Mixology: Ito is Neato

Mixology is a recurring feature in which I take a look at one of the many mix tapes (or CDs) I made over the years. Some are better than others, but all of them are fun to revisit.

Ito is Neato (9/2/95)

It has been just over a year since the last installment of Mixology, mainly because I had run out of mixes to write about. But yesterday I was going through some old bins of stuff that had been stashed away in the attic eaves and sure enough, I found a few more tapes including this choice selection.

The name of the mix was an obvious reference to the judge in the infamous OJ Simpson murder trial, which was at its peak in September '95. A month later, the jury delivered the not guilty verdict that shocked many who felt Simpson was obviously the killer. The evidence was pretty overwhelming, but so was the terrible way the prosecution handled the case.

At any rate, it was a good time for me, albeit one that wouldn't last. I was about to give my notice at the newspaper for a writing position at the healthcare publishing company for which I still work, and was having a lot of fun in general. In the span of a few months, my girlfriend would dump me, I was having trouble adjusting to the new job and my dad's health would get progressively worse. But in early September, I was loving life.

I still dig every song on this tape, to varying degrees. By '95, the grunge explosion of the early '90s (and Kurt Cobain's subsequent death in '94) had begun to deliver its first wave of copycat acts that started to clog up rock radio: Stone Temple Pilots, Candlebox, Bush, et al really brought the suck. Fortunately, I had started branching out with more interesting artists like Morphine, Bjork, PJ Harvey, Elastica, Pavement and The Jayhawks. The original grunge acts still interested me, but what came after was fairly shitty. Fortunately, mixes like this helped me ignore that stuff.

Side A: Ito
Weird-out - Dandelion
Summer - Buffalo Tom
I'll Stick Around - Foo Fighters
Bed for the Scraping - Fugazi
Execution Style - Mudhoney
More Human Than Human - White Zombie
I'm Above - Mad Season
Ono Soul - Thurston Moore
Waydown - The Catherine Wheel
Act of Love - Neil Young and Pearl Jam
Eternal Life - Jeff Buckley
Serpentine Pad - Pavement

Side B: Neato
Army of Me - Bjork
Long Snake Moan - PJ Harvey
Shimmer - Throwing Muses
Super Baby - Matthew Sweet
Will - Kevin Salem
Din - Chris Whitley
I'd Run Away - The Jayhawks
Free Love - Morphine
Stutter - Elastica
Los Vargos - Green Apple Quick Step
X-Static - Foo Fighters
Trailer Park Girl - Dandelion