Mix Tape Tuesday, Volume 1: My Kind Of Town

This weekend I made a road trip out to Chicago to catch the legendary Waco Brothers play a show in their hometown (as well as to catch great performances from Mucca Pazza and Nine Pound Hammer, although not at the same venue). As part of the preparations for the trip, some mix CDs were prepared for the drive, filled with carefully selected tracks to make the drive go easier.

This got me thinking about the good old days, and the concept of the mix tape.

You see, back in the day, special occasions were often marked with the creation of what was known as a “mix tape.” For those who came after this era, I’ll explain: these were a plastic case that contained a spooled magnetic strip that could be used to store music for playback on an analog player.

Due to the nature of the technology, these “mix tapes” needed to be created in real time, meaning that recording music to a tape required that one sit there and listen to the music as it was encoded (a process known as “dubbing”). As such, the creation of a mix tape was a labor-intensive process, and ultimately a labor of love.

In today’s digital age, the creation of a mix is much easier. A few drags and clicks are all that’s required to burn a disc or to create an MP3 play list. But just because it’s easier doesn’t mean that one should phone it in; care should be taken when selecting the songs for any mix that you’ll be spending some time with.

This leads us to Mix Tape Tuesday, which will be an ongoing feature on this site, either forever, or until we get sick of it, but at least for a little while.

Every week, I’ll be putting together a list of 10 songs, carefully chosen to fit in with a chosen theme, as well as with links to where you can download them to create your own mix. This week’s theme is inspired by the town I was driving to when I got the idea, and is made up of great punk bands, both old and new, that call Chicago, the Windy Apple, their home.

It represents a nice range of what the city has offered punk rock over the years. Included is some legendary punk from some of Chicago’s finest, Naked Raygun and The Effigies and some essential early hardcore from one of emo’s founders, Articles of Faith. Additionally, The Tossers offer up Celtic punk rock, the Waco Brothers supply the cowpunk and the Blue Meanies bring their skacore-infused madness as well. Chicago was never a one-note punk scene, and this listing is pretty representative.

Mix Tape Tuesday Volume 1: My Kind of Town

• Naked Raygun - "Home of the Brave," (Listen/Download)
• Rise Against - "Ready To Fall" (Listen/Download)
• Lawrence Arms – “Chicago is Burning” (Listen/Download)
• The Effigies – “The Guv’ner” (Listen/Download)
• Blue Meanies – “Mama Getting High On Chardonnay” (Listen/Download)
• Alkaline Trio - "Trouble Breathing" (Listen/Download)
• Tossers – “Mad Riot” (Listen/Download)
• The Jesus Lizard – “Boilermaker” (Listen Download)
• Waco Brothers – “Too Sweet To Die” (Listen/Download)
• Articles of Faith – “Up Against the Wall” (Listen/Download)

I hope you enjoy this and future editions of Mix Tape Tuesday, and if you have any suggestions for songs or themes for upcoming editions, drop me a line at punkmusic.guide@about.com. In addition to my picks, I’ll be featuring your lists as well.

Photo: Waco Brothers © Nicole Lucas