places I have gotten mix CDs from

A lot of people have made me mix CDs in the past. It's really nice receiving mail and there being a CD inside. I have made some in my time but feel they fall short of the calibre that I've got in return. Here are some of the places my CDs have come from.

New York, USA

I don't remember how or where I "met" her, but this girl Becky and I traded CDs a few times. She does some radio at her college in NYC and we bonded over that. I liked all the CDs she sent me and still listen to some of the songs now. I always felt like her CDs contained great songs, but they never really had a relationship to each other.

Swindon, UK

Ellie and I are penpals. Swindon is where the boy in Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time is from (his name was Christopher right?). She sent me a mix for my Eighteenth birthday. This CD had Joanna Newsom, Tilly and the Wall and Eisley.

Cardiff, Wales

My cousin Sam made me a mix CD because apparently I sent him one about four years ago and I did it Stacey style, wrote out little descriptions of each of the songs. So last Christmas when we were visiting he said he'd made me one and I had completely forgotten that I'd sent him one. I was slightly embarrassed about it actually. Anyway the CD he gave me was really beautiful and had things like Camera Obscura and Karen Dalton and Iron & Wine on it.

Melbourne, Australia

I went to a Rat VS Possum gig where they asked people to bring mixed CDs to throw into a swapbox as you entered. I didn't make one because I was sad about some boy, but my friend Gemma and her husband Neil made extras of the ones they made and gave them to me. Gemma's was called "Guns to Gloria", a very clever title because it started with Guns and Roses and ended with Gloria by Laura Branigan. Gemma's CD was lovely because it had heaps of powerfully hilarious songs but also beautiful and poignant ones. Neil's was full of "cool people music" like Four Tet, bands from Glasgow and old 90s rap that I love now.

Also Shu Shu has made me some mix CDs that have been very enjoyable, including a Christmas mix that pleased me greatly. Her CDs featured a lot of Emmy the Great, who is very sweet and probably underrated if you ask me.

Horsham, Australia

At the end of year nine a girl in my class made her friends (including me) a mix CD that was really sweet. It contained this one Morcheeba song that we used in a video we made about a lighthouse, that Hoobastank song everyone knows and some Oasis.

Auckland, NZ

Stacey has sent me close to ten mix cds over our friendship together. My music taste has been framed around the choices she made. I'm like her sonic puppet. She is responsible for my love of Rilo Kiley, Bright Eyes, Ryan Adams, Regina Spektor, The Mountain Goats and so on.

I feel slightly lazy that my music taste has practically been dictated by other people. But also it pleases me because that makes music more of a journey, it makes it that much more meaningful.

Let's all trade CDs. I need some good rap music, so if anyone does that kind of stuff, please hook me up.