“The making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do and takes ages longer than it might seem. You gotta kick off with a killer, to grab attention. Then you got to take it up a notch, but you don’t wanna blow your wad, so then you got to cool it off a notch. There are a lot of rules.”  Nick Hornby (High Fidelity)

Once, there was the Radio5 Top 40 on a Saturday morning. Mixtapes were fastidiously, lovingly compiled by simultaneously pressing the record and play buttons. Hovering, you wait for the song to end, to catch that split second before Alex Jay obnoxiously layers his inane nattering over the track; starting a fervent chain reaction of rewind and fast forward to prep for the start of the next great track. 

Making Mixtapes is an act of love. Giving a mixtape is a declaration of love. But finding a good mixtape, now that's falling in love.

Astoundingly, Alex Jay is still on the air (which further proves the necessity for online playlisting). But graciously, much else of the process has been irradicated in favour of online downloads, sourcing & sharing.

The best of this is www.8tracks.com (Time Magazine agreed by listing it as one of the best of 2011)

Search according to genre and/or mood; or even better pick at random from epic orchestral to the dirtiest of dubstep.

The only drawback is that you can't skip between songs, playlists are designed to play through as originally intended - which, inkeeping with the vein of this post, does justice to the mixtape principle.

You can, however, exercise your online right to instant gratification and opt out at any time to start a fresh one.

Offerings range from A-listers to random teens in their parents' basements; including great tracks largely obscure and off the beaten track. Some of the loveliest of these are found in the various 'covers' albums.

These were some of my faves:

http://8tracks.com/suckitandsee/hip-hop-for-indie-kids#mix_set_id=2...

http://8tracks.com/steambeam/covercorruption#mix_set_id=1451

http://8tracks.com/alexlach26/i-don-t-own-it#mix_set_id=13568

You're welcome.