Tape Culture

The Color of Television: An Odyssey of Detroit Techno, Italo Disco and Beyond

The Color of Television: An Odyssey of Detroit Techno, Italo Disco and Beyond by jessek

Suggested consumption before consuming this mixtape: Neuromancer by William Gibson, Futureshock and The Third Wave by Alvin Toffler, Omni Magazine, Escape from New York, Blade Runner. Break out the parachute pants, fingerless gloves and mirrorshade Ray-Ban aviators, it's time for a trip back in time to the future the 80s promised but never delivered. A heady mix of Detroit Techno, Italo Disco and some more modern stuff.

1. Dopplereffekt - Hyperellyptic Surfaces
2. Clock DVA - The Hacker
3. Crystal Castles - Knights
4. M|A|R|R|S - Pump up the Volume
5. Shit Robot - Chasm
6. The Juan McClean - Give Me Every Little Thing
7. Delia Gonzalez - Rise
8. Model 500 - Vessels in Distress
   
9. Crystal Castles - 1991
10. Cyber People - Void Vision (Radio Version)
11. K.S. Experience - Electronic Dance
12. 808 State - Bond
13. Model 500 - No UFOs
14. Giorgio Moroder - Chase
    
15. Cybotron - Alleys of Your Mind
    
16. Dopplereffekt - Sterilzation
    
17. Ladytron - Evil
    
18. Cybotron - Clear

Download. 101 megabytes, 75 minutes. Might take a while on your Commodore 64. Midi version not coming anytime soon.

Happy Kwanzaa

Merry Christmas

The Junky's Christmas by William S. Burroughs

A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector

Download here.

A John Waters Christmas

Enjoy A John Waters Christmas. Download from here.

Let it Snow: An Indie Electronic Xmas Mixtape

Indie rock and electronic music to sooth the pain of christmas with your family. Best enjoyed with a stiff glass of egg nog or hot buttered rum. Merry Christmas!

1. The Cocteau Twins - Winter Wonderland
2. Sonic Youth - Santa Doesn't Cop Out on Dope
3. Mogwai - Christmas Song
4. Sally Shapiro - Anorak Christmas
5. The Knife - Christmas Reindeer
6. Tiny Tim - Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
7. The Walkmen - No Christmas While I'm Talking
8. The Cocteau Twins - Frosty the Snowman
9. Tom Waits - Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis
10. The Pogues - The Fairytale of New York

Download. 62 megabytes, 45 minutes.

Wreck the Halls: A Punk Xmas Mixtape

Nothing says punk like... celebrating the birth of Christ? Also note: Oi to the World by The Vandals, fuck No Doubt. Anyway, enjoy:

1. FEAR - Another Xmas Beer
2. Bad Manners - Christmas Time Again
3. Descendents - Christmas Vacation
4. Stiff Little Fingers - White Christmas
5. Bad Religion - The First Noel
6. The Ramones - Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight)
7. Joan Jett - Lil Drummer Boy
8. Satan's Cheerleaders - Christmas Time is Here Again
9. Anti-Nowhere League - Snowman
10. Man... Or Astro-Man? - Frosty the Snowman
11. Face to Face - Merry Xmas
12. Butthole Surfers - Good King Wenceslas
13. Mojo Nixon - Christmas Christmas
14. The Dickies - Silent Night
15. The Vandals - Oi to the World

Download. 55.1 megabytes, 40 minutes.

Yay, hardware issues resolved, let the mixing continue

yay hooray. I fixed my pee see and all I had to do was downgrade my Geforce 7600 to a 5500. :( oh well, it's not like I play games. This card will run firefox, notepad++, photoshop and most importantly, Mixmeister just fine!

Expect an xmas mix or two before the holiday is over and then maybe some fresh new mixes for the new year. I'm thinking Italo Disco or songs about cocaine may be some ideas I might want to explore soon.

No mixtapes for a bit

So my main workstation is having issues that maybe related to the graphics card. As soon as I resolve them I'll be back to mixing ASAP. Until then I'll be trying to post links to good mixtapes that I like by other people and posting the usual mix of awesome topical music videos.

