Mix Tape Makers

Poetry on the Dashboard: Spring Mix #2

2010-04-01T11:07:00.000-07:00

As promised, here is Spring Mix #2, the one I would have made ten years ago, had I been making spring mixes back then.

(This picture actually is me, circa 2000.)

Now, this is not entirely accurate since, unfortunately, I can't find my Juliana Theory CD but be aware, there would have been some JT on there had it been available. Also, this is constructed from memory, which is flawed, so some songs might have been released in 2001 or something but... I don't care. I'm more about the spirit of the mix than googling a bunch of dates and other such music geekery. There's probably a lot I'm leaving out... Alkaline Trio, Ben Folds Five, Blink 182... But these are the songs I especially remember listening to when it was getting warm out, these songs were the staples driving in the car with the windows down.

Poetry on the Dashboard

Morning Glory - Oasis
Lucky Denver Mint - Jimmy Eat World
The Swiss Army Romance - Dashboard Confessional
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic - The Police
My Name Is Jonas - Weezer
Chinatown - Jets to Brazil
Red Letter Day - The Get Up Kids
Crash into Me (Acoustic) - Dave Matthews
In Circles - Sunny Day Real Estate
Little Dipper - Hum
Mysterons - Portishead
Nothing - Pedro The Lion
Paper Bag - Fiona Apple
Savory - Jawbox
Passenger - Deftones
Invalid Litter Dept. - At The Drive-In
crush on everyone - Onelinedrawing

Don't even THINK about giving me any gruff about that Dave Matthews tune, just thank your lucky stars there isn't more Dashboard Confessional on there. An actual mix from me in 2000 would have included at least three Dashboard tracks.

Ten years ago in the spring, I thought I had my whole life mapped out. I had no idea that by a mere year later, everything would have changed forever. Ah, spring.

Hey, if any of you all make springish mixes, would you let me know? I'm in the mood for new music.

Go Outside and See for Yourself: Spring Mix #1

2010-03-30T11:06:00.000-07:00

Alrighty. This mix will come to you in two parts. First, we have a mix of current(ish) songs I'm digging at the moment. This mix is intended for windows down driving. Please take this mix with big gulps of fresh air and a generous helping of bare feet in new grass.

Go Outside and See for Yourself.

Moths Wings - Passion Pit
The Loneliness and the Scream - Frightened Rabbit
Young Sensualists - Throw Me The Statue
The Gardener - The Tallest Man on Earth
I Am the Cosmos - Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson
Optimist vs. The Silent Alarm (When The Saints Go Marching In) - Casiotone for the Painfully Alone
country radio - El Oso
Can I Buy a V_wel? - Into It. Over It.
Lay a White Rose - Serious Sam Barret
Bells - Hey Mercedes
Paper Tiger - Spoon
When I Am Gone - Sparrow House
All Yr Songs - Diamond Rings
Keep The Car Running - The Arcade Fire
Under the Sun - J. Tillman

Mail Mix: A Mix for Stephanie

2010-03-29T20:01:00.000-07:00

So, for this to make sense, you have to understand me and Stephanie. I have known Stephanie for longer than I have been friends with her. Basically, we each knew the other existed, seeing as our social circle is pretty much all the same people, but we're both shy and it wasn't until her boyfriend Nabeel (not shy) suggested that we should be penpals because we both have typewriters and it would give us an excuse to use our beloved machines and would obviously lead us to become awesome friends who geek out about all things mail and typewriter related. I gotta hand it to Nabeel. His plan totally worked.

Stephanie is hands down my favorite penpal ever which is made extra awesome by the fact that I get to see her in real life quite often as well. Letters from Stephanie almost without fail will include a poem (or three or five) she has come across and typed up (not photocopied) for me to have. Sometimes they have little English professor type notes on them like, "Read this one aloud!" I am making a book of these poems.

So, obviously the theme is "mail," and now, hopefully, the reason for that theme is obvious as well. So the track listing is typed up and "mailed" with an air mail envelope I bought on etsy. I dug through my collection of stamps to find ones in denominations that corresponded with the track numbers.

And yes, I collected stamps at one time. Voraciously, in fact. I've recently re-embraced this part of myself that I'd lost for a while there. Anywho, all the tracks have to do with mail or the post office or typewriters. I was pretty thrilled to find that many tracks in my collection that fit the theme.

