Mux200: Retromux Deux (plus Mux001 and Mux100)

So it only took eight years, but Mux200 has arrived! And, just like Mux100, this Mux is comprised (almost) entirely from bands that featured on the very first Mux back in 2008. Well, the first Mux only had 11 tracks, so I tossed on a Radiohead cut to bring it up to 12; no major foul given that Radiohead featured on Mux002.

I probably won't do a third Retromux for 300 (set for, at this rate, sometime in late 2020) given that a lot of these bands have either called it quits or have faded considerably. For example, The Joggers probably won't release another album, and I've used up all their muxable tracks. And Dan Deacon hasn't really done anything too spectacular as of late, same with The Smashing Pumpkins and... well, you get the idea. Maybe I'll revise that idea in 2020 and make it a combination of 001 and 002.

Last thing: Same as the jump from 099 to 100, there's new art for 200 and going forward. 001-099 was a picture I accidentally Photoshopped that way when I was 12 or so, and 100-199 was a rather triumphant photo of me leaping over fireworks after a particularly-difficult day of shooting Archetype. Given my total lack of talent at graphic design (and I haven't really directly talked to JET lately, who did some awesome art for the two Tapes By JET), I just took a rather horrifying picture of me. If anyone thinks it far too terrible for these fines Muxes, make me something better!

So download or stream Mux200, and check out Muxes of yore below it.

1. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Where Have All The Rude Boys Gone? (Hearts of Oak)
2. Destroyer - European Oils (Destroyer's Rubies)
3. The National - Looking For Astronauts (Alligator)
4. The Joggers - Little Kings (Solid Guild)
5. Dan Deacon - Trippy Green Skulls (Spiderman of the Rings)
6. Radiohead - Daydreaming (A Moon Shaped Pool)
7. Cut Copy - That Was Just A Dream (Bright Like Neon Love)
8. Wolf Parade - Dear Sons And Daughters of Hungry Ghosts (Apologies To The Queen Mary)
9. Pavement - AT&T (Wowee Zowee)
10. Spoon - My Little Japanese Cigarette Case (Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga)
11. My Bloody Valentine - What You Want (Loveless)
12. The Smashing Pumpkins - Cherub Rock (Siamese Dream)

I readded Mux100: Retromux to my Dropbox, so you can also download or stream that. Tracks below.

1. Pavement - Summer Babe (Winter Version) (Slanted & Enchanted)
2. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Tell Balgeary, Balgury Is Dead (Hearts of Oak)
3. My Bloody Valentine - Loomer (Loveless)
4. Wolf Parade - Fancy Claps (Apologies To The Queen Mary)
5. The Joggers - Era Prison (With A Cape And A Cane)
6. Dan Deacon - Snake Mistakes (Spiderman of the Rings)
7. Cut Copy - Autobahn Music Box (Bright Like Neon Love)
8. Spoon - Back To The Life (Kill The Moonlight)
9. Destroyer - Chinatown (Kaputt)
10. The National - Geese of Beverely Road (Alligator)
11. The Smashing Pumpkins - 1979 (Acoustic) (Single)

And Mux001: May 2008 is also in there to download or stream. Tracks below.

1. Wolf Parade - Language City (At Mount Zoomer)
2. Cut Copy - Saturdays (Bright Like Neon Love)
3. Ted Leo - La Costa Brava (Living With The Living)
4. My Bloody Valentine - Off Your Face (Glider)
5. The Smashing Pumpkins - 1979 (Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness)
6. The National - Slow Show (Boxer)
7. Destroyer - My Favorite Year (Trouble In Dreams)
8. The Joggers - Back to the Future (Solid Guild)
9. Pavement - Cut Your Hair (Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain)
10. Spoon - Finer Feelings (Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga)
11. Dan Deacon - Pink Batman (Spiderman of the Rings)

Until 2020...

Mux187: Mr. Mux's Snow Day

Download or stream.

