Thanks to Will (the other one) I got clued in to Ryan Zeinert’s mix-tape madness, so I thought I’d jump in on the action. Couple quick notes: What I created was not actually a tape. But then I don’t think anyone expected that. I’ve made more than my share of actual tapes, but I finally ditched my Aiwa dual cassette deck a couple years ago because after more than a decade of solid use, it was giving up the proverbial ghost.

Also, though I’m happy with the initial effort, if I did it again in a week, it would no doubt be something completely different. Moods change, ideas evolve, that sort of thing.

Anyway, that’s that. Here are the tracks, annotated in a fit of exhaustion, after the jump:

1) Quiet Village – “Victoria’s Secret” : Oh, man, I’m cheating already. Not so much a cover, but a re-appopriation of an old Chi-Lites tune. But it’s short, and serves a current obsession with the band and it works as a nice, lush intro to the collection.

2) Kraak & Smaak – “Man Of Constant Sorrow” : Still possibly running roughshod over the rules, here I’m wandering dangerously close to “remix” territory, it’s nonetheless a new casting of the old tune into something with a Middle-Eastern flavor.

3) Petra Haden & Bill Frisell – “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up” : One of my favorite covers. Haden turns the Ramones/Waits rant into a drifting lullaby.

4) Smashing Pumpkins – “Landslide” : A bit obvious, isn’t it? I suppose if I’d had more time, I could have come up with lots that was more interesting. I got lazy.

5) Luna – “Bonnie & Clyde” : I was torn on this one. I love this version of the Serge Gainsbourg tune, but Mick Harvey also puts out a fine version as well. I went for the one in French.

6) Siouxsie & The Banshees – “Dear Prudence” : I actually overheard some girl comment on the Beatles’ original version of this tune and wonder why they bothered to remake the Siouxsie tune. Why, indeed?

7) Talking Heads – “Take Me To The River” : Was an Al Green tune. Yes, it was. But the Heads made it completely their own.

8) Kristin Hersh – “Trouble” : One of my all time fave covers. I love the original Cat Stevens, especially in the context of Harold & Maude, but this re-working of it blows me the hell away.

9) & 10) The Bangles – “Hazy Shade Of Winter” : Surprisingly decent remake of the Simon & Garfunkel tune by the Bangles, brought in on a bit of Thomas Newman’s score for Less Than Zero. Natch.

11) Paul Anka – “Smells Like Teen Spirit” : I like this version because I can understand what he’s saying. Other than that, I can’t tell the difference. This is the obligatory ironic cover tune.

12) Placebo – “Running Up That Hill” : Another example of what makes a good cover. Molko and company preserve the haunting qualities of the Kate Bush original and show us something completely new.

13) Nouvelle Vague – “Melt With You” : This might qualify as ironic, too, if these cats weren’t so damned sincere. But in truth, the reason this is a good song is because the original was so great.

14) Nine Inch Nails – “(Let’s Get) Physical” : This quintessential Reznor, just the way I like him. I don’t recall a tune of his that has a more massive, towering sound. Perhaps it’s saying something that he’s covering Adam Ant this time around. I dunno. But I love it.

15) St. Vincent – “These Days” : Written by Jackson Browne for Nico, then recorded by Greg Allman (my favorite version) and then by Browne himself, here it gets Nico-esque treatment from my favorite artist of last year, Miss Annie Clark, and finishes off the collection with a dulcet flourish.

There you have it. It’s short, sweet and sequenced rather well. If you ask nicely and if I can get my CD burner working, I might send you a copy.

I rather like the simplicity and elegance of muxtape.com. Upload songs. Arrange them. Send ‘em out to people. It’s not unlike making an actual mixtape, except that there are no tapes. And you can skip and jump about at will (which I try to do in public as often as possible.) I tried it out, of course. I’m not one to pass up testing a new web toy. The results are here.

I think it’s a great way to update what’s on your music radar from time to time. And there’s a nifty RSS feed attached, which means I can keep a list in my sidebar. You can, too! I mean, if you really feel like it…

The current track list is almost entirely spontaneous. Something I just threw together in a manner of moments, looking through stuff I’ve picked up in the past little while. As I find cool, new stuff, I’ll add and shift and change things around. And if you don’t feel like clicking on the link, here’s the inaugural lineup:

The The “Lung Shadows”

The Kills “U.R.A. Fever”

Juliana Hatfield “I Can’t Kill Myself”

Love Psychedelico “Aha! (All We Want)”

Goldfrapp “Happiness”

Morcheeba “Hemphasis”

The Wombats “Moving To New York (Alt. Version)”

Vetiver “Been So Long”

Plasticines “La Règle Du Jeu”

Malcolm Middleton “Solemn Thirsty”

Thurston Moore “Honest James”

Mandalay “Insensible”

Enjoy. I was gonna post a funny picture and call it a day since it’s the Trickster’s Holiday, but I’ve got a meeting in the State of Hollywood this A.M. I gotta run.

We’re halfway through November, but I got so interested in the idea of publishing a monthly playlist that I decided to do one immediately and slap an October label on it. So here it is, the first of a monthly series of playlists, available directly from iTunes for under nine bucks.

There’s a little something for everyone here. Echobelly is the only really extemporaneous cut, but after a long time searching for this unavailable-in-the-US disc, I finally tracked it down, and any acquisition of an Echobelly album is cause for celebration. There’s some Britney in here to to give the mix some tragic weight. Nocole Atkins, whose infectiously danceable “Love Surreal” is from an album every bit as wonderful as the song itself. A pair of instrumentals, from Japancakes and Odd Nosdam, excellent new Duran Duran material and finally, a trio of indie confections round out the mix.

Missing on this first attempt: I tried to include a couple U2 covers: the new live version of “Bullet The Blue Sky” by Queensryche (wow!) and “Sunday Bloody Sunday” as covered by Saul Williams and Trent Reznor (!) The latter is unavailable on iTunes as yet and the former is “album only.” Finally, I tried to throw in some Billie Piper, but she’s apparently scarce on iTunes as well. Next time I’ll research before I publish.

Echobelly – Fear Of Flying (People Are Expensive)
Yeasayer - Sunrise (All Hour Cymbals)
Babyshambles - Unbilotitled (Shotter’s Nation)
Nicole Atkins – Love Surreal (Neptune City)
Odd Nosdam – Fat Hooks (Level Live Wires)*
Duran Duran – Falling Down (Red Carpet Massacre) post
Japancakes - Soon (Loveless) post
Britney Spears – Heaven On Earth (Blackout)
Little Dragon – Twice (Little Dragon)

iMix (opens iTunes store)

* accidentally selected “Burner” instead of “Fat Hooks” on the published iMix. Give it some time for the correction to take place. (8:50 AM) Okay, it’s fixed.