Golden Mixtape

Every time I try to plan something with my friends I’m met with excuse after excuse for them not to show up. I’ve gotten used to party of twos and threes on Saturday nights and birthdays. So when I popped in Mixtapes’ How To Throw A Successful Party, I thought I was going to get some helpful tips and be able to throw those types of parties you see in teen movies. I didn’t get that, but I did get reminded of a movie throughout the entire record.

Who hasn’t seen Juno by now? Well if you haven’t here’s the Wiki page. For those who have, remember that Juno and Paulie Bleeker were into music and once in a band together before the whole pregnancy thing. Then at the end they sang their interpretation of The Moldy Peaches “Anyone Else But You.” That’s what How To Throw A Successful Party sounds like right from the start with “10 A.M. (how to successfully start the day).” It’s this back and forth between a guy and a girl that sounds like two friends on their front porch steps. It’s not refined and there are some bumps.

How To Throw A Successful Party is a stripped down Pop Punk record. It’s not over the top in the instrumental department. It’s more of a campfire sing along that follows a day in the lives of these people starting at 10am and wrapping up at 5am. Each song is an hour of the day with a message. At “Noon (protest song)” you get a track that paints a picture of Mixtapes hating everything around them from people who write “songs to get laid,” to the scene. Being my favorite on the record and being so early in the day, I mean album, it was hard to get behind any other songs.

“4 P.M. (safe)” sounded like Simple Plan when it began so that was an interesting turn of events, while “8 P.M. (the apple barn)” redeemed itself to me by ending with lines from Heathers.

Mixtapes didn’t teach me any party planning skills, but did give me a couple songs to take along with me on my daily routine of nothing (yup, for those of you who follow my story…I’m still in job purgatory). How To Throw A Successful Party was like if Ellen Page and Michael Cera’s characters in Juno got their band back together, is for fans of Candy Hearts and Handguns, and is out October 30^th on Animal Style Records.