This Is Your Mixtape

By Michael CollinsMusic Music Interviews

This Is Your Mixtape episodes

April 27, 201811. Spacey Polyrhythms. [Alison Dennis.]
Alison Dennis grew up in various cities
and towns in Oregon, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Her involvement in music started
at a young age as she participated in church choirs and school band. She
received a literature degree and some a cappella choir experience from Oberlin
College in Ohio before moving to Portland, Oregon, where she has lived, with
the exception of a short stint in New Orleans, for over a decade. Currently
she writes, records and performs music under the name Dr. Something, performs
keyboards, sax, and vocals in the psych rock band All I Feel Is Yes, creates
visual art, and works a mundane office job to pay the bills. Alison and
Michael talk about learning music in church, being a spacey kid, rebuilding
New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, artificial intelligence as metaphor for
queer liberation, and losing control over being a control freak.
Alison’s Five Songs.
Up on the Roof by the
Drifters.
Quem Vidistis Pastores by
Francis Poulenc.
Starting Five by dios
(malos).
Mushrooms and Roses by
Janelle Monáe.
Control Freak by Counterfeit Madison.
Show Notes.
Dr. Something. Listen to and support
Alison's music.
This is Your
Playlist!
Every song we’ve featured on every episode, in order (...if they’re on
Spotify).
1 hr 9 min
April 15, 201810. The Romantic from the Cove. [Juanita Critch.]
Juanita Critch grew up in a rural
Newfoundland community of fewer than 50 people. After attending Memorial
University, where she graduated with a BA in religious studies and folklore,
she settled in St. John’s, Newfoundland, with her husband Brian. By day,
Juanita writes steamy contemporary romance for
Harlequin/Mills & Boon, but by night she drinks margaritas and dreams of
living on a tropical beach. Juanita and Michael talk about one-room school
houses where your mom is the teacher, good teens who like angry music,
religious studies, the publishing industry, and missing important phone calls.
Juanita’s Five Songs.
Aunt Martha's Sheep by
Dick Nolan.
Faith by Limp Bizkit.
This River Is Wild by the
Killers.
One Particular Harbor by
Jimmy Buffett.
Spaceship
by Kanye West.
Show Notes.
Juanita's official website. She’s also on
Twitter and
Instagram.
This Is Your
Playlist!
A Spotify playlist of every song from every episode of This Is Your Mixtape
[if it is on Spotify].
1 hr 6 min
April 01, 20189. I Am Still Here. [Kari Bentley-Quinn.]
Kari Bentley-Quinn is a
playwright based in New York City. She
grew up in Connecticut, but adopted New York as home just in time to witness
the September 11th attacks. Kari's plays have been produced and presented in
New York, Chicago and Dallas. She's a co-founder of Mission to
(dit)Mars, a theater company based in the
beautiful borough of Queens, championing new play development. Kari has an MFA
in Playwriting from Hunter College. She's won the Rita and Burton Goldberg
Award, and was a nominee for the Doric Wilson Playwriting Award. Kari and
Michael discuss childhood optimism, musical improvisation, suicide, terrorism,
polyrhythms, having a calling, why immigration is awesome, and making friends
in your thirties.
Kari’s Five Songs.
I’m a Believer by the
Monkees.
Marianne by Tori Amos.
Toxic by Britney
Spears.
Sawdust and Diamonds by
Joanna Newsom.
New York by St.
Vincent.
Show Notes.
Youth Dew.
Kari's personal essay about the sudden passing of her grandmother.
Song Exploder 114: St. Vincent. St.
Vincent goes in depth on the writing and recording of “New York.”
Kari on Twitter,
Instagram, and the
web.
This Is Your
Playlist!
A Spotify playlist of every song from every episode of This Is Your Mixtape
[if it is on Spotify].
1 hr 20 min
March 14, 20188. The Precarity is the World. [Beth Martin.]
Beth Martin grew up in rural Ontario, in a
farming community near Lake Huron—the kind of place you'd recognize from the
fiction of Alice Munro. Music was a tool Beth used to establish a cohesive
identity, and later to probe her relationship with the outside world. She
recently completed a PhD in English Literature, and is one of the co-founders
of the Megaphonic podcast network, where she co-hosts
It’s Just a Show, a deep-dive into 90’s cult
classic show Mystery Science Theatre 3000. Beth and Michael discuss escapism,
futurism, modernity's terrifying velocity, and raising a child in a world that
sometimes feels doomed.
And hey: MEGAPHONIC PARTY!
We'll be celebrating at The Bastille, 16 Walmer Ave, Toronto, Ontario, Canada,
on Saturday, March 24th, 7-11pm. Join us! Free drinks and snacks! Me, Beth,
and all the other Megaphonic crew will be there to meet and greet.
Beth’s Five Songs.
Book of Days (Gaelic
Version) by Enya.
Army of Me by Björk.
Winter's Love by
Animal Collective.
Vessels by Philip Glass.
4 Degrees by Anohni.
Show Notes.
It’s Just a Show. Beth's Mystery Science
Theatre 3000 podcast.
The Pruitt-Igoe Myth. An episode of 99% Invisible about the failed housing
project Beth discusses in the context of Philip Glass's Vessels.
This Is Your
Playlist!
A Spotify playlist of every song from every episode of This Is Your Mixtape
[if it is on Spotify].
1 hr 9 min
