Rie Makes a Mix CD

In high school, my friends and I would make mix CDs for each other all the time. This afternoon, I counted four from Zak in my car. I love getting mix CDs because a) they were gifts! b) they helped me discover new music—I don’t think I would have grown to love Aimee Mann as much as I do if it weren’t for Lydie putting “Humpty Dumpty” on a mix for me, and c) they helped me bond with my friends. I’m telling you, mix CDs are magical.

Anyway, I haven’t made or received a mix CD in years, at least not since high school. The last true mix CD I made was actually for an English project where I had to make a playlist of songs that represented me. I hated that class because of the teacher, but I loved that project. But that was the last mix I put a lot of effort into. I made sure each song transitioned well into the next, and I designed a nifty cover too. I never got the CD back; my teacher misplaced it in her car. But, that was the last mix CD I made.

The second to last mix CD I got happens to be from Zak. I think he titled it “90’s Dance Revival” and it had songs by New Order and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah on it. He gave it to me during one of my trips to Michigan while my parents still lived there; I think about two or three years ago. That CD should be in my car.

Now, the last mix CD I got actually consists of three CDs, 59 songs, and 3.6 hours of music. Ilya made them for me. He put songs by some of my favorite bands on the mix—Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Weezer, The Shins, The Bravery, and Belle and Sebastian. See, the thing I love about this is that he doesn’t know my favorite songs according to me, but he somehow managed to put a lot of them on this mix. This is magical skill is one of the reason’s I’m smitten with this boy. He also put songs by bands I haven’t listened to before, but am planning on checking out more, like The Airborne Toxic Event and Eagles of Death Metal. And man, I haven’t listened to Dispatch in forever and had no idea how much I missed them. So, yes, I love these CDs and the boy who made them.

So, I obviously had to make a mix for him. And I did. Here are the first 10 tracks.

1. Her Space Holdiay - “Sleepy Tigers”
2. Andrew Bird - “Fake Palindromes”
3. David Byrne and Brian Eno - “Strange Overtones”
4. Architecture in Helsinki - “Like a Call”
5. The Avett Brothers - “Kick Drum Heart”
6. AC Newman - “There Are Maybe Ten or Twelve”
7. Feist - “I Feel It All”
8. Belle and Sebastian - “I’m a Cuckoo”
9. Cake - “Love You Madly”
10. Nada Surf - “Beautiful Beat”

There are 63 songs total, and they divide up into three audio CDs. I haven’t burned them yet because my optical drive has errors whenever I try to burn a CD, but Apple said they’d fix it for free. I’m taking it in tomorrow (Monday) morning before class. I should have it back soon enough, and then I’ll burn the CDs and mail him an awesome care package sort of thing.