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...

Mux086: October 2011

Comfortably awaiting a download or stream.

1. Grinderman - Mickey Mouse and the Goodbye Man (feat. a 21-year-old Jack Kentala) (Grinderman 2)
2. Black Lips - Katrina (Good Bad Not Evil)
3. Metric - Gold Guns Girls (Fantasies)
4. Spoon - Me and the Bean (Girls Can Tell)
5. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Timorous Me (The Tyranny of Distance)
6. The New Pornographers - Challengers (Challengers)
7. Lykke Li - Dance Dance Dance (Youth Novels)
8. EMA - Breakfast (Past Life Martyred Saints)
9. Male Bonding - Bones (Endless Now)
10. The Mountain Goats - Jenny (All Hail West Texas)

For whatever reason, I'm rediscovering that Metric's Fantasies is an amazing album. Easily one of the best bands in the Broken Social Scene family, if that makes any sense.

Not that these muxes are trade secrets, but when I'm working out the sequence, it's pretty obvious what goes where if you check my Last.fm stats. If you're that kind of weirdo.

Rookies:
EMA

Mux060: September 2010

Download or stream via drop.io. Dude, you're like twelve years too late.

1. The Chemical Brothers - Snow
2. Liars - Proud Evolution
3. No Age - Glitter
4. Wolf Parade - Ghost Pressure
5. The Roots - How I Got Over
6. Broken Social Scene - Meet Me In The Basement
7. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Ativan Eyes
8. The National - Lemonworld
9. The Drums - I'll Never Drop My Sword
10. The Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
11. Magic Kids - Phone

Mux051: Springtime, Bitches

I think this is the longest gap in time I've gone without making a mux since when I started. But here it is. Some new, some old, some deep cuts. The usual.

I was also having a hell of a time trying to put a new Crystal Castles track on here, but that'll just have to wait for JDK Radio: Night 3.

Download or stream at drop.io.

1. Matt and Kim - Good Ol' Fashion Nightmare
2. The National - Bloodbuzz Ohio
3. LCD Soundsystem - Drunk Girls
4. Cut Copy - Unforgettable Season
5. Four Tet - As Serious As Your Life
6. Phantogram - When I'm Small
7. Rilo Kiley - Dreamworld
8. Fang Island - Welcome Wagon
9. Titus Andronicus - Theme From "Cheers"
10. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Gimme The Wire
11. Japandroids - Coma Complacency
12. Sonic Youth - Teen Age Riot

Mux049: Back to Rock 2

Download or stream off drop.io.

1. Titus Andronicus - A More Perfect Union
2. Foo Fighters - Monkey Wrench
3. Jay Reatard - Night of Broken Glass
4. The Smashing Pumpkins - Siva
5. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Mourning In America
6. The Hold Steady - Party Pit
7. Pavement - Trigger Cut
8. Free Energy - Light Love
9. Surfer Blood - Fast Jabroni
10. Death - Politicians In My Eyes

The Year in Music: March 2010

Favorites of the year, thus far:


Beach House - Teen Dream


Four Tet - There Is Love In You


Free Energy - Stuck On Nothing


Frightened Rabbit - The Winter of Mixed Drinks


Hot Chip - One Life Stand


Liars - Sisterworld


Local Natives - Gorilla Manor


Los Campesinos! - Romance is Boring


The Radio Dept. - Clinging To A Scheme


Rogue Wave - Permalight


Spoon - Transference


Surfer Blood - Astro Coast


Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - The Brutalist Bricks


Titus Andronicus - The Monitor

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

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.