The views expressed in the column My Ex-Boyfriend's Band are those of the author and may not be reflective of the Ist network. Enjoy!

Born to a rickety plastic world that has since dissolved in a smooth digital sea, the mix tape has outlived its own name. For there is something about the basic structure and the essential production process which cannot be changed. You must begin at the end and move backwards. This becomes an analog loop, unreeling and flipping back upon itself, transformed into an infinite self-portrait. Yet it always leads to the inspiration, away from the composer and back to the audience.

Okkervil River’s latest creation is officially labeled a mix tape. Golden Opportunities is a collection of nine live songs performed in 2006 and 2007. The resulting album is a collection of old postcards and snapshots refashioned as a unique found object.

“Music has the ability to stop time when you listen to it,” says Okkervil River’s Will Sheff. “A five minute song can stretch into a journey or contract into a single thought.”

Now pause. Rewind. A cloud of critical buzz surrounded Okkervil River long before The Stage Names was released in August. When the album officially dropped, it debuted at number 62 on billboard. The band supported their hit with grueling back-to-back tours in the U.S. and Europe. They were welcomed home by a slew of year-end awards, including the Best Album of 2007 from Harp and Largehearted Boy and nods from Pitchfork, Stereogum and Rolling Stone.

“There is an aspect to year-end lists that is kinda like a popularity contest, and that brings out horrifying memories from childhood,” says Sheff. Though he obviously believes in the power of his music, there is a hint of embarrassment in his voice. “Instead of feeling this cocky sense of ‘Fucking right,’ my first reaction was more like ‘Are you crazy?’ It’s one of those weird things that is hard to personally connect to.”

But the true climax of Okkervil’s smashing year came with the mix tape. The recordings were plucked from their orchestral show at Hogg Auditorium, a radio show in Paris, the Daytrotter Sessions, and impromptu performances in hotel stairwells and friend’s apartments. There are eight covers and one original from Okkervil’s first full-length, Don’t Fall in Love with Everyone You See.

The nine-song collection went up on their website as a free download Tuesday, Dec. 11. Within an hour their server crashed under the weight of stampeding blog readers. It was a wonderfully surprising, if at first panic-inducing, show of fan support.

Sheff started work on the surprise collection with those very fans in mind. The individual live recordings were a way to tuck listeners into their pocket and bring them on tour.

“All along I was thinking how themes and lyrics ran parallel, how this song refers to that song,” he says. “There was an audience watching in real time, but unbeknownst to that audience the performance was intended for Golden Opportunities.”

Every aspect of the EP plays with the concept of time. Sheff resurrects legends like Serge Gainsbourg and Sandy Denny. He reinterprets his past and points to Okkervil’s future. All of it is pulled together in an instantly accessible format, passing directly from the artist to the audience. And, like every mix tape stuffed in a shoebox or waiting to be sequenced in iTunes, Golden Opportunities is an undeniable reflection of its creator.

“It is an extremely personal record, maybe more personal than any other album I’ve ever done.”

You can still grab the mix at Okkervil River's web site.