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top: Autoclave, bottom left: Ruby Falls, bottom right: Corndolly
top: Autoclave, bottom left: Ruby Falls, bottom right: Corndolly
Recently I was asked to submit a mixtape - an actual cassette - for a an archive project at the Double Double Land Gallery in Toronto, Canada. I immediately pulled out my box of dusty tapes looking for one I might be able to dub over and send across the pond. In the search among techno rave compilations (go speed racer go!) and numerous personalized mixes, I found an unlabeled mystery cassette and popped it on the deck. It turned out to be a disjointed collection of riot grrrl era songs and interviews including a mid-90s BBC interview with Jo from Huggy Bear, some L7 and a bit of Hole.
Using this as a starting point I pieced together a 90 minute, 90s era, mix of feminist words, music and meta-commentary. If you’re curious to hear it, you’ll have to cross on over that 49th parallel, venture to the gallery, don some headphones and dedicate an hour and a half of your time.
However, in the process of preparing the Double Double Land mix I rediscovered several singles and compilation tracks from often quite short-lived, regionally specific bands. So I’m sharing some of these riffy, bouncy pop-rock songs here as small consolation for any of you who won’t be trekking to Toronto.
Download the 30 minute mix below and check out The Rogers Sisters when they were Ruby Falls, Autoclave’s line-up of D.C. indie stars including Christina Billotte and Mary Timony, Kathleen Hanna before Bikini Kill and the most idolizing track ever penned for V.I. Warshawski…
Tracklist:
Helium - American Jean (7″)
Ruby Falls - Let Me Go (Why Do You Think They Call it Pop? 10″)
Autoclave - Dr Seuss (s/t LP)
Rubbermaid - Entrepreneur (7″)
Corndolly - After School Special (7″)
Twig - Airplane (Why Do You Think They Call it Pop? 10″)
Growing up Skipper - V.I. (7″)
Bratmobile - Girl Germs (Kill Rock Stars compilation)
Scrawl - Clock Song (International Pop Underground compilation)
Helter Skillet - The Look Out (Teenbeat 50 compilation)
Heavens to Betsy - The Factory (s/t cassette)
10 responses so far ↓
1 Randall // 7 Jun 2010 at 4:46
…this is relevant to my interest.
Thanks for this mix, I really had no idea how much I had missed in this genre, and if you don’t have someone who knows a little about it, it’s really easy to miss stuff when going back.
2 Andrea // 7 Jun 2010 at 10:54
Oh wow, so many favorites on here! Fantastic. Thanks!!
3 Mallory // 7 Jun 2010 at 18:15
This is awesome! I was listening to ‘Dr. Seuss’ just the other day and thinking how much I still like it.
4 Andy // 8 Jun 2010 at 9:54
Excellent stuff - thanks a lot for this
5 J Neo Marvin // 9 Jun 2010 at 5:29
Magnificent.
6 nananaina // 19 Jun 2010 at 16:45
Hi Jenny,
Some one sent me this, thought you might be interested, or probably already know about it.
Call for papers: Punk & Post Punk from Intellect books.
http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/weblog/view-Post,id=41616/
Bests,
Marcela
7 American Poprocks Mixtape « Prodigies & Monsters // 24 Jun 2010 at 22:21
[...] or other prized commodities like perfect antique beer trays or amazing baubly clip-on earrings. The most recent post is a doozy, proferring a downloadable mix with a track from an old Helium 7” about (indie) [...]
8 dafne // 29 Jun 2010 at 23:13
WE LOVE YOU! :)))
9 Larissa // 1 Jul 2010 at 10:43
nice, thank you!
10 oui oui « sweetheart society // 17 Jul 2010 at 20:09
[...] check out the 90s American Girl Poprocks Mixtape from a few months back. I’ve been rocking it nonstop. Nostalgia in a can, man. Related Posts [...]
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