The Mixtape Diaries

That slick hook and spot-on beat playing over the PA in Target, at Cumberland Farms, in the venue before the headliner takes the stage: WHO IS THAT?  WHAT'S THAT SONG?We all have the Shazam app loaded on our phones, and it's wild to think that for more than half our lives (speaking for the Diarists), we did without it.  Here are four songs Bob, Brad, Mark, and Carla dialed up over Shazam.  Reach out to us with some of your own discoveries on Twitter and Insta.Find the Playlist on Spotify + Apple Music.  If you like what you hear, please share, rate and review us!Credits: Intro/ Outro — the Februarys, "Does Your Father Know"/ "... In a Letter." 

It's never too late for a 2024 recap, right? In today's super-sized episode, Bob, Mark, Carla and Brad discuss their favorite new songs of 2024 and songs they rediscovered last year. Well...three of the four of us followed this plan. One of us interpreted this theme a bit differently. Will there be controversy over Pearl Jam? Will Mark recover after hearing a Human League album was rated and reviewed higher than the Cure's Disintegration?  Did Brad find a song from 2024 that he actually liked? Listen and find out. Find the Playlist on Spotify + Apple Music and your Extras on Twitter and Instagram.  If you like what you hear, please share, rate and review us!Credits: Intro/ Outro — the Februarys, "Does Your Father Know"/ "... In a Letter." 

We go waaaaaaaaay back (four decades?) with our dear friend Alli.  And whatever we got up to back in the day—tooling around town in her Chevette, rocking out in downtown Youngstown, or just chilling in any of our respective basements—music was involved.No surprise that Alli was firmly at the top of our guest list.  Here's hoping this is the first of many of her appearances on The Mixtape Diaries!Credits: Intro/ Outro — the Februarys, "Does Your Father Know"/ "... In a Letter." 

Join us on the "Autobahn" as we take a ride to Los Angeles to discuss two nights of Kraftwerk's nine-show residency earlier this summer where Mark and Brad got to see Autobahn and Radio-Activity performed in their entirety.  While this episode may seem more suited for Carla and Brad Talk about Krautrock, find out if Carla and Brad won Mark over with these pioneers of electronic music.   Find the Playlist on Spotify + Apple Music and your Extras on Twitter and Instagram.  And if you like what you hear, please share, rate and review us!Credits: Intro — the Februarys, "Does Your Father Know". Outro - Kraftwerk, "Autobahn"

Today Carla, Mark, and Brad talk about some recent concerts they've seen and offer some choice cuts from the bands.Find the Playlist on Spotify + Apple Music and your Extras on Twitter and Instagram.  And if you like what you hear, please share, rate and review us!Credits: Intro/ Outro — the Februarys, "Does Your Father Know"/ "... In a Letter." 

In which your Fab Four Diarists Bob, Brad, Carla, and Mark reconvene, kinda sorta, to talk about some of their favorite remixed tracks.  This next episode was a long time coming, but as comebacks go, it'll absolutely serve.  Beastie Boys, Happy Mondays, Björk, and Depeche Mode?  Yes, please!Find the Playlist on Spotify + Apple Music and your Extras on Twitter and Instagram.   And if you like what you hear, please share, rate and review us!Credits: Intro/ Outro — the Februarys, "Does Your Father Know"/ "... In a Letter." 

.There's an old Irish benediction that goes, “May you be in Heaven  an hour before the Devil knows you're dead.”   By our best guess, Shane MacGowan arrived three hours late, drank the Devil under the table, and jimmied the lock on the Pearly Gates.Come raise a glass, or six, or seven with us, as we celebrate our dear, departed Shane: the Last of the Great Irish Poets.We're a bit tardy with this, due to serial editing disasters.  But it's never too late to get your Shane MacGowan on.  Here's to you, Kid.Find the Playlist on Spotify + Apple Music and your Extras on Twitter and Instagram.   And if you like what you hear, please share, rate and review us!Credits: Intro — the Februarys, "Does Your Father Know"/ Outro - The Pogues, "If I Should Fall from Grace with God"

It's been a while, listeners, but we've mustered a quorum.  Bob's back with us today (alas, Mark is not), as we talk about some recent shows we've seen and generally ham it up.First Bob waxes rhapsodic about Nashville band Bully.  Then Brad swaps out a vowel and steers the conversation toward Belly.  And we wrap it all up with Carla's trip to Vegas to see U2 in The Sphere.Credits: Intro/ Outro — the Februarys, "Does Your Father Know"/ "... In a Letter." 

