it as the original music for my old Robots animation. In theory, if you start the track at the same time as the Flash movie, the action should sync up nicely, for as long as it lasts, although the effect of mixing Julie London and Autechre is likely to be a bit odd.
11. Lee Hazlewood - Home (I’m Home) - (MGM Recordings)
    Lee Hazlewood died last year, which is yet another event to add to the balance sheet of negatives against 2007. When I sell up for gajillions, and retire to run my cat sanctuary in the countryside, I’m going to play this track really loud all the way home.
12. Gruff Rhys - Rhagluniaeth Ysgafn - (Yr Atal Genhedlaeth)
    Rhys, who is the lead singer for the utterly splendid Super Furry Animals, states that this song is about turning up at the pearly gates and having to account for sins past. Monolingual inadequates like me will have to take his word for that; like everything else on Yr Atal Genhedlaeth the song is in Welsh. It’s catchy and chirpy and really makes me want to learn the language. Maybe I’ll set up my cat shelter in Wales.

6 comments 2008-04-05 10:59 Categories: Music