MIXTAPE INTERNATIONAL! (2019)

I made this one as a bonus tape for Round 2 of the Metal Punk Tape Exchange. Here's the accompanying text from that near-unreadable j-card:
"Hello! Based on your answers to the questionnaire and the stuff I have lying around at home, I decided to do something a little different for this much-awaited round 2 of #metalpunktapeexchange. The Metal/Punk ratio will be lower than on other entries but (I hope) still highly enjoyable: Blue Öyster Cult, Autopsy at their doomiest, some groove-laden Dutch doom by Celestial Season just before they turned full stoner - their peak period IMHO -, a wild, heavier version of Mexican Radio, the Wall Of Voodoo cover revamped by Celtic Frost, Voïvod in their Eric Forrest phase (am I the only one who likes this incarnation more and more as time passes by?), some haunting ‘modern crust’ tunes by Alpinist and Jungbluth and even an Oi! song by French band Traître who wrote some great nihilistic odes to death which were at odd with the traditional beer-buddies-fight anthems. Then you will also hear on this tape middle-of-the-road oddities like this William Faith/Jarboe collab, swedish superfreaks Pan-Thy-Monium doing a synth-driven epic that could be the soundtrack to a Michael Mann movie from the 80s, some good old Broadcast (RIP sweet Trish), Shocking Blue and Flux Of Pink Indians because why the hell not. And then we move on to the weirder, lesser-known stuff like Rotomagus (a French band from the late 60s who did a crazy EP in 1970, check out the other song “Madame Wanda” on YouTube if you like this one), some Visitors AKA Jean-Pierre Massiera, a crazy French musician who did a lot of killer library, prog and disco stuff over the years, Finders Keepers has a cool vinyl collection out. What else do we have here? Oh yes, Guillaume Perret, one of our best contemporary jazz musician here in France at the moment, this is by far his best song, also some Paternoster from Austria, probably my favourite ‘evil prog’ record of the 70s, it’s so bleak and depressing, like hearing Procol Harum on Valium on a 78 RPM record playing at the wrong speed, I love these guys, just like Alessandro Alessandroni, probably my favourite italian library musician, so versatile & diverse, an incredible talent for sure, not like Man (the band) admittedly... but I decided to put one of their novelty songs on here because it’s so tacky and lame it makes for a fun ending on Side B. Have I forgotten anyone? Oh yes, Osamu Kitajima! This song is from his second album Benzaiten but I ripped it from a cool comp called Ongaku 70, highly recommended! That’s it for now! Enjoy this tape and hope to see you around for Round 3."

ANOTHER TANGLED AFFINITIES MIXTAPE (2020)

Last mixtape I made in the year 2020, pre-pandemic, a wide assortment of odd tunes and whatnots which was sent to Serbia. Lots of old favourites on this one like BLOODSTAR from Switzerland and their crazy cyber-Discharge-y pummeling drive, ex-EXIT-13 gone weird CANDIRU, the mighty GGFH who rocked my teenage world back in the daze and überdemented German WARNING, which is something you gotta hear once!

Live Fast, Die Slow MPTX #1 (2019)

It's time I uploaded some of the tapes I've been making for our sweet Metal Punk Tape Exchange. My recipient has had two years of sole ownership now, maybe someone else will appreciate this mix? Anyway, this was my contribution to Round 1: one uptempo side, the other on downers. Enjoy!

Métal de la Mort (2019)

This is the tape that I made for Bob aka @megametalmixtapeexchange, the first person on Instagram I hooked up with who was running an old school tape exchange program, just like the golden days of tape trading! I was so enthralled with the idea that we decided to set up the @metalpunktapeexchange in Europe with Luc.
As you can see, Bob being American, I decided to make a 100% old & new school French Death/Thrash Metal mix (with two exceptions). This tape could be seen as a little sideways 90-minute introduction to the genre, skipping the usual 'big names' that people usually know when it comes to "Métal de la Mort" (actually no one ever says that here in France, although I kinda wish we did).

