1) Song for the Dumped – Ben Folds Five

 

Yeah, I know. This is probably not the best song to start a mixtape with. Who in their right mind would try to confess their affections with this—an angry, cynical breakup song, with a chorus that goes “give me my money back. give me my money back, you b****,”? I’m probably not doing this right.

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I'm not really someone who pays attention to the words and lyrics of a song. When I decide I like something, it’s because of the sound, the feelings and that the music makes me feel a certain way. So when I was choosing songs for this mixtape, I decided to just put aside any lyrical meanings, put some songs that I liked in an order that felt good to me, and see what kind of story they made together. I thought of it like arranging a set list, and focused on the dynamic and contrast between the songs, and got this.

 

Song for the Dumped is the perfect first-track song. It starts with a bit of behind the scenes work of the band getting ready to play, and then the drummer counts them in and the song explodes right in your face! It's cynical and angry, sure, it’s a break up song, but it’s the kind of break up song that people enjoy singing at the top of their lungs. It’s passionate, energetic and a whole lot of fun!

 

2) This Charming Man – The Smiths

 

I picked This Charming Man by The Smiths to purposefully contrast with that passionate energy. The Smiths tend to have more of a mellow performance style compared Ben Folds Five, though I’ll admit the only other songs I’ve listened to are Heaven Knows I’m Miserable and Asleep. They also have very different singing styles: Ben Folds is clear, spiteful and alert, whereas the Smiths’ sound vague, almost distracted, and tend to annunciate less. I also really like the beachy vibes their guitar gives the melody. It gives the song energy while also keeping it chill and relaxed.

 

3) Obsessed With You – The Orion Experience

 

The Cosmicandy album has always been a favorite of mine—not quite on my “Favorite Albums of All Time” list, but still very close. They've got this sort of pseudo 70s pop vibe to them that always makes me think of bell bottom jeans, rainbow print shirts and roller skates (and maybe also a childhood crush I had on a young Mark Hammill, but that’s neither here nor there). Their guitar and bass resonate throughout the album, the perfect level of intensity to keep your attention but not force it, if that makes sense.

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Honestly, I could have picked any song off the album and it might have fit well in this mixtape, but I picked Obsessed With You because I liked how the beginning part contrasted with the light end of This Charming Man. I also liked the energy of the song, how it struck the perfect balance between This Charming Man, with its very low energy, and Song for the Dumped, which had very high energy. It’s really fun to sing and dance to, but in a much different way than either song before.

 

4) Ultimately – khai dreams

 

Compared to the other songs on this list, Ultimately is the quietest, as well as the most niche. I actually discovered this on YouTube through an animatic someone made about Moomin, a 90s Japanese anime based on a Finnish comic strip and book series. Ultimately is a beautiful, simple song, composed with gentle ukulele strumming, a little bit of synth and beats, and even some faint bird calls, all of which make the listener feel like they’re sitting under a tree on a calm, breezy day. It's a song about being introspective and taking a moment to think things through, and I think it works as a great buffer between the last song and the next.

 

5) Sorry Jack – Scratch 21

 

I think I first discovered Sorry Jack sometime in middle school. I found the music video somewhere and thought the stick-figure animation was cute and funny, so I added the song to a Spotify playlist and listened to it on shuffle for about a month straight and it’s stuck with me ever since.

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One of my favorite parts of the song has always been that beginning guitar part, that jingly, almost sparkling sound that’s so distinctive and memorable to me even now, and I thought it would be a good contrast to go after Ultimately’s gentle sound. It’s also just a really fun and interesting song. I've always really liked the way that they layered all of the vocal tracks near the end, and the way the ending kind of resonates out into silence works really well.

 

6) Nowhere Girl – B-Movie

7) Why Didn’t You Stop Me? – Mitski

 

I only realized how complementary these two songs are after I put them together in the list. I discovered Mitski as an artist sometime during I think my second year of high school (also through a Moomin animatic, surprisingly), and I was fascinated by her writing style. Mitski’s songs tend to have singing melodies that don’t match up with her instrumental melodies, but they still pair well somehow, and I’ve always liked that.

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I discovered Nowhere Girl during this class and just figured I liked it. There’s no specific reason, just that I listened to it, liked it, put it in a playlist and incorporated it into my life. I listen to it pretty regularly, and I just think it’s neat, and I picked Why Didn’t You Stop Me? on purpose to match it. Nowhere Girl uses a lot of 80s era synth, which gives it a very dreamy sounding quality, a little echoey and unfocused, which contrasts with Sorry Jack’s stark, energetic, Y2K punk sound. It feels hazy and nostalgic in comparison, and Why Didn’t You Stop Me? cuts through that. The beginning of the song has this very distinct techno beat that has a weight and focus to it, then the rest of the instruments add to each other through the song until you have a sound that is near-triumphant.

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Also, I didn’t choose these songs for their meanings, but by pure coincidence I realized the two songs could be sequels of each other. Where Nowhere Girl is sung by a boy singing about a girl isolating herself, Why Didn’t You Stop Me? is sung by a similar girl isolating herself and trying to communicate with a boy who has seemingly given up on her. I thought that was neat.

 

8) Voodoo Child (Slight Return) – Jimi Hendrix

 

I’ve always had an interest in fast complicated music, particularly when it comes to virtuosos. When I was in middle school orchestra—stuck for four years (and then 3 more!) trying to play violin without any good skill in vibrato—my favorites were 2cellos, David Garret, and Paganini, but nowadays my interests are leaning more towards the guitarists of the 70s and 80s. Voodoo Child is one of my favorites, I love the way his guitar changes, shifts from ear to ear, resonates in your bones. But the thing that made me want to put it here in the mixtape is the darkness, the tension. When Why Didn’t You Stop Me?’s ending dissipates into silence, Voodoo Child fades back into focus (with that ever-famous Wawa pedal) slowly. Hendrix lets the anticipation build for a good 20 seconds, lets the tension set in just enough, until bam! Electric sound volts out of his guitar, and the show begins!

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More than that, though, Voodoo Child brings a violence to this list, a special kind that none of the other songs have. Sure, Song for the Dumped was angry and cynical, but its sharp, directed outward. Voodoo Child roils in its energy, but it’s not accusatory or intentionally malicious. It feels like a purge of emotion, awesome in every sense of the word. If any of that makes sense.

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9) Dog Days Are Over – Florence + The Machine

 

I have no clue where I first heard this song, or when I even started listening to Florence + The Machine. I think this is just one of those songs that is so good that everyone ends up hearing it at least once. How many modern songs do you know that start with harps? Real harps? And they sound cool, not like cliché middle-earth elvish stuff?

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Dog Days Are Over is beautiful beyond words. Its hopeful, but not in a soft, idealized way. It’s the kind of hope that’s you have after suffering for a very long time, when you finally reach a happiness that was worth the pain. It sounds like running hard towards something, and then getting there hunched over, braced holding your knees, smiling through heavy breathing and a stitch in your side. It's cathartic, a genuine accomplishment, and it’s beautiful.

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10) Islands – King Crimson

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I got into King Crimson through their Court of the Crimson King album, because it was referenced in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, one of my favorite series, and while I love that album a lot, I like Islands for different reasons. I’ve always thought Islands sounded like a lullaby, soothing and calm, and paired with its cover art it always reminds me more of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman (another amazing comic series). The piano, the singing, and the orchestra are all clear and beautiful, where Dog Days Are Over was all catharsis and hope, Islands is peaceful, a happy ending to our story complete with horns that sound like sunrises and new beginnings, and starting again. Perfect for the last track of the mixtape.