Welcome to Audio Autocracy

Welcome to Audio Autocracy, a site dedicated to the preservation of sharing music. It was illegal then, and it's illegal now. But there has always been something quite wonderful about giving and receiving mixtapes. I have a box of them still. Like tiny time capsules, they take me back to the days before IPods and the internet, back into a time when it was still cool to scrawl the names of your favorite bands onto your notebook and slip the girl of your dreams a cassette filled with sentiment you could only dream of saying aloud.

Cassette tapes gave way to the compact disc, and now CDs are on the verge of extinction. Someday, an archeologist will unearth my home and discover close to 1,000 of these shiny artifacts and wonder what primitive man would waste so much money on such trifles? Actually, my children will probably wonder the same question in just a few years.

Yet, I remain dedicated.

My first mixtape was given to me by my father many years ago. It was then when I first heard the Beatles, Cat Stevens, and other artists my dad deemed safe for my listening ears. Twenty-five years later, he still sends me music—introducing me to Arcade Fire, Dr. Dog, TV on the Radio, and a ton of other great artists. And then there were the CDs and tapes given to me by close friends and allies, ladies and gentlemen alike. I've kept them all. And perhaps, dear listeners, we shall revisit some of those mixtapes together.

So join me, once a week, as I unleash a new mix onto the world. There will be a variety of genres and sounds—moods and themes. Each mix will be contained to ten songs so as to alleviate boredom. This blog will also feature mixes from special contributors—a select group of friends whose tastes have influenced my own. Feel free to comment, make suggestions or send requests, and, above all, enjoy the tunes.