Mixtured: Music Geeks Unite To Create Online Mixtapes

Most obsessive music geeks have made their share of mixes for friends, fellow crushed-soul wage earners and, more often, chicks or dudes they’re interested in dating. Back in the day, kids, we’d even tape songs from vinyl onto cassettes, a quaint notion in the pre-CD-burning/file-sharing age.

Doug Hoepker, a former music editor for an alt-weekly in Champaign, Ill., now working in academic publishing—and a self-professed mixtape addict—has combined old school and new school with Mixtured, a collaborative, virtual collection compiled by music junkies for music junkies. The first edition, “Pure Power Pop For Now People,” can be heard here.

“A few months ago, I began to consider ideas for a new, months-long compilation process,” Hoepker said. “I came to the realization that I wanted to do something that involved other people’s perspectives rather than mine. I wanted to start a community project. Being a music nerd can certainly be a solitary existence at times: alone in the records room for hours on end while the vinyl spins. To combat that feeling of loneliness, I wanted to get outside of my own head and participate in some groupthink.”

Mixtured’s simple, yet brilliant, concept has Hoepker selecting 10 contributors who then each round up another, resulting in a 20-song batch. (The first version, however, has 21 tunes, as power-pop expert John Borack penned an introduction and also selected a song that closes the mix.) Not unlike a fantasy-sports draft, the participants choose tracks in a randomly determined order and are able to follow its progress; the only caveat is that they can’t pick an artist selected by someone else. Contributors also provide commentary on why they chose a particular tune.

Participants for “Pure Power Pop For Now People” range from the esteemed (Velvet Crush’s Paul Chastain, singer/songwriter/producer Adam Schmitt, Chicago Cubs TV broadcaster Len Kasper) to the less-esteemed (me); future Mixtureds will be open to essentially one and all.

“I have an open-door policy for referrals,” he said. “People can go to the site and send me a note if they want to play along. The idea is to have future mixes compiled entirely by people I don’t know.”

Hoepker took some time to talk about Mixtured from his cubicle, as his “post-lunch malaise” settled in. Q&A after the jump.

MAGNET: How did you come up with the Mixtured idea?
Hoepker: For as long as I can remember I’ve been making mixes. When I was 15, I attempted to chronicle the “500 greatest songs in rock history.” As you can imagine, that exercise was fraught with the sort of poor decisions a kid who had just discovered his older brothers’ ’60s and ’70s LPs would make. I made my first real girlfriend about 80 mixtapes in five years, full of all the indie-rock seven-inches I was gobbling up in the ’90s. As an adult, I moved on to making thematic mixes, where the topics have ranged from “songs about girls,” in which the songs reference a girl by name, to “Foreign Substance,” a collection of psychedelic music from around the world paired with snippets of found-sound references to the drug experience. I just finished chronicling the decade of pop music I grew up enjoying, the 1980s, via a 16-disc compilation titled “Totally, Dudes!” and its five-disc counterpart “Ladies From The Eighties.”

Were you attempting any kind of statement about musical taste/online music criticism, etc., or was it just something you thought would be fun?
Honestly, I rarely think politically when it comes to mixes. The process of creating and sharing a mix with someone is such a fun endeavor that I don’t try to overthink it, at least from the standpoint of making a critical statement. Making a mix to woo someone is an entirely different subject and must involve far too much overthinking. I enjoy reading music criticism and could bury my nose in a Trouser Press for hours on end. Criticism will always have its place in the music world, but Mixtured is about celebrating music and the geeks who love it, pure and simple.

You structured Mixtured in kind of a fantasy draft way, with “teams” having one selection and unable to pick an artist someone else selected. Why did you go that route? And would you be averse to allowing people to swap positions for future considerations?
As a longtime fantasy-sports enthusiast, there are few exercises that are as exciting—OK, in a dorky way—as participating in a draft. The concept also lends itself to those who make lists, and so it seemed like a natural way to structure the compilation process for a mix. It adds a bit of suspense for those participating in the selection process—”Will my song be around when I pick next to last?”—and allows readers to critique the mix based on the draft order. As far as swapping spots in the draft order, the only future considerations I’m willing to allow for involve copious amounts of alcohol—and I get my cut.

You asked 10 people to participate, then they each asked one person. How did you end up selecting the initial 10 participants? Since I was included, I can only assume it’s because we were all really cool and interesting.
But of course! The idea is to enlarge the footprint with each mix. So for the first mix I wanted to begin with people I knew were fans of the genre and would be into the idea behind the mix, but then ask each of them to reach out to people I didn’t know in the hopes of adding a bit of an unknown element to the compilation process. Plus, it’s fun for someone to get to ask a friend to play along, too. You’re a perfect example of how it should work: You invited a sports celebrity to participate, someone who most people didn’t realize knew a thing about music. And he made a great choice.

When you asked people, you didn’t put any limits on whom we could recruit. So you had faith that we’d all pick qualified selectors?
Sure. As curator, I did a bit of homework for this first mix and asked people to participate who I knew would take it seriously and would want their opinions, as well as those of the person they brought on board, to be respected. The same holds true for those who want to get involved in a future mix.

Why was power pop the first edition?
I sort of randomly chose a theme for the first mix that would produce a fun first comp for the listener. Few genres are as unabashedly entertaining as power pop. It’s also a genre that is somewhat difficult to define, or at least lends itself to a wide range of interpretations. So I thought that debate would help to center the conversation for the compilers.

What, if anything, surprised you about the songs that ended up making the list?
You mean other than the fact that 21 people worked on a power-pop mix that doesn’t include Big Star, the Raspberries, Cheap Trick, Nick Lowe, Badfinger, the dB’s, Jellyfish or several other giants of the genre? That said, I think the songs that were selected show off a good range of the genre, from the obscure to the acclaimed, from the origins to more recent contributions.

What genre do you think will be next?
Actually, many of the future mixes will not be tied to a specific genre. Most people who obsess about music don’t tend to think about it strictly in terms of genres—we think about music in terms of experiences and emotions. So I don’t want to limit the compilation parameters with rigid guidelines. The theme for the next mix is probably going to be “songs that made you blush,” which opens it up to any genre and allows the participants to run with the idea. Hopefully, the participants’ justifications for their selections will reveal a bit about themselves, which should make for good copy. When I return to a genre-based mix, I might do so in a fashion that is a bit unorthodox. For example, one of the participants in this first mix suggested I choose heavy metal for a future theme but select participants who are not linked to the genre in the obvious way that Suzy Shaw or Adam Schmitt are linked to power pop. So I may end up with some closeted heavy-metal freaks who happen to be indie-pop musicians putting together a mix full of Judas Priest, Yngwie Malmsteen and Anthrax. That could be a lot of fun.

What genre will you avoid at all costs?
Absolutely nothing is off the table. A good compiler shows no fear.

—Matt Hickey