Why Listen to Anything Else When You Can Listen To This?

“The making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do and takes ages longer than it might seem. You gotta kick off with a killer, to grab attention. Then you got to take it up a notch, but you don't wanna blow your wad, so then you got to cool it off a notch. There are a lot of rules…”

--Rob Gordon from Nick Hornby’s “High Fidelity”



My love of the mix tape began when I was nine years old. My dad gave me a blank Memorex cassette and told me to record songs off Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 Countdown that he’d like. Toto’s “Africa,” Styx’s “Mr. Roboto,” and Dexy’s Midnight Runners’ “Come On Eileen” (his favorite) all made the cut. This became a Sunday morning ritual.

A couple of years later, I got a radio/tape player for Christmas and started making my own compilations. Adam Ant, Culture Club and Prince were among my playlist regulars. To balance out their eyeliner and pirate shirt androgyny, I’d sprinkle in a few balls-out dirty boys from K-SHE 95’s “Monday Night Metal” show—AC/DC, Ozzy Osbourne and Scorpions.

In high school, I graduated to indie and modern rock mixes—primarily created from Les Aaron’s “New Music Sunday.” Oh, there were always a couple of radio hits mingling with them. At any given moment, songs like “Under the Milky Way” and “A Question of Lust” might be followed by “Push It” and “The Humpty Dance.”

Since then, I’ve created a multitude of mix tapes. These evolved to mix CDs—LOTS of ‘em—for birthdays, holidays, barbecues, bachelorette parties, etc. And in recent years, I’ve become somewhat known for my eclectic mixes (at least amongst my friends).

When it comes to the collection of particular tracks, I rarely follow a theme. Usually, I just burn a bunch of songs onto a CD that I’ve been digging lately (and that I think the person I’m making it for would like). I always throw a few wild cards in the mix—say, Nazareth or Nenah Cherry. No matter what makes the cut, though, I have to agree with Mr. Gordon. The making of a great compilation is all about creating a flow—one that allows you to go from Pixies to The Go! Team to The Game to Dilated Peoples to Beck to Michael Jackson to T. Rex—as if these artists were all meant to hang together in the same space.

At this point, you’re probably asking yourself, why is she going on and on about mix tapes? Who gives a shit? Why am I reading this? Where’s my bong?

Well, all of this is leading up to a kick-ass website that I discovered yesterday. If you like mix tapes as much as I do, then you need to check this out IMMEDIATELY. The site is muxtape.com. And its reason for being is the same simple reason you make a mix tape: To share your music with someone else. Only, in this case, you can share it with many people. Granted, this site is pretty bare-bones. No cool graphics or cutting-edge flash intros. No catchy links running along the side or smart-ass comments from satisfied or unsatisfied users. Regardless, I thought it was pretty cool. After all, it’s all about the music, right?

And of course, I made a mix tape on it—which you can check out here*.

*NOTE: My songs might not currently play due to technical errors. They played yesterday. But today, there seems to be a bit of difficulty. I assure you, though, when the über-geniuses at the muxtape.com help desk get the glitch figured out and fixed, be prepared to fill up on MAJOR ear candy. In the meantime, make your own sweet mix.