Okay, now criticize MY mixtape

Cafe Society
1

Here is the list…the intended audience is a friend who likes all of these genres, but has not heard most of these songs. (note: intended, not actual. I have made the CD but have not sent it.)

Here’s the list: my criticism afterward.



At Your Funeral                - Saves the Day
My Life Story                  - MXPX
Woke Up in a Car               - Something Corporate
10 Minutes to Downtown         - Get up Kids
The Good Fight                 - Dashboard Confessional
Best Looking Boys              - Promise Ring
Coke                           - Flickerstick
My Paper Heart                 - The All-American Rejects

Special K                      - Placebo
Checkout Line                  - Citizen King
Tangerine Speedo               - Caviar
Unemployed in Summertime       - Emiliana Torrini

Bright Future in Sales         - Fountains of Wayne
Lunatic Friends                - Deathray
Everywhere in Denver           - Promise Ring
Cadence to Arms                - Dropkick Murphys
Do or Die                      - Dropkick Murphys
My Dad Sucks                   - Descendents
All-Star Me                    - Saves the Day
Baby Blue                      - Emiliana Torrini

Okay, start with the easiest criticism…the second Torrini song was entirely shoehorned in. But both are great songs, I could not let one go.

Also, a lot of these are first songs on albums. So perhaps there’s a bit too much of that “first song” driving energy on this mix. In fact, that’s why I selected “10 minutes to downtown” instead of “Holiday”, even though I prefer the latter. (On the other hand, “Bright Future in Sales” DOES have the driving energy, but simply would never have worked as a first song on an album due to the opening drum loop.)

Last, a technical criticism. I couldn’t get the CD burner to not insert that 2 second pause between tracks, and that is totally necessary in order to get Cadence to Arms/Do or Die to transition properly.

The plan here was to pick “Transition songs” between genres. Those genres were Whiny Indie (Emo-ish), Trip-hop and Indie(-ish). I think My Paper Heart works well for the Whiny-Triphop transition, but I couldnt find a good one for Trip-hop/indie. I did a thematic one instead…Summertime/employment. (My friend does this too, but she is perfect at it! For example, one of her mixes had Town Called Malice followed by Lust for Life. I hadn’t heard either of them, and I thought the opening drums was another verse! To get back at her i might put Ana Ng on my next mix :))

2

Two songs by the same artist in a row? That’s generally a big mix tape/CD no-no (unless you’re doing these things in pairs.) I, for one, would never do it.

You’re also the first person I’ve ever heard classify Placebo, Citizen King and Caviar as trip-hop.

3

I can’t criticise it. This totally appeals to me. Promise Ring, Get Up Kids, Placebo, Saves The Day - I’m in emo kid heaven.

The only flaw I can find is the repetition of artists. Apart from that, I’m ready to cry my eyes out.

4

Well, I should have put it really as “Cadence to Arms/Do or Die”, since Cadence to Arms, while a separate track on the CD, really serves as an intro to Do or Die. Like “eruption/got me now” or “”. I guess the reason I put them on separate lines is that I wanted to emphasize the fact that my CD maker puts a freakin 2 second pause between tracks and ruins the flow of it. It’s even worse, since the beginning of the second track still has the fadeout from the first in the background! Sorry for the confusion, I 'll get my CD maker to behave someday :slight_smile:

I agree that that might not be the best fit for Placebo and Caviar (while it is for Citizen King, IMHO), AND genres in general are not all that useful, BUT if we are going to be putting things into genres, there should be one in which Citizen King, oldschool Beck, Sneaker Pimps, Bjork/sugarcubes, Torrini, Stereo MCs, etc. can find a home. Placebo and Caviar were a stretch, but fit better than a lot of other genres. Tangerine Speedo, too, is certainly Beck-ish.

5

should be

Like “eruption/got me now” or “foreplay/long time”.

6

The mix tape rules: -

  1. There are no rules.

You do two in a row when it feels right, and when it’s least expected.