February 28, 20187. Music is Sublimated Desire. [Drew Brown.]
Drew Brown is a freelance writer
living in St. John's, Newfoundland. He grew up in Grand Falls-Windsor, a small
town in Central Newfoundland. Once upon a time he was a PhD candidate in
political science, writing a dissertation about affect theory and the Canadian
museum of history. He has since quit grad school to write for money. He and
Michael discuss growing up in a small-scale apocalypse, angry teen boys who
fall for Ayn Rand, epiphanies on public transport, quitting PhD programs, and
whether there is cause to hope for the future (probably there is).
Drew’s Five Songs.
Peter Street by the Irish
Descendants.
Anthem by Rush.
Oxford Comma by Vampire
Weekend.
The Beast by Austra.
Call to Arms by Sturgill
Simpson.
Show Notes.
Drew's work at Vice.
1 hr 14 min
February 16, 20186. Not Like Me. [Ned Raggett.]
Ned Raggett writes about music for a
variety of locations around the world and on the web. He's been doing it for
25 years now and he doesn’t want to stop—or perhaps, he tells me, he’s lazy
and used to routine. He lives and works as a library assistant for the
University of California in San Francisco.
We discuss the Muppets, exile in Siberia, the necessary lie of genre,
listening to music from various perspectives, and not “fitting in” like people
expect you to.
Ned’s Five Songs.
Rainbow Connection from
The Muppet Movie.
Live to Tell by Madonna.
You Take the World by The
Veldt.
Always and Everywhere (I Will Follow You)
by Marc Almond.
Queen by Tracey Thorn.
Show Notes.
Ned’s Bonus Beats. The previous podcast appearance that Ned mentions.
50 Best Shoegaze Albums of All Time. Pitchfork album
where Ned insisted on The Veldt’s inclusion.
Vazim Kodim. Wikipedia article on
famous gay Russian singer who originally popularized Always and Everywhere (I
Will Follow You).
Ned’s tumblr.
This is Your
Playlist!
Every song we've featured on every episode, in order (...if they're on
Spotify).
1 hr 12 min
January 15, 20185. Queer Curation. [Michael Lee Richardson.]
Michael Lee Richardson is an
award-winning writer whose short film, My Loneliness is Killing Me, about loneliness
in the gay community, begins production in January 2018. He's also a
passionate advocate for Scotland’s LGBTQ youth. Michael lives in Glasgow, but
he grew up in an isolated region of England’s north. You can find him on most
social media as @HRFMichael (Her Royal Flyness), but he’s most frequently on
Twitter, where he describes himself as a
“general pain in the arts”.
We discuss queerness, drag, Geri Halliwell, cult followings, sad disco,
empowerment anthems, gay men and black women, is Kate Bush a Tory?, the
curatorial impulse—and loads more.
Michael’s Five Songs.
Part of Your World from
The Little Mermaid.
Viva Forever by the Spice
Girls.
The Magic Position by
Patrick Wolf.
The Loving Kind by Girls
Aloud.
Flawless (Remix) by
Beyoncé ft. Nicki Minaj.
Show Notes.
This Is Your Playlist! All the songs featured on This Is Your Mixtape [if they're on
Spotify].
1 hr 15 min
December 08, 20174. Mustachioed Persona. [Paul Fowler.]
Paul Fowler reads lewd material for
a living. He’s long been involved in the publishing industry, and he’s
participated in many literary endeavours. Paul grew up in a small and isolated
town on the coast of Labrador, but he has lived in Toronto for more than six
years, and he assures us they’re actually not all that different.
Paul’s Five Songs.
Seven Spanish Angels by
Willie Nelson ft. Ray Charles.
Santa Monica by Savage
Garden.
Call of Ktulu by
Metallica.
Her Eyes Are a Blue Million
Miles by Captain Beefheart and
the Magic Band.
What Happens When You Turn the Devil
Down by The Mystery
Lights.
Show Notes.
My Mama Said by Aqua. Late 90s
Danish bubblegum Barbie Girl band’s more recent, surprisingly dark and
haunting material.
Resurrection by Moist. Canadian
90’s alt-rock that’s really quite poppy. Paul’s co-first album, along with
Savage Garden.
Satellite view of L’anse au Loup, Labrador.
Paul and Paul’s
Warhammer work on Instagram.
58 min
November 20, 20173. Lush, Vivid, and Strange. [Anna Wilson.]
Anna Wilson recently completed a PhD at
the University of Toronto. She’ll be starting at Harvard as an assistant
professor next year. But erase all thoughts of a dry tweedy scholar from your
mind. Anna is one of those scholars whose work and whose life
intertwine—bringing together medieval mystics, queer theory, and
fanfiction.
Anna’s Five Songs.
Graceland by
Paul Simon.
The End by The Doors.
To Be Alone with You by
Sufjan Stevens.
On the Radio by Regina
Spektor.
Wait for Itfrom Hamilton.
Show Notes.
The fanvid discussed is “This is How It Works” by Lim.
Anna’s article “Full-body Reading” at Aeon.
1 hr 16 min
November 07, 20172. Dramatic Fantasies. [Nadia Halim.]
Nadia Halim is a community organizer, writer, arts
administrator, and general bringer-together-of-people in Toronto. Nadia grew
up bookish and mixed-race in a small town in the Ottawa Valley, where neither
quality was necessarily well-understood.
Nadia’s Five Songs.
Guantanamera by Pete
Seeger.
New Moon on Monday by
Duran Duran.
Devil With the Green Eyes
by Matthew Sweet.
Fake Palindromes by Andrew
Bird.
Atop a Cake by Alvvays.
Show Notes.
Backstreet Boys’ Larger than Life
video.
Venus Fly by Grimes and Janelle
Monáe.
1 hr 14 min