Ruckus Robiticus: A Very Merry Daftpunk Xmas

Found this on reddit today, not the most christmassy of music, but definitely very, very Daft Punk:

   A Very Daft Punk Christmas (DJ Mix)  by  Ruckus Roboticus

Christmas with the Devil - A Very Metal Xmas

No better way to celebrate the birth of Christ than a bunch of satanic heavy metal music.

1. Bob Rivers & Twisted Radio - I Am Santa Claus (Iron Man parody)
2. King Diamond - No Presents for Xmas
3. Dio - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
4. The Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Carol of the Bells
5. Alice Cooper - Santa is Coming to Town
6. AC/DC - A Mistress for Christmas
7. Twisted Sister - Heavy Metal Christmas
8. Lemmy Kilmister - Run Run Rudolph
9. Type O Negative - Red Water (Christmas Mourning)
10. Spinal Tap - Christmas with the Devil

Download. 39 minutes, 54 megabytes.

Xmas Rappin' - A non-stop Hip Hop Xmas Mixtape

Santa Claus is goin' to the Ghetto. Enjoy these lovely hip hop selections about everyone's favorite christian holiday.

1. Run-DMC - Christmas in Hollis
2. Snoop Dogg - Santa Goes Straight to the Ghetto (ft. Ice Cube)
3. Kurtis Blow - Christmas Rappin'
4. Jim Jones - Ballin' on Xmas
5. Westside Connection - Holidaze
6. Eazy-E - Merry Motherfuckin' Christmas
7. 69 Boys - What do you Want for Christmas
8. Run-DMC - Christmas is

Download.  32 minutes, 45 megabytes.

FUCK CHRISTMAS! A mixtape of crappy holidays and people who hate the xmas season

 A mixtape of holiday disasters, consumer disillusionment and sad stories of drunken loneliness. A perfect counterpoint ot all the the crappy sugar pop xmas muzak heard while shopping. This is my own personal war on christmas:

1. Fear - Fuck Christmas
2. Captain Sensible - One Christmas Catalog
3. Timbuk 3 - All I Want for Christmas (is World Peace)
4. The Damned - There Ain't No Sanity Clause!
5. D.I. - Mr. Grinch
6. TVTV$ - Daddy Drank Our Xmas Money
7. The Waitresses - Christmas Wrapping
8. Wall of Voodoo - We Shouldn't Have Given Him a Gun for Christmas
9. Rocket from the Crypt - Cancel Christmas
10. Prince - Another Lonely Christmas
11. The Kinks - Father Christmas

Download. 33 minutes, 46.3 megabytes.

Happy Channukah!

Happy Channukah! enjoy this mix someone else made, it's full of funny/weird vintage music related to the festival of lights!

Find out more here.

Jewish Christmas Mixtape (Xmas Songs by Jews)

What better way to celebrate the birth of the King of the Jews than listening to a mixtape of Hebrews performing Christmas classics? Perfect for listening to while you prepare your seasonal decorations of coopted pagan symbols.  Remember, don't forget the true reason for the season: the birth of Santa.

Tracklist:

1. Phil Spector - Silent Night/A Christmas Message
2. Mel Torme - The Christmas Song (Michael Kessler Open Fire Mix)
3. Beastie Boys - Country Mike's Country Christmas
4. Kenny G - We Three Kings/Carol of the Bells
5. Amy Winehouse - I Saw Mummy Kissing Santa Claus
6. Bob Dylan - I'll Be Home for Christmas
7. Neil Diamond - Happy Christmas (War is Over)
8. Simon & Garfunkle - Silent Night
   

Download. 27 megabytes, 19 and a half minutes.

(War is Over, if you want it)

Don We Now, Our Gay Apparel

A very merry and gay Christmas mix, enjoy!

1. Erasure - She Won't be Home for Xmas
2. Wham! - Last Christmas
3. Johnny "Gay Pimp" McGovern - Dirty Gay Xmas
   
4. Madonna - Santa Baby
5. Pet Shop Boys - It Doesn't Snow Often at Christmas
6. Cher - Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
7. Pansy Division - Homo Christmas

Download. 27 minutes,  37mb.

A Thanksgiving Prayer

William S. Burroughs - Thanksgiving Prayer

Ambient Healing mixtape

A soothing ambient chill mix of music to heal and calm. Best if taken with your meds. Do not drive or operate heavy machinery.

