The other day I made a mix CD for my friend Jessica.  We were chatting online and she said she was going to make me one (she didn’t), but it got me thinking about making mixes and how I used to love doing it (which is why I made her one).  It was a way for me to play with my favorite part of the musical experience – the emotive side.  Songs are composed as a sum of their parts – meter, timbre, instrumentation, etc etc – but ultimately, the large part of the experience for me lays in the context.  Where I first heard the song; It’s placement on the album;  All the little things that put you in that mood that attack your emotions as the first chords of the song enter your synapses  Would the mood of Thunder Road be different if it was tracked after Tenth Avenue Heartache?  Would Smells Like Teen Spirit been the seminal hit if it was the closing track to Nevermind?  I don’t know the answers but I feel that things would have changed and, while great songs, they also occurred at the right time, at the right moment, at the right place on the album.

When I make a mix, I often take a bunch of songs I love and start from there.  Sometimes 50 or so.  The songs reflect my mood at the time, my thoughts on the person I’m making it for, or hundreds of other variables that wax and wane under the tempest of my mind.  I then start to play with the order and the list slowly starts to develop.  Songs get thrown out – having no place on the mix after choosing the appropriate opening track.  The mood of the mix goes up and down, the shades and shadows of the musical shapes composing the mix for me.  The songs don’t always fit - sometimes a dischord is appropriate for creating mood but they always create an emotive experience.

The following is the mix that I made for Jess.  I was trying to accomplish a mood of frustration and longing for something better – something she talks about as far as her job is concerned.  I also wanted to capture a feeling of innocence because we both have similar, somewhat juvenile senses of humor.  The mix is mellow, with a tinge of sadness.  It’s not a perfect mix – it was made during bouts of ADHD at work – but I like it.  Another hour or so, I am pretty sure it would be just the mix I wanted to make.  Anyway – without further ado – here is the mix:

I felt like Smashing My Head Through a Clear Glass Window – Of Montreal
The Cloud Prayer – A.C. Newman
A Minor Incident – Badly Drawn Boy
Chelsea – Counting Crows
Sweetness Follows – R.E.M.
Good Vibrations – Brian Wilson (version from SMiLE)
Fistful of Love – Antony and the Johnsons
Cheated Hearts – Yeah Yeah Yeahs
16, Maybe Less – Iron & Wine/Calexico
Have You Forgotten – Red House Painters
Silver Stallion – Cat Power
Radio King – Jeff Tweedy
Skyway – The Replacements
Goin’ to Acapulco – Jim James & Calexico
Books Written for Girls – Camera Obscura