A few weeks ago I downloaded a promotional torrent of tracks by SXSW 2008 showcase artists. The torrent contained one track by approximately 750 artists. Since then I’ve spent the past couple of weeks listening to this music at work, rating the tracks according to my own personal preferences using iTunes. In the meantime, a neat online social-mixtaping site called muxtape has come into my awareness. The site allows you to create a mixtape and upload up to 12 tracks, which stream on the site. Tracks can be added and removed, and fans can subscribe to muxtapes using RSS. Another cool feature is the simplicity of the URL (i.e. mattbrehmer.muxtape.com/).

So I’ve listened to a lot of noteworthy artists in the past few weeks. I figured I may as well share what I liked. The problem here was condensing ~750 songs into 12 (after a critical rating scheme, I condensed to a list of 29-star tracks and 1 5-star track). Thus I compromised and created two muxtapes (side A and side B).

Keep in mind I’m no music journalist (and I wasn’t even at SXSW!), and these selections just reflect my own personal preferences. Give them a listen and let me know what you think!

SIDE A

1. Son Lux – Break
2. Brooke Waggoner – Hush If You Must
3. Cloud Cult – Chain Reaction
4. American Princes – Real Love
5. Lymbyc Systym – Fall Bicycle
6. The Most Serene Republic – Present of the Future End
7. Chikita Violenta – Laydown
8. Kid Dakota – 10,000 Lakes
9. Edison Glass – All Our Memories
10. The Weakerthans – Sun in an Empty Room
11. Chris Bathgate – Serpentine
12. Bodies of Water – I Guess I’ll Forget the Sound, I Guess, I Guess

1. Throw Me The Statue – About to Walk
2. Basia Bulat – In the Night
3. Wild Light – Red House
4. Jason Collett – Out of Time
5. The Virgins – Rich Girls
6. The Cansecos – Raised by Wolves
7. Duchess Says – Black Flag
8. Chiwoniso – Kurima
9. The LK – Stop Being Perfect
10. I Was a Cub Scout – Pink Squares
11. Bad Veins – Gold and Warm
12. Elephone – The Camera Behind the Camera Behind the Camera