Attached hereto is the final episode of the Carla, Brad and Mark Sessions.  We kept it Stateside for this one, with picks from The Hold Steady, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Car Seat Headrest.Carla could've used Bob's alliance for her pick.  (He'll be back soon!)  Brad shared his disdain for new music from old bands.  And Mark delivered our favorite pick of the episode.  Get ready to rock!  These songs sound best played loud. Find the Playlist on Spotify + Apple Music and your Extras on Twitter.   And if you like what you hear, please share, rate and review us!Credits: Intro/ Outro — the Februarys, "Does Your Father Know"/ "... In a Letter." 

Here's another bite-sized episode from the Carla, Brad, and Mark Sessions.  Three-quarters capacity means just three songs, but we made 'em count.Brad asked for cover songs by punk and post-punk bands, and the Skeleton Crew responded with Wire, Siouxsie & the Banshees, and the Slits.Turn on, tune it, and rock out with the Mixtape Diaries, as we, um, let it all hang out!Find the Playlist on Spotify + Apple Music and your Extras on Twitter.   And if you like what you hear, please share, rate and review us!Credits: Intro — the Februarys, "Does Your Father Know"/ Outro - Sinéad O'Connor, "Troy"

Last month we lost Sinéad O'Connor.  This one really hurts.   35 years ago, Sinéad's first LP was melting the cassette decks in our cars.   Through the years, we moved with her music, and it never got old. Songs of heartbreak, defiance, freedom, vindication: Sinéad sang her life and her truth.  If her music doesn't move you ... well, unsubscribe.  Sister, we are stretched on your grave.  Nothing compares 2 u.Find the Playlist on Spotify + Apple Music and your Extras on Twitter.   And if you like what you hear, please share, rate and review us!Credits: Intro — the Februarys, "Does Your Father Know"/ Outro - Sinéad O'Connor, "Troy"

Mark, Carla, and Brad are back in short order to add three more songs to the Playlist.  (Bob's lazing in his hammock on summer vacay.) Speaking of summer vacation, we logged some mileage on this one.  Our itinerary took us first to Oklahoma City to hang with the Flaming Lips, then to Halifax, Nova Scotia for some time with Plumtree, and finally to Delhi to swing a little with Peter Cat Recording Co. If we come off a little slap-happy, blame the jet lag ...?We promised a fight that we may or not have delivered.  We'll let you be the judge. Don't go gypsy jazzing! Find the Playlist on Spotify + Apple Music and your Extras on Twitter.   And if you like what you hear, please share, rate and review us!Credits: Intro/ Outro — the Februarys, "Does Your Father Know"/ "... In a Letter." 

Your Diarists are back! But it's summer break and we're down a man, so we've opted for a themeless episode. What once was a Grab Bag is now the Wild Card: Carla, Brad and Mark picked three songs that are in their rotation right now, and it seems we're all hanging out in the late 1970s with picks from Suicide, Joy Division and Buzzcocks. Find the Playlist on Spotify + Apple Music and your Extras on Twitter.   And if you like what you hear, please share, rate and review us!Credits: Intro/ Outro — the Februarys, "Does Your Father Know"/ "... In a Letter." 

Picking up where we left off with selections from six more Scottish artists, as Carla and Brad take their turns. Things get just a bit feisty as Belle & Sebastian, Teenage Fanclub, CHVRCHES, One Dove, the Pastels, and Trash Can Sinatras join the playlist, and the question we're all asking is ...WHERE THE HELL IS PRIMAL SCREAM?We wanna get loaded, and we wanna have a good time.  And that's what we're gonna do.  Away baby: LET'S GO.Find the Playlist on Spotify + Apple Music and your Extras on Twitter.   And if you like what you hear, please share, rate and review us!Credits: Intro/ Outro — the Februarys, "Does Your Father Know"/ "... In a Letter." 

