"As an enfeebled relic from a mistily remembered past, the format is now passing into its museum era, even if a plucky few cling on honorably. (DJ-Kicks, for one, is still kicking.) Obituaries for the mix CD-popularized by series like Global Underground, fabric, Northern Exposure, and a slew of also-rans-have run regularly since the mid-2010s, when online mixes, often self-published, allowed DJs to sidestep onerous licensing and marketing hurdles."
"Call Super's spectacular new album, A Rhythm Protects One, is essentially a mix CD, and a welcome reminder of its once-formative power to mold tastes and bend minds. Its praise for the bygone medium is not only implicit in its own format and deluxe, gatefold 2CD package design; the album's release is accompanied by a zine "celebrating CDs, routines and rituals.""
The DJ mix CD has declined into a museum-era relic as online mixes and self-publishing bypassed licensing and marketing, eroding commercial viability. Obituaries for the format have proliferated since the mid-2010s, yet some series persist. Call Super's A Rhythm Protects One adopts the mix-CD format and a deluxe gatefold 2CD package while including a zine celebrating CDs, routines, and rituals. Hyperdigital platforms facilitate abundance and access but sacrifice the ability to perceive musical history as it unfolds. The album juxtaposes woody clarinet flutters with digital scree and uses spoken-word pieces to question memory and noise's erasure of the future.
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