Here’s another mixtape I made from a sealed, pre-recorded cassette I got for 99 cents at the record store. I taped over the cassette’s protection tabs and then I taped over the music and then I taped over the artwork.
This one started out with Human League’s “Love Action” playing on repeat in my head, followed by Mary Wells’ “You Beat Me To The Punch.” At first I thought I might continue the pattern and just alternate British synthpop with Motown for the whole mix — post-industrial meets industrial, in the terms of Everybody in the Place — but I try to go for vibe vs. theme with these mixes.
SIDE A
– Human League, “Love Action”
– Mary Wells, “You Beat Me To The Punch”
– Yaz, “Situation”
– Garnet Mimms & The Enchanters, “A Quiet Place”
– Leonard Cohen, “Everybody Knows”
– The Chordettes, “Mr. Sandman”
– Chappell Roan, “Good Luck, Babe!”
– Melodians Steel Orchestra, “Symphony in D Minor” (snippet/tape ran out)
SIDE B
– Radiohead, “Worrywort”
– The Smiths, “Well I Wonder”
– Cocteau Twins, “Heaven or Las Vegas”
– The Durutti Column, “Future Perfect”
– Donald & The Delighters, “Elephant Walk”
– Pet Shop Boys, “West End Girls”
– Destroyer, “It’s Gonna Take an Airplane” (faded out before the tape ran out)
I can’t remember where I heard “A Quiet Place” — I thought it was some TV show, but it might’ve been Walter Martin’s radio show, which is where I heard “Elephant Walk.”
I could not resist another Leonard Cohen track, as it is his season, and funny enough, it’s in the same exact #5 track spot as last month’s mix. (I thought the Chordettes were the perfect juxtaposition — my 9-year-old son Jules loves “Mr. Sandman.”)
The steel band track is from the artist Jeremy Deller’s English Magic — written by the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams.
The Radiohead track is an old b-side of theirs I love. I’ve been looking for an excuse to use “Well I Wonder” on a mix ever since I watched The Killer.
I’ve been listening to the Cocteau Twins’ Four Calendar Cafe a bunch this year, but I thought “Heaven or Las Vegas” fit better.
There was something about that cheesy horn on “West End Girls” that made me think of the MIDI orchestration on Destroyer’s Your Blues. A perfect ending, IMO.
Lots of other weird coincidences popped up in the mix that I didn’t realize when I was making it, but I’ll leave it to you to discover them for yourself.
You can listen to the mix on Spotify or on Apple Music.
I’ve made 12 mixes so far this year — if you want, you can listen to a big 9-hour playlist of them all.
Oh one more thing: I taped over Toni Childs’ House of Hope for this mix — I realized if I flipped the liner notes inside out, the word HOPE was spelled out on the back.