For Brian.
A digital music zine
for a handsome fellow's birthday.
I want you to
make me a
mixtape.
INTRODUCTION
It's been a really long time since I've been tasked with creating a mixtape for someone, and the fact that you called it a mixtape and not a playlist honestly made my heart skip a beat. I was 13 when a guy made me a mixtape for the first time, and it started an obsession with the curation of music that eventually led me into a passionate career. Everyone got one; my best friends, the kids in class that needed good recommendations, the guys I had crushes on, the cool science teachers. When cassette tapes became obsolete, we shifted to mix CDs, and we lost a bit of the charm that came with sitting there shuffling CDs in and out of the pop-up tray on top of my boombox and pressing record and stop over and over again. It made it super easy, but taking the labor out of it made it feel a little less special.

I thought about busting out the boombox again and actually making a mixed cassette tape for you, but then I figured you probably don't have a cassette player anymore and the thought of getting my CDs out of storage and going through them became super daunting. I was having trouble getting a perfect flow out of one mixtape, so I ended up making three with different themes: one more suited to my tastes in rock music, one with softer tones for more low-key moments, and one dedicated to pop and dance music. I limited myself to 90 minutes each like the typical cassette tape I used for recording mixtapes in high school. They're hosted on Spotify and YouTube, and in the following pages you can find embedded versions along with some of my favorite lyrics. Sure, some of these songs have a deeper meaning, but they're mostly just bops that I like and wanted to share with you. I really hope you enjoy them. XX

Quick Access
Volume 1: Make Me A Mixtape
Spotify
Youtube
Volume 2: Sweetness & Light
Spotify
Youtube
Volume 3: All Day Bedroom Dancing
Spotify
Youtube
Artwork by Kevin Wada
kevinwada.tumblr.com

90's radio alt, second wave emo (the good stuff), British indie, San Francisco skate punk, and more. My inner freshman's heartbeat is racing.

MAKE ME A MIXTAPE: SPOTIFY

MAKE ME A MIXTAPE: YOUTUBE

MAKE ME A MIXTAPE: LYRICS
THE PROMISE RING ● MAKE ME A MIXTAPE
My skin is gonna wonder what I'm doing now. So write me a letter and tell me where you are, how to get there and how long that it takes to tape me some songs. Make me a mixtape, something old, something new, something I said or that we did that reminds me of you. Make me a mixtape that brings me closer to you.
JAWBREAKER ● WANT
Dark secrets burn their vessel. Tearin' out to grab a mouthful chunk of heart destroyed by quiet. Yell it out before it kills you now. Let it all out.
LOCAL H ● BOUND FOR THE FLOOR
Born to be down; What good is confidence?
JANE'S ADDICTION ● JANE SAYS
Jane says, "I've never been in love." No, she don't know what it is. She only knows if someone wants her. "I want 'em if they want me. I only know they want me."
BELLY ● FEED THE TREE
So take your hat off, boy, when you're talkin' to me and be there when I feed the tree.
HARVEY DANGER ● FLAGPOLE SITTA
I wanna publish zines and rage against machines.
MATTHEW SWEET ● GIRLFRIEND
Don't you need to be back in the arms of a good friend? Oh, 'cause honey, believe me: I'd sure love to call you my girlfriend.
THE QUEERS ● DON'T BACK DOWN
You gotta be a little nuts, but show now who's got guts. Don't back down from that wave!
THE MR. T EXPERIENCE ● BA BA BA BA BA
My life 'til now has been filled with doubt. Here I am 'cause there's no other place I can go. But I can see you're a lot like me. So maybe you know somewhere people like us can go, where we won't get kicked out 'cause we've got a lot to talk about. After years of research I think I've figured it out.
THE LEMONHEADS ● INTO YOUR ARMS
I know a place where I can go when I'm alone: Into your arms, oh whoa, into your arms I can go... And if I should fall, I know I won't be alone, be alone anymore.
VELOCITY GIRL ● FINEST HOUR
It's not exactly what I had in mind: it breaks and it builds me and stands alone.
LETTERS TO CLEO ● HERE AND NOW
And it might be the comfort of a knowledge of a rise above the sky above could never parallel the challenge of an acquisition in the here and now.
LIZ PHAIR ● SUPERNOVA
Your eyelashes sparkle like gilded glass, and your lips are sweet and slippery like a cherub's bare wet ass. 'Cause you're a human supernova, a solar superman. You're an angel with wings of fire, a flying giant friction blast.
SOCIAL DISTORTION ● RING OF FIRE
Bound by wild desire, I fell into a ring of fire.
ISAAC GREEN & THE SKALARS ● HIGH SCHOOL
This feeling's real. I hope it doesn't end. I wonder how I'll feel when I graduate again. Feelings I'd forget, and so I act the fool. Afraid of what I've got, now I feel like I'm back in high school. And now I'm on my own, but I feel like I'm back in high school.
SAVES THE DAY ● AT YOUR FUNERAL
I will be the pig with the apple in my mouth; the food that celebrates your end.
VERUCA SALT ● VOLCANO GIRLS
The seether's Louise... 1 2 3 wow!
IDLEWILD ● ACTUALLY, IT'S DARKNESS
I thought that winter could hide me from everything. I'm just too gullible for words.
SUM 41 ● IN TOO DEEP
Maybe we're just trying too hard, when really it's closer than it is too far.
FALL OUT BOY ● SUGAR, WE'RE GOIN' DOWN
I'll be your #1 with a bullet.
THE ALL-AMERICAN REJECTS ● DIRTY LITTLE SECRET
Who has to know?
NIGHTMARE OF YOU ● MY NAME IS TROUBLE
I want to kiss you on the mouth and tell you, "I'm your biggest fan."
AFI ● MISS MURDER
What's the hook, the twist within this verbose mystery?
SPONGE ● PLOWED
In a world of human wreckage I'm lost and I'm found and I can't touch the ground; I'm plowed into the sound.
HOME GROWN ● PLANET EARTH
Only came outside to watch the night fall with the rain. I heard you making patterns rhyme.
BRAND NEW ● THE QUIET THINGS THAT NO ONE EVER KNOWS
Keep the blood in your head and keep your feet on the ground.
HÜSKER DÜ ● COULD YOU BE THE ONE?
Is it only happiness you want? Does wanting a feeling matter anymore?

