How did I forget to put together a mixtape for the back to school season?  Oh right, it’s perpetual summer over here.

Most of us probably aren’t in school anymore, (though one of our favourite contributors is!).  But when the sun starts to wane at an earlier hour, the temperatures start to drop (sort of, kind of, not really over here), that’s my favourite time of the year.  The transition seasons are the best.  One’s mixtape might also switch over to slower, less poppy, more thoughtful beats.

I had the chance to catch up on the tunes of the new season during the week of quiet in an empty Phnom Penh.  And to be honest, I was a little spurred on by Condé Nast’s recent acquisition of my music bible, Pitchfork Media, with the sole purpose of bringing “a very passionate audience of Millennial males into our roster.”  I should also mention that I’m a fairly dedicated reader of Wired and Esquire magazines and a regular audience to All Songs Considered.  Guess that makes me a Millennial male.  Or a manic pixie dream girl.  I can’t wait for 2 Brown Girls to jump on this.

Gender-inflamed paragraphs aside (which sounds like an STI), this is all about the tunes.  I’m loving some of the new kids on the block who hail from the southern hemisphere. I start the mix off with Love Ssega all the way from South Africa and cap it off with Slum Sociable from Melbourne. There’re also some old faves jumping on the bandwagon with the cool kids (I’m looking at you Ryan Adams, new member of the Taylor Swift entourage).  These tunes are the ones I’d be plugged into, tubing to school in London or pounding the pavement in Toronto.  Enjoy!