Download. 40.2mb, 29:17.

1. UNKLE - Back and Forth
2. Underworld - To Heal
3. Nine Inch Nails - Adrift and at Peace
4. The Orb - Spanish Castles in Space
5. M83 - Coloring the Void
6. Biosphere - People are Friends
7. The KLF - Mercury
8. Aphex Twin - Curtains
9. Moby - Lean on Me
10. DJ Shadow - Blood on the Motorway
    

England's Dreaming: It's Grim Across the Pond mixtape

"And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among these dark Satanic mills?"

-- William Blake, Jerusalem

Not really the fairy tale land of Doctor Who, police who don't carry guns and Harry Potter, England can be a pretty grim place to live. Starting with the punk movement through to the current dubstep scene, the societal conditions of a country with a fucked up class struggle that's filled with housing projects and unemployment has brought us a lot of interesting music.

And that's what this mixtape is about: the amazing albeit bleak music of England. (I have nothing against it as a country or a group of people, I just thought this would make for a good mix).

Download. 66:38 minutes, 91.59mb

1. The KLF - It's Grim Up North (part ii)
   
2. Burial - South London Burroughs
3. Joy Division - Shadowplay
4. The Future Sound of London - Dead Cities
5. Billy Bragg - A New England
6. Jamie Woon - Wayfaring Stranger (Burial Remix)
7. Throbbing Gristle - United
8. Kano - Ps and Qs
9. Vex'd - Bombardment of Saturn
10. Public Image Ltd. - The Flowers of Romance
11. Distance - My Demons
12. The Normal - Warm Leatherette
13. Coil - Ravenous
14. Sinead O'Connor - Black Boys on Mopeds
15. Skream - Nemesis
16. The Human League - Being Boiled (Fast Version)
17. Caspa - Big Headed Slags
18. The KLF - Jerusalem of the Moors

Happy Day of the Dead

What better way to celebrate Dia de los Muertos than some brutal MEXICAN DEATH METAL?

The album's title translates to "Hated Race" (watch Lou Dobbs to figure out who that is) and features songs about immigration politics, the Zapatista movement and the drug war along with more traditional death metal themes. Ex-Dead Kennedys vocalist Jello Biafra appears as a tongue in cheek version Californian governor Pete Wilson on one track. This music is the polar opposite of what people commonly think of as "Mexican Music", e.g. Ranchera (the polka sounding stuff that's on like four AM stations) or Morrissey (seriously). Like gangsta rap before it turned into a showcase of Bentleys and diamonds, Brujeria has got to scare the shit out of White People.
Download it here from Brutal Xpression, which appears to be an extreme metal blog in Spanish. Good stuff if you're into it.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween, I hope you enjoyed my October goth mixtape.

For a treat, I've tracked down a copy of Skinny Puppy's infamous "Worlock" video. This video was created by cEvin and Ogre of Skinny Puppy using cut footage from horror movies that was removed by various ratings boards. Because of the nature of the work, it'll never have a commercial release, due to the graphic content and copyright clearance problems.

Which is what makes the Internet awesome, years ago this was something that you had to spend time tracking it down at horror movie conventions or from ads in the back of zines and when you got it was a 5th generation VHS tape and looked like ass. These days, it's on youtube.





Read more about the video here.

Sisters of Mercy - Dominion

They're goth but they wear all white? and film videos that look like Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade? Good song, strange video. I miss 120 Minutes, although I guess VH1 Classic shows Classic 120 Minutes now.

And Dream of Sleep

A mixtape about sleep from a guy who can't sleep. It's a sleepy mix of songs about sleep interspersed with some ambient tracks. Perfect for counting sheep or browsing the internet at 3am. Insomniac.

Download.

