OH NO it’s been almost a year since the last mixes. Well fear not, we’re back and I promise to keep this thing warm in the future. Also if you feel inclined to make me a mix, please let me know! Always welcoming new contributors. 

Carly Ogonek returns with this sweet lil guy for you, guy! Carly makes my favourite mixes did you know that? Now you do.

it’s true it’s true by Carly Ogonek, available to download here.

Track List:

One Sure Thing - Jim & Jean

 Pretty Brown - David Campbell 

A Number and a Name - Steve Gillette 

Promenade in Green - Terry Callier 

Hello to the Wind - Rick Nelson 

The Coffee Song - Poet and the One Man Band 

Sundown - The Dillards 

Possibility I Was Wrong - Val Stoecklein 

How Insensitive - Charms 

Someday Baby - Jonathan and Leigh 

Smiling Wine - Great Speckled Bird 

For Where Have You Been - Honeybus 

Inside Out - Carol Stromme 

Losing True - The Roches 

Angel on My Shoulder - Shelby Flint

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ok here is the one I made isn’t that nice? A lil collection of lady - punk and synth pop. I altered the name of one of songs on the track list because it made me feel weird and it’s not essential to the song and I can do that if I want to! It’s important to say ‘hmmm no’ even to pieces of art that you really like, even if they were made 30 or so years ago. 

WOMEN II  by Julia Dickens, available to download here.

Track List

Getting Nowhere Fast - Girls At Our Best

Decollage - The Honeymoon Killers

Stretch - Maximum Joy

Stop, Halt - Lora Logic

Button Up - The Bloods

T.V. In My Eye - Los Microwaves

Lucky Number 1 - Lene Lovich

Birthday Party - Stinky Toys

Beautiful Pictures - Fatal Microbes

Bla Bla - Pink, Plastic & Panties

Janitor - Suburban Lawns

Liberty - Kitchen And The Plastic Spoons

Good Times - Drinking Electricity

Boystown - Inflatable Boy Clams

Laundrette - Vivien Goldman

Never Say Never - Romeo Void

Bamboo Curtain - The Varve

Black Silk Stocking - Chrisma

Wheels Over Trailers - Stanton Miranda

L’Acrostique D’Amour - Ashphixiation

Do- Dada - The Dance

Elle Hotesse - Tokow Boys

Little Dead Bodies - Algebra Suicide

Strong White Male - Mecca Normal

She Said ‘Boom’ - Fifth Column

It’s Halloween beanie babies! I’ll keep this one short: made my annual spooky mix tape for you guys. This one’s heavy on the synth, with some unsettling noise tracks and capped off with some pretty goofy disco. Some are straight up thematic, other songs were picked for creepy aural qualities rather than lyrical content (like the U.S. Girls song although I think the line “you arrived in your mothers arms but you will leave wrapped (?) in a back limousine” is pretty sinister).

Special thanks to everyone who offered suggestions on my recent Facebook thread about this mix, got some cool funky jams out of it.

Anyhoodles, here she is! Spookers by Julia Dickens, available to download here.

Track List:

Sector 03 - Castle If

Black Mass - Mort Garson

Happy Funeral - Kitchen and the Plastic Spoons

Don’t Say I’m Here - Lou Champagne System

Running After Ganymede - Jack Name

A Vision - The Shadow Ring

122 Hours of Fear (pt 1 & 2) - The Screamers

Buried In My Boots - Sally Patience

Stand Up Lazarus - Bruce Haack

Nights of The Earth - Chrome

Bury - The Dead C

Dark Attractor - Clock DVA

Twilight Zone - Drinking Electricity

No Tears - Tuxedomoon

Crashing Song - Crash Course In Science

Axus - Space Art

Exces de Vitesse - Marie Davidson

Woman’s Work - U.S. Girls

Disco For The Devil - Bottin

Witch - Helen

Fear - Easy Going

Dr. Frankenstein’s Disco Party - Johnny Wakelin

It’s Fall. I’m sorry everyone but that is what is happening right now. We might get one more heat blast but jump in that lake while you still can because scarf time is nigh and we shan’t be going to the pool for a long, long time. Anyways, as we all know, seasonal changes mean FEELINGS. OHHH those precious feelings of ours, never quittin’ , just rolling along down that steep hill straight to the grave all the while feeling infinite confusing things. Life is a grand adventure, each year smashing into the next until our imminent demise. GREAT.

So: wrap that scarf around your neck, put on that coat you love but can only wear one month out of the year, and pop those headphones on ‘cause me and Carly have just the soundtracks for those fall mornings and dusk walks as the sun sets lower every night and you think about every person you thought you were in love with, every walk to school, and how things got to be this way. Feel everything you can, oh friends of mine, for this life is all we’ve got.