I have for the past few springs, made a spring-themed mix which I typically share on my other blog. I will again celebrate the coming warm weather with a mix and I will share it here this year because, I mean, this is my mix tape blog. It only seems right.

Excuses, excuses.

2010-02-10T10:01:00.000-08:00

I know it's been a while. I've been busy, Christmas was the usual mess, blah blah blah. However, there are a couple key reasons why I've been held back from producing some new mix projects.

1. I haven't been listening to much new music. In fact, all I want to listen to is Joe Pug and Chris Bathgate. No one wants a mix of two artists.
2. I started my first group mix and not only can I not find the tracks I want, but the prototype I designed for the art was a massive failure. Frick.

So, here we are, blog void of new entries, me eating my way through a wheel of brie compiling my list of mixes owed.

A jolt in the arm was given to me a few days ago however, when my friend and letter writing partner Stephanie sent me a surprise mix which is comprised primarily of music from movie soundtracks. It totally hit the spot and I'm already starting a track list of a mix to hit her back with. One of the tracks, "Ooh La La" by Faces got me thinking about how out of all the mixes I have received, only twice have tracks repeated themselves. The aforementioned track was first delivered to me by my buddy Paul who made a mix of calming songs for me to listen to while giving birth to my third son. The lyrics, "I wish that I knew what I know now" struck me as both hilarious and awful when read in light of the anticipated events. As it turned out, there was no labor, only surgery, and the CD received multiple plays, along with a bunch of unreleased Meteah Strike tracks, during my recovery. Side note: I actually heard Paul playing this song just for fun at a bar with a couple of slightly inebriated patrons crooning along. Some songs just stay with us, I suppose. The other incidence of mix track doubling happened a few years ago when I received a mix from a friend with the track "Never Meant" by American Football, which first appeared on a post-breakup mix from my ex alongside other tracks such as "Radio" by Alkaline Trio. (The late nineties are unparalleled in their catalog of vicious breakup songs.)

As for me, I'm a track recycler. I will unabashedly take my favorite tracks from a mix received and include them on mixes I make to give away. I like the idea that I'm part of creating a web of all the people in my life who love music and share it with one another, connected by their most beloved songs. I love watching the journey of a song - hearing the story of where someone first heard it, listening to it on a mix, putting it on my own mixes and then seeing others share that same one song... there's something magical about that. Certain tracks are like precious heirlooms - you pass them on hoping they're treasured by their recipients as you have treasured them, and when you see your songs passed on, you know the connection was made and the real beauty and purpose of the mix is realized.

Anyway. All that to say, more is coming. I just have to get working on it.

I'm curious: What tracks do you find yourself putting on mixes repeatedly?

Anti-Apathy: A Mix for James

2009-11-30T21:24:00.000-08:00

Made this mix for my brother James.

I made a book out of vintage graph paper I picked up at a garage sale this summer, using the techniques from the almighty How To Make Books.

I made a simple envelope for the disc out of some cardstock printed with braille. You can't see it in these pictures, but it's there and believe me, it's cool. I stuffed all of it into one of Tristan's bass string packages. (Trade secret: Bass string envelopes are the PERFECT size for a disc and booklet. Befriend a bass player and you'll be set.)

Inside was the track list and a story, of sorts.

I like books that are interactive. Things can be removed, put back in, additions can be made... The illustrations are part of the story but they can also all be removed, in various ways, without damaging the book itself.

Meet me, circa 1993. Rolled up pants? Check. Minnesota Timberwolves jersey? Check. Wicked cowlick? Check. And there's James, helping me with homework. Now he's all tall and witty and I can make him mix tapes. I like that.

If Only We Still Used Tapes - A Mix for Nate

2009-10-02T17:18:00.000-07:00

So, I started out as usual. With a big mess. I have an entire set of drawers packed to the gills with... well, crap. Paper ephemera, odds and ends of things I've found on the ground, in garbages, things that have been given to me...

My process is usually something like this:

1. Rummage
2. Dump items selected from rummage on floor
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 until satisfied
4. Start gluing stuff together
5. Formulate thoughts about how project should go together
6. Curse process
7. Finish project
8. Wash glue out of hair (Oh, my love/hate relationship with Mod Podge)

So for this packaging, I used a digipack from a Steve Burns (Remember Blue's Clues?) album which I painted white and then covered with sheets from a hymnal. I stabbed a hole in the center and attached the brad through the tag thingy. That's a vintage carnival ticket on the front.

