This Is Your Mixtape

By Michael CollinsMusic Music Interviews

This Is Your Mixtape episodes

October 29, 201940. Love Letters to Friends. [Melissa Brizuela.]
Melissa Brizuela is a
food enthusiast and a feeler of feelings. She can often be found writing long
love letters to friends, listening to music, or making meals for anyone who
sits down at her dining room table. She lives in Toronto but she aspires to
call no singular place home.
Melissa and Michael discuss serendipity, the connection between artist and
audience, grief, Estonia, radical vulnerability, and creating community across
the globe.
Melissa’s Five Songs.
Jolene by Ewert and the Two Dragons.
Minute by NEFE.
Elegy by Leif Vollebekk.
Banks are Broken by Rachel Sermanni.
Little Love by
Ewert and the Two Dragons.
Show Notes.
Melissa’s Instagram.
Couchsurfing.
Support This Is Your Mixtape on Patreon, if
you can. Thanks!
1 hr 11 min
September 23, 201939. This Infinite Chain. [Paul Dean.]
Paul Dean is a writer, journalist, and
games designer, among other things. You might know him as one of the founders
of Shut Up & Sit Down, a website and youtube
channel about board games. Or maybe you know him from a popular essay he
wrote about Stardew
Valley and his own small-town youth. These days, he’s working on a book about
class and his childhood in England, and he has a lively patreon where he posts
other pieces of his writing. Paul is based in Vancouver.
Paul and Michael discuss artistic influence, not fitting in, learning from
others, the nature of trust, the joy of play, and the big quiet adventure of
being in the world.
Paul’s Five Songs.
Always On My Mind by The
Pet Shop Boys.
Racing in the Street by
Bruce Springsteen.
River by Joni Mitchell.
Late November by Sandy
Denny.
Live Oak by Jason Isbell.
Show Notes.
Paul’s Patreon,
blog, and
twitter.
Paul’s essay about Stardew
Valley.
Michael’s essay about Hey Jupiter.
Support This Is Your Mixtape on Patreon.
1 hr 20 min
August 20, 201938. The Idea of Yearning. [Ian Mathers.]
Ian Mathers is a writer and editor living
in Toronto with his wife and a very needy cat. His work has appeared in
Stylus, the Singles Jukebox, the Village Voice, Dusted, Pop Matters, and
elsewhere. In his spare time he looks for weird new beers to try and runs a
D&D game for his wife and friends.
Ian and Michael discuss fatphobia, non-religious appreciation of religion,
abusive workplaces, the Canadian immigration system, and mixtapes as courtship
material.
Ian’s Five Songs.
Country Feedback by R.E.M.
Ex-Cowboy by Mogwai.
(That’s How You Sing) Amazing
Grace by Low.
Whippoorwill by SubRosa.
Give it a Night by Bella.
Show Notes.
Ian is on Tumblr and
Twitter.
The Singles Jukebox, where Ian regularly
joins other contributors to review singles
Ian’s contributions to Pop Matters
and Dusted.
Support This Is Your Mixtape on Patreon.
1 hr 19 min
July 23, 201937. A Horizon of Freedom. [Suzanne Akbari.]
Suzanne Akbari is an American who has just now
returned to the United States after almost a quarter of a century in Canada.
She’s a professor of Medieval Studies, and for a long time she was based at
the University of Toronto, but has recently relocated to the Institute for
Advanced Studies in Princeton, NJ. Suzanne has written books on medieval
history and literature, including several collaborative works—most recently, a
book called How We Read: Tales, Fury, Nothing,
Sound.
She also co-hosts a literature podcast with Chris
Piuma, called The Spouter-Inn. She has four kids and three cats.
Suzanne and Michael chat about the corporeal experience of music, discovering
self confidence, converting to Islam as an adult, the appeal of strength, and
the capacious and joyful embodiment of Missy Elliott's music.
Suzanne’s Five Songs.
Where Do the Children
Play? by Cat Stevens.
One Way or Another by
Blondie.
Forbidden Colours by David
Sylvian with Ryuichi Sakamoto.
Work It by Missy Elliott.
XXXO by M.I.A.
Show Notes.
How We Read: Tales, Fury, Nothing,
Sound.
(Free PDF!)
The Spouter-Inn, Suzanne’s podcast about
“great books”, hosted with former guest Chris
Piuma.
The Scene of the Scene:
Matangi/Maya/M.I.A.
Suzanne and Michael both answered “deep questions” on a recent episode of The
Opposite Of Lonely.
Support This Is Your Mixtape on Patreon to
listen to bonus content and chat with us in a members-only lounge.
1 hr 12 min
July 11, 201936. One Glorious Anthem. [Derek Bolt.]
Derek Bolt is an architect,
bodybuilder, and gay porn star based in Washington, D.C. He’s the winner of
the heavyweight class at the 2018 NPC MaxMuscle Mid-Atlantic open bodybuilding
competition, and he will be competing at the 2019 NPC Nationals at the end of
July.
Derek and Michael talk about how taekwondo is better than Boy Scouts, the
cruelty and casual homophobia of children, non-monogamous relationships,
bodybuilding, and loneliness. Derek is also one of Michael's best friends, and
they nerd out about common interests and explain how they met.
Derek’s Five Songs.
Walking on Broken Glass by
Annie Lennox.
Waiting on the World to
Change by John Mayer.
Slut Like You by P!nk.
Immortals by Fall Out Boy.
Monument (The Inevitable End
Version) by Röyksopp ft.