Two mixes:

This is Fall Feelings by Julia Dickens, available to download here.

Track List:

Rhapsody In Green - Mort Garson

Forest Crystal - Human Music

Did You See - Woo

New Horizon - Third Ear Band

Where You’re At - Ultimate Spinach

Follow Me - Lyme and Cybelle

Allez Tu Peux Souffrir - Charlotte Leslie

Yegelle Tezeta (My Own Memory) - Mulatu Astatqe

Love Knows - The Keefe Sisters

The Boy Who Is Lost - The Standells

Come With Me (Rain Song) - Fever Tree

Gentle Thursday - Music Emporium

Twilight - Shin Jung Hyun (Ft. Jang Hyun)

Coyote’s Cry - Mossy Davidson

It’s My Mind - Purple Wine

Black Blind Light - Moonstone

Jennifer - Faust

Journey Tree - Syrinx

Late Night - Special Costello

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is Getting Crisp by Carly Ogonek, available to download here.

Track List:

Queen Of Hearts - Gallery

Ullysses - Anthony Adverse & The Siren

Sleepy Rain - Sandalwood

Lahaina Girl - Corky Carroll

900 Miles - Dion

Black Is The Colour of My True Love’s Hair - Emile Latimer

If I Could Touch You - Kathy Smith

Chrysanthemum - Mimi and Richard Farina

No Stranger I Am - Norma Tanega

My Carousel - Kenny Rankin

Waterwheel - Daryl Hall & John Oates

The Ballad of Marty Mole - Linda Hoyle

Time - The Pozo Seco Signers

One Down - Kenny Knight

Roll On Babe - Ronnie Lane & Slim Chance

Look I’ll level with you: I made this second summer mix because I forgot to put Sports Men on my first summer mix. I mean, it happens a lot, I’ll make a playlist, be super pleased with myself for a bit before I start to remember all the songs I’ve forgotten or could possibly have included and suddenly the previous mix seems stupid and incomplete. In this situation I’ve decided to curate an entire mix around the forgotten song, and around my band crush, Yellow Magic Orchestra. Do you ever get crushes on bands? I do. It’s really funny, actually, because they are for-real mini infatuations that are not based on member attractiveness (though I admit that doesn’t hurt). I don’t know, it’s usually musicians that have kind of a sense of humour (I mean, Sparks?), but it’s also something else. 

Here is the thing. The thing where you know it’s L-U-V: when you can think about the band, an interview, a quote, a specific song or melody, when you aren’t even listening to the music, you’re just riding the bus or doing something stupid at your dumb job, and the corners of your mouth begin to curl into a secret smile. You know this smile. Like when you remember an ongoing inside joke between you and your new best friend, or that way your partner looks at you first thing in the morning, the sudden infiltration of a special memory: it’s the secret of an understanding between you and someone else. There are  those artists in the world that just manage to resonate with you in this very specific way that you develop in turn a specific kind of relationship with them. It is a secret and precious friendship, and while I was late to meet the acquaintance of YMO and it’s members (Takahashi, Sakamoto and Hosono) I already feel like we are old pals, winking at one another over thee great cosmic joke.

While obviously not every song on this mix is YMO affiliated, or even Japanese for that matter, I wanted to pick out tunes that would fit the ~vibe~ and that ~vibe~ is galactic beach resort at the end of the universe....

(Collage by Diana Lynn VanderMeulen)

This is Cosmic Surfin’ by Julia Dickens, available to download here.

Track List:

The Word II - Shigeo Sekito

Shinzo No Tobira - Mariah

Bamboo Houses - David Sylvain and Ryuichi Sakamoto

Gaslit Squares - Ohama Meets Dania

Tropical Comic Strip - Gina X Performance

Special Treatment - Vera

Odutus - Belaboris

すべて売り物 - Aunt Sally

The Poet - Kitchen and the Plastic Spoons

Mirage - Kebekelektrik

Equador - Gary Low

On It On It - Javelin

Emphasis - Harald Grosskopf

最後の楽園 - Haruomi Hosono

Drip Dry Eyes - Yukihiro Takahashi

Scandal Night - Miharu Koshi

Magic Carillon - Rose

Amama - Pink Project

It’s You - Lime

Sports Men - Haruomi Hosono

... is a quote stolen from my cool friend and fellow lover of summer, Airin McGuinty.  Airin really wants to go to my cottage in two weeks and I’m trying to make it happen. Anyways, summer’s here and there’s a whole whackadoodle of feelings that come up when summer’s heavy heat lays down its sweaty blanket. Nostalgia, restlessness, a desire to drink beer no matter what hour of the day, a thirst for love and feeling desirous of travel, adventure and freedom. There is also sadness and solitude, reflections on youthful summers past, the crushing reality of time’s passing, and every sunset’s reminder of summer’s end. Sweet country smells, cicadas, bike rides to the lake, ice cream and fruit popsicles, that fresh icey cold first plunge into a lake, sticky nights in sheets with windows open, reading a book in the sun, putting your clothes in the freezer before putting them on your body, arm scratches from hopping over fences to jump in lukewarm city pools after hours, gazing into the stars in a feild, bbqs, butts, babes, summer shows in open spaces where the sound rumbles the ground and fills the night sky, cigarettes and a cold drink: this is what I need to think about, this is what I need to remember. 