I hand drew the little tape picture and affixed it under the tag so you could swing the tag up and get the rest of the title.

I tried to keep with the same theme for the back. Vintage carnival tickets, swinging tag, etc. Those are Joe Pug lyrics there. If you haven't heard his song Hymn #101, I don't think you've lived.

Inside was covered with more hymnal paper and a bit from Where the Wild Things Are. The tracklist was typed on a card and tucked inside the envelope.

Nate is directly responsible for rescuing me from main stream music. He introduced me to hardcore, ska, post-hardcore and my beloved twothirtyeight. (He came back with that last band on a tape he got from Cornerstone one summer.) He took me to my first indie rock show, protected me from countless mosh pits and will go down in my personal history as one of the most influential people in my life, ever. I'm really lucky that 11 years later, we're still friends. And he still introduces me to new music.

Thanks, Nate.

Resurgam - A Mix for Dustin

2009-09-01T10:34:00.000-07:00

Remember that mix I was working on earlier?

Epic mix project: Completed.

See that there? That's right. It's a flash drive hidden in a hollowed out book.

I made a giant mess.

I took a copy of Jane Eyre and followed the directions here to seal the pages. After that was done, I cut away the pages so the flash drive containing the precious mix could sit comfortably inside Chapter 1. Library cards and pockets were ordered from The School Locker. The pocket was glued to the inside front cover and I typed the track list on the card... Finished it off with some yarn and a tag and voila. Done.

This was one of the most fun mix projects I've done - I confess I stole the idea from my band mate Ryan, who proposed to my best friend Jess by hollowing out a journal and putting the engagement ring in it... I was trying to think of other ways to transfer music files other than just a plain old CD and I figured for a special project, a flash drive was the perfect thing. If you buy a bunch of them at once, it's less expensive and if you're a hard core mixer, it opens up a whole new realm of possibilities as far as doing artwork and such.

So yeah. He seemed to like it, so I'll count this one a success.

New Things Aren't Scary - A Mix for Dre

2009-08-29T21:32:00.000-07:00

I'm posting this for Marky because I know he won't have a chance with all that's going on. He made this mix for our friend Dre who self-reports being stuck in 1998, musically. (What's wrong with that, I ask?) Anyway. My favorite part about this mix is that he hand drew all the art while on hold with our stupid cable company. Stellar.

I kind of want to live in that tiny house.

Epic Mix Project Progress!

2009-08-27T13:28:00.000-07:00

This is, by far, my most in depth mix project. It has not found its way to its recipient yet, however, so until then, you only get this:

Yep, that's a box cutter I'm wielding there. Bet you didn't know that I used to stock shelves at a grocery store, did you? I also drove a fork lift. No lie.

There's Something Worthwhile Here: A mix for Steve

2009-08-24T17:58:00.000-07:00

So, it was my brother's birthday. I got him a hat that makes him look 1940's swell and I made him a mix.

I used a polaroid I took of some fields outside of our parents' town, peeled off the outside and wrote the mix title under the plastic overlay.

I affixed the polaroid to the outside of an envelope I made using a template traced from a pre-existing envelope I had laying around... the vintage paper is from a scrapbook that used to be our Grandma Ada's.

Older Doesn't Mean Wiser: A Mix for Dustin

2009-08-23T17:29:00.000-07:00

Alright! So! Here's my first posted project. This was a mix I made for my friend and band mate Dustin way back in December of last year:

This is a leaf I picked up off the sidewalk in Chicago last fall while we were all hanging out. I pressed it and then hand-sewed it to the front page.

I took two postcards to use as the front and back covers of the booklet. I had just finished reading How to Make Books and so was inspired to learn how to do this simple book binding stitch. I used vintage carpet thread I had laying around. The booklet is made of vintage paper, typed up on my '58 Royal Typewriter.

Here's the cover made out of the vintage post card and a page torn from an old hymnal.

I was really proud of this mix... it's one of my best, I think. Sometime I'll do a top five mixes of all time... This one is definitely on it.

First Post!

2009-08-23T17:24:00.000-07:00

Hey there! My name is Heather and I'm a mix tape addict. I've been making mixes since I was 15 and haven't stopped yet. This is a blog about the mix projects I do (and my husband's too!) If you're at all interested in contributing as well (or if you're an addict and want to trade mixes), feel free to shoot me a message. Thanks for reading!