Tiny Mix Tapes

History

Originally called Tiny Mixtapes Gone to Heaven and hosted on GeoCities, the webzine moved to its current domain in 2001. Tiny Mix Tapes is a featured reviewer on Metacritic.{{cite web | access-date = 2009-05-05}}

The writing staff was composed of volunteers who often use pen names (such as "Wolfman," "Mango Starr," "Chizzly St. Claw," and "Filmore Mescalito Holmes"). Some contributors, like Rebecca Armendariz and Alex Brown, go by their real names. Its cofounder and last editor-in-chief was Minneapolis-resident Marvin Lin (who writes as "Mr. P"). The music reviews, features, news, film, comics, and the "DeLorean", "Cerberus", and "Automatic Mix Tapes" columns are edited by "Jay," "Gumshoe," "Dan Smart," Benjamin Pearson, "Keith Kawaii," "JSpicer," "Trillian," and "Pliny the Elder," respectively.{{cite web | access-date = 2012-01-30}}

On January 6, 2020, Tiny Mix Tapes announced it was going on hiatus.

Content

Tiny Mix Tapes offers news, music reviews, movie reviews, and columns. The "DeLorean"{{cite web | access-date = 2009-05-05}} section reviews music released before Tiny Mix Tapes began that may no longer be popular, albums that the writer believes are "classic" or influential, or older music that is significant to the writer.

Similarly, "Eureka"{{cite web | access-date = 2009-05-05}} consists of reviews highlighted by the site as particularly noteworthy or exciting.

There is also a features section devoted to interviews, articles, festival reviews, as well as a "Live Blog," in which writers review live music shows. In 2009, Tiny Mix Tapes added a "columns" section.

As of 2008, Tiny Mix Tapes started reviewing films and now has a section devoted to it. This section also includes features on filmmakers and other numerous subjects within the medium.

The Automatic Mix Tape Generator

The Automatic Mix Tape Generator,{{cite web | access-date = 2009-05-05}}{{cite web | access-date = 2009-11-13}} or AMG, was created to offer two-way communication with the website. Started in 2002, readers may submit a title or the theme for a mixtape, and a group of volunteers (called the "Mix Robots") will compile a track list. Due to the large volume of requests as well as request redundancy, not all requests are filled. The "Mix Robots" produce and submit track lists fulfilling the request as they interpret it. Mixtape track lists are then available on the website. Most of the songs on the mix tapes come from indie or underground bands/musicians. In 2008, Trillian, the AMG editor, was on Talk of the Nation talk radio program to discuss Valentine's Day mixes.{{cite news | access-date = 2009-05-05}}

''Chocolate Grinder''

At the beginning of 2009, Tiny Mix Tapes began a feature podcast called Chocolate Grinder. Published approximately twice a month, each installment sees a writer collecting ten brand new tracks they want to shed light on and mix it as a continuous stream or download. The tracks are posted for stream or download in a single continuous file with a unique name. Currently, Chocolate Grinder remains a staple of Tiny Mix Tapes daily media content, which includes videos, music streams, internet premieres, interactive websites, and the like.

Benefit compilation

In April 2009, the site began selling a benefit compilation CD/LP to benefit the victims of the War in Darfur. It featured 11 exclusive songs.

Humor and politics

On March 30, 2007, Tiny Mix Tapes announced it was hosting a festival in Minnesota. At this festival, long-since dissolved indie band Neutral Milk Hotel were billed to be "reuniting all over your Cheerios" as the headlining act. Amidst a blog flurry,{{cite web | access-date = 2009-05-05}} and articles disputing the legitimacy of the event in Billboard{{cite web | access-date = 2009-05-05}} and Prefix,{{cite web | access-date = 2009-05-05}} the festival was revealed as an early April Fool's Day joke later the same day.

Album of the Year

References

References

1. Tiny Mix Tapes. (2020-01-06). "Thanks for reading Tiny Mix Tapes. After nearly two decades of publishing, we have decided this is the ideal time to take a much-needed hiatus. TMT has always essentially been a passion project, made possible only through your readership. Big thank you for everything. <3 https://t.co/R1U21qmQQ0".
2. "Tiny Mix Tapes Homepage".
3. "Rebecca Armendariz | the Guardian".
4. "TMT Writer".
5. "The mix has been nixed!".
6. Sodomsky, Sam. (6 January 2020). "Tiny Mix Tapes Goes on Hiatus".
7. "Tiny Mix Tapes: Chocolate Grinder". tinymixtapes.com.
8. (2007-03-30). "Tiny Mix Fest 2007 Cancelled!". tinymixtapes.com.
9. "2007: Tiny Mix Tapes Favorite Albums of 2007".
10. "2008: Tiny Mix Tapes Favorite Albums of 2008".
11. "2009: Favorite 50 Albums of 2009 (10-01)".
12. "2010: Favorite 50 Albums of 2010 (10-01)".
13. "2011: Favorite 50 Albums of 2011".
14. "2012: Favorite 50 Albums of 2012".
15. "2013: Favorite 50 Albums of 2013".
16. "2014: Favorite 50 Music Releases of 2014".
17. "2015: Favorite 50 Music Releases".
18. (2016-12-03). "2016: Favorite 50 Music Releases".
19. "2017: Favorite 50 Music Releases".
20. "2018: Favorite 50 Music Releases".
21. "Favorite 100 Albums of 2000-2009: 20-01".
22. "2010s: Favorite 100 Music Releases of the Decade".