New Music DNA - Pt. 1: Can I Turn Nostalgia Into Bespoke Mixtapes?

Can new music scratch the Gen X itch? I turned Kevin Alexander’s love of Fugazi, New Order & Jawbreaker into a playlist of brand new music just for him (but you can listen, too)

In today’s issue:

1) I introduce a new series, where I’ll be interviewing some of my favorite people about the music they’re most nostalgic for, then making them bespoke mixtapes of new music based on what they tell me.

2) I interview my first subject - Kevin Alexander.

3) I highlight a handful of songs I picked for Kevin’s mixtape.

4) I share the full playlist I made for Kevin with all of you.

I miss mixtapes.

I don’t just miss making them, though that was a ritual in itself: the CDs and cassettes scattered everywhere, liner notes a 52 card pick-up disaster.

I’m not too young to remember bouncing on my knees in front of the radio in my bedroom, finger hovering on top of the “record” button, waiting to get the timing just right.

No, I also miss the weight of them, physically and psychically. Mix tapes were a touchable, tangible reminder:

“I’m thinking of you.”

“I know you.”

“This sounds like you.”

I make a lot of playlists here at New Bands for Old Heads. Because I’m overflowing with recommendations, yes, and because they are public love notes. But mostly because they’re my favorite way to get you excited about new music again.

Normally the playlists I make are aimed at lapsed music lovers, generally:

• people whose idea of “new” means anything that came out in a year starting with the number 2

• people who say “I don’t know any new bands” but can name every Pavement B-side from memory

• people who aren’t opposed to new music at all, but feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of it.

Rarely, though, do I have the opportunity to make a playlist for someone specific.

I miss making personalized mixtapes, dammit.

So I am starting a new series, and I’m calling it New Music DNA.

I’ll be interviewing individuals whose music tastes I admire and respect, and/or who have lost their passion for (new) music so much that I feel an absolutely pulsating need to revive it.

My goal is to figure out what makes these folks’ music tastes uniquely theirs; to decode their musical makeup, both what they love and what they wish they loved, then pull it all back together with a mix of entirely new releases.

I know, it’s a little cheesy. But I think it works.

“Playlists are my love language.”

That’s Kevin Alexander, the star of today’s post and my first mixtape-ee.

Kevin writes the universally beloved On Repeat Records, both a newsletter and a community of devoted readers and music lovers often dubbed “the nicest place on the internet.”

He’s also a very tricky subject to kick this series off with.

What makes Kevin such a difficult first test case?

Well, for one, he already keeps up with new music. Big time.

He’s not one of the musically lapsed — he’s listening as obsessively as I am. Frankly, I’m not sure I can introduce him to anything new.

In short, Kevin didn’t need a mixtape of new music. But I sure as shit wanted to make him one.

To help me figure out how to craft it, I asked him a lot of pushy questions about the albums he grew up with and the memories they’re wrapped up in.

Then I made him a mixtape playlist — using only music released in the last five years — that I think captures his version of nostalgia.

It sounds, I hope, like Kevin.

But if your heart still beats for post-punk, dark synth-pop, college rock, or the occasional glammed-up ‘80s dance track, it might hit for you, too.

It’s your nostalgia — I’m just mining it: An Interview with Kevin Alexander

Gabbie: I'm looking to learn what kind of music you're most nostalgic for. Tell me about the music you listened to most in your teens and early 20s, and name five of your favorite bands from that time period of your life. What did you have on constant repeat? What did you tape off the radio? What blew your mind?

Kevin: I (more or less) had the following bands on repeat during those years:

1. New Order

2. Jawbreaker

3. Talking Heads

4. The Replacements

5. Fugazi

But just outside that top 5 was a world of other bands: Pere Ubu, Wire, Pixies, Throwing Muses, and Pearl Jam, to name a few. I was also way into industrial music, and bands like Skinny Puppy, Front 242, and Einstürzende Neubauten were never too far from my tape deck. And, of course, about a bazillion local Portland bands that live on only in the memories of the people lucky enough to have been there to experience them. I feel extremely lucky to be one of those people.

