It’s part of the ongoing EpicMixTape project, that now has a splendid new blog – and several new releases, including @abeeken‘s superb All Rush Mix Tape and totally Rawk Reading Festival 2002 mix by @gecko84.

This new one by us is an effort to spotlight some of the incredible music that has come out of these two great Northern cities. For my part, I took Leeds – sitting like a giant at the end of the M1 and having a former reputation for utter grim-ness, but in more recent times has become apparently incredibly trendy and affluent. These are, of course, both stereotypes, and I have to admit I’m actually no where near as familiar with Leeds as with Sheffield. So, when it came to music I was surprised how many acts came from there that I completely love – LFO, Age of Chance and Nightmares on Wax, I’d always thought of as Sheffield acts! Then there’s other seminal post-punk acts like Gang of Four – you can see where their influence is on more recent pop acts like Kaiser Chiefs. Of course I knew the mighty Cud band and Wedding Present from my Indie/student days. For lighter pop relief you have the likes of U-u-u-tah Saints and Soft Cell – and on the opposite end of the scale you have the doom-laiden Gothic Punk acts such as Sisters of Mercy and Red Lorry Yellow Lorry. So, quite a bit of variety. There’s also some other notables I had to leave out (due to space/time) – including The Mekons, The Three Johns and Chumbawumba.

Anyway – here’s the track listing:

After a recent tidying session in my loft, the re-discovery of a load of cassettes, the acquisition of an actual cassette deck, I got myself into a multi-way twitter coversation with @russelltanner, @sarahlay, @danslee, @jvictor7 (and others) about making/sharing mix tapes. So of course I felt the urge to contribute to what became the “Epic Mix Tape” project.

It’s a compilation of tunes from 1987 to 1992 when I was at university in Cardiff and first started DJing. I was lucky enough to be and “indie” DJ between about 1989 and 1992 – a “golden era” when I had the chance to play a surprisingly diverse range of tunes to some very big crowds. SInce then the Term “indie” has become somewhat meaningless – consigned largely to the “white boys with guitars” mainstream ghetto. I won’t rant about this right now, but back then it essentially meant “Independant” – a state of mind as much as based on the fact that most of the tunes we played out were on independent labels (Rough Trade, Creation, Factory, 4AD etc.). Also the music was full of joy and a surprisingly amount of it could actually be danced to. So I set to with a stack of vinyl and tried to craft a tape based on this period in my DJing/musical life.

And here are the results – 2 sides of roughly 45 minutes, crackles and all:

It was recorded off vinyl using Audacity on my macbook, tidied up just a little tiny bit and finally recorded back to cassette on a re-used TDK SA90 (one of the best general purposes cassettes going IMHO). The track listing is as follows:

Side 1:

1.”Nothing Can Stop Us” – Saint Etienne
2.”Take 5″ – Northside
3.”Fishes Eyes” – New F.A.D.s

4.”Cab it up!” – The Fall

5.”Only Losers Take the Bus” – Fatima Mansions

6.”You made me realise” – My Bloody Valentine

7.”Big bad baby pig squeal” – Silverfish

8.”Remember what it is that you love” – The Family Cat

9.”Destroy the heart” – The House of Love

10.”Shallow” – Catherine Wheel

11.”Quick as rainbows” – Kitchens of Distinction

12.”Jacket hangs” – The Blue Aeroplanes

Side 2:

1.”All on you (perfume)” – Paris Angels

2.”Mama told me not to come” – The Wolfgang Press

3.”The storm” – World of Twist

4.”Robinson Crusoe” – Cud

5.”Don’t fear the reaper” – The Bridewell Taxis

6.”Dreamtime (Mix)” – The Heart Throbs

7.”Sweetness and light” – Lush

8.”Deus” – The Sugarcubes

9.”Trumpton Riots” – Half Man Half Biscuit

10.”Buffalo” – Stump

11.”Lil’ Devil” – The Cult

12.”Do it quick” – Snuff

And here’s how it looked:

You can find out more about the Epic Mix Tape project by following @epicmixtape on twitter too – join in for swaps!