Black Mass Beats: Musical Meanderings Vol. 2 (2009)

Another eclectic mix salvaged from a decade-old (and decaying) CDr, with art 'borrowed' from Coven's debut album. From the look of it, it seems I had just discovered the warp text function on Photoshop. Hope the sound on this one is correct! I still love that no-fucks-given tracklist, from Impaled Nazarene to Dean Martin, which sums up my "musical meanderings" then and now.

Halloweenie 2 (2020)

A few years ago, only 5 copies were made of Halloweenie Vol. 1, the first installment in this series of more-or-less horror-themed tunes, you guessed it, right on cue for All Hallow's Eve. Unfortunately, I didn't find the time this year to make a physical recording, so instead I will put a download link to record+print your own tape as you see fit. You can also listen to it online below, up to you!
As always with my mixes, you can expect a 100% freeform association of bands/musicians/horror movie soundtracks... which should fit nicely on a C60 cassette tape.

Download Side A and B here in 320 kbps mp3 + print-your-own J Card PNG (125 Mb)

Anachronistic: More Music From The Bizarro Collection (2004)

Found recently : a bunch of old mixtapes on CDr's that I had burned back in the early days of the 21st century, with a varied range of tunes selected from my trusty, clunky iRiver iHP-140 MP3 player which, at the time, was the ne plus ultra of all music players... before Apple killed the market with their inferior (but better looking) products, haha. Of course the player died with no backup whatsoever and all I have left of these cool compilations are those cheap Memorex discs, and only one out of ten still plays. I suppose one day we will realize all digital stuff (pictures, music, etc) from the early days of the 21st century are gone for good for most people. Do you still have pictures from the time of the first digital cameras? I sure don't. All buried in hard drive crashes, memory losses, unreadable CDr's! (The sound is a bit crappy on this one but I still love this mix!)

Seven Inches from Algiers (2016)

This is a 70-minute long mix of folk/chaabi/traditional Arabic music, compiled from a few 7'' EPs my girlfriend brought back from a trip to Algiers. Nothing too rare but some cool tunes to share!

Tracklist (forgive the spelling or the unknown titles):

01. Idir - A Vava Inou Va
02. Rabah Driassa - Roh Eliah Issamhek
03. Abdel Halim Hafez - Hobbak Nar 1
04. Mohamed Mazouni - Louvrier
05. Farid Aly - ???
06. Ouafia - L'Ouahdanya
07. Younes Megri - Leïli Twil
08. Rabah Driassa - Loukane Jdit Nkteb
09. Abdel Halim Hafez - Hobbak Nar 2
10. Mohamed Mazouni - Tchik Etchbila
11. Farid Aly - ???
12. Ouafia - Aagba Ouahdour
13. Younes Megri - Ya M'Raya
14. Idir - Tomacahut N'Teskurt

Seven Inches Mixtape (2011)

A 75-minute soul/funk/pop/world mix of a bunch of 7'' EPs bought one lazy summer afternoon at the flea market.
I mixed and (mis)matched songs from side A and B in no particular order...

Tracklist (listed by EPs):

001 - Dont Push It Dont Force It - Leon Haywood
002 - The Breaks Part I & II - Kurtis Blow
003 - Sugar Baby Love - The Rubettes
004 - Heya  On The Road Now - JJ Light
005 - The Breaks Part I & II - Kurtis Blow
006 - Lucky Number - Lene Lovich
007 - Dirty Ol Man - Three Degrees
008 - Heya  On The Road Now - JJ Light
009 - Dona Estefaldina - Cecilia
010 - Anybody But Me - Brenda Lee
011 - Lucky Numbers - Lene Lovich
012 - Anybody But Me - Brenda Lee
013 - Gwendolina - Claude Putterflam
014 - Anybody But Me - Brenda Lee
015 - Sugar Baby Love - The Rubettes
016 - Dirty Ol Man - Three Degrees
017 - Super Sweet - Wardell Piper
018 - Break Dance Parts I and II - West Street Mob
019 - Tornero - I Santo California
020 - Gwendolina - Claude Putterflam
021 - Anybody But Me - Brenda Lee
022 - Super Sweet - Wardell Piper
023 - Break Dance Parts I and II - West Street Mob
024 - Tornero - I Santo California
025 - Dont Push It Dont Force It - Leon Haywood