G: What song or artists do you associate with specific moments or people in your life? Your first crush, your best friend, a road trip, an embarrassing moment… anything that you can think of that still brings back memories for you.

K: I also used to work in a record store and would ask people to sing the songs they were looking for. I wasn't trying to troll them; this was usually the quickest way to sort things out. At any rate, a girl came in looking for what turned out to be Lighter Shade of Brown's "Hey DJ," which led to us dating for a while.

I cannot hear Urge Overkill's "Sister Havana" without being taken back to the night we went to see them. It was like something out of a bad movie; we got in a mild fender bender on the way, I got separated from the coworker I went with (small club, but still), and I somehow wound up next to a guy that took off his shirt, shoes, and socks, and spent the entire shoes screaming "KINNNNG ROOOOOESSSER! and "NASH KAAAAAAATO" while doing a little kick dance. Incredible show, though.

If the road trip is more than 3 hours, you must play John Hiatt. I don't make the rules.

I was pulled up to a light, and a guy was singing Cornershop's "Brimful of Asha" at the top of his lungs. Just shamelessly and in total bliss. I can still see him clear as day as I type this 30(ish) years later and 1800 miles away. There's a life lesson in there somewhere.

G: How has your taste in music evolved over the years? Give me another handful of artists that have become heavy hitters in your repertoire long past the days when your brain was at its most squishy.

K: I used to make fun of the Grateful Dead, their fans, and anything to do with jam bands. I'm still not a jam band guy, but I somehow fell in love with the Dead long after I should've. That's a sentence I never thought I'd write. I stumbled into Yo La Tengo at some point in the mid-’90s, and now I wonder what life was like without them.

Spoon is another band I found in my early 30s that are never too far away from any playlist. Same story with The Church, though I'd guardrail that by saying I'm only talking about their first handful of records. I also fell back in love with INXS.

G: I know you also pay attention to brand new music, so you knew this one was coming – what are your favorite records of the last two or three years? Tell me what it is about them that you love so much.

K: So much good stuff has come out in the last few years — it's overwhelming in all the best ways!

If I have to narrow it down, I'd pick:

• BODEGA - Our Brand Could Be Your Life

• Wussy - Cincinnati, OH

• The New Pornographers - Continue As Guest

• Nada Surf - Moon Mirror

• En Attendant Ana - Principia

• Die Spitz - Teeth EP

• Sweeping Promises - Good Living Is Coming For You

Honestly, I could prattle on here for quite a while.

I know bands aren't making records with me in mind, but more than anything, Wussy's record helped me understand life in the Midwest. I've lived here for a while now, but I still feel like a tourist waiting for my visa to expire. They helped me "get it."

Sweeping Promises just went and made a record unlike anything I'd heard, and the world's a better place for having them in it. Seriously, it 's wild. Nada Surf showed that you could get better with age.

My elevator pitch for Die Spitz is that they're Gen Z's L7 equivalent. Not for everyone, but if you're in the mood for something fast & frightening, they've got you covered. Play "Hair of Dog" and try not to run any red lights. Good luck.

G: Do you have any musical gaps you have always meant to fill? Any particular artists or genres that you always wanted to get into, but haven't gotten around to listening to or learning much about?

K: More Americana, more female artists, and more cumbia. I also inherited a bunch of jazz records from my dad. I've listened to some, but I'm not even close to making it through them all.

G: What's your go-to karaoke or shower song?

K: Adriano Celentano’s “Prisencolinensinainciusol.”

Just kidding. In the shower? Probably something by New Order. In the car? Whatever's on.

G: What's your guilty pleasure album?