Three words that I've used to describe my connection to you. Something a little more delicate for cuddly, rainy, lazy afternoons. Probably the one I edited the most.

SWEETNESS & LIGHT: SPOTIFY
SWEETNESS & LIGHT: YOUTUBE
SWEETNESS & LIGHT: LYRICS
LUSH ● SWEETNESS AND LIGHT
You are the sweetness in my eyes. You are an apple in disguise.
LANA DEL REY ● DOIN' TIME
Evil. Ornery, scandalous, and evil. Most definitely.
LUSCIOUS JACKSON ● NAKED EYE
Wanted to be satisfied. I tried to be dignified. Wearing nothing is divine. Naked is a state of mind.
FRANK OCEAN ● THINKIN BOUT YOU
No, I don't like you, I just thought you were cool enough to kick it. Got a beach house I could sell you in Idaho. Since you think I don't love you, I just thought you were cute, that's why I kissed you. Got a fighter jet, I don't get to fly it, though. I'm lying down thinkin' 'bout you.
RINA SAWAYAMA ● CHERRY
Even though I'm satisfied I lead my life within a lie. Holding onto feelings I'm not used to feeling, 'cause oh they make me feel alive!
ERASURE ● HEAVENLY ACTION
Found out I was standing in your firing line; You made the mark, your arrow went through me.
PET SHOP BOYS ● HOME AND DRY
So my baby's on the road, doing business, selling loads. Charming everyone there with the sweetest smile. Oh tonight I miss you. Oh tonight I wish you could be here with me but I won't see you 'til you've made it back again, home and dry.
THE STONE ROSES ● I WANNA BE ADORED
I don't have to sell my soul; he's already in me.
FRENTE! ● EXPLODE
This is not my skin. I was invited in. A sweeter singer than anything. Suddenly here the worst words explode into love at my ear.
GIN BLOSSOMS ● FOUND OUT ABOUT YOU
Is there a line that I could write that's sad enough to make you cry?
THE SUNDAYS ● CAN'T BE SURE
Did you know desire's a terrible thing? It makes the world go blind. But if desire, desire's a terrible thing, you know that I really don't mind. It's my life, and though I can't be sure what I want anymore it will come to me later.
ASH ● SHINING LIGHT
We made a connection, a full-on chemical reaction brought by dark divine intervention: Yeah, you are a shining light.
FIONA APPLE ● CRIMINAL
I've got a lot to lose and I'm betting high so I'm begging you.
THE BLUETONES ● SLEAZY BED TRACK
Climb up here with me and let's forget about sleep and lay down.
THE GOO GOO DOLLS ● NAME
Now we're grown-up orphans that never knew their names. We don't belong to no one, that's a shame. You could hide beside me maybe for a while, and I won't tell no one your name.
MIGUEL ● COFFEE
Wordplay turns into gun play. Gun play turns into pillow talk. Pillow talk turns into sweet dreams. Sweet dreams turn into coffee in the morning. Coffee in the morning. I don't wanna wake you. I just wanna watch you sleep. It's the smell of your hair and it's the way that we feel. I've never felt comfortable like this.
MEDICINE ● TIME BABY III
Now walls of breathing hands are reaching up to touch my thigh.
FILTER ● TAKE A PICTURE
And I feel like a newborn: kicking and screaming.
JEFF BUCKLEY ● LAST GOODBYE
Kiss me. Please kiss me. But kiss me out of desire, baby, not consolation.
KACEY MUSGRAVES ● SLOW BURN
Old soul, waiting my turn. I know a few things but I still got a lot to learn, so I'm alright with a slow burn.
JETS TO BRAZIL ● SWEET AVENUE
Budding at my fingertips, touching you I start to bloom. Alive with trains and passing ships, soft and sweet along your lips now; I go "oh, wow." Thank you for taking me from my monastery. I was dying to get out. With tears of gratitude I like my latitude: cross town train to you.

