Remember Mix CDs?

Y’know, those things that replaced Mix Tapes, because damn it if it wasn't a lot easier to throw 20 songs into an iTunes playlist and hit the "Burn" button? Well, I like to think of / use streaming playlists a lot like those mix CDs of the past— except now it’s a super evolved and totally on steroids version that you don’t need to burn onto physical discs in order to pass on to somebody else. And since you’re not burning onto a CD-R, you don’t need to worry about keeping the song count under that 700mb threshold.

For example, every month I update my ‘420 ALL DAY’ playlist with a new 54 track selection of tunes/artists that have recently caught and/or re-caught my ears (fyi - a 54 track mix is kinda like the equivalent of getting 3 new mix cds every month).

And then I remove 54 tracks from the bottom of my 420 ALL DAY playlist to keep the whole thing at 420 different songs from 420 different projects (because 420 tracks will play for 24hrs straight without repeating). And then you can just carry all that music & more around in your pocket and pull it out whenever you’re in need of an alternative to the same stuff they still keep playing on the radio.

Or, every week for my ‘YOUR WEEKLY 9(t0)5 SHUFFLE’ update, I put together a fresh 19 track mix cd from a digital library of years spent music blahging instead of ladder climbing, and then I put that new mix cd at the top of the playlist and remove 19 from the bottom to keep everything at a nice even 95 (5 X 19 = 95, for those wondering how many mix cds a 95 track playlist is equivalent to — listen/follow on SPOTIFY). Speaking of which:

And, yes, I still put streaming playlists together like I did a mix tape/CD back in the day—which is to say I probably spend way too much time making sure each track selection sounds good with the others that follow + random things that affect #peak song order / overall feel, even though I know that most people, if they listen at all, will probably listen on shuffle and that’s ok because when you’re careful with song selection things will sound good on shuffle too.

But, instead of checking how many CD-R’s I have available to mail out to a small group of friends, like it’s pre-2010, now any playlist updates I make auto-magically appear in the back pocket of anyone who is following along. Secret stranger friends with musical benefits.

Speaking of which, here comes some 95-track HI54 Mix CDs now…

And that’s kinda the main idea behind this whole #HI54MIXCDS / MIX CD RADIO thing (which has also lead to an offshoot of the idea called MOUN.TOWN/FM):

I metaphorically burn a bunch of ‘playlists-as-mix-cds-as-radio-programs’ that I keep updating on the regular, and people can tune in to any one of those mix cds whenever they want, wherever they are (and hopefully pass them on to friends because I have an unproven theory that passing on good music leads to more good things happening).

At the very least, it sure beats lugging around a folder of scratched silver discs or putting on the radio and having to hear a bunch of commercials in between the radio still playing the same songs over and over again.

Oh look, here comes some more 95-track HI54 Mix CDs…

So… what’s with the #MountownFM thing?

When I get a HI54 Mix CD to the point where I can easily make a quality mix featuring 95 tracks from 95 different artists, that Spotify playlist becomes part of the mountain town radio collaboration I do with HI54’s mountain town cousin 95EH, called MOUN.TOWN/FM. You can flick through all the playlists that have made it to 95-track status above or scroll through them all over on the blahg (or find them all on Spotify by searching #MOUNTOWNFM).

what about the playlists that aren’t 95-tracks long?

All the HI54 Mix CDs still working their way up the mountain towards that 95 tracks/artists threshold—this is either because they are a fairly new playlist, or it’s a category I have blind spots in and/or don’t get sent a lot of music for, or maybe the playlist topic is a bit niche—all those playlists can be found in the 'Still Baking’ section of the HI54 blahg:

I’ve also got a bunch of playlists that are a lot bigger than 95 tracks/artists. For example, there’s that yearly end-of-year tradition I do where I put together playlists based on the math that happens when you put a multiplication ‘x’ in the middle of the year (so, for example, 2019 becomes 20X19 which becomes a playlist of 380 tracks from the year 2019):

And then there are the ‘HI54 archive’ playlists:

And let’s not forget about the ‘Guest Mixes’ that have no set rules on song counts / song selection besides whatever the guest chooses:

But what about…

Look, I 100% agree that streaming is currently not working properly for artists. And it’s a problem.

But, like most things in capitalism, the wrong hands got into the pie and now the group that should be earning the most (ie. the creators) are only getting crumbs. This, like most things in capitalism, sucks and is stupid that we keep letting things work that way.

But this is also way too big a topic to try and get into on a page where I am actively promoting streaming playlists. The conversation is important and we can do better (and should), but also:

I grew up pre-internet in a small town where the only access to “new music” was what they played on the corporate radio station. So as imperfect as streaming is working right now, on a whole I think the world is a better place the more accessible music is. Like, as broken as some things are, it really used to be way worse before the internet.

So, while we wait for better/fairer streaming options (still have my fingers crossed that Bandcamp will make some moves in this area), we have to at least use the streaming we have now to discover/listen to/share as much good music as we can and not let the Al Gore Rhythms decide who gets all the $treams..

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Because the world needs more human-generated shit and a hand-picked playlist done right (like the kind you'll find on #HI54MIXCDS / MIX CD RADIO) beats the hell out of the computer and actual payola generated versions you’ll find on the mainstream home pages. So if you hear something you like while checking out the Mix CDs on this site, hit the follow / subscribe buttons and tell a friend to do the same. And then go track down and support the artists outside of the streaming garden (ie. buy their music on Bandcamp, go to a live show, follow on socials, etc).

And if you’d like to submit your music for HI54 consideration, you can see what the latest submission details are over at hi54.blog/submit (although, the latest update to my ‘submission process’ is that I’m not accepting music submissions anymore)— and if you have any thoughts/compliments or etc, you can holler at me out on the socials:

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Jeremy // @HI54LOFI