2020 RM Secret Mixtape Exchange

[Norah]

lol

[Jorge]

My mixmaker went to great lengths to remove the ID3 tags from each mp3 file, but the file names still said the artist and song titles bless their heart

[Jorge]

This mix fucking slaps though

[Jorge]

It slaps my entire bod

[Jorge]

Thanks to my mixmaker. A full review will be posted tomorrow or Tuesday. I had a blast with this mix -- some old favorites I'm intimately familiar with, a couple songs I knew but needed to revisit, and a few that were brand new to me. The whole thing shares a cohesive aesthetic and sonic identity, which I really appreciated; sounds like a pirate radio broadcast from a specific time and place. Anyway, track-by-track thoughts and observations are forthcoming.

[kreng]

i've listened to the first half so far as i was doing things around the house. will start listening more intensely today and in the next few days. There's quite a few people in this thing that i no very little about, music taste wise or otherwise, but of the people whose tastes i do know a little i have an idea whose mix this could be. Most of these artists i wouldn't listen to purposely, but from what i have heard so far it flows well, and sounds pretty good!

[Chris_H_2]

mine is pretty diverse and eclectic, and i'm really liking it thus far. just when i think it's on a steady trajectory, it take a 90-degree turn. very nice.

[washing machine]

My mix was perfect for that desolate, empty 3am drive out of downtown last night.

The mixmaker either did some expert level homework and dug through some of my old posts in the Twin Peaks thread or it's a happy coincidence. This isn't music you'd reach for so much as music that happens to you.

A more troubling theory about my mixmaker is that they possibly know thru posts that I like to listen to music in early morning hours while feeding my child. If that's the case, this mix is F U C K E D up.

[Higgs]

OK. I grabbed the Spotify mix link from spenno and sorted myself out listening out front on my Sonos Move speaker, having a beer on this glorious, 25 degree (celsius y'all) Monday evening. So let's get into it.

Track 01 - Julien Baker / ?
I always appreciate and enjoy JB. Don't know this specific tune though, it's lovely. Has a nice way of building, quietly.

Track 02 - ? / ?
OK, let's get into the POP! That's no bad thing, mind, I'm usually pretty partial. I feel like I should recognise this, but nope. Nice production. This song has managed to really grow on me over the few minutes it's been playing. I really like the insistent bass drum throughout.

Track 03 - ? / ?
Third female vocal in a row. I wonder if this is a pattern. Again, not heard this song before, sounds a little like Florence of the Machine, but I don't think it is she. This is moody and continues a theme I'm mostly enjoying (moody fem vox). Again, as song #2, the production is important here too. This kinda grows as it goes, the backing vocals towards the end are the 1st time I can confirm that a male has been in any way involved with this mix (except for like, putting it together of course).

Track 04 - ? / ?
Bright, solo acoustic, again fem vox, poppy but interesting too. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that this is an all fem vox mix. That is fine and dandy by me. I love the little "whoo-hoo's" at the back of the mix here. I wonder if I am doing the mix a disservice not listening on headphones? The last 3 songs in particular have been noticeably excellent and interesting with production and overall soundstage. This is cool.

Track 05 - ? / ?
Fem vox once again, leaning towards pop, but also again here comes the interesting production twists. Not a huge fan of the faux industrial noise section though.

Track 06 - Big Thief / UFOF
Hey, here's one I know iff the bat. This is Big Thief, and I really enjoyed both of the albums they released last year. This track (UFOF) is a great tune.

Gotta say I'm really enjoying the ebb and flow of this mix so far. It's good for a mix to have a thematic back bone, and this certainly does. Specifically excellent female singers on well produced, somewhat moody, occasionally down-tempo, more recent tunes.

Track 07 - Mitski / ?
I'm sure this is Mitski but I don't know a lot of their stuff very well. This is about exactly what I think of when I think of Mitski. I know lots love them but they haven't really grabbed me as yet. This is good though, and absolutely fits the flow here.

Track 08 - ? / ?
I like this. I like the vox and I like the happy tempo, yet...down-tempo?? This is really good - I'm a fan.

Track 09 - ? / ?
Julien Baker-vibes abound here, but I don't recognise the song. I'm sure its not actually her, but this is sure solid. Solid lyrics, solid music. Is that a fucking harp I hear??! I love "sun dappled" as a musical adjective. This song is indeed "sun dappled".

