Remember that ICA?

90% of readers here probably read JC, aka The (New) Vinyl Villain too. So you all know about his Imaginary Compilation Album series, whereby he and guest contributors get to make fantasy playlists for their favourite artists, as - you've guessed it - imaginary compilation albums.

Way back when (okay, it was February 2017), I contributed one such ICA for a band that had not yet featured in the series: Radiohead. It's here, if you want to read what I rambled at the time. Anyway... given my suddenly renewed interest in creating mixes as streamable casts (or should that be castable streams?), I thought I'd have a go at turning that ICA into a nice seamless mix. So here it is, until such time as it gets DMCA'ed, I guess, complete with sleeve art. And stick around after the last song - the original ICA was only ten tracks, but maybe there's a hidden track on the end of this...

Rather have it as a download? Here you go.

To cast or not to cast

It's getting on for nearly four years since I last did a mix like this (the below is from June 2018, and I was very excited about it at the time because it has some clunky cross-fading). Should I do some more? Or is it, like the blog as whole, just me shouting into the ambivalent ears of the world?

Amusecast 8 - something for everyone no-one

You know how it is, you wait months for one of these and then two come along in a matter of weeks... and now with added cross-fading (with some occasions more successful than others).

Anyway, you know the drill - one side of a C90 (ish), and another Moz substitute. Oh, and some ICA-ready Kylie, given how much love there was for her at the start of the month. Oh, and a cover of a much-loved TV theme, for Rol.

Tracklisting

1. Kylie Minogue - Slow (Chemical Brothers remix)
2. Mansun - Take It Easy, Chicken
3. The James Taylor Quartet - Theme from Starsky and Hutch
4. Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros - Home
5. Echobelly - Dark Therapy (specially recorded new version)
6. Codeine Velvet Club - I Am The Resurrection
7. The Stone Roses - Standing Here
8. Teenage Fanclub - Everything Flows
9. Gene - Nice (Let Me Rest demo)

Rather have 'em as a download? Here you go.

All Amusecast posts

Amusecast - episode 7

I know, I know, I'm not supposed to be blogging but it seems I can hardly keep away. Besides, I haven't done one of these since January, so... Anyway, you know the drill. One side of a C90. For once, I haven't included any Morrissey - see if you can spot my Moz surrogate(s).

Tracklisting

1. The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy - Television, The Drug Of A Nation
2. Cypress Hill - Insane In The Brain
3. Beastie Boys - Intergalactic
4. Beck - Devil's Haircut
5. DNA featuring Suzanne Vega - Tom's Diner
6. Blur - Popscene
7. The Strokes - Reptilia
8. The Libertines - Can't Stand Me Now
9. The Dears - Lost In The Plot
10. The Holiday Crowd - While She Waits
11. The Sundays - Skin And Bones

Rather have that lot as a download? Don't say I don't spoil you.

Amusecast - episode 6

Haven't done one of these for ages, and yes, I do need to digitise some more CDs before I do another. Also, yes, I deliberately paired Morrissey and Marr together. And finally yes, I deliberately put a song entitled Absolute Beginners at the end. Anyway, you know the drill - one side of a C90...

Tracklisting:

1. Belle and Sebastian - Simple Things
2. Strangelove - Another Night In
3. Dubstar - Stars
4. The Who - I'm One
5. The Clash - Stay Free
6. Inspiral Carpets - She Comes In The Fall
7. New Model Army - Brave New World
8. Marion - Time
9. Johnny Marr - Playland
10. Morrissey - The Last Of The Famous International Playboys
11. David Bowie - Absolute Beginners

If you like the sound of that lot, here's the download.

Amusecast - episode 5

Haven't done one of these for a while, forgot how much fun it can be. You know the drill - one side of a C90...

Tracklisting:

1. The Feelies - It's Only Life
2. Elvis Costello - Beyond Belief
3. British Sea Power - The Lonely
4. Suede - I Can't Give Her What She Wants
5. KT Tunstall - Beauty Of Uncertainty
6. Dubstar - St Swithin's Day
7. The Stone Roses - Fools Gold
8. Gene - Does He Have A Name?
9. Morrissey - We'll Let You Know

If you like the sound of that lot, here's the download.

