Mixes

Like any self-respecting Gen Xer, I started making mix tapes as a kid as soon as I figured out how to use my dad’s dual cassette deck. But I made the first of these broad-survey year-end mixes back in 2004. The first installment was mostly just a holiday gift for close friends, burned onto a CD-R with the track listing printed out from Microsoft Word. But I had so much fun with it that I made another one in ’05, and then again in ’06, and then it just became a thing that I did every December. I’m delighted to finally have them all archived in one place, in reverse chronological order, here.

Some of the years include long-form write-ups about each song; some just have a few brief prefatory remarks; others only list tracks and artists. All are inextricably bound to so many of my memories, to so much sorrow and so much joy. I hope you find a new jam to love or a long-lost fave to reminisce about!

If you’re looking for a place to start, a few of my personal favorite installments include 2005, 2009, 2016, and 2022.