2015 Mix CD Swap

[stephano]

Mar 2, 2015 15:01:34 GMT -5 bigontheinside said:

I hope you guys like Insane Clown Posse!

Frikkin' Mix CD's! How Do They Work?

[bloodystereos]

I'm almost done setting my track list. It's coming out pretty good. Play at full volume and boogie down!

[stephano]

Mine's done. ooooO0000OOOoooooOO0000OOooooOOO0000000OOooo

[laurenjean]

Mine will be in the mail on Monday.

[tbob]

Mine's done and I could've sent it today but the nerd in me wants to fine tune the cover so I'll be posting it on Monday or Tuesday now!

[stephano]

You got 48 hours to bring this case to a close or it's your badge. I got the DA breathing down my neck and this thing is picking up momentum that's gonna roll all the way to city hall. Now I need you to go do what you do. Get out there and crack this thing or I'll have you working traffic for the rest of your lives.

[bigontheinside]

Where can I buy a single CD-R?

[orzelc]

I don't have any blank CD's lying around, either, but happily my assigned recipient was willing to take a download link for a bunch of audio files...

[bigontheinside]

Mar 15, 2015 12:23:17 GMT -5 orzelc said:

I don't have any blank CD's lying around, either, but happily my assigned recipient was willing to take a download link for a bunch of audio files...

Kinda takes the magic out of it a bit, don't you think?

[stephano]

Mar 15, 2015 10:44:49 GMT -5 bigontheinside said:

Where can I buy a single CD-R?

I'll send you some.

[orzelc]

Mar 15, 2015 12:32:10 GMT -5 bigontheinside said:

Mar 15, 2015 12:23:17 GMT -5 orzelc said:

I don't have any blank CD's lying around, either, but happily my assigned recipient was willing to take a download link for a bunch of audio files...

Kinda takes the magic out of it a bit, don't you think?

Not really, for me, anyway. The first thing I would do with a physical CD is rip it to my computer, so it's just cutting out a step... I'm not sure when I last played a CD on a regular CD player (i.e., not the one in my car, where I keep a Weakerthans disk as emergency backup music when I forget my iPod and the radio sucks).

(The computer playback outputs to an audio amp and decent speakers, because I'm not a total philistine...)

[chinaski]

I remember reading an interview with Tom Waits when he released his last record. He had an argument with his wife because she was telling him they didn't need to put as many songs as possible on the CD and not every song needed to last for ages - she won and it ended up being a fairly short record.

I took the exact opposite approach with my playlist. I crammed as much on there as I could. I had a vague flow going at first and then I just kept inserting songs. I stopped because I ran out of space rather than because I'd found the perfect collection. It was very unscientific. I couldn't resist squeezing in the extra songs though.

Shipped mine across the pond last week so hopefully making it's way there now.

[orzelc]

My favorite weird Tom Waits recording story was a profile in the mid-90's where he said he didn't approve the final mix of an album until after he listened to the whole thing played at high volume through the stereo in the beat-up old car he drove.

I kept to CD length just barely (though as noted above, I didn't actually burn it to CD); probably could've squeezed one more song on, but I wanted to leave some cushion, just in case.

It's been quite a while since I did a real mix-- long enough that my default mental image for what goes on a mix is based on a 100-minute cassette tape...

[meoskop]

I'm so sad I missed this but I've been too busy anyway. I only just gave up all my audio cassette equipment - now I regret I didn't prank the scene with a true tape swap mailing.

[bigontheinside]

Thanks to the amazing Stephano who sent me a couple CD-Rs free of charge! Sadly my computer did not like them and refused to burn anything onto them. I fear my disk drive may be broken. Either way I will not be able to get my cd out until next week, sorry! Whoever has me, feel free to put a bad song on there as punishment.

[bloodystereos]

Finally had a moment of clarity and figured out how to take the songs I'd listed on various notes and compile them into one streamlined, nuclear powered, onslaught of... some music that I hope will put a smile on the face of my secret target!

I should be shipping by the weekend.

[Rattlesnake Gospel]

Received mine in the mail today, courtesy of Chinaski. Will be blaring at proper volume when I get home from work.

I'm going across the pond next week for a short tour with Stringer, and hoping to hand deliver mine if my recipient can make it to one of the gigs. If not, I'll mail while I'm there and save on international shipping. Sorry to be behind the deadline but an in-person delivery sounded much more fun.

[tbob]

I'm heartened there are other people behind schedule as well!
Just posted mine to it's recipient so Visa permitting it should be on the other side of the Atlantic sometime next week...

[stephano]

When you join this Mix Tape Exchange, you take on debt. A debt you owe each other personally. Each and every man under my command owes one of their unit one fully burned CD-R. And I want my discs. That Good?!

[toastie]

I've been travelling a lot lately but I know my theme just need time to compile it.

[bloodystereos]

:angry::angry::angry::angry:

I've been trying for three days now to get my mix to burn. We never used to have problems until just recently. I've wasted 4 blanks trying to get it to work and have tried using other software to no avail.

Help?

Using windows vista(yuk), windows media player.

mix of files from ripped library and mp3 purchases on amazon cloud, which have already been downloaded to wmp.

[bloodystereos]

Finally found some free burn software that worked!

I'll ship ASAP!

[stephano]

I got home last night to find a package waiting for me. The disc came wrapped in ransom note and library card chic and the artwork contained a collage of zombie comics and dogs in sunglasses. It's the most punk rock looking thing this side of a photocopied fanzine. There was also a very cool Amoeba Music Pin which I have fitted onto my work bag.