Music for a man out of time

Tracklisting:

1. Strangelove - She's Everywhere
2. Damien Rice - The Blower's Daughter
3. Maria McKee - If Love Is A Red Dress (Hang Me In Rags)
4. Elvis Costello - Man Out Of Time
5. The Smokin' Mojo Filters - Come Together
6. David Bowie - All The Young Dudes
7. Morrissey - I'm Not A Man
8. Gene - Where Are They Now?
9. The Who - I've Had Enough

If you like the sound of that lot, here's the Mixcloud link.

It's like the Nineties never ended...

Tracklisting:

1. The Breeders - Cannonball
2. Depeche Mode - Enjoy The Silence
3. Pixies - Monkey Gone To Heaven
4. The House Of Love - Shine On
5. The Happy Mondays - Step On
6. The Soup Dragons - I'm Free
7. The Prodigy - Charly
8. The La's - There She Goes
9. Sugar - If I Can't Change Your Mind
10. Sultans Of Ping F.C. - Where's Me Jumper?
11. Suede - Animal Nitrate
12. Morrissey - Speedway

If you like the sound of that lot, here's the download.

All the songs sound the same (or, The Amusecast, episode 2)

This stuff is a lot easier using a fast laptop...

Tracklisting:

1. Jake Bugg - Broken
2. Billy Bragg - No-one Knows Nothing Anymore
3. Midlake - Antiphon
4. Strangelove - Time For The Rest Of Your Life
5. Manic Street Preachers - (I Miss The) Tokyo Skyline
6. Radiohead - Spectre
7. Travis - Where You Stand
8. U2 - Trash, Trampoline and the Party Girl
9. Ben Watt - The Gun
10. Morrissey - I Know It's Gonna Happen Someday
11. Gene - Olympian

If you like the sound of that lot, here's the download.

And yes, Morrissey will appear in all these podcasts.

The Amusecast demo

Anyone who has read this will know how much importance I used to place on a good mixtape, and how much effort I put into them back in the day. And I miss those days. MP3 playlists are fine, I guess, but they're no substitute, for this boy at least.

Imagine my intrigue, then, on discovering Spreaker, courtesy of the always-excellent (New) Vinyl Villain and his Radio 236 experiment. Maybe I could create podcasts without words (no-one wants to listen to me), and in that way spoof the mixtapes of yore.

That was the idea, anyway. I dutifully downloaded the Spreaker software last night, but it's designed for large screens and I was working on a netbook, so that got ditched quite quickly. Instead, I just grabbed a handful of MP3s off the FiiO, fired up Audacity and stitched them together, as neatly as I could. In my defence, I was doing this between the hours of 1.15 and 1.45am, so I didn't spend any time at all trying to cross-fade tracks, and listening back to it this morning the outro/intro between tracks one and two is too long and quiet, unless you've got good headphones. More importantly, I didn't spend very long at all choosing or sequencing the tracks, so the result is not something I'd enter into my mixtape hall of fame. It's okay though, I think, and it nicely meets my target of being "one side of a C90". More than anything though, it's a technology test - this is my demo, if you like.

Anyway, that's the self-deprecation and excuses out of the way. Here's the podcast. I don't know if you're the sort of person who "does" podcasts. Maybe you are, and maybe you'll like this. If there's interest and/or positive feedback, I might take the time to do more, maybe one a month, and maybe loosely themed. We'll see.

If it helps you decide whether to listen, the track listing is:

1. Atoms For Peace - Default
2. The Stone Roses - Begging You
3. Nirvana - Heart-Shaped Box
4. Pixies - Bagboy
5. P J Harvey - Good Fortune
6. Franz Ferdinand - Do You Want To?
7. The Killers - Read My Mind
8. I Am Kloot - Proof
9. The Replacements - Skyway
10. Paul Weller - Why Walk When You Can Run?
11. Morrissey - Now My Heart Is Full

If you like the sound of that lot, here's the download.