I love music, and I love writing about music. I’ve got a monthly newsletter called Made You A Mixtape, and you can sign up for that below, if you’re into that! I include mixtapes I’ve created. If you’re looking for a great way to discover new music that doesn’t involve an algorithm, I work really hard on these, and I think you’ll enjoy them. I upload them to Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, & Mixcloud.
I'll never charge for access or exclusives or anything like that, but you can help me bring the mixtapes to more platforms by throwing a little dough my way via buymeacoffee. If you enjoy them, help me spread the love!
2024
The Party
March 2024
Created in collaboration with Evan Forde Barden, Kevin Bauer, Pat Cartelli, Austin Hall, Bill Heidrich, Mitra Jouhari, Jaime Lutz, Kristin Molloy, Justin Nawman, Curtis Retherford, Jesse Roth, and Jessica Ruby for celebrating 50 big ones.
RIYL: dancing
Quietly Building Histories
February 2024
Created for slow and constant growth.
RIYL: indie rock, electronic ambience, soul, quiet sounds even when it’s loud
New Year. Old Me.
January 2024
Created in collaboration with Aidan Kennedy for 13.
RIYL: early aughts pop hits, classic rock, cd wallets
2023
Christmas Cheer for a Fireplace Near
December 2023
Created for some warmth during the holidays.
RIYL: Christmas guitar, instrumental holiday, a classic yule log
That Part of Wonder That Was Mine
November 2023
Created in collaboration with Tony Bader for future nostalgia drift.
RIYL: darkwave, hip hop, brutalism, optimistic futurism, leather and concrete and glass
Ghost in the Machine
October 2023
Created in collaboration with Diana Kolsky for fall fuzz.
RIYL: garage rock, crunchy leaves and crunchier guitars, astral projecting, spooky meditations
Six Strings
September 2023
Created in collaboration with Curtis Retherford for sunny roads as the leaves prepare to fall.
RIYL: classical guitar, Brazilian guitar, Spanish guitar, hey if you like guitar you’ll like this
I Will Greet the Sun Again
August 2023
Created in collaboration with Mitra Jouhari for the threshold overflowing with love.
RIYL: Iranian pop, Turkish funk, Egyptian disco, mountains littered with bright red poppies exploding out of bright green fields
YAYAYA
July 2023
Created in collaboration with Kristin Molloy for your ABC's and 123's.
RIYL: kids songs, kids singing, feeding your inner child
Whole Lotta Road
June 2023
Created in collaboration with Pat Cartelli for the highway and the range.
RIYL: roadtrips and discovering country, Tejano, Bakersfield sound, outlaw, cajun, pop
Oil
May 2023
Created in collaboration with Kevin Bauer for midnight burning and AM healing.
RIYL: bass heavy pop, indie dance bangers, hungover spring positivity
L’appel Du Vide
April 2023
Created in collaboration with Austin Hall despite the seductive spiral.
RIYL: weirdo pop, siren call folk, a soundtrack to validate your feelings of uneasiness
Jumping The Lake
March 2023
Created for Sundays and Kennedy Commons.
RIYL: bedroom pop, indie rock, taking things slow in the fastest years of your life
Since My Soul Got A Seat Up In The Kingdom
February 2023
Created for the beautiful side of community and vision.
RIYL: delta blues, gospel blues, country songs of praise, choral songs of community
more
January 2023
Created for more music, light, sound, life, love, dance.
RIYL: avant pop, hyper pop, chillpop, dancing until you’re drenched in sweat
2022
Kāneʻohe
December 2022
Created for Casey and Junel.
RIYL: Hawaii, indigenous folk music, soft 70s rock, tropical lounge
The Glow Inside
November 2022
Created in collaboration with John Purcell for good sound.
RIYL: ambient music, experimental, soundscapes, a moment of stillness, meditation
Silver Threads
October 2022
Created in collaboration with Cory Palmer for the long slow smile.
