Austin Kleon’s brilliant book “Steal Like an Artist” has a companion journal with invaluable exercises to get one’s creative juices flowing with a bias towards action.
As a music aficionado, I was immediately interested in the exercise: “Make a Mixtape (For Someone Who Doesn’t Know You)”. I wrote down my list and created two playlists (“Make a Mixtape Vols. 1 and 2”) in my iTunes to listen to while I work throughout the day. Hopefully you will create a mixtape of your own and share it with a friend.
Enough writing, here’s the list:
SIDE A
- Charles Brown—Black Night
- Nina Simone—Please Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood
- Jimi Hendrix—1983 (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)
- Sun Ra—Calling Planet Earth
- Madvillian—Shadows of Tomorrow
- A Tribe Called Quest—Excursions
- Wes Montgomery (with the Wynton Kelly Trio)—Impressions
- Bad Brains—Sailin’ On
- Alton Ellis—Reason in the Sky
- King Sunny Adé—Sunny Ti De Ariya
- Rhythm and Sound Featuring Cornell Campbell—King of My Empire
SIDE B
- Hiatus Kiayote—Breathing Underwater
- Los Destellos—Onsta La Yerbita
- The Black Keys—Weight of Love
- Gary Clark Jr.—When My Train Pulls In
- Paul Weller—Whirlpool’s End
- Three Dog Night—Easy to Be Hard
- Leon Thomas—Echoes
- Terry Callier—Love Theme from Spartucus (4 Hero No Skins Mix)
- Arthur Verocai—Sylvia
- Nostalgia 77—Quiet Dawn (Examples of Twelve Remix)
- Miles Davis—Flamenco Sketches