There's nothing quite like a good MixTape to put you in the right mood for... anything! For me, as long as I can remember I have been making my own compilations of music.

I've used cassettes and CDs, for a short while MiniDiscs and even a dictaphone...! In the advent of MP3 I made playlists which have (for me) elevated to Spotify Playlists since 2009.

I was mulling over the current state of my Spotify playlists a few weeks ago. My general curation of music happens annually, I'm not really sure why, but perhaps because like most things it's nice to start each new year with something fresh. I'm now in the ninth year of doing this and it occurred to me that I don't play this music with anyone. I used to play MixTapes with others often!

We're often in the car as a family but I don't put my yearly playlist on. One reason was because of the "explicit" nature of some tracks but now they're 13+ I'm less worried about most of these, they've heard the worst of the world at school now. Another reason was that these playlists would typically be over 15 hours long and I wouldn't know where to start with them!

So I've decided to run a little experiment and see what happens.

I'm going to start creating MixTapes each month that will be around 45 minutes / 10 tracks long to share with my family who are all on my Spotify family plan.

We talk about music a lot, and I often think of artists they may not have heard before, that I think they would like, so here's a short form way of sharing these so we can discuss and enjoy them together.

I also thought I'd share it with whoever is reading each month, because why not? It's a fun topic, and it's nice to see who enjoys (or doesn't!) the different tracks I'm going to include each month.

On to this month's mixtape courtesy of Spotify:

It's been fun to put this list together of 10 songs I've been listening to this month. (I was close to putting something from the Interstellar soundtrack in because it's been on loop while I've been working for most of Feb!)

I've tried to put it into a little tempo flow, but I'm no expert so see how you get on with it. It had to start with "Off to the Races" from Lana Del Rey, it's just been that sort of month.

Let’s run through the track-list…

Off To The Races - Lana Del Rey

I find the Born To Die album the most enjoyable of Lana Del Rey back catalogue.

Looking at sites like Metacritic or a quick google it looks like I'm in the minority. Variety has it as the 4th of her best out of 8 albums on their list so perhaps not that minor!

Off to the Races is my absolute favourite of the album. It’s so cinematic!

It feels like a trailer for a movie that would be great to see but, would probably have a tragic ending. Wikipedia has it down as pop and hip-hop and I'm here for that!

It’s made it into the first of my monthly MixTape’s as the opener because it feels like “comfortable chaos” to me, which sums up my last few months. I’m sure I’ll explain that in another blog post.

The Best - Self Esteem

I eagerly await and consume anything by Self Esteem. She has created some of the most interesting music I've heard over the past 5-6 years.

Her soundtrack for Prima Facie is a fantastic listen.

This track, The Best is the first I heard from her and is a joy to return to. I can't remember if it was something I found via 6 Music or the Discover Weekly list I get from Spotify each Monday - both sources provide a lot of discoveries for me.

If you have yet to experience her might, dive right in here and give the whole album a go before moving on to Prioritise Pleasure.

I love her confidence, passion and initiatives(?) to keep lyrics uncomfortable!

This track is here because while I’ve mentioned her a few times to the kids, I thought I’d see what they make of her in a format like this and see if they appreciate any other parts of her work. Yes, it’s a little more grown up but it’s also fantastic to hear in your teens.

Why Go? (Feat. Estelle) - Faithless

Faithless have produced some excellent tracks. I think Insomnia was probably my first experience of their stunning explosion into the dance floor and became a staple of Ministry of Sound type compilations to the day.

They originally created the track Why Go? with Boy George in 1999! It’s slower, more melancholic in my opinion. I believe this version came out with their greatest hits album and they had another go at it with the emerging Estelle. It had a great video to go with it, check it out!

Dance music has a different feel now, and I’ve been revisiting a lot of my old interests over the last 12 months. I’ve even been ripping my old CD collection, including a lot of Hed Kandi to my home server.

I want to see what the kids make of something that is classic Dance, that they won’t have heard before.

The Golden Path - Chemical Brothers

The “brothers” are still releasing great music and touring and probably saw the height of their success in the early 2000’s. Their music still sounds fresh today.

I had an amazing night sometime around 2005, seeing them live at the BIC in Bournemouth. I think. I saw Basement Jaxx around the same time who were also remarkable!

While they’re oft praised and remember for collabs like let forever be, I would say my favourite is the Golden Path for it’s cool feel and wonderful vocals from The Flaming Lips.

This is why it’s here. My kids know the Flaming Lips thanks to Guardians of the Galaxy, but they don’t know of songs like this yet!

Regret - New Order

I wanted to put a new order track and there’s so many to choose from, and while the kids know I’m a big fan of New Order (I saw them live at Victorious Festival a few years back while they ran off to see Clean Bandit or something!!) I don’t think they’ve heard more than Blue Monday.

I settled on regret because they won’t have heard it for a while and it’s a neat entry into New Order.

This track reminds me of picking up their Best Of in some sort of sale at HMV, and playing it on repeat during a short stay at Stratford-Upon-Avon in the early 2000s. There’s a lot of that time of my life in this MixTape.

If you’ve not listened to New Order in a while, I’d recommend their Nomc15 Live album. If you enjoy that please give Music Complete a go (and then Complete Music for the marvellous Extended Versions!).

Now and Then - The Beatles

I have a complicated relationship with the Beatles. I’m from Liverpool so you would naturally assume I’m a massive fan, but alas I’m not. Instead I have fits and bursts of listening to their music but it's nothing consistent.

I’ve not really listened to them much over the last 5 years but when this track was released I found myself incredibly excited.

Something new by The Beatles? Something really good!

It’s a marvel that it’s happened, and I hope it does again with “lost” music from other artists.

I’ve added this mainly because one of the kids have been listening to a couple of Beatles tracks recently and I wanted to include something familiar but new.

As (Edit) - Stevie Wonder

Songs in the Key of Life!

I won’t say much else, he’s magical and brilliant and eternal. I’ve still got the vinyl of this somewhere.

I’ve not gone for the full version as I’ve tried to keep this MixTape in the style of a cassette, so am keeping the tracks shorter.

I’m hoping that listening to a song like this will inspire the kids to look into more of his work, sit back and let the mind wander with the whole album.

I also want to mention the George Michael / Mary J Blige version of this song because it’s sublime.

Low - Lenny Kravitz

Cool.

I don’t know much else about Lenny Kravitz, but he just seems really cool to me. How is it that someone who can wear leather pants that break open in the crotch during a live performance can still be just so cool?

He’s got some well known songs, great tracks but I wanted to start to wind this MixTape down with something more subtle which I think this track is.

Everybody - Ezra Collective

Finally I wanted to finish this MixTape with the feeling that you’ve just wound up a party and you’re sinking into a comfortable chair.

Ezra Collective’s “Dance, No One’s Watching” is that party from start to finish, it’s a joyful journey I wholeheartedly recommend to you all not just my kids.

BlueSky your thoughts to me! I hope to share another one at the end of March.