The MTD gang is *alive and kicking*!  Join us as we *head on* out north of Hadrian's Wall, into the land of Nessie and haggis, Kidnapped and Trainspotting.*Say what you want*, but we love us some Caledonian tunes here at The Mixtape Diaries.  *In a big country* like Scotland, you're gonna find tons of options, and we struggled to keep to our per-person limit of three songs.Also, *take me out* for *garlands*.  (Hey, cut us some slack: not every song title works in this context.) Here in Part 1 we talk through Mark and Bob's selections.  Look out for Cocteau Twins, Simple Minds, the Jesus & Mary Chain, Big Country, Franz Ferdinand, and Texas.As always, find the Playlist on Spotify + Apple Music and your Extras on Twitter.   And if you like what you hear, please share, rate and review us!Credits: Intro/ Outro — the Februarys, "Does Your Father Know"/ "... In a Letter." 

The Diarists have recovered from Carla's inclusion of a 18+ minute Can song in Part 1 of this episode, so now we're back with Part 2. Brad and Mark give us their picks for songs featured in rock critic Robert Dimery's list of 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. We cross genres and decades here with picks from David Bowie, Love, Neu!, Arrested Development, Smashing Pumpkins and Doves.As always, find the Playlist on Spotify + Apple Music and your Extras on Twitter.   And if you like what you hear, please share, rate and review us!Credits: Intro/ Outro — the Februarys, "Does Your Father Know"/ "... In a Letter." 

There's no shortage of terrific songs on rock critic Robert Dimery's list of 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.  For this and the next episode, Mark challenges us to choose some of our favorites.Note the new format: six songs from Bob and Carla in this episode — The Clash!  Jamiroquai?  Spiritualized!  The Waterboys!  Sugar!  Can!)— with six more to come from Brad and Mark in our next posting.  The aim here is to keep the content flowing.Krautrock in the Playlist?  Achievement UNLOCKED!As always, find the Playlist on Spotify + Apple Music and your Extras on Twitter.   And if you like what you hear, please share, rate and review us!Credits: Intro/ Outro — the Februarys, "Does Your Father Know"/ "... In a Letter." 

In this Grab Gab episode, Mark, Brad, Bob, and Carla serve up tracks from Gustaf, the Waitresses, Death Cab for Cutie, and Royal Blood.Get back in the saddle with The Mixtape Diaries!  There's more where this came from! As always, find the Playlist on Spotify + Apple Music and your Extras on Twitter.   And if you like what you hear, please share, rate and review us!Credits: Intro/ Outro — the Februarys, "Does Your Father Know"/ "... In a Letter." 

Your Diarists are back on the mic, cold chillin' in effect.  Today's assignment?  Serve up examples of fly tracks with *samples*.  Riffs and bass lines, beats and lawsuits: sampling is the story of the 80s, the 90s, the 00s ... of the last 40 years, really.All kinds of surprises in this episode: Carla makes The Case for Portishead, rattling Mark in the process; Bob continues his will-he/ won't-he flirtation with Sabbath, and Brad presumes to announce The Best Song of the 1990s.  Oh, and did you know Fatboy Slim played bass for the Housemartins?Joining the Playlist today is a fun batch of twelve songs (plus their samples) from A Tribe Called Quest, Fatboy Slim, Moby, Beastie Boys, Chapterhouse, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Dirty Vegas, Beck, Arctic Monkeys, Afrika Bambaataa, Portishead and Glass Animals.  Listen through the episode's end music for a little surprise. As always, find the Playlist on Spotify + Apple Music and your Extras on Twitter..If you like what you're hearing, please share, rate and review us!Credits: Intro/ Outro — the Februarys, "Does Your Father Know"/ "... In a Letter." 