I’ve been experiencing some pretty heavy realities and feeling some dark feels lately and as a result excitement over the future has been kind of a struggle. I think I almost needed to make this list, and this mix, as a reminder. No matter how tired, how burnt out, how “over it” I might feel, to remember that electric charge of summer and all of it’s peaks and valleys: melancholy, yearning, nostalgia, joy, escapism, returning home, new friends, sad goodbyes, and love, always love. 

This is Flowers for Breakfast by Julia Dickens, available to download here. 

(WARNING: It is over two hours long so if you like that kind of thing: great! I just kept adding more things, did not know when to stop. I might make a second one, who knows)

Track List:

Manchmal - Cluster

Born To Be Wild - The Space Lady

By The Sea - Wendy & Bonnie

We’re On Our Way Home - Mirrors

Sweet Memories - Top Drawer

Setting Sun - Petter Howell & John Ferdinand

I’m Your Man - Demins

Twilight Woman - 49th Parallel

Wendy Witchcult - Freelove Fenner

Cry Baby Feels Better - Boyhood

Happy But On My Way - The Beets

Down At The Sea - Beat Happening

Flowers - The Sun Also Rises

Down Narrow Streets - Mark Fry

The Island - The Millenium

亀裂 - Les Rallizes Denudes

Sound, Mother Earth - Magical Power Mako

Welcome To The Void - Morgen

I’m A Freak - Wicked Lady

Rolling In The Deep End - Ultimate Painting

This Is How We Walk On The Moon - Arthur Russell

Summer’s Moon - Lewis

Country Rain - Slowdive

I Can’t Help Myself - Orange Juice

(Tropical) Heat Wave - James White & The Blacks

Dream Baby Dream - Suicide

Lover - Chrisma

Mad On You - The Bats

Disco Dancing - Sean Nicholas Savage

Sherlock Holmes - Sparks

Find Your Way - Ann Steel

Hard To Be In Love With You - Hall & Oates

You Belong To Me - Gary Glitter

Be My Baby - The Ronettes

Breakin’ My Heart - Tom Verlaine

By Tomorrow - Black Tambourine

I’ll Come Running - Brian Eno

Hi hello! We're two days now past International Women's Day and I have a new mix in celebration of that, a little bit late but whatever who cares! Every day is IWD. This mix comes from my friend Jasmine, aka Jas Nasty, a super awesome gal and local DJ from Ottawa. I met Jas a little over a year ago when she attended the opening of an art show I had at OZ Cafe. She said a lot of very flattering things about my work and I recognized her from seeing her name on posters and generally over th'internet (in the way that you can be aware of someone's existence but have never met them IRL). Jas shares my love of the Space Lady and has always made a point to hang whenever I'm in town. I approached her about making a mix for the blog some time ago, and was delighted to receive this the other day. Comprised entirely of women, this mix shifts between genres and eras seamlessly. It's fun, celebratory, and confirms my feelings of connection and affection for women in music: as makers, DJs, and appreciators alike. 

(pst I think Jas and I might do a DJ night in Ottawa in the coming months so stay tooned!)

IWD Loving Echo Mix by Jas Nasty. Available to stream here or download here.

Track List:

Saigon - Martha And The Muffins

Take Me To Your Heart - Eurythmics

Lucky - Donna Summer

Quicksand (Joe and Will Ask RMX) - La Roux

Nobody's Diary - Yaz

Gloria - Laura Branigan

Lipstick - Suzy Quatro

Fuck and Run - Liz Phair

I'm Coolin', No Foolin' - Lesley Gore

It's the final stretch of winter, and this one feels both harder than last years', and yet at the same time less complicated. I've rediscovered tea. Things are emotionally easier. Last winter I created a playlist called Sad Girl Sleepy Time: folk musicians, drone and sleepy electronic and experimental music, all female fronted. This is my part two, but I'm 30 now and I refuse to call myself a girl anymore (well, sometimes). The melancholy of loneliness that I feel is constant, sharp, comforting. I am an alien wearing a human skin. Lying in bed inside my weird and temporary flesh body, time shifting and changing in that off kilter place right before you fall asleep, the way that dreams may not be kind, but they will always be truthful.  This mix is to celebrate that mental space, that place where you really know yourself and your own solitude. 