Wicked early, but whatever. I've had the sequence for an entire week and nothing new is coming out, so it seems safe enough to release into the wild.

"Depreston" hits way too close to home after my relocation to suburbia, but it's a solid track.

Radiohead's "Spectre" is a million times better than Sam Smith's "Writing's On The Wall." No matter, since Spectre was a crummy movie.

Pitchfork seems to not give a shit about Cheatahs, whose self-titled album is absolutely phenomenal, albeit more like a tour of every style of 90's rock. Their follow-up, Mythologies, has yet to completely grow on me, but they're a fine band that no one seems to notice. Except the AV Club, who are far more reasonable and not concerned with Pitchfork's increasing habit of clickbait "news" and no longer giving a shit about any band with guitars.

I've been massively pissed off at James Murphy lately, hence below. What a giant dick. He not only ruined the legacy of LCD Soundsystem (Sleater-Kinney at least had the wisdom of waiting a decade, though No Cities To Love is shit next to the we're-done-mic-drop of The Woods) but also the wonderful documentary Shut Up And Play The Hits.

Tech note: Audacity really doesn't like it when songs are amplified greater than 2 dB, so "Blown A Wish" might be a bit quiet. The program normalizes a hell of a lot better than GarageBand, though.

1. Butthole Surfers - Who Was In My Room Last Night? (Independent Worm Saloon)
2. Ty Segall - My Head Explodes (Goodbye Bread)
3. Split Single - Never Look Back (Fragmented World)
4. Wilco - Heavy Metal Drummer (Yankee Hotel Foxtrot)
5. Courtney Barnett - Depreston (Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit)
6. EL VY - No Time To Crank The Sun (Return To The Moon)
7. Radiohead - Spectre (Single)
8. LCD Soundsystem A Relic of a Band James Murphy Said Would End At Their Peak But Decided To Be An Asshole And Changed His Mind - Us v Them (Sound of Silver)
9. My Bloody Valentine - Blown A Wish (Loveless)
10. Cheatahs - Supra (Mythologies)
11. Ryan Adams - Blank Space (1989)
12. Hop Along - Happy To See Me (Painted Shut)

TRT 50:09

Rookies: Butthole Surfers

2015 music: Cheatahs, Courtney Barnett, EL VY, Hop Along, Radiohead, Ryan Adams

Mux184: December 2015

Download or stream. The choice is yours.

Another long one. (That's what she said.) Blame it on a last-minute spin of Ride's Going Blank Again and including the epic "Grasshopper" to top off this Thanksgiving long-player.

1. My Bloody Valentine - Only Shallow (Loveless)
2. Jack White - Lazaretto (Lazaretto)
3. The New Pornographers - Born With A Sound (Brill Bruisers)
4. Spoon - Take A Walk (Girls Can Tell)
5. Sonic Youth - Purr (Dirty)
6. The Rural Alberta Advantage - Drain The Blood (Hometowns)
7. The Microphones - The Moon (The Glow Pt. 2)*
8. !!! - Freedom! '15 (As If)
9. Junior Boys - Over It (Big Black Coat [Advance])
10. Big Grams - Lights On (Big Grams)
11. Deerhunter - Ad Astra (Fading Frontier)
12. Ride - Grasshopper (Going Blank Again)

TRT 54:21

2015 music: !!!, Big Grams, Deerhunter, Junior Boys (2016, actually)

*Nope, this isn't a repeat. I did use an acoustic version of "The Moon" on an earlier mux that I found on the netherregions of someone's P2P shared folder.

Mux124: The Mux With No Name

Starts pretty coherent and then veers off into randomness. But isn't that every mux? I also need to note that the ten-minute Frank Ocean closer is included primarily because 1:12 to 1:29 is the best seventeen seconds of music I've heard in quite some time. I just want to loop that and watch Tron: Legacy.

Boom.