1. Tycho - The Daydream
2. The Orb - Sleeping Tiger and the Gods Unknown
3. Wu-Tang Clan - I Can't Go to Sleep
4. Kate Bush - And Dream of Sheep
5. Aphex Twin - Blue Calx
6. Cowboy Junkies - Dreaming My Dreams with You
7. Primitive Radio Gods - Standing Outside of a Phone Booth With Money in My Hand
8. Tom Waits - Innocent When You Dream (78rpm mix)
9. Jackson Browne - Sleep's Dark and Silent Gate
10. Moby - My Beautiful Blue Sky
11. The Postal Service - The District Sleeps Tonight
12. Biosphere - Chukhung
13. Stevie Nicks - Dreams (Deep Dish mix)
14. The Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams
15. The Magnetic Fields - Asleep and Dreaming
16. Jakatta - American Dream
17. The Monkees - Daydream Believer
18. Global Communication - 4:14
19. Roy Orbison - In Dreams

Home Taping is Killing Record Industry Profits!

The Nuclear War Dance Party Mixtape

"The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking...the solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker." -Albert Einstein

A mixtape about nuclear war. When I was growing up in the 1980s, I really felt that there was not going to be a future. It just seemed inevitable. What better way to deny the inevitable than with a dance party?

Of course we didn't know to much later that the Russians were cooking the books and that by the end of the decade they'd be insolvent and the Cold War would be over. Any young person these days probably think it was all very ridiculous.

But it did produce some great songs:

1. Anne Clark - Poem for a Nuclear Romance
2. Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark - Enola Gay
3. The Postal Service - We Will Become Silhouettes 
4. Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Two Tribes
5. Psychic TV - Eve ov Destruction
6. Fischerspooner - We Need a War
7. Time Zone (feat. Afrika Bambata and John Lydon) - World Destruction
8. Sting - The Russians
9. Nena - 99 Luftballoons
10. Alphaville - Forever Young
11. Black Sabbath - Electric Funeral
12. Sun Ra - Nuclear War
13. Colonel Bagshot - Six Day War

Download.

Clove Cigarettes and Coffin Nails: A Gloomy Goth Mixtape for Halloween

It's that time of the year, the falling leaves and grey skies make one remember the gloomy music of your youth, the apple pie taste of a Djarum black, that extra strong cup of coffee drank at a Denny's at 3am, watching a crappy VHS tape of Return of the Living Dead in your friend's basement, musty used books, scuffed Doc Martins, Ritt black dye that never dyed things dark enough, getting your ass kicked by the football team...

It seemed to rain a lot more often back then, didn't it?

Enjoy this mix, everyone gets to be a little goth now and then, even though cloves are now illegal and your mom's reading Twilight.

73 minutes of gloom, 84mb of sorrow. Download.

Tracklist:

1. Bixio, Friizi & Tempera - Siete Note in Nero (7 Notes in Black)
2. The Cure - Prayers for Rain
3. Concrete Blonde - Bloodletting (The Vampire Song)
4. The Catherine Wheel - Black Metallic
5. Siouxsie & the Banshees - Dazzle
6. Depeche Mode - Black Celebration
7. Sisters of Mercy - More
8. Ministry - Everyday is Halloween
9. Public Image Ltd. - The Order of Death
10. Leonard Cohen - Avalanche
11. I Love You but I've Chose Darkness - According to Plan
12. Peter Murphy - Strange Kind of Love
13. Coil - The First Five Minutes After Death
14. Goblin - Suspiria
15. Bahaus - Bela Lugosi's Dead

Change in the Weather: A Shoegazey Indie Pop Mix

I made this mix a while ago, just fucking around with Mixmeister. I really wanted to make a mix of shoegaze/indie songs I loved. It's best listened to after a rainstorm.

Download.

Tracklist:

1. The Smiths - Stop Me if You've Heard This One Before
2. Glasvegas - Geraldine
3. The Jesus & Mary Chain - Just Like Honey
4. Ride - Seagull
5. Amanda Palmer - Astronaut (A Short History of Nearly Nothing)
6. Mogwai - We're No Here
7. Suicide - Cheree
8. TV on the Radio - Staring at the Sun
9. The Cure - Prayers for Rain
10. UNKLE - In a State
11. Gorillaz - Dare (DFA Mix)
12. Massive Attack - Unfinished Symphony
13. The Stone Roses - Fool's Gold
14. New Order - Regret
15. I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness - Fear is on Our Side
16. Joy Division - She's Lost Control
17. The Editors - Lights
18. The Arcade Fire - Intervention
19. Peter Murphy - Strange Kind of Love
20. DJ Shadow - Midnight in a Perfect World