Track 10 - ? / ?
Another minimal acoustic intro, another build of intriguing sonic ideas and production. The song itself is good and kinda spacey, which I like, but it's not overall my jam. Once again though, still very much "on theme".

Track 11 - ? / ?
Bit of a 90's slacker vibe from the outset here. Good stuff. I very much like this sort of lazy, kinda simple indie band sound. Yeah, this is great. Kinda "Chastity Belt - lite".

Track 12 - Chastity Belt / Different Now
HA! My last comment was "Chastity Belt lite" and here are the real deal! This is honestly one of my favourite songs of all time and I love that this is on the mix, and damn does it fit nice. Sun dappled indeed.

Track 13 - Christine and the Queens / ?
I'm positive that this is the most fabulous Christine and the Queens. I've heard a bit of their stuff and enjoy a lot of it. I remember first ever seeing her perform on The Graham Norton show and thought she was just amazing. I love her whole of performance approach to what she does. This is good.

Track 14 - ?? / Dancing in the Dark
Taking on a classic, I get the feeling that I should know who this is, but I can't put my finger on it. This is fun enough but I am pretty strict on my rules if you are gonna do a cover. Rule #1 - Make it excellent. Rule #2 - Make it yours. I think she misses the mark here. I'll still do my dancing with Brucie.

Track 15 - Boygenius / Me and My Dog
This is sparse and beautiful, haunting and lovely. And it has a banjo! One of only 3 songs I actually knew the artist and song on the whole mix. Not that that is any sort of metric by which to measure a mix, as it really matters not a whit. This is a lovely way to finish the mix, gotta say. Even the final close out was perfect in it's neat finality.


Wow. That was really, really great. I loved sitting down and going through this start to finish, and I suspect that the glorious late summer evening I found myself in was a fortuitous pairing. Plat in his post above mentioned that he appreciated that his mix "shares a cohesive aesthetic and sonic identity", and I am 100% in agreeance with mine. I appreciate that my mixmaker has done some homework on me and my tastes, and not gonna lie, gotta say they got it pretty damn right with this collection.

This is just a great mix and I really loved it. I'm gonna listen again now with the songs in front of me and will comment again after. I can't help but think that my mix maker put a fair degree of thought into this mix and very much tailored it towards things they thought I'd like. Well, job done. Thanks heaps - I highly recommend this mix for an easy hour of quality contemporary female driven tuneage.

Edit: Tracklist follows

01 Julien Baker - Tokyo
02 Robyn - Missing U
03 Angel Olsen - All Mirrors
04 Grimes - Delete Forever (Heard on the radio the other day that she had synesthesia, meaning she saw sounds as colours. Same as Kanye and Billy Joel)
05 Clairo - Sofia
06 Big Thief - UFOF
07 Mitski - Washing Machine Heart
08 Phoebe Bridgers - Motion Sickness (checking more out here)
09 Japanese Breakfast - The Body is a Blade (homework to do here as well)
10 Woodes - Bonfire
11 Soccer Mommy - bloodstream (def grabbing more from these guys)
12 Chastity Belt - Different Now (check this mix out for this song alone - its all good, but this...)
13 Christine and the Queens - I Disappear in Your Arms
14 Lucy Dacus - Dancing in the Dark (can I still post in the thread? I didn't pick this one and bagged her too!)
15 boygenius - Me and My Dog

A really enjoyable listen here. Here's the spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5bufR ... FryJnr-bMQ

Get amongst it!

[Higgs]

So, who is my mix maker? I'm gonna go via a process of elimination I think.

The suspects:

1. Brett Not his style
2. Higgs Can't be, unless I am pulling the greatest RM ruse of ALL TIME!
3. Dr. Van Nostrand I had to think about this, but don't think so.
4. LetMeSleep - A strong leading suspect.
5. E.H. Ruddock - Not absolutely dismissed as a candidate.
6. theplatypus Possible, but doubtful.
7. VinylGuy Nope.
8. Birds in Hell No way in Hell.
9. Chris_H_2 Guessing no.
10. washing machine - my number 2 seed.
11. kreng Doesn't feel right (not kreng, the idea that he made the mix)
12. NotThatGuy No idea at all. But I'm going with no.
13. super nintendo chalmers No way is this a snc mix.
14. Kaius - Possible

So my guess is gonna be...

'sleep.