1. !!! - Station (Meet Me At The) (THR!!!ER)
2. Matthew Dear - Earthforms (Beams)
3. Gorillaz - Glitter Freeze (Plastic Beach)
4. Foals - Late Night (Holy Fire)
5. Dirty Projectors - Gun Has No Trigger (Swing Lo Magellan)
6. Deerhunter - PUNK (La Vie Anterieure) (Monomania)
7. My Bloody Valentine - In Another Way (MBV)
8. Tame Impala - Mind Mischief (Lonerism)
9. YACHT - Holy Roller (Shangri-La)
10. Aesop Rock - Gopher Guts (Skelethon)
11. The Knife - Forest Families (Silent Shout)
12. Frank Ocean - Pyramids

TRT 56:21

Newish tracks from 2013 albums: !!!, Deerhunter, Foals, My Bloody Valentine

Rookies: Frank Ocean

Mux121: Winter's Last Stand

Propers to JET for helping me shape the end of this.

I also broke my rule of not having a band on two muxes in a row, since Wiping out Thousands put out a great minimalist single, "Evening" (grab it here) that is a far cry from 120's "Hips." They've got a show coming up at the Entry on the 24th, so if you've got five bucks and a free Sunday nite, come and check them out.

Oh right: Boom.

1. Iggy Pop - The Passenger (Lust For Life)
2. Japandroids - Evil's Sway (Celebration Rock)
3. The Men - Half Angel Half Light (New Moon)
4. Wolf Parade - Grounds For Divorce (Apologies to the Queen Mary)
5. Neil D. Voss - Africa (The New Tetris*)
6. My Bloody Valentine - New You (MBV)
7. Wiping out Thousands - Evening (Single)
8. Friendly Fires - Pala (Pala)
9. Dog Bite - Prettiest Pills (Velvet Changes)
10. Wild Nothing - Nocturne (Nocturne)
11. Spoon - Vittorio E (Kill The Moonlight)
12. Kurt Vile - He's Alright (Childish Prodigy)

TRT 48:02

Rookies: Dog Bite, Iggy Pop, Neil D. Voss
*Yes, I happen to have the entire The New Tetris soundtrack ripped at 128 kbps, so if you want it, shoot me an e-mail. Way too good for a Nintendo 64, which I believe didn't even have a dedicated sound chip.

Mux119: Oregon Dreamin'

Blame all volume disparity on the geniuses who mastered Local Natives and MBV so ridiculously low.

Boom.

1. Friendly Fires - Skeleton Boy (Friendly Fires)
2. Justin Timberlake - Suit & Tie (Single)
3. Kanye West - Street Lights (808s and Heartbreak)
4. LCD Soundsystem - Too Much Love (LCD Soundsystem)
5. Chromatics - At Your Door (Kill For Love)
6. Oneohtrix Point Never - Betrayed in the Octagon (Rifts)
7. Frightened Rabbit - Holy (Pedestrian Verse)
8. Local Natives - Mt. Washington (Hummingbird)
9. Bloc Party - This Modern Love (Silent Alarm)
10. Sleater-Kinney - Buy Her Candy (Dig Me Out)
11. Tame Impala - Be Above It (Lonerism)
12. My Bloody Valentine - Who Sees You (MBV)

TRT 47:15

Rookies: Tame Impala

Mux073: Lousy Smarch Weather

Download or stream via my Dropbox.

Tracks:

1. PS I Love You - Butterflies & Boners
2. Metric - Front Row
3. A Place To Bury Strangers - In Your Heart
4. Japandroids - Rockers East Vancouver
5. My Bloody Valentine - Sometimes
6. The Go! Team - Bust-Out Brigade
7. Cut Copy - Pharoahs & Pyramids
8. Broken Social Scene - Major Label Debut (Fast)
9. Wire - Dot Dash
10. The Rural Albert Advantage - Muscle Relaxants
11. Ride - Dreams Burn Down
12. Radiohead - Give Up The Ghost

Mux rookie:

• Wire

Mux068: January 2011

New year, old music.