RIYL: love songs, that feeling long after infatuation, life lived and looked back on with wonder
We Got The Feeling Now
September 2022
Created in collaboration with Jessica Ruby for fresh starts.
RIYL: cover songs, cover bands, something just a little different but still familiar
13th Grade
August 2022
Created in collaboration with Michele Travis for the kid with a lot of feelings.
RIYL: pop punk, third wave emo, fourth wave emo, infinite wave emo
Smooth Operations, Vol. II
July 2022
Created in collaboration with Justin Nawman for a little more damn sensuality.
RIYL: r&b, neosoul, bedroom music, romance and making it manifest
Globetrot
June 2022
Created for seeing the world.
RIYL: Cambodia, Japan, Malawi, Brazil, Niger, France, Colombia, Iran, Turkey, Taiwan, Jamaica, Italy, etc.
Shakin’ Sand Off My Shades
May 2022
Created in collaboration with Jeremy Bent for the summer we need.
RIYL: sunshine pop, vacation, music for moving and dancing and surfing and roller skating
The Princess of No-Moon
April 2022
Created in collaboration with Jaime Lutz for the hero’s journey.
RIYL: The Neverending Story, 80s high fantasy with probable puppets, brooding shimmery soundscapes
March Musings
March 2022
Created in collaboration with Phil van Hoek for the journey.
RIYL: britpop, electronic mellow, starting hard and finishing easy
Brasil
February 2022
Created in collaboration with Diego Villas Bôas for caipirinhas, beaches, and Bip Bip.
RIYL: samba, bossa nova, psychedelic, the greatest music you’ve ever heard
Note to Self
January 2022
Created in collaboration with Jesse Roth for the songs forever inked on our hearts and arms.
RIYL: pop, r&b, rock, scribbling tattoo ideas in your notebook
2021
Have A Holler Jolly Christmas
December 2021
Created in collaboration with Caitlin Bitzegaio for a down home family holiday.
RIYL: Christmas, 80s/90s country, a corny holiday, the Jesus parts of Christmas in parts
91.1 FM WRUW, 11/1/96
November 2021
Created for a reminder of what we had.
A found recording of an 11/1/96 college radio broadcast on cassette, transferred to mp3. 91.1 FM WRUW is a Case Western Reserve University ad free radio station in Cleveland, OH. This show was apparently hosted by 2 individuals who went by "The Batman" and "Robin's Egg the Bluesman." No other information available.
Quality is what you'd expect, with a few dropped bits and tape decay, but it's a really interesting time capsule.
RIYL: college rock, 90s alternative, MTV when it showed music videos, Pete & Pete
The Harvest Moon.
October 2021
Created in collaboration with Bill Heidrich for solitude without loneliness, softness without sadness.
RIYL: classical, instrumental, folk, insects singing, finding peace all on your own
Euclid Avenue at Night
September 2021
Created in collaboration with Evan Forde Barden for downtown.
RIYL: soul, neo-soul, having soul, saving your soul, rediscovering your soul in the city when the sun goes down
AN:YTIME PM
August 2021
Created in collaboration with Ilana Michelle Rubin for the lead up.
RIYL: reggaeton, indie rock, songs for any mood, cruisin’ for a good time
Ryan & the Rip Roar
July 2021
Created for knocking back a few with the crew.
RIYL: classic rock, uncomplicated good vibes, party rock, weekend warriors
school’s out for summer
June 2021
Created in collaboration with Lana Schwartz for a better summer.
RIYL: warm weather nostalgia rock, hazy bubblegum heartbreak, punk & the potential
a better world
May 2021
Created in collaboration with Sean O’Reilly for the possibility.
RIYL: pro-worker anthems, revolution, radical dissent, hope and heart
Reunion
April 2021
Created for a gentle return.
RIYL: gentle and breezy folk rock, happy but sad songs, seeing old friends again for the first time in a year, cautious optimism
LOUDEST BRIGHTEST THING
March 2021
Created for SOPHIE.
