I don’t have much memory of some of these mixtapes for some reason. What I do recall, is that after starting to make these initial playlists, what my plan was to do was simply grab a huge selection of Australian music and curate it into selections which would go well together, and would fit the near 70-minute runtime of a standard CDr.
I don’t remember why or when I did it, but I have a vague memory of making a bunch of these, then re-numbering them (the mixes, that is, not the songs on the mixes). I feel like my thinking behind this was that the first mix I had made was strong, and whatever I made second would feel like it was a runner-up to the first mix. By mixing the numbers up, I’d forget what had come next and therefore the mixes would stand alone solely on their own musical merit.
Was that pretentious? You bet! Did it reach its goal? I don’t know!
As I said, this memory is very vague, but it certainly seems like I was leaning on a bit of a mid-’00s vibe for this list of tracks. It’s got a little bit of a blues and roots sound to it, while things do get a little bit heavier near the end.
When it came to the artwork here, well, this one is pure plagiarism. Since I was messing around with Photoshop at the time, and trying my hand at creating my own artworks, I occasionally would lean upon something for inspiration. In this case, I leant upon Felipe Suzuki’s 2014 work Untitled No. 0902.
Now, take a close look. Notice how it’s exactly the same? That’s because I was lazy, liked the fact that the two orange balls (I assume they’re supposed to be the sun?) could lean into the fact this was the second mixtape, and figured this was something I could use for a simple trial in recreating artwork on Photoshop.
This sheer and unbridled plagiarism is a bit embarrassing to look at in hindsight, but again, this is entirely for the sake of a personal project, and something which undeniably helped me become better in my own artwork in time.
The quote on the back flap comes from the lyrics of Josh Pyke’s ‘Middle Of The Hill’, which is a song that both my wife and I would listen to frequently during our time apart.
Mixtape, Vol. 2 – Gallery
Mixtape, Vol. 2 – Tracklist
Side 1:
1. ‘Hollywood’ – Kasey Chambers (2004)
2. ‘Kids On Overload’ – Faker (2005)
3. ‘I Got Burned (feat. Tim Rogers)’ – The Bamboos (2012)
4. ‘Morning Sun’ – The Beautiful Girls (2002)
5. ‘Days Like These’ – The Cat Empire (2003)
6. ‘The Love Me Or Die’ – C.W. Stoneking (2008)
7. ‘Shelter’ – Xavier Rudd (2004)
8. ‘Divorcee By 23’ – Clare Bowditch & The Feeding Set (2005)
9. ‘Biding My Time’ – Busby Marou (2010)
10. ‘Happiness Is A Chemical’ – Darren Hanlon (2006)
Side 2:
1. ‘No Diggity’ (Blackstreet cover) – Chet Faker (2012)
2. ‘Middle Of The Hill’ – Josh Pyke (2005)
3. ‘Firestarter’ – Dan Parsons (2010)
4. ‘Don’t Wanna See Your Face’ – The John Butler Trio (2010)
5. ‘Breakout’ – Ash Grunwald (2008)
6. ‘Easter Thursday’ – Flat Stanley (1996)
7. ‘Come And Check Your Head’ – Blue King Brown (2006)
8. ‘We Can’t Hear You’ – The Herd (2005)
9. ‘Don’t Forget Me When I Die’ – Gyroscope (2010)
10. ‘Numb All Over’ – Dallas Crane (2004)
11. ‘Seventeen’ – Jet (2009)