[E.H. Ruddock]

I apologize to my mixmaster, but I am out of town on work and super busy until Thursday. I'll listen on the flight home Wednesday and have a review up by the weekend. Really looking forward to it!

[washing machine]

Higgs, did track 11 tip you off to the possibility of it being me?

(It's not, btw)

[Higgs]

The whole thing really. I know you have some diverse tastes and I know you are not adverse to the feminine musical charms. Soccer Mommy in particular didn't tip me one way or another though. I really need to check out more of their stuff.

[washing machine]

She was great opening for one of the bands on the mix I did make that one time I saw them.

[Jorge]

It's gotta be NotThatGuy

[Brett]

Hmm, I have no idea who any of the artists are on my mix, which is quite intriguing. It's got a fairly consistent aesthetic that is rather moody overall. I'm getting some post-punk and goth vibes from a lot of this, as well as some electronic- or industrial-funk stuff. I think my mixmaker managed to zero in on some aspects of my taste really well, especially with some of the diverse textures throughout the mix and the appearance of certain timbres like Mediterranean and Eastern European instruments or synthesized versions thereof. I hope to get a full review up in the next couple days.

[Chris_H_2]

It's gotta be NotThatGuy

9/10

[Birds in Hell]

So, who is my mix maker?

Higgs, your mix was made by: Chris_H_2

[Chris_H_2]

[Birds in Hell]

OK, let's do it:

Track 1: This song moved between a bozo rocker and a boilerplate atmospheric 80s rock thing. The guy sounds like he’s singing “I got us a puma!!!” in the first part but he probably isn’t. There’s nothing I liked about it at all.

Track 2: This was an instrumental rocker, probably more straight-ahead than my usual tastes in this vein, but I enjoyed it OK.

Track 3: A reverb-heavy vaguely shoegaze/indie song. This one did nothing for me at all.

Track 4: This one is great and is easily my favourite song so far. Going to search out more by whoever this is because I enjoyed it a lot.

Track 5: The Doors-y bit around a minute and a half in was probably the part I liked the most, I otherwise didn’t like this one very much. I especially didn’t like the rockier sections.

Track 6: I liked the mix of the riffier guitars and the brass. I also liked that it kind of lazily loped around a central idea without needing to “go somewhere”. This one was good.

Track 7: I really, really hated this one.

Track 8: This one was OK. I liked the feel of the quieter sections but I didn’t find her voice very engaging and the rockier parts were a bit overdone for my tastes.

Track 9: Kind of a late 60s/early 70s rock throwback thing. The problem I always have with this stuff is the drummers can’t play it right and this guy is no exception; no swing or groove, all thump and bash. I didn’t like the guy’s voice either. It reminds me of a quote I’m paraphrasing from Jim O’Rourke when he was asked if there’s any new rock bands he likes and he answered along the lines of “I don’t really listen to new rock bands, I already own all the Led Zeppelin albums.”

Track 10: This was a pretty boring rocker with vocals transmitted from the depths of a cave. Anyway, I didn’t like it.

Track 11: Hey, this is jazzy and not bad! I liked it, particularly the parts where I think the piano and guitar are doubling each other.

Track 12: This was OK. My favourite part was the instrumental break from 1:10-1:30, I probably would’ve liked three minutes of that better.

Track 13: This one did nothing for me at all, I found it kind of exhausting.

Track 14: Hey, this one is great! One of the two songs on here I really enjoyed. I really liked her voice, the guitar playing and the overall vibe. Good stuff.

Though perhaps it's not entirely apparent, I really enjoyed the process of listening to and reviewing this mix and I appreciate the time theplatypus took to put it together - thanks!

Tracklist and link:

01. Acá No Se Fuma - DDM
02. El Dilema del Origen - Poseidotica
03. Ascensor - Violenta Josefina
04. Un Día Punk - Juana Molina
05. Playa - Placard
06. Lilith - Carola Zelaschi
07. Los Escombros del Jardin - Ararat
08. Oscura - Feli Colina
09. No Existe Solucion - Ambassador
10. Carl Sagan - Los Aullidos
11. Mambo Negro - Julián Mekler Sexteto
12. 5A - Melanie Williams & El Cabloide
13. La Despedida - Temporada de Tormentas
14. Entre Dos Relámpagos - Maria Pien

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1O251 ... oNsfsuEEyw