Night Is My Friend mix by Julia Dickens, available to download here.

Track List:

Alone Too Long - Mossy Davidson

The Vampire - Buffy Ste. Marie

Love Without Sound - Delia Derbyshire

Old Wave - Laurie Spiegel

Been & Gone - Annette Peacock

Dam Ustune Cul Serer - Selda Bagcan

Haenim - Kim Jung Mi

In My Loneliness - Trader Horne

Train Song - Vashti Bunyan

Rainy Day - Susan Christie

Reality - Tasseomancy

Vie Et Mort D'Un Ego - Marie Davidson

Till Happiness Steps Up To Greet Me - New Chance

Dreaming - Delia Derbyshire & Elsa Stanfield

Night Is My Friend - Molly Drake

~~~~~~~~~~~

My friend Victoria Cheong made a beautiful mix a little while ago that I also would like to share with you. I forgot to ask her for a full track list, but I felt like it was appropriate to share it since a) Vic is featured on 'Night Is My Friend' (she is the woman behind dream dance musical project New Chance) and b) her mix features exclusively women as well. Victoria and her partner Wolfgang Nessel are the two glitter brains behind my favourite Toronto record label, Healing Power Records. Victoria has asked me to do many visual projects for Healing Power shows which I was honoured to do, every time. She has an incredibly warm presence, quietly insightful and makes me feel and appreciate the power of women, both as musicians and as a human beings that I am lucky to have in my life. 

This is Mild's Mercy by Victoria Cheong, available to stream here. 

Artist List:

Ok so... in continuing with the tradition of last year's Christmas, here is a nice little playlist that has nothing to do with the holiday season whatsoever... a psychedelic makeout tape! A little less sexy than 2013's version, here's a little slice of tripped out bliss and snuggly jams for those moments when you need to take a time out from caloric overload and family time and remember that we're all just a bunch of 'lil freaks.

This is Making Out On Acid II by Julia Dickens, available to download here.

Track List:

Wisdom Eye - Alice Coltrane

Yoo Doo Right - Can *

You and I - The Search Party

That's What You Always Say - The Dream Syndicate

I Get So Excited - The Equals

Shendah - Suzanne (with Passing Fancy)

Never My Love - The Association

Your Little Pawn - Bobb Trimble

Forever Dolphin Love - Connan Mockasin

Out of Sight - Jack Name

Older Men - Alien City

Falling Asleep - D.R. Hooker

Why Are We Sleeping? - The Soft Machine

I'm Allergic To Flowers - Jefferson Handkerchief

*This Can song has been abridged / edited / shortened because it's 20 freakin' minutes long and that is too long for a mixtape.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So last week my fave cool n' breezy gal Carly Ogonek sent me a mixtape just for the sake of sharing, not to put on the blog. Naturally I can't just let this one go by unpublished, so I messaged her to ask if I could post it, and she responded with a casual "oh yeah! set this smooth pup loose." ALRIGHT.

Here's an easy breezy lemon squeezy treat to cheer you up on these cold winter days n' nights. Curl up with a cup o' nog and give it a listen. Hope you like the saxophone...

Easy and Breezing mix by Carly Ogonek, available to download here.

Track List:

Brown Eyes - Susan Pillsbury

Peaceful - Kenny Rankin

Nantucket Island - Willie Wright

Don't Try to Fool Me - Johann G. Johansson

Treasure Song - Bob McBride

I'm Coming Home - Stories

Street Gang - Ronnie Lane

Oh Babe What Would You Say - Hurricane Smith

It's So Nice (To See Old Friends) - Minnie Riperton

An Old Fashioned Love Song - Paul Williams

Someone's Rocking My Dreamboat - Murray Head

Loving You Takes So Long - Keith Cross & Peter Ross

Laughter in the Rain - Neil Sedaka

Sugar Daddy - Fleetwood Mac

Pleasing You - Dave Mason & Case Elliot

KAPOW IT'S WINTER. Just like that, you wake up and the world around you has changed completely. This fall has felt particularly dark, emotionally and also because what happened to the sun? The summer wasn't particularly warm and it feels like things just haven't quite picked up the way I hoped that they would. A few winters ago I visited Ottawa for Christmas (as I do every year) and, unseasonably, it had not snowed yet. I met up with my friend Amelia for a drink and we talked about that weird lag, where feelings you carried into the fall seem to linger relentlessly because there just hasn't been that clear cut shift into winter. I want to believe that you are the author of your own destiny, that regardless of weather or circumstance, that happiness and purpose is something you choose that something that the universe has chosen for you, and that change happens because you decide to change. Sometimes, though, having a little outside help doesn't hurt, and seasons can be instrumental in facilitating new beginnings and letting go of old ghosts. Winter carries a sense of forward momentum into the future, seemingly familiar because you've gone through these changes before, but never this year, after this time, in this place. 