RIYL: maximalist pop, dance, electronic, feeling the heat from all the bodies on the dance floor
Smooth Operations
February 20121
Created in collaboration with Justin Nawman for the dimmer.
RIYL: 80s & 90s R&B, quiet storm, champagne romance
2020
Peace on Earth
December 2020
Created for late Christmas Eve.
RIYL: Christmas, lights on the tree, gentle snowfall, a glass of wine with a loved one as the fireplace crackles
Keep Me Safe
November 2020
Created for cultivating calm.
RIYL: honeyed voices, gentle acoustic arrangements, chamomile, quilts, feeling cozy when it starts getting cold
In the Grey of the Morning
October 2020
Created for the good kind of gloomy.
RIYL: cool cloudy fall mornings, Irish and Scottish landscapes, shanties, English folk
Office Hours
September 2020
Created for honky tonk hangs.
RIYL: sawdust floor barrooms, honky tonk heroes, good times with bad decisions, country and rock and fiddle in the band
Heatstruck Heart
August 2020
Created for neon highways.
RIYL: the movie Drive, glossy synths, chillwave youtube compilations
baby
July 2020
Created for dance floor romance.
RIYL: dark, sexy, moody dancing to pop songs you only kind of know
Give My Best to Buffalo
June 2020
Created for the heartland.
RIYL: Mom and Dad's Midwest record collection, cold ones after clocking out
Coming up on Blanco Canyon
May 2020
Created for the wide open prairie.
RIYL: bluegrass, Americana, westerns, singing cowboy movies
Impending Bloom
April 2020
Created for outside.
RIYL: 60s and 70s earthy twee, yé-yé, Miyazaki landscapes
Cutthroat
March 2020
Created for final girls.
RIYL: 80s slasher flicks, post-punk, goth rock
Good Time
February 2020
Created for a really good time.
RIYL: international disco & psychedelic funk
Boot Cuts
January 2020.
Created for summers.
RIYL: 80s & 90s pop country
2018
A Christmas Mix For You
November 2018
Created for Maicy Jo Schwartz / UCB Community Mixtape Exchange
RIYL: Christmas, goofy and funny and cheerful holiday tunes
Now Them’s What I Call Shitkickers
November 2018
Created for Maicy Jo Schwartz / UCB Community Mixtape Exchange
RIYL: classic rock, southern rock, piano rock, rock rock
2017
Ado
November 2017
Created for Matt Roren / UCB Community Mixtape Exchange
RIYL: good as hell music from women
10 Drinks Deep
June 2017
Created for A Year In Mixtapes 2017
RIYL: a long, triumphant, boozy night out with Brady
2016
Felt Unfulfilled ‘til I Fell for the Mountain
October 2016
Created for Sophie Hirsh / UCB Community Mixtape Exchange
RIYL: the sounds of losing yourself to lost love and finding yourself in the forest
2015
Never Could See Your Face
November 2015
Created for Taylor Gonzalez / UCB Community Mixtape Exchange
RIYL: weirdo hip-hop, spooky ambience, creepypasta, horror movies
Scenic Overlook
October 2015
Created for Kristin Molloy
RIYL: warm autumnal indie folk and rock
SMR
February 2015
Created for Ben Warheit / UCB Community Mixtape Exchange
RIYL: beach parties and soul samples
Dying Alone in the Desert
February 2015
Created for AJ Patton / UCB Community Mixtape Exchange
RIYL: the sounds of dying alone in the desert
2012
N O A / C
Summer 2012
Created with MoreSongs for good times in a sweltering summer
RIYL: unimpeachable classics, relaxed good vibes, the hottest part of summer
2011
Julaugust
Summer 2011
Created with MoreSongs for the best summer of all time
RIYL: breezy pop, sticky hip hop, fun forward punk rock
Ladies why you got to be so sexy?
Summer 2011
Created with MoreSongs for sex
RIYL: sex