Your Diarists are back with another Grab Bag episode. No theme, just four songs they've been wanting to add to the playlist. Get ready! These are four great additions from King Krule, Dressy Bessy, The Darling Buds and Liz Cooper.  As always, find the Playlist on Spotify + Apple Music and your Extras on Twitter.If you like what you're hearing, please share, rate and review us!Credits: Intro/ Outro — the Februarys, "Does Your Father Know"/ "... In a Letter." 

St. Patrick's Day may be a foggy memory, but not for your Diarists. We couldn't let the holiday go by without sharing four of our favorite Irish tunes. Joining our Playlist today is a classic from the Chieftains and a few brawlers from the Pogues, Flogging Molly and Enter the Haggis. Fair warning: (1) poor Irish accents abound in this episode, (2) Brad threatens to play a tin whistle, and (3) Mark can't stop quoting "So I Married an Axe Murderer."  There was no whiskey in our jars ... we swear! As always, find the Playlist on Spotify + Apple Music and your Extras on Twitter.If you like what you're hearing, please share, rate, and review us. Credits: Intro — the Februarys, "Does Your Father Know"; Outro - Dropkick Murphys, "I'm Shipping Up to Boston."

The Diarists' assignment for this episode is to come up with three songs with non-English lyrics —"But wait," Bob asks, "do *all* the lyrics need to be in a foreign language?"  "Not necessarily," says Brad, who chose the theme.  Enter the Talking Heads ... and with them, Nena, Juliana Hatfield (!), Plastic Bertrand, Falco, Grauzone (Krautrock, from Mark?!?), Seu Jorge, Les Rita Mitsouko, Bananarama (!!), Cornershop, Sigur Ros, and Stereolab.Join us as we spring songs in French, German, Portuguese, Swahili, Punjabi, and Icelandic on the Playlist!As always, find the Playlist on Spotify + Apple Music and your Extras on Twitter.Credits: Intro/ Outro — the Februarys, "Does Your Father Know"/ "... In a Letter." 

In this new mini episode, your Diarists each discuss a song they've had on heavy rotation lately. No theme today, although we do dance through the decades with bands like Big Brother & Holding Company with Janis Joplin, Orange Juice, Corey Flood and Scary Pockets. Mmm....these songs are real bops. Stay tuned for more B-Sides in between our themed episodes. We just want to give the people what they want...more The MixTape Diaries content! As always, find the Playlist on Spotify + Apple Music, and your Extras on Twitter.https://twitter.com/mtdiariesIf you like what you're hearing, please share, rate and review us. Credits: Intro/ Outro — the Februarys, "Does Your Father Know"/ "... In a Letter."

In today's super-sized (!) episode the Diarists remember Meat Loaf, then go on to consider twelve bands that also could have stuck with us a bit longer -- including the United States of America, Television, the Teardrop Explodes, the La's, Lush, Joy Division, the Sex Pistols, Jane's Addiction, the Verve, the Unicorns, the Seahorses, and the Organ."Baby, we could talk all night ..."As always, find the Playlist on Spotify + Apple Music and your Extras on Twitter.Credits: Intro/ Outro — the Februarys, "Does Your Father Know"/ "... In a Letter." 

In today's episode the Mixtape Diaries crew calls out some of their favorite songs by female solo artists.  Join us as we work through our feelings about folk rock, the 90s vs. the 70s, and fake American accents.Today we welcome Nina, Chaka, Donna, Courtney, Dusty, Maya, Kay, Björk, Sharleen, Holly, Cat, and Ani into The Mix.  No one on the corner has swag like us.As always, find the Playlist on Spotify + Apple Music and your Extras on Twitter.Credits: Intro/ Outro — the Februarys, "Does Your Father Know"/ "... In a Letter." 

Wait — what?  Two episodes in two weeks?!?  It's a CHRISTMAS MIRACLE, with your Festive Foursome back in a hurry to talk about some of their favorite (and not-so-favorite) Christmas songs.Joining us on The Nice List are the Pogues, Bowie and Bing, Weezer, Ella, Jose Feliciano, She & Him, the Kinks, the Vince Guaraldi Trio, John and Yoko, Darlene Love, the Waitresses, Elvis and more!Dim the lights, stoke the fire, egg the nog, and Yule it up with the Mixtape Diaries.  Your heart will grow three sizes this day.Credits: Intro — the Februarys, "Does Your Father Know"/ Outro — Cocteau Twins, "Frosty the Snowman."

