For this week's mix, I grabbed a wodge of 7-inch singles off the shelves and stacked them in a pile where I couldn't see what they were. My singles are not alphabetized. They do tend to cluster in areas of vaguely similar genres or eras. The challenge was to run through in the order of the pile and choose a song for the mix in a sequence that would flow and make musical sense. I allowed myself to skip a single for any reason, but not to change the order of the tracks, nor was I allowed to look ahead to see what was coming up. Does it work? I think it works. There's a thread of period-specific minor-key melancholy (or sentimentality) interrupted by outbursts of rage and apathy – an aural snapshot of a certain time of life.
