June 2021's mixtape of the month is this cassette that I found in a box of abandoned tapes on the side of the road in my hometown a few years ago, so the curator of the tape is unknown. There are a lot of tapes from that haul that I will end up sharing here, I think.
I started with this one because it's a pretty solid playlist and has cool custom-made art on the J-card.
The art on the J-card looks like it was made of magazine prints and glue, with the spine reading "New Puff Boots."
Side A on the tape is named "Aardvark," and Side B is named "Anteater," both written in pen. I love the idea of titling each side, though I don't know the significance of the name.
Here are some scans of the J-Card (front and back).
If you can't read the handwriting on the image, here is the full playlist:
Side A (Aardvark):
Chromatic Death - Anthrax
Steppin' Stone - Minor Threat
Someday I Suppose - The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
Take Five - Northside
Turn It On - The Flaming Lips
Cliffs of Dover - Eric Johnson
Funk #49 - Joe Walsh
Celestial Terrestrial Commuters - Mahavishnu Orchestra
Let's Go - The Cars
Side B (Anteater):
Out on the Tiles - Led Zeppelin
Mayonaise - Smashing Pumpkins
Facet Squared - Fugazi
Deity - Ministry
Meth of a Rockette's Kick (Ding Dong the Bee is Dead) - Mercury Rev
Crystal Clear - The Darling Buds
Teenage Lobotomy - The Ramones
This was actually really fun to listen to on my computer with some decent headphones after I digitized it. I can't tell if what makes it good to listen to is the feeling of cassette nostalgia this mixtape gives me or if I just enjoy the lo-fi analogue sound. I now want to start running all my guitar recordings through a tape deck before mastering.
Listen to the digitized version here on Soundcloud (there may be some compression from Soundcloud, sorry!):
I'll also link the songs so you can download them here in full quality, if you'd like.
AND I made a Spotify playlist with all the songs, if you'd just like a curated playlist.
The only one that isn't on Spotify is "Zero Day" by Walt Mink, which I have linked to on YouTube.
This is probably more of a winter playlist, now that I think about it, but maybe it'll help you cool down this summer.
Let me know what you think!
