Mixtape Diaries, Vol. 2
I’m currently in the middle of making a new mixtape for my music blog, Green Bananas. This is the second in a series of diary-style blog posts documenting the mixtape-making process.
Here are the previous entries:
January 7, 2026
Two things coalesced and helped me realize what this mix was going to be.
First was realizing that “Love Takes Miles” fits with the sound of the mix and the content of the mix. There are a couple of songs in the mix here that make reference to the boring, everyday dimensions of love.
“Love will make you fit it all in the car”
“Sit her on the stairs all day”
Second was when it snowed.
I realized I have never made a proper “it’s snowing” mix. It’s a very specific feeling: it’s nighttime, the snow is falling, and, importantly, you are not yet defeated by the snow because this is just the first snow of the season.
Eventually the snow will destroy your spirit, but not yet. That’s a completely different feeling. My mixtape for that is called Tonics.
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The two songs I always think of when the snow starts to fall are “We’ve Been Had” by The Walkmen and “Incident of 57th Street” by Bruce Springsteen. It’s that dreamy, floating piano sound.
I’m not sure if “Incident” will fit here, but I suspect “We’ve Been Had” will.
The mix is now starting to come together from two different directions. There’s the dreamy production quality of Bon Iver and Cameron Winter and the more rock-forward tone of The Walkmen and Springsteen.
It probably won’t actually manifest as some perfect marriage of these two sounds. It will probably be something much different.
I’ve now introduced this ‘snow’ angle, but I’m going to keep the working titles of Echoes. It takes a lot for me to change the working title.
Creating Echoes 1
Once there’s enough material in the bucket, I break off a new playlist as sort of a blank canvas to work from. In this case, it’s called Echoes 1. Next will be Echoes 2, Echoes 3, etc. all the way up until the final draft, or I lose my mind.
I comb through the Bucket of 40 songs.
I’m looking for songs that vibrate with “AUATC” and “Love Takes Miles” and “We’ve Been Had”. I end pulling out around 14 songs into Echoes 1 to see what I’m working with.
These aren’t too heavy. They have something light and airy about them. I wouldn’t say they bounce, but they certainly float. There’s even a sparkle in there, though it’s organic. Not looking for shimmering synths here. I think if you were going on an hour walk through New York City in the snow, this would be the soundtrack.
Adding to Echoes 1
I’ll scroll to the bottom of the new playlist and let Spotify give me “Recommended” songs “Based on what's in this playlist”.
What I’m looking for here are songs that I already know well, but haven’t considered yet for the mix. This is not the new music discovery phase.
I’m not letting the algorithm make the playlist for me. I’m using it as a memory tool so I don’t have to scroll through the hundreds of playlists I’ve made over the decades digging for gems.
- Immediately “Are You with Me Now?” by Cate Le Bon jumps out at me. Never found a spot for that song before. Could fit beautifully here—or perhaps something else from her.
No other songs here are speaking to me. So then I’ll turn more broadly to the recommended artists instead.
- Sharon Van Etten generally seems perhaps a little too weighty for the sound I’m looking for, but then I remember her cover of “The End of the World” which just might be light and dreamy enough for this.
Then I’ll pick a couple songs already on the mix and open that song’s radio station to scan for green checkmarks—or, in other words, songs I’ve already saved and bookmarked.
Eventually, I’ll catch a song I hadn’t thought of and that will make me think of another artist which will lead me to another song and the process will continue spiraling outward until it ultimately does become a discovery tool.
Whenever I find something that feels right, I’ll throw it into both the Bucket playlist and Echoes 1—or whatever iteration of Echoes I’m currently working on.
I am very generous at this stage of the process.
Note
Sometimes I find a great song that isn’t a good fit for this mix. In that case, I will add it to any number of other playlists that I keep. It may end up as part of a completely different mix in the future.
I keep one called MIXING BOWL that just holds songs that have some interesting or captivating quality about them. These are songs I earmark to appear on or anchor future mixes.
I also keep any number of other BUCKETS going. If a song fits one of those, I’ll drop it in and then forget about it until I look into that bucket sometime in the future.
Some new additions:
Added “These Days” by Nico. I’m pretty sure this song has been added to every mixtape bucket I’ve ever made. It’s just one of those songs that is so disarmingly beautiful it can fit anywhere.
Added “Ride Into The Sun - "1969" / 2014 Mix” - The Velvet Underground
Exploring Nick Drake. Since adding “These Days” I’m realizing that this mix could have a slight turn into something airy and more organic. This is Drake’s wheelhouse. Pulling in “Northern Sky” because it has the plinky piano sound I’m looking for and I feel like the “Northern Sky” has good odds to fit the at-this-point extremely vague snowfall theme I’m circling.
Added “Overlord” by Dirty Projectors. Right sound. Not sure if the content of the song will hold up. But will consider other DP songs—they make music in the area I’m playing in. (I almost always consider DPs for mixtapes.)
Reminding myself to look into Craig Finn and The National.
- “Something to Hope For” by Craig Finn — Need to check around on this one. I think I’ve already used it or have it bookmarked for another mixtape. Important because it might be something I don’t want to burn. But more importantly it could be the bridge to a pocket of other songs I’ve collected that merge with this Echoes idea.
Echoes 1 is now at 22 songs.
I revisit Spotify’s suggested additions and they’ve flagged “Manhattan” by Cat Power. Instant-buy. Plinky piano, upbeat, driving, airy, evokes New York. Great fit for this.
Echoes 1 is now at 23 songs.
Listening back a little bit to the songs I’ve collected to far. It’s occurring to me that this mix shares some DNA with Departures, a mix from a couple years ago. They both have a little bit of the radio-frequency-incoming-transmission quality to them. That mix was a little slower and somber than I’m trying to make this one, but I’m making a note to go back and check the b-sides to see if there’s anything in there I can use.
We use the whole buffalo. ✌🏻
Gave the first couple of tracks a little test run in the shower.
There’s a real romantic streak running through this batch. Like an old-fashioned, Christmas-y kind of romance. It’s a Bob Cratchit kind of thing. We might not have money, but at least we have each other.
It occurs to me that Valentine’s Day is coming up and that February might be nice slot for this mix if that’s the way it comes out.
It also likely means that “We’ve Been Had” would likely be out if it goes that direction. On the other hand, while I initially thought “Incident” would sonically feel a little out of place, it’s a very romantic Romeo + Juliet kind of song, so I’m throwing it back into the mix.
Another shower thought: I always forget there’s a wildcard comedy ending to Matt Berry’s “Take My Hand”, which is strange because I never forget that Matt Berry is a comedian.
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