This new mixtape, although plenty melancholy, captures that feeling of transition, the heart pang of leaving things behind, and moving into a solitary season of reflection and introspection. And lots and lots of red wine.

This is Wine Lips, Cold Hands by my favourite babe, Melanie Bristow Hill. Stream it here.

Track List:

A Song For You - Gram Parsons

Drink - Dorothy Ashby

Feel Flows - Beach Boys

Canyon In The Rain - Jonathan Wilson

Motion Pictures - Neil Young

Honey I Sure Miss You - Daniel Johnston

Tell Old Bill - Dave Von Ronk

It Didn't Take Too Long - Gary Higgins

Gather 'Round - Love

You Never Wanted Me - John Fahey

That's The Way - Led Zeppelin

Free Ride - Nick Drake

Night Moves - Bob Seeger

No No No, I Won't Come Down No More - Micheal Hurley

Courting Blues - Bert Jansch

A Somewhere Place - Vincent Gallo

I Know - Vashti Bunyan

Guinnevere - Crosby, Stills & Nash

Hello Sunshine - Relatively Clean Rivers

Javelin Unlanding - Bill Callahan

Lonely - Alan Vega

New Partner - Palace Music

Paint A Lady - Susan Christie

Valkyaies - Jana Hunter

Dry Hump - Twin Sister

Wash Of Water - Edith Frost

Soon-to-be-innocent Fun/ Let's See - Arthur Russel

Elk Dreamer's Lament - Robbie Basho

Neverride - Jennifer Castle

Jump Baby, Jump - Pentangle

Soft As Chalk - Joanna Newsom

Paper Mountain Man - Linda Perhacs

Softly - Sybille Baier

Hi babies, here we are again with a mix tape from a wonderful new friend, Katie Jensen. I met Katie this summer when I was dating a friend of mine for a short while. This friend lives in a nice house in the east end with Katie's boyfriend, Tad. One night we all got kind of drunk and definitely stoned after Feast In the East and I couldn't remember how to open the back door/ work the door handle and Katie made fun of me for it in the nicest way possible. I got to know her a bit better after I stopped dating that friend, and discovered that she is extremely smart, exceptionally kind, and also runs her own cool music website with her friend Sasha! Visit it here: Music Between Friends . After seeing her post about it online, I very excitedly contacted her and asker her to make me a mix tape. (pssst I also have a very good friend named Sasha, Katie. Sashas are special)

Here it is! Sorry it's going up a week later than I said it would be, sometimes incredibly simple things like making a blog post get pushed to the back burner because I surely do not know how to be a real adult.

I Melt Into Her Arms Mix by Katie Jensen, available to download here.

Track List

Back, Baby - Jessica Pratt

Waiting - Alice Boman

Me At The Museum, You In The Wintergardens - Tiny Ruins

All My Days - Alexi Murdoch

One Of These Things First - Nick Drake

Gray Lodge Wisdom ft. The Weather Station - Will Stratton

Hand i Hand - Dolce

Clay Pigeons (Blaze Foley cover) - Michael Cera

High Lonesome - Adam Torres

Hi guys, it's pretty cold out there. Stay warm with this melancholy / goofy fall-to-winter mix I just finished. As usual, lots of Can Con sprinkled in there. It's the third mix I've made with a song from Mortal Mirror on it because I think that's become one of my favourite albums (if you ever see it in a record store, let me know and I will purchase it immediately).  It's been a hard fall in many ways, so this mix was created, as they usually are, to suit my particular mood these past few months. Every winter seems harder, I'm already sick of all my jackets, why are none of them warm enough? Lets all hang out indoors and drink lots of tea and red wine, it'll be over in a few months I promise.

Oh, To Be Nowhere mix by Julia Dickens, available to download here.

Track List:

Love Theme - Peter Howell and John Ferdinando

Hangman - Tia Blake

Talkin' Like You (Two Tall Mountains) - Connie Converse

Nature - Jennifer Castle

The Breeze - Quix*o*tic

Pauses Of The Night - Luka

That Summer Feeling - Jonathan Richman

Busy But Moving - Elrichman

Days Go By - Sean Nicholas Savage

I (Who Have Nothing) - The Spectres

Both Sides Now - Judy Collins

