Mixtapes is a band that only recently showed up on my radar when they were interviewed on a podcast I listen to, called Rocket Fuel. The host said that it was the funniest interview he'd ever done. Normally I would assume that was the kind of sycophantic bullshit interviewers are always saying (Mike Shea that one was for you buddy. Write about my bands???) but Jeff from Rocket Fuel is a cool dude (we email occasionally, no big deal) whose interviews are better than most so he got the benefit of the doubt. To be honest, I don't remember how funny Mixtapes may or may not have been in their interview, they did make me want to hear everything they'd ever done musically. I'm going to talk about the Lp they put out last year later but I wanted to sneak in now and talk about their brand new 7".Mixtapes play the kind of pop-punk I'm starting to see more and more of lately with bands like Little Lungs and Candy Hearts what takes the bubblegum of pop-punk so far that it begins to butt up against indie-pop or even -gasp! the horror- twee. It's taking everything I've got not to christen this new movement 'twunk.' How great that does that sound?
But anyway, let's talk about this record. First off, it's short. Really short. By the time you've read to this point, the whole thing has played once, maybe twice if you're a slow reader. The two songs combined don't hit a minute and forty-five seconds so even if you don't like, giving it a listen isn't a huge time commitment. You will like it though. This record is a blast, equal parts snotty punk and adorable. The first song 'Cause I'm a Genius' is a little more on the punk side of things and bounces along to it's chorus(?) before you can really figure out what's going on. It's almost too bad because I would enjoy another 30 seconds of this song (which would double it in length). The second track, 'Hey Baby', is the standout of the two and a pitch perfect break-up song. The singer gets out a little bitterness takes a few shots at his ex's favorite movies (Tim Burton) and music (Strung Out) with lines like "I know, I know, Teenage Wasteland was good, but everyone says that and that record sucks so grow up" before reaching the final line "Hey baby if film school doesn't work out, well it probably won't cause you're not creative." How great is that? There's something about the conversational, lack of pretension in the lyrics that reminds me of some of Black Schwarzenbachs' for Jawbreaker when he channels Frank O'Hara ('Bad Scene, Everybodys Fault' 'Chesterfield Kings') and I can offer no higher praise than that.
I'm not going to post any songs off the album because it's a 7" and I don't do that, but also because you can download it at Death To False Hope Records for a donation. It's worth doing, they're a fun band and if you need a little pick-up for your day, this is the record for you.
Death To False Hope
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