Warren has just announced that his 25th Superburst Mixtape will be the last. Shame. Even if Warren did not speak, it was one of the best casts out there and it did introduce me to Penny Broadhurst.

Acecast first mentioned the Superburst Mixtapes in March 2005.

The author Warren Ellis (Transmetropolitan) is releasing Superburst Mixtapes,

Songs made freely available for download on the internet by the artists, put into a single file and released as a podcast mixtape for several hundred of my closest friends.

Warren curates his podcasts, but he does not speak. The mixes are short (10-15 minutes), so it makes for a fairly quick download.

I’ve listened to five of Warren’s mixtapes (1,8,9,10,11). Mostly modern “lo-fi” music. My favourites from the Superbursts were all opening tracks,

• I Have Known Love (download.com) — Sidecar (pop, sampling Police?). The only “conflict of interest”. I found them on Download, Warren probably got an email from one of his friends.
• If You Kiss Me — The Dagons (garage rock/pop).
• Bus park — Penny Broadhurst (spoken word, poetry).

Warren Ellis bio (wikipedia).

Superburst link via Splinters weblog (literature/music).

[I thought the phrase “several hundred of my closest friends” was reserved for big, posh or celebrity weddings — how can you have that many close friends? Only cyberpunks and celebrities, I guess. Ed.]