Download at Megaupload.com. Stream below.



1. The National - Secret Meeting
2. The Magnetic Fields - I Don't Want To Get Over You
3. The New Pornographers - Letter From An Occupant
4. Stars - Elevator Love Letter
5. LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great
6. Four Tet - Smile Around The Face
7. The Knife - Heartbeats
8. Robyn - Hang With Me
9. My Bloody Valentine - Soon (Glider Version)
10. Spoon - The Ghost of You Lingers
11. Neil Young - Rockin' In The Free World (Electric)
12. Lightning Bolt - Ride the Sky

Mux rookies:
Neil Young
Robyn

Mux015: December 2008, the reissue

Still working on a shot list, so here's another.

1. Caesars - Strawberry Weed
2. Los Campesinos! - We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
3. Tokyo Police Club - Tessellate
4. M83 - Graveyard Girl
5. David Holmes - Melanie
6. Rivers Cuomo - I Don't Want To Let You Go (Solo Version)
7. The National - Ada
8. My Bloody Valentine - Don't Ask Why
9. Jay Reatard - Let It All Go
10. Rogue Wave - 10:1
11. Marnie Stern - Roads? Where We're Going We Don't Need Roads
12. Deerhunter - Oh, It's Such A Shame (Jay Reatard Cover)

Mux002: June 2008, the reissue

I'm up early, so I have an excuse for this.

Stream or download at drop.io.

Tracks:
1. My Bloody Valentine - You Made Me Realize
2. Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal
3. The National - Lit Up
4. Jay Reatard - Nightmares
5. The Go! Team - Huddle Formation
6. No Age - Things I Did When I Was Dead
7. Cut Copy - Strangers In The Wind
8. Boris - My Machine
9. Radiohead - Jigsaw Falling Into Place
10. Brendan Canning - Possible Grenade
11. Rivers Cuomo - Lover in the Snow

Mux001: May 2008, the reissue

What better way to procrastinate on heavy Arc lifting than by mixing down my first muxtape, back when there was still Muxtape?

Also: Imeem is a pain in the ass to deal with. You can just go to the drop.io link, hit the drop-down, and select "preview" to stream it. Much simpler, and no registration or anything required.

Download or stream at Dropbox. [Updated to the correct link on April 14, 2018.]

The tracks, back before I was obsessed with sequencing, but sequenced decently:

1. Wolf Parade - Language City (At Mount Zoomer)
2. Cut Copy - Saturdays (Bright Like Neon Love)
3. Ted Leo - La Costa Brava (Living With The Living)
4. My Bloody Valentine - Off Your Face (GLider EP)
5. The Smashing Pumpkins - 1979 (Mellow Collie and the Infinite Sadness)
6. The National - Slow Show (Boxer)
7. Destroyer - My Favorite Year (Trouble In Dreams)
8. The Joggers - Back to the Future (Solid Guild)
9. Pavement - Cut Your Hair (Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain)
10. Spoon - Finer Feelings (Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga)
11. Dan Deacon - Pink Batman (Spiderman of the Rings)

TRT 49:40

Mux032: drawckaB

Taking songs at the end of albums and putting them at the front; taking songs from the front of albums and putting them at the back. That, or just an excuse to have "Kid A" followed by the intro of The xx's album.

And check it at drop.io, as usual.

Trackz:

1. The Smashing Pumpkins - Daydream (JDK No-Corgan Edit)
2. Why? - This Blackest Purse
3. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps (JDK Edit)
4. The National - Trophy Wife
5. The Tallest Man On Earth - The Sparrow and the Medicine
6. The Rural Albert Advantage - Luciana
7. Spoon - Sister Jack
8. My Bloody Valentine - When You Sleep
9. Wolf Parade - We Built Another World
10. Daft Punk - Digital Love
11. Radiohead - Kid A
12. The xx - Intro

The Best Mix Ever (as of July 15, 2009)

Download via drop.io.