Pink Lemonade - The Peppermint Rainbow

5 am - The Millenium

I Dream I Saw Your Face - Carl Didur

Altar Coals - Anamai

Generous Moon - Gareth Williams & Mary Currie

Wedding Day - Inca Ore

Amazing and Wonderful - Peaking Lights

Lord Knows Best - Dirty Beaches

Hooboy. I got two new seasonal mixes in for ya today from two v cool ladies. Jayme Keith and Alicia Nauta both sent me these gems recently. Let's start with Jayme's! 

This is Demon Mouth by Jayme Keith, in her own words, a Halloween mix tape so scary no one will want to listen to it. Available to download here.

Track List:

Chorus of the Balsphemes - Nahvalr

Blo'dstokkin (Soaked in Blood) - Burzum

BItter Cold - Supermachiner

Body Betrays Itself - Pharmakon

To Carry the Seeds of Death Within Me - The Body

Introduction - Nargaroth

Goetia AD 72 - English Heretic

Behold the Whirlwind - Imbogodom

I'm A Mother - Perfume Genius

Miste - The Haxan Cloak

Cue - Scott Walker

Bitten - Comus

Vanhellig - Nortt

Clay Man - Swans

L'He'autonitimoroume'nos (Self Tormentor) - Diamanda Galas

Several Odd Moments Prior to Lunch - Nurse With Wound

Satanic Mass - Coven

Demonic Posession - Demon

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Side note: I'm listening to Jayme's mix right now and it's totally freakin' me out, and it's 10:30 am and the sun is shining so I guess I'm just a big scared baby.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okee dokee here is Alicia Nauta's halloween dream! You can check it out on her blog, Alicia's Klassic Kool Shoppe, or just download it direct right here.

Moon Shadow Mix Tape by Alicia Nauta!

Track List:

La Fin De La Vie, Le Début De La Survivance - Cheval Fou

White Goddess - Frank Hunter

Torture - Kris Jensen

Revenge - Teddy Fire

Loner - Marissa Nadler

Giano - Bruno Nicolai

Monster Mash - Bonzo Dog Doodah Band

Night of the Vampire - The Moontrekkers

Endless Sleep - Joey Reynolds

Abyss - Nick Carter

Spider and the Fly - The Monocles

Shadows on My Wall - The Poppy Family

Ghost of a Chance (klassic kool edit) - Frank Sinatra

C'est l'Halloween, c'est l'Halloween, HEY! When I was in elementary school I was in a french immersion program and there was this little song we learned called, uhhh, C'est L'Halloween. Around this time of year it gets stuck in my head so I decided to try find it on youtube and sure enough here it is.

I can't remember if we sang it in a choir or if they just played it over the intercom in the morning (probably both) but this song is pretty big part of my childhood you guys and I'm super excited that I found it. And hey you know what else I'm excited about? ACTUAL HALLOWEEN and my annual mix spooky mix tape! Not so much all halloween songs as much as 'creepy jams,' I hope you enjoy this almost two hour long mix as we head into my favourite month filled with horror movies, pumpkins, delicious pies made from pumpkins, fancy coffees that taste like pumpkins, candy, my birthday (October 21 SAVE THE DATE), and thinking of cool costumes before you scramble at the last minute to make something that is basically "I painted my face white and wore the weirdest thing in my closet, is that good enough?"

Ghost Hole Mix 2 by Julia Dickens, available to download here.

Track List:

Die Nacht Der Himmel - Popol Vuh

Bela Lugosi's Dead - Bauhaus

Der Regen Tropft - Der Plan

Hating Life - Jimmy Smack

Circus of Death - The Human League

Dead On Arrival - Throbbing Gristle

Extermination #1 - Dark Day

Insecticide - Fad Gadget

Insincerities Of The Flesh - Doom Tickler

Neon Cemetary - Bile Sister

Musique de scene pour Phedre - Pierre Schaeffer

Satz- Gewitter - Klaus Schulze

Pot Au Feu - Delia Derbyshire

The Shadow Knows - Link Wray

We Got A Date - Hasil Adkins

Deep In The Woods - The Birthday Party

When My Ship Comes In - Clockcleaner

No Teeth - The Soupcans

Go Down, Mighty Devil - Country Teasers

Bitten - Comus

Wicca Way - Third Ear Band

The Witch - Mark Fry

Come To The Sabbat - Black Widow

Fire - Arthur Brown

I Put A Spell On You - Screamin' Jay Hawkins

Highschool Witch - The 5.6.7.8's

Stiff Little Fingers - The Vibrators

Halloween - Siouxsie And The Banshees

Sacrifice - Verma

Undertaker - Fiver

Opening Theme to Dark Shadows - The Robert Cobert Orchestra

HI HELLO

It's fall and I usually like to do my super long embarrassing confessional love gush intro before each mix tape but I just have a lot of stuff to do today! I have two mixes ready for you to enjoy! Prepare your little ears! 