Although I know who sent it (as I was project admin) I'll keep the air of mystery alive and once I've digested the full track listing I'll post about the music within.

What I can say at a glance is, it looks a very promising mix. Of 16 tracks I only know the Fucked Up and Thin Lizzy entries. I'm already a fan of White Denim but haven't heard the track that's on here and it's nice to see some old Bad Religion make an appearance halfway through. I have no idea about the other bands on the track listing but am going to immerse myself in this comp for the couple of hours I have in the car each day.

Thanks Scenester. I'm excited.

[stephano]

Anyone else receive a disc yet?

[stephano]

OK, so I’ve played Ransom Notes and Library Cards over half a dozen times now. It has been my listening for the best part of a week and I now think I can do a review of the disc justice.

Track one is aptly titled 'Rock Song' by His Mischief. It’s got the ‘get up and go’ requisite in an opener for a mix CD of songs for someone whose favourite band is THS. It’s kinda like The Thermals covering a Hives tune. Then the lyrics mention how “It all started with a positive jam”. That’s it! Bam. Sold. You now have my full attention and a bucket of good will. Excellent start.

Next up are the fabulous Fucked Up with Sun Glass from the magnificent Glass Boys. I have a lot of love for this band already and hearing Sun Glass sequenced between a great new tune and Thin Fucking Lizzy has me in rapture.

Lizzy’s ‘Showdown’ would not be a first choice of theirs for me to put on a mix but damn I’d forgotten what a groovy little tune it is. They’re like a lounge band in a bar in Valhalla on this. Inspired choice.

‘Keep It Cool’ by Nude Beach (completely new to me) sounds like a teenage Replacements on Spring Break. It’s a ball of fun and bops well into The Wimps Modern Girls.
‘Modern Girls’ is a song that could be covered with only a snare drum and an unplugged Stratocaster. There’s something eerie about the 50’s throwback style of the song now it’s getting older itself than the era it was echoing at the time. Like it’s from a historical account reflected through a history where John Waters and Russ Meyer were considered the cultural touchstones of their day.

Upon seeing Joanna Gruesome as a band name on the track listing I did wonder if Joanna Newsom had adopted a Halloween monicker like the credits in a Simpson’s Halloween Special. Turns out I’ve been played, by a noisy energetic punk band, who are half McLusky half JAMC. ‘Psykick Espionage’ is a blast.

I’ve already fallen pretty hard for 2 or 3 White Denim tracks. ‘Come Back’ is better than anything else I’ve heard them do. It’s got a Minneapolis groove, horns, breakdowns and more time changes than Switzerland going into daylight savings time.

It had to happen, and the pace is broken by The Virgins. A mournful lo-fi strummer ‘Fernando Pando’ builds to a subtle (Vampire) weekend’s over comedown skank. This track sound like the record a member of the Strokes hopes to make on a solo outing.

Good old Bad Religion in dirty heads down early 80’s mode remind me of the nights spent in clubs in Soho basements thrashing about in a T-shirt with no sleeves. ‘Latch Key Kids’ we were.

Marine Dreams clearly bought a few Television and Bunnymen records in it’s youth. ‘New Decade’ comes on like a stolen Sweet Jane riff in a black and white world. It’s got a lovely reverb non-soloish guitar solo and a pair of skinny jeans on.

‘Neal Cassady’ by The Weather Underground goes straight to my sniffling indie kid heart. Lovely chimey guitars and atmospheric ‘ohhs’ give way to galloping desperate poetry in the vein of The Walkmen, The National and Buffalo Tom with a spring in their step.

‘Slowhands’ by Silkworm gets things all a bit more “DIY ethics”. A fuzzy plod tuned to early Sub Pop under a storyteller lyric about falling drunks and a buddy called Luke who’s intoxication runs parallel to the songwriters own shortcomings. It may all be heading for a messy ending but not before a full on J. Mascis solo wigout.

One of the highest highlights for me on this disc is the discovery of the easy breezy charm of John Biz and the ‘should’ve been a pop smash’ that is ‘Drugs Tonight’. Like the boy next door to Juliana Hatfield he’s knocking it out the park without breaking a sweat. This is the sort of song you can’t put down. I’ll be spinning this all summer.

The Deadly Snakes are like a Lucero/Low Anthem hybrid. ‘Oh My Bride’ sounds like beer was thrown in the studio while it was recorded. I mean that as a compliment.
Elizabeth Cotton singing ‘Freight Train’ amongst all this rock an’ rollery is a stark reminder of where it all comes from and why music matters the way it does. Thanks DJ for this shard of real natural beauty among the sticky sweaty mess. A great moment of reflection before the grand finale.

Tis’ a very classy way to close a disc, going out on an epic. ‘Ghost Blues’ by Ladyhawk is almost mumblecore to begin with but builds into a blues rock behemoth over ten and a half minutes. It has a strain of Oaks in it’s DNA. It is also quite possible this recording has never been near a producer (not a criticism in any way). It sounds like a board mix of a great band just pushing it up a notch at a time.

It’s so evident that a lot of thought went into curating and sequencing this CD. It plays like a great live set would play. It’s introduced me to some new bands (incidentally that’s exactly how I discovered THS over a decade ago) and reminded me of some acts I’ve not played in a long time.
Huge gratitude is due. And thanks for the pin.