Very flavor-of-the-year, but that's the beauty of it. Also, omitted "The Tourist" by Radiohead, which is my Favorite Song Ever but doesn't really fit anywhere.

Oh right, the occasion: Yet another drive to Chicago tomorrow for, among other things, the 2009 Pitchfork Music Festival. This should kick things off to a good start.

1. The National - Fake Empire
2. Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal
3. The Hold Steady - Sequestered In Memphis
4. Pavement - Cut Your Hair
5. Guided By Voices - Teenage FBI
6. Jay Reatard - Nightmares
7. No Age - Everybody's Down
8. Radiohead - Fog
9. The Smashing Pumpkins - 1979
10. My Bloody Valentine - Sometimes
11. Deerhunter - Nothing Ever Happened
12. Broken Social Scene - Cause = Time
13. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - In This Home On Ice
14. Mission of Burma - That's When I Reach For My Revolver
15. The Thermals - A Pillar of Salt
16. Wolf Parade - I'll Believe In Anything
17. Spoon - Finer Feelings
18. Rogue Wave - Endless Shovel

Mux001 flashback

How strange of me to reference my first muxtape without supplying said muxtape? Here's the download link at drop.io. And here are the tracks:

1. Wolf Parade - Language City
2. Cut Copy - Saturdays
3. Ted Leo - La Costa Brava
4. My Bloody Valentine - Off Your Face
5. The Smashing Pumpkins - 1979
6. The National - Slow Show
7. Destroyer - My Favorite Year
8. The Joggers - Back To The Future
9. Pavement - Cut Your Hair
10. The Hold Steady - You Can Make Him Like You
11. Spoon - Finer Feelings
12. Dan Deacon - Pink Batman

That's a solid line-up. Probably because it was my return to mixes after moving out of Chicago, where I was the unofficial music guy at the Post-Production Center. (And, you know, having two years of new music to compile.) While I kept my still-current rule of never repeating a song on a series of mixtapes, back then my only restriction was that a mix came in under 1 hr. 20 mins. so I could burn it to CD and rip it on the work computer. That was in the dark ages before thumb drives - how novel!

I'm glad muxtape added the rule of a max of twelve tracks. For one thing, it weeds out anything not in the top tier of songs. And second, twelve tracks usually rounds out around forty-five minutes, and I usually don't do anything that requires continuous music for more than that time.

Favorite Albums

I'm in the mood for a list. Not numbered, and strictly alphabetical, since this turned out to be a bit more +10 than I thought.


The Arcade Fire - Funeral (2004)
Favorite track: "Rebellion (Lies)"


Boards of Canada - Music Has The Right To Children (1998)
Favorite track: "Roygbiv"


Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People (2002)
Favorite track: "Cause = Time"


Death From Above 1979 - You're A Woman, I'm A Machine (2004)
Favorite track: "Little Girl"


Deerhunter - Microcastle (2008)
Favorite track: "Agoraphobia"


DJ Shadow - Endtroducing... (1996)
Favorite track: "Midnight in a Perfect World"


Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing (2008)
Favorite track: "Okay, Let's Talk About Magic"


John Coltrane - A Love Supreme (1965)
Favorite track: "Resolution"


Miles Davis - Kind of Blue (1959)
Favorite track: "Blue In Green"


Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica (2000)
Favorite track: "Gravity Rides Everything"


My Bloody Valentine - Loveless (1991)
Favorite track: "When You Sleep"


The National - Boxer (2007)
Favorite track: "Slow Show"


No Age - Nouns (2008)
Favorite track: "Teen Creeps"


Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (1994)
Favorite track: "Cut Your Hair"


Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon (1973)
Favorite track: "Time / Breathe (Reprise)"


Radiohead - Kid A (2000)
Favorite track: "Kid A"


Weezer - The Blue Album (1994)
Favorite track: "No One Else"


Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary (2005)
Favorite track: "I'll Believe In Anything"

What are yours?