The first one is mine. It's the first completed mix I've made in a while, and came at the request of contributor Kate McEdwards, who a while ago asked me to recommend her some female fronted punk / post punk / riot girl / no wave / new wave / all wave / no dude bands. Here you go Kate! I apologize if this is all old hat, and it's almost definitely imperfect, incomplete and based on my own stupid personal taste. Highly recommended soundtrack for smashing le patriarchy, and dedicated lovingly to all my bad-ass girlfriends. 

WOMEN mix by Julia Dickens, available to download here. It's almost two hours long so there! Some of the tracks are a bit lower quality than others so just deal with it.

Track List:

Been Teen - Dolly Mixture

It's Obvious - Au Pairs

Yer So Sweet - Cold Cold Hearts

Not In Dog Years - Bratmobile

White Boy - Bikini Kill

You're Right I'm Wrong - Thee Headcoatees

Open Up The Walls - Quix*O*tic

Body Rot - Magik Markers

Your Lousy Scat - Scissor Girls

Bully Mummy - Erase Errata

It's So Weird - Bush Tetras

N.I.T.A. - Young Marble Giants

What Do You Take Me For? - Y Pants

White Mouse Disco - Mo-Dettes

Zeit - Xmal Deutschland

Survive - The Bags

Pillowcase Kisser - Skinned Teen

In Love - Marine Girls

Break Your Face - Talulah Gosh!

All I Want - Snatch

You Make No Sense - ESG

Precaution - Pylon

Dark Rooms - DA!

Like This - Fifth Column

Fuck Kitty - The Frumpies

Babydoll - Slant 6

Shoeshine Boy - The Curse

Warm Girls - Girls At Our Best

Sham Shack - UT

Boots - Destroy All Monsters

Slut - Scrawl

Wild - The Nuns

Die Matrosen - Kleenex

Rock'n'roll Massacre - Vice Squad

Berketex Bribe - Crass

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OK! So the next mix comes from the consistent radness that is Carly Ogonek. CARLY. Carly who loves early Giorgio Moroder bubblegum pop. Like I said, no time for gushing this week so lets just leave it with this: Carly rules, this mix rules, Giorgio rules, everything is great lets try to enjoy this sunshine before the frigid winter garbage weather makes us all near suicidal once again. 

Treat of the Week by Carly Ogonek, available to download here. 

Track List:

Hands of Luck - Promise

You Don't Know What You've Got - Joan Jett

Magneto and Titanium Man - Paul McCartney & Wings

Son Of My Father - Giorgio Moroder

Jeanie Loves Pop - Warm Soda

Heartbreaker - Baby

Sea of Dreams - The Idle Race

Meanwhile Back at the Ranch/Should I Smoke - Badfinger

Baby Blue - Chilliwack

Walking in the Rain - We All Together

Another Game - Grapefruit

Today Without You - Samantha Jones

You - George Harrison

You're Spending All My Money - Rockin' Horse

I have a really cool roommate. Her name is Vanessa Rieger. She is also one of my best friends. Vanessa is an exceptionally talented multi disciplinary artist, with a special gift for curation and facilitation of amazing shows and spaces of opportunity. Vanessa has vision. Vanessa also used to terrify me. We met five years ago when I joined my very first artist studio / collective, The White House, back when it was literally a white house tucked away down an alley at Landsdowne and College. When I first joined I was part of a group exhibition they curated at Gallery 1313. I have a memory of the day we began hanging our work, Vanessa immediately approached me to give me unsolicited advice about how I should display my stupid little drawings I had made. It was great advice, but being so new to Toronto, to showing my work, and to everyone involved in the art scene, I was so afraid she would find out I was a huge fraud, not a real artist, had no idea what I was doing, that I, for some reason, wasn't supposed to be there. 

That was a bunch of baloney and a few months later, after sitting uncomfortably silent through many meetings and White House shows, I finally began to open up and feel comfortable around Vanessa (and everyone else). It seems insane to me now that I ever felt intimidated by her, or felt as though she would see through what was actually a very earnest attempt on my part to become part of an artistic community and figure out what kind of work I wanted to make. And I realize now, even as I am typing this, that Vanessa was so integral to that process. By creating the board of directors that I later joined, by curating the annual halloween spectacular, 'Ghost Hole,' a show I of which I am now a curator/organizer, by giving me opportunities to design posters, without which I would not be considered a poster designer today... this list can probably go on and on and I have other things I need to do today. Vanessa is a gem, a visionary, a great friend and one of the funnest ladies I know. This mixtape is a compilation of recordings she made for a weeklong party/cafe/restaurant/store/show she curated with Henri Faberge. It's crackly and wonderful and on side A you can hear Henri give me a little shout out at the beginning!! Here's what Vanessa sent me, all the info you need to know. Links to Side A and Side B can be found below. OPPORTUNITY CAFE FOREVER.