Robyn.
Show Notes.
Derek on Instagram and
Twitter [NSFW].
Derek’s posing routine to
"Monument”.
Some of Derek’s jewelry designs.
Annie Lennox’s art
exhibit.
Support This Is Your Mixtape on Patreon
and listen to a bonus bit from this episode, join a members-only forum on
Slack, and help Mikey keep making the show!
1 hr 12 min
June 30, 201935. Hey Jupiter. [Pride Special.]
In this special episode, host Michael
Collins takes you back to his preteen and early
teen years, and talks about what it was like growing up a lonely closeted gay
boy in rural Newfoundland, and how Tori Amos and the piano helped him make a
sort of sense of it all. Regular programming will resume next week!
Songs in this episode.
Prelude in C minor by J.S.
Bach.
Precious Things by Tori
Amos.
Hey Jupiter by Tori Amos.
Show Notes.
This story and more of Michael's writing can be found at his new
Medium page, <https://medium.com/@mikeycollins>;
Support This Is Your Mixtape on Patreon and
access bonus bits, a members-only Slack, and more!
15 min
June 13, 201934. I Want That Freedom. [Andrés N. Ordorica.]
Andrés N. Ordorica is a Queer
Latinx writer and educator based in Edinburgh, Scotland. As a writer, he
aspires to create liminal worlds filled with characters who are from neither
here nor there ( ni de aquí, ni de allá ). His work has been published by
Confluence Medway, The Acentos Review, 404 ink, The Colour of Madness, The
Skinny, and Bella Caledonia. His writing often addresses mental health, loss,
sexuality and living in a liminal state.
Andrés and Michael chat about otherness, denial, long distance relationships,
finding liberation in a double-wide trailer outside of Ithaca, and what
happens when your mom discovers gay porn on the family computer.
Andrés’s Five Songs.
Bidi Bidi Bom Bom by
Selena.
Brothers on a Hotel Bed by
Death Cab for Cutie.
Single Ladies (RedTop
Remix) by Beyoncé.
Latch by Disclosure feat.
Sam Smith.
Make It Up to You by Julia
Michaels.
Show Notes.
Andrés’s website and
Twitter.
Things Andrés has written that you can read
online.
Andrés‘s love letter to Beyoncé.
Support This Is Your Mixtape on Patreon and
hear bonus bits, hang on our private Slack, and help keep the show going.
1 hr 16 min
May 18, 201933. My Heart Beats at the Rhythm of a Double Bass. [Sarah Chamberlain.]
Sarah Chamberlain is a co-host of A Part
of Our Scare-itage, a
Megaphonic podcast about Canadian horror movies. This
is a great joy to her, since she spends most of her leisure time watching,
playing, or reading scary stuff anyway. Sarah lives in Ontario and loves to
write about anything that strikes her fancy.
Sarah and Michael talk about foster families, thrill-seeking, high drama,
feeling music in your body, and saxophones.
Sarah’s Five Songs.
Poor Unfortunate Souls by
Pat Carroll [as Ursula the Sea Witch].
Gardenia by Malice Mizer.
Walk with Me in Hell by
Lamb of God.
Bela Lugosi’s Dead by
Bauhaus.
Where Owls Know My Name by
Rivers of Nihil.
Show Notes.
A Part Of Our Scare-itage, Sarah’s podcast about
Canadian horror films.
Correction: It was the drummer, not the lead singer, of Malice Mazer, who
passed.
If you support our podcast network, Megaphonic
FM, you can access bonus material from This Is
Your Mixtape (including an extra bit from this conversation with Sarah) and
hang out with me in a members-only Slack channel.
Get a This Is Your Mixtape t-shirt from the new Megaphonic
store!
1 hr 19 min
April 25, 201932. Boys on a Screen or a Page. [Ryan Vance.]
Ryan Vance is a writer, editor, and
general literary busybody with a penchant for speculative fiction and queer
representation. Originally from rural-ish Northern Ireland, he now lives in
Glasgow, Scotland. His work has been published by Friction, Motherboard and
Dark Mountain, he reviews for Gutter Magazine, and he recently co-edited an
anthology of queer Scottish writing, called We Were Always
Here,
published by 404 Ink.
Ryan and Michael talk about utopian parents, a zest for fantasy, phantasmic
internet friendships, false epiphanies, and how being disillusioned sets you
free—amongst many other things.
Ryan’s Five Songs.
Once in a Lifetime by
Talking Heads.
Fast as You Can by Fiona
Apple.
Transatlanticism by Death
Cab for Cutie.
He Poos Clouds by Final
Fantasy (Owen Pallett).
Bizness by tUnE-yArDs.
Show Notes.
Ryan on Twitter.
Ryan’s website, where you can find out more
about his writing.
We Were Always Here, a queer words anthology.
1 hr 16 min
April 08, 201931. Morbid but Cool. [Sara.]
Sara is a professional beer wrangler
living in Vancouver with their wife and homicidal housecat. When not sampling
the finest craft beer in the city, they co-host a Xena: Warrior Princess
podcast (Warriors Bards ’n Brews)
with their wife.
Sara and Michael talk about growing up queer in Cape Breton, riot grrrl music,
censorship, being nonbinary, and feminist rage.
Sara’s Five Songs.
Chì mi na Mòrbheanna (Mist Covered
Mountains) by The Rankin
Family.
Siren by Tori Amos.
One Beat by Sleater
Kinney.
Cold War by Janelle Monáe.
Fire Drills by Dessa.
Show Notes.
Warriors Bards ’n Brews podcast
website.
Warrior Bards ’n Brews twitter account.
Sara’s personal twitter.
1 hr 7 min