Big changes happening here, as we add a *fourth* Diarist (!) and spin *twelve* classic tunes into the mix. In this episode we reach back before 1975 for our selections, and we find Billy Preston, Elton John, David Bowie, Blue Cheer, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Jesus Christ Superstar, Led Zeppelin, Rod Stewart, Van Morrison, Fela Kuti, the MC5, and the 5th Dimension.As always, find the Playlist on Spotify + Apple Music and your Extras on Twitter.Credits: Intro/ Outro — the Februarys, "Does Your Father Know"/ "... In a Letter." 

The Mixtape Diaries kicks off Season 2 with a "scenes" episode, wherein each of your three hosts calls out a particular rock scene for discussion, then selects three songs from that scene.Join us as we explore grunge (Mark), shoegaze (Bob), and the New Romantics (Brad)!Tracked in this episode: Mother Love Bone, Temple of the Dog, Mad Season, Catherine Wheel, Velocity Girl, Curve, Adam and the Ants, Bow Wow Wow, and Duran Duran. As always, find the Playlist on Spotify + Apple Music and your Extras on Twitter.Credits: Intro/ Outro — the Februarys, "Does Your Father Know"/ "... In a Letter." 

As promised, here's the remainder of our looooooooong-running episode name-checking Nine Great Albums.Side B features INXS's Kick, Between You and Me by San Cisco, REM's Murmur, Everyone Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We? by the Cranberries, and Radiohead's In Rainbows.Playlist on Spotify + Apple Music/ Extras on Twitter.Credits: Intro/ Outro — the Februarys, "Does Your Father Know"/ "... In a Letter." 

The Mixtape Diaries is back from hiatus with a double-length episode ... and here's the first installment.  We went long for this one, because we're talking about some of our favorite LPs, and once we get going, time gets away from us.On this Side A we talk about Dazzle Ships by Orchestral ... [Brad pauses to check spelling] Manoeuvres in the Dark, Giant Steps by the Boo Radleys, the Long Blondes' Someone To Drive You Home, and Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here.More to come shortly, when Side B posts.Playlist on Spotify + Apple Music/ Extras on Twitter.Credits: Intro/ Outro — the Februarys, "Does Your Father Know"/ "... In a Letter." 

We were told we needed help, and we went out and got it.  This podcast's first ever guest is Nashville tastemaker and longtime friend Carla.  Think Indiana Jones, but for music.  Today Carla challenges us to get with the times: the theme is "new" (that is, post-2006) music.Joining the Playlist are Maggie Rogers, Sylvan Esso, the War on Drugs, Beach House, Titus Andronicus, Goat, Wooden Shjips, Chicano Batman, and Bully.   THANK YOU for hanging with us, Carla!Playlist on Spotify + (new!) Apple Music/ Extras on Twitter.Credits: Intro/ Outro — the Februarys, "Does Your Father Know"/ "... In a Letter." 

Covers, this time.  It should have been easy.  But now Mark gets squirrely, Brad chokes on ice, and Bob wants it made clear that he's just fine with Black Sabbath ... they're just not a favorite.Crisis averted?  For now, maybe ...Our Ep 8 adds are Sinead O'Connor, Amy Winehouse, Club Nouveau, Patti Smith, Devo, Manic Street Preachers, Charles Bradley, the Sundays, and Talking Heads.Playlist on Spotify + (new!) Apple Music/ Extras on Twitter.Credits: Intro/ Outro — the Februarys, "Does Your Father Know"/ "... In a Letter."