"OPPORTUNITY CAFÉ

"Haven for the Disenfranchised" 

January 9th - 16th 2014

@ Oz Studios 134 Ossington Ave.

Toronto, ON.

SIDE A: 

Intro - Henri Fabergé

TCQ

Fresh Flesh

BLOCKPARENT

Ken Park

ICECREAM

SIDE B: 

Daniel Epstein

Daniel Goodbaum

Amy Carlberg

APN Public Service Announcement

Justin Blake

Halley "Halloway" Jones

Morris "Troll Kunst"

and

RANT NIGHT with Don Miller

Outro - Vanessa Rieger

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO CONTRIBUTED WHO ARE NOT HEARD ON TAPE!!!!

Bands Lido Pimenta, Fortuna and HUT.  DJs Spawn & Monsoon, Julia Chickens, Alex Low and Adrienne Kammerer.  Perfomers Bridget Moser, Ben Kamino and Max Kelly. Chefs Basil AlZeri and Christine Atkinson.  Bartenders Juliann Wilding and Andi Clifford. Workshops by Jamie Shannon and Jonatham Edward Mayhew.  Projections by Brandon A. Dalmer and Rea McNamara. SPECIAL THANKS to Joe Fuda for giving us the space and trusting us. Big hugs to everyone who contributed to the store, volunteered at the café, came out and took a hold of opportunity at our pop-up-shop-cafe-venue-nightclub-bordello.  

Also thanks to Maylee Todd and Doc Dunn for helping digitatize the cassette.

Unemployed and eternally yours,

In my usual fashion of never doing anything on time, here is a belated but well worth the wait mix from artist and musician Esther Splett. Esther is a member of Montreal band Sacral Nerves, in addition to being a cool feminist and artist. She also hails from my hometown of Ottawa! Esther always backs me up in online arguments about feminism and since I couldn't make it to this year's Slut Island festival, the evil twin sister festival to Calgary's Sled Island, she made me this awesome playlist of the bands who were performing! LISTEN TO IT! I hope this becomes a yearly thing, because I will very likely make the trip next year.

SLUT ISLAND MIX by Esther Splett, available to stream on 8 tracks here

Track List:

Truths - Fakes

Montreal - Charlotte Day Wilson

Dream and Variation Romantic - Syngja

Pleasure - Dekoder

Mountain Night - Ghost Taco

Wear Me Away - White Poppy

Born Slippy - Ylang Ylang

First Year - Empty Disco

Magic 8 Ball - Pretty Boys

Hyper Sensory Experience - Cheap Wig

Lay It Down - The Wayo

Special Special For YOU - Gambletron

I Am Jack's Nightlight - Food Stamps

Vodka Redbutch - Douce Angoisse

Turn Your Love Around - TOPS

Hi everyone! I have a brand spankin' new mix ready for you kind folks out there, and boy is this one special. At the request of Small Talk, Pierre Richardson and Lesley Marshall's Ottawa-based music newspaper / monthly / zine, I made a mix hot out of the oven in anticipation of the yearly superfest, Ottawa Explosion. Featuring 100% OXW artists, this ram-a-lam collection of facemelters sure is making me excited about my impending visit to my groovy hometown. 

I will also be participating in the Punk Rock Art Show at OZ Kafe and will be collaborating on visuals for the Thursday night OAG Show... but enough about me! This is all about the music....

Shake your hips, raise your fists in the air, get those mosh pit legs and arms ready and prepare for a serious bangover... its the Ottawa Explosion 2014 mix tape, available to download here. 

Track List: 

Melt - Boyhood

~Intro~

Girly Girly Girly - White Wires

Katacombs - Steve Adamyk Band

Line By Line - The Ketamines

Don't Want Need To - Blue Angel

Stammering - Grime Kings

Where I'm Going - Boyhood

Wear Me Away - White Poppy

Leather Weather - Pretty Pretty

Snowbone (demo) - Bonnie Doon

Isolation - Tropical Dripps

Hi Hi Hi - The Famines

Hot Dog Water - Strange Attractor

Get Off - Metz

Facelift - Pregnancy Scares

Wasted On Wine - Average Times

Punk As Fuck - Kappa Chow

All Of My Friends - Old and Weird

Jesus Fish - Organ Eyes

Repeater - The Yips

Doing It - Roberta Bondar

I Waste Too Much Time On Myself - Tough Age

Automatic - Sonic Avenues

Best Friend - Needles // Pins

You Can Come Over - First Base

Fix My Brain - The Marked Men