Almost everyone I know has made a mix CD for someone else. What a lot of people aren’t aware of is that the art of the mix CD is held in very high regard by certain musicians and record labels that continue to produce meticulously crafted mixes that are as successful as albums of entirely original material.

Germany’s Kompakt label, for example, has released many mix CDs to complement its selection of minimal techno and house music. Artists such as Superpitcher and Michael Mayer have released seminal mixes that are now regarded as milestones in the mix CD genre. Mayer’s Immer, released in 2002, is known as the album that gave birth to the minimal house genre by compiling a series of innovative tracks by different artists and emphasizing the fact that they all had something in common.

Coldcut, founder of the Ninja Tune label, is also responsible for an excellent release that is part of the Journeys by DJ series of mix CDs. What makes Coldcut’s mix interesting and different from Mayer’s is the way it jumps from genre to genre. It reminds us that mix CDs can often give us a richer experience than any single artist could ever provide within the context of a single album. Coldcut exploits this notion by cutting back and forth from ambient to spoken word, from reggae to drum and bass, layering multiple tracks on top of each other and seamlessly transitioning from track to track, truly living up to the idea of the mix CD as a journey.

Studio !K7 also produces a well-known compilation series called DJ Kicks; Erlend Oye’s interesting compilation stands out. Oye, who calls himself “the singing DJ,” removes vocal tracks from songs and replaces them with himself singing. A haunting composition is created when, on the album’s second half, Oye combines a minimal Royksopp remix with the vocals from “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out” by The Smiths. A wholly new composition is created, one that is at once more personal than a simple mashup and exists powerfully not only on its own but also as part of an album.

Mix CDs provide artists with the power to make more exciting statements than they may otherwise be capable of on their own. They provide a medium for the exchange of ideas through the assimilation of familiar and unfamiliar material together into a new whole.

Intellectual property (IP) law has become an increasingly important part of everyday American dialogue and culture during the last 20 years. Piracy in the ’80s, via tape trading, evolved first to Napster and then to today’s BitTorrent. Laws like the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and technologies like digital rights management keep up the debate about what we can and cannot do with creative works.

Probably the most interesting debate related to IP is the issue of sampling, re-using pieces of existing songs to make new songs. This has been revisited lately with artists like DJ Danger Mouse (now part of Gnarls Barkley) bringing the “mash-up” into mainstream cultural awareness, and artists like Pittsburgh’s Girl Talk having to release their popular sample-based music on smaller labels like Illegal Art because of problems with getting permission to use the samples used to make it. However, this is just a new dance-based angle on a much older issue.

Negativland is another band dealing with sampling legality. Using a style often termed “plunderphonics” (a term coined by John Oswald, originator of the technique), they use samples in a sort of collage to create their pieces. Sound clips, including outtakes from radio broadcasts, education films, and news reports, are used without any other adornment and mashed together.

Their best-known release is U2*, a record released in 1991 parodying U2’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” and *America’s Top 40 host Casey Kasem. This album includes extensive samples of U2 and Kasem, over which Negativland placed samples of children’s shows and themselves playing kazoos. Naturally, Island Records (U2’s label) sued, claiming copyright infringement and intentional, deliberate confusion of U2 fans. Negativland lost, and U2* is still illegal for sale in the U.S. (but it is on http://www.negativland.com/*).

They later rereleased these tracks on 2001’s bootleg These Guys Are From England And Who Gives A Shit, with more political songs containing samples saying “copying is a criminal act,” “they’re trying to target Island Records,” “even if you too have done nothing wrong,” “oh, please don’t sue us, we’re really sorry about this,” and others, highlighting the issue at hand quite explicitly and making an impassioned plea for relaxed copyright law. In “their own” words: “Can’t be blase about it … it might be the music business, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t dangerous.”

I apologize in advance to anyone I offend, but most modern country music is simply terrible. I’m sorry that I don’t care about your dog or how your wife left with your truck. That said, I admit that I am a fan of alternative (alt) country, and it’s definitely worth your time to check it out.

The general consensus is that alt-country came about through two different influences. On one side we have the traditional American country music. Examples of this range from Woody Guthrie to Hank Williams, both amazing artists worthy of their own Paperhouse columns. On the other side we have the country-rock style that originated from the re-emergence of rock and roll with country. The artist best identified with this style is Gram Parsons, who released two great albums before his untimely death. As a frame of reference, I would classify the legendary Man In Black, Johnny Cash, as somewhere between the two. Skip ahead from the 1960s to 1990, when the band Uncle Tupelo released No Depression, the first widely recognized modern alternative country album. From there, alt-country began to take off. Many different groups and individuals began to embrace the style; its influence can be seen in groups like Camper Van Beethoven, whose lead singer formed another group worth a listen, Cracker. Jeff Tweedy, of Uncle Tupelo, went on to form Wilco, whose early albums are steeped in alt-country stylings.

Today there are many artists who embrace this style; Bright Eyes is one of the more well known. Other examples include the Old 97s, Whiskeytown (a now-defunct band led by Ryan Adams) and The Elected (with Blake Sennett and Jason Boesel of Rilo Kiley). Albums released in the past year include Rabbit Fur Coat, by Jenny Lewis (of Rilo Kiley) with the Watson Twins; Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, by the reigning queen of alt-country Neko Case; and more recently Post-War by M. Ward, though his style leans closer to traditional Americana.

To all the country fans out there, give alt-country a listen — trust me when I say that it’s better than what you’re listening to. And to everyone who hates on country, twangy music ain’t all that bad.