Your Three Hosts have been homebodies lately — let's hope that changes soon.  In the meantime, we thought we'd look to local growers for our playlist produce.  That means Ohio artists for Bob, the SoCal market for Mark, and the Boston scene for Brad.In this episode's harvest: the Breeders, the Pretenders, Tracy Chapman, Pinback, Slightly Stoopid, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Johnny Cash, the Modern Lovers, the Cars, and Throwing Muses.  (Yeah: that's 10 songs.  One of us got greedy ...) Playlist on Spotify + (new!) Apple Music/ Extras on Twitter.Credits: Intro/ Outro — the Februarys, "Does Your Father Know"/ "... In a Letter."

The King in the North (i.e., Mark) takes charge of this one, and his edict is that the Yanks join him in raising a glass to Canadian musicians.  So over the border we happily go.We'd like to extend our heartfelt thanks to Saga, Broken Social Scene, the New Pornographers, Men Without Hats, Alanis Morissette, the Cowboy Junkies, the Tragically Hip, Gordon Lightfoot, and Jean Leloup for their hospitality.  As it turns out, good songs make good neighbors.Playlist on Spotify + (new!) Apple Music/ Extras on Twitter.Credits: Intro/ Outro — the Februarys, "Does Your Father Know"/ "... In a Letter."

It's not how you finish — it's how you start ... right?  In today's episode Bob, Brad, and Mark go fishing for songs with notable intros.  Or at least that was the instruction.(sigh)In any case, here's what we pulled into the boat: Death Cab for Cutie, the Joy Formidable, the Who, the Stooges, Franz Ferdinand, the B-52s, the Cure, Oasis, and M83.Here's to snappy beginnings and strong endings!Playlist on Spotify/ Extras on Twitter.Credits: Intro/ Outro — the Februarys, "Does Your Father Know"/ "... In a Letter." 

Just you try and stop us talking about music in the movies (and on TV, for that matter).  No adds to the playlist today, as this is the first of our "B-side" tweener drops.We talk about Kenny Loggins, Mad Men, "Tiny Dancer," Queen (Flash Gordon *and* Wayne's World), Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Sixteen Candles, Radio Rahim, Dr. Strangelove, The LEGO Movie, Sixteen Candles, the Thompson Twins, Peaky Blinders, Some Kind of Wonderful ... and the beat goes on.  Credits: Intro/ Outro — the Februarys, "Does Your Father Know"/ "... In a Letter."

In which Your Three Hosts go to the movies ... well, as much as one can these days.  This one took a while to get to you, Dear Listeners, so we're paying down that debt with interest.  Today's super-deluxe (hour-plus!) episode features INXS + Jimmy Barnes, the Replacements, the Rave-Ups, Stealers Wheel, the Faces, the Beatles, the Doors, the Crystals, and the Jesus + Mary Chain.As always, play the songs on Spotify/ Follow us on Twitter!Credits: Intro/ Outro — the Februarys, "Does Your Father Know"/ "... In a Letter."

Anything goes for our three hosts in this no-theme episode.  Naturally, chaos ensues as, among other things, Brad refuses to play a clip, Bob gets choked up, and Mark stumps Spotify.  Covered Today: the Muffs, Sly & the Family Stone, the Sugarcubes, Gorillaz, Mumford & Sons, Foo Fighters, Ride, Radiohead, Blake Babies.Play the songs on Spotify/ Follow us on Twitter!Credits: Intro/ Outro — the Februarys, "Does Your Father Know"/ "... In a Letter."

There's nothing like live music, and Your Three Mixtapeers can't wait to get back to it, post-pandemic.  In the meantime, Bob, Brad, and Mark look back on three decades of gigs they've attended and call out especially memorable performances for The Playlist.This Episode's Adds:JamesLCD SoundsystemArcade Fire (again)Lushthe White StripesSleater-KinneyOasisthe SoundsNine Inch NailsCredits:Intro/ Outro — the Februarys, "Does Your Father Know"/ "... In a Letter"

Cued by the challenge of this pilot episode — pick three songs: one for yourself and one for the other two — Bob, Brad, and Mark walk listeners through their formative years as music lovers.On tap today:Talking HeadsTeenage FanclubThey Might Be GiantsP.S. Eliotthe Smithsthe Stone RosesArcade FireDepeche Modethe CurePlay the songs on our Spotify playlist!