If it’s the New Year, then the Annual Schmaltz (news) is going out, as it’s been doing for the third(ish) consecutive year.

No big comic this year (though we’re overdue), but of course there’s a mixtape involved. The…Annual Mixtape, “Tuoriszt.” I’m kind of excited about it.

Stream Tuorist on the krj site.

Here’s the copy packaged to intro the mix – imagine it as a Star Wars crawl. If not exactly a space opera, 2015 has at least been quite the adventure.

It’s been a year of great upset to the delicate balance of LIMINAL living. A career has beset Karl after lying for years in ambush. The pleasantness of a small, sunny apartment in Oakland threatens to become a long-time home. A cat named KUMA-CHAN demands daily attention and may be the final nail in a coffin of dreaded domesticity.

The 2015 mix, TUORISZT, was born an anachronism. It compiles music from a period preceding 2015, inspired by time spent on the highways of Kansas – perhaps a lone trip to Chanute, or a return from Dodge with great company – thinking of many things related to a homecoming. This pop music for “windshield time” carries the tourist to a different place – perhaps a final destination….