K: If I had to pick just one, I'd go with Kylie Minogue's S/T debut record. It felt almost criminal owning it and having it in the same place as some of the other stuff I was listening to, but from a pop perspective, it's dead on. 11/10. No notes. Actually, I'm a sucker for just about anything Stock, Aitken, and Waterman put together.

G: Tell me about how you listen to music. Where, when, with whom, and for what purpose? To motivate you? To relax you? With friends? In the car? Streaming or physical media? Full albums or playlists of your most cherished songs?

K: At work, it's streaming — either playlists on Spotify or shows on MixCloud. I have a few favorite shows I always come back to. If music weren't on, the soundtrack would be white noise, clipped ATC transmissions (I work for an airline in real life), and the clatter of the teletype printer next to my desk. At home, it's usually physical media (full records) to unwind/counter a day full of screen time. My dog Gizmo is almost always there listening along.

G: Which band do you really wish had made more songs or records? Alternately, is there a band you wish had made more music in a particular era of their career? (Say, Ziggy Stardust era Bowie.)

K: Tie — Jawbreaker & The Replacements

G: What's your ultimate goal for the playlist I'm going to be making for you?

K: It's you making it, so it'll be good, and I can almost guarantee there'll be new (to me) artists there¹. I'm looking forward to a bit of music discovery. Also — and I hope I can articulate this without sounding like a total narcissist — but I'm genuinely curious how my answers here (input) will manifest themselves in the playlist (output).

Outside of those two points, I'm hoping for something that indexes toward the upbeat. It doesn't have to be Sunshine Pop or anything, but I've got enough fury and angst to last a lifetime. I just want to do a little chair dancing, ya know?

A Little Chair Dancing: Kevin’s New Music DNA

My mission, which I gleefully chose to accept:

• Make an upbeat playlist

• with at least a bit “[m]ore Americana, more female artists, and more cumbia,” while

• holding on to what makes Kevin Kevin.

I knew I couldn’t hit a modern version of every single band he listed, but I could try to evoke a nostalgic mood for him.

I was also really tempted to make this entire playlist one huge New Order revival, I’m not going to lie. But I restrained myself. Mostly.

A preview of the songs I picked out:

1. Crush of Souls - “No Soul”

   Yes, I wanted the New Order references to pepper this playlist, but with a twist. Here, I wanted to layer in Kevin’s teenage love for the industrial, too, with all the jagged edges and subterranean pulse.

2. Glitterer – "Plastic"

   Fugazi and Wire’s influence aren’t hard to catch here, but it’s the proximity to Jawbreaker that lured me in to Glitterer’s tight, barely two-minute tracks. The ‘90s spill out of this project’s every pore.

3. Kara Jackson – "pawnshop"

   I’m excited to finally have the chance to recommend Kara Jackson, who become a Youth Poet Laureate at only 20, and whose 2023 debut came as a surprisingly ferocious addition to the indie-folk/Americana catalog. Any road trip would be better for her.

4. Los Bitchos – "Kiki, You Complete Me"

   This isn’t the first time I’ve recommended Los Bitchos, and it probably won’t be the last. I’m not cumbia expert, but I do know what gets my ass moving. Maybe this kitschy blend of cumbia, surf rock, and psychedelia will help Kevin daydream himself onto one of the flights he watches take off every day.

5. SPELLLING – "Keep It Alive"

   I made the unfortunate mistake of excluding SPELLLING’s new album from my roundup last month. Happily I can correct that now and give Kevin a taste of his favorite ‘80s pop hits all in one go.

If I were going to figure out your new music DNA, what band would I have to know you loved first?

The full playlist - at last!

And finally, after all that reading (or skipping around, more likely), I’ll reward you with the actual playlist — which naturally lands at the 1 hour and 30 minute mark, in case it ever makes its way onto a cassette.

(Also on Apple, Amazon, Tidal, and YouTube.)

I’m anxious for Kevin’s reaction, but I’m anxious for yours, too — let me know your thoughts below.

1. Gabbie’s note — Boy, I sure hope so!