I don't dance as much as I used to because my back hurts and I don't like outwardly expressing joy as much anymore.
Help me change that?

ALL DAY BEDROOM DANCING: SPOTIFY
ALL DAY BEDROOM DANCING: YOUTUBE
ALL DAY BEDROOM DANCING: LYRICS
LE TIGRE ● EAU D'BEDROOM DANCING
There's no fear when I'm in my room. It's so clear and I know just what I want to do. All day, bedroom dancing: To you I wanna say, "You're my thing."
DUA LIPA ● DON'T START NOW
Did the heartbreak change me? Maybe... But look at where I ended up.
PEGGY GOU ● STARRY NIGHT
지금 이 순간 보다 더 순간 같은 우리들 Ocean. Night. Star. Song, moment. Ocean. Starlight. Moment. Now, us.
HOLY GHOST! ● I WILL COME BACK
Can we slow down just for a moment, see? Some things never get old.
DAFT PUNK ● FACE TO FACE
It really didn't make sense just to leave this unresolved. It's not hard to go the distance when you finally get involved face to face.
ROBYN ● COBRASTYLE
Certain little boys I just stop deal with. Tell you they your friend and then badmouth again.
LIZ ● LOTTERY
My heart is a black card.
KIM PETRAS ● ICY
Really, you did me a favor; turned my heart into a glacier.
YEARS & YEARS ● WORSHIP
I worship high praises. My longing drives me crazy for you. My kingdom for your graces: I'm not gonna tell nobody, I'm not gonna tell nobody 'bout you.
LITTLE BOOTS ● BROKEN RECORD
Voice like a broken record, in my heart I feel it echo.
MADONNA ● BURNING UP
Do you wanna see me down on my knees?
GIRLS ALOUD ● BIOLOGY
If we give it up it's just a matter of time before all the heavy stuff comes back to bite your behind. You can't mistake my biology!
ROOSEVELT ● TEARDROPS
The music don't feel like it did when I felt it with you. Nothing that I do or feel ever feels like I felt it with you.
MARVIN GAYE ● GOT TO GIVE IT UP
You're movin' your body easy with no doubts. I know what you're thinkin', baby: You wanna turn me out.
PATRICE RUSHEN ● HAVEN'T YOU HEARD?
Have you heard that there's an ad listed in the classifieds? Kind of brief, it only says, "I'm lookin' for the perfect guy."
PRINCE ● RASPBERRY BERET
If it was warm she wouldn't wear much more.
PET SHOP BOYS ● OPPORTUNITIES (LET'S MAKE LOTS OF MONEY)
If you've got the inclination, I have got the crime.
ROMEO VOID ● A GIRL IN TROUBLE (IS A TEMPORARY THING)
She's got a face that shows that she knows. She's heard every line. Tenderly she talks on the phone; There's a way to walk that says "Stay away" and a time to go around the long way.
MEN AT WORK ● WHO CAN IT BE NOW?
Here they come: Those feelings again! Who can it be now?
CYNDI LAUPER ● THE GOONIES 'R' GOOD ENOUGH
What's good enough for you is good enough for me.
STEPHEN "TIN TIN" DUFFY ● KISS ME
Wows are few, frustration more common. Now I can feel it in my soul. That's why I gave the come on!
ALTERED IMAGES ● HAPPY BIRTHDAY
If they were me and I was you would you've liked a present, too?
CARLY RAE JEPSEN ● RUN AWAY WITH ME
Hold onto me, I never wanna let you go. Over the weekend, we could turn the world to gold. Baby, take me to the feeling. I'll be your sinner in secret when the lights go out. Run away with me. Baby, every single minute. I'll be your hero and win it when the lights go out. Run away with me.
happy birthday, beb.
hope 37 is awesome.

💖
jacob

PS - you're cute.