Hot Day/Lazy Ass: A Summer Mix Tape
Compiled by Ted Jahng.

As a small boy, I used to make mix tapes with actual cassettes. I’d spend hours kneeling in front of the tape deck, obsessively drawing up lists and sequencing songs so I could present my friends or crushes with the perfect compilation of shitty punk rock or Simon & Garfunkel singles. And some things don’t change: I’m still a nerd. And I can still appreciate punk, and Paul Simon, even if I find the former occasionally tiresome and the latter a little creepy.

The internet and mp3s have made things easier, but the original intent hasn’t changed. Mix tapes are love letters. (When’s the last time you got one of those? You’re welcome.) And while I’m not trying to fuck you, this mix WILL get you laid. Fact. If this doesn’t happen–and I don’t mean to sound like your father–you’ve somehow managed to screw up a sure thing. At least your failure came with a rad soundtrack.

I’ve been intermittently obsessing over the mix that is now called Hot Day/Lazy Ass since April of this year, but the idea of “Hot Day/Lazy Ass” goes back to my not-so-distant college days at UCLA. My friends Schuyler and Nico and I would trade CD mixes, which we’d play at parties, on road trips, during class. Even further back to high school, I’m reminded of a summer when I’d spend entire weeks at Mitch and Matt Datlow’s beach house in Ventura: We’d party all night, wake up late to barbeque, smoke pot until sunset, then start partying again.

One of the songs we’d play on repeat is a strange cover of Peter Tosh by Sublime called “Steppin’ Razor.” It became staple of our beach days, and you’ll hear it on this mix. Earlier this summer, I watched Claire Denis’ 35 Shots of Rum, and during one of its best scenes, The Commodores’ “Night Shift” plays. This song closes the mix.

Essentially, this a personal cartography in the form of a playlist. (The cover photo highlights this: it’s a photo I took off the Moroccan coast at Tangier—during one of the hottest days I’ve ever lived to experience.) It’s cool that these songs can communicate something to anyone who hears it, even if they don’t know exactly where I’m coming from. Which is one of the myriad great things about making and sharing a mix tape.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD HOT DAY/LAZY ASS: A BADEDUCATION SUMMER MIX:

01. Floating Action – So Vapor
02. Paul Parrish – English Sparrow
03. Sublime – Steppin’ Razor
04. Nairobi Sisters – Promise Land (Dub Mix)
05. Francoise Hardy – Je T’ Aime
06. Gal Costa & Caetano Veloso – Que Pena
07. Bibio – Jealous of Roses
08. Shuggie Otis – Inspiration Information
09. Seu Jorge – Mania de Peitao (Jamais Plus Jamais Mix)
10. Mgababa Queens – Akulaiwa Esoweto
11. Hermas Zopoula – Seigneur Apprends Moi
12. Bitty McLean – Walk Away From Love
13. Gaylads – I Need Your Loving
14. Rita Lee – Minha Vida (In My Life)
15. Serge Gainsbourg – Ballade de Melody Nelson
16. Yo La Tengo – The Summer
17. Commodores – Night Shift