" The making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do and takes ages longer than it might seem. You gotta kick off with a killer, to grab attention. Then you got to take it up a notch, but you don't wanna blow your wad, so then you got to cool it off a notch. There are a lot of rules. "
- Rob Gordon in High Fidelity (Nick Hornby)
One of the curious things about these blogs is monitoring the traffic and noticing that people you don't know have actually visited your site. I found a link to a site called Art of the Mix while browsing through traffic logs from a blogger in Colorado with decent musical taste and some intriguing songs posted. The Art of the Mix site has a searchable archive (by song or artist) of mix tapes that have been uploaded by readers. You can submit your own classic mixes for posterity. Mix of the Week is one of the features. I like to give mix tapes as gifts when I can get off my lazy arse and actually make them. Maybe this will inspire me.
Enjoy the weekend I am off to do some shopping for the holidays and to stop by the library and pick up the book Mix Tape by Thurston Moore pictured above. (Click on the cassette for more details.)
2 comments:
There is so much more commitment to making a mix tape than a CD. We don't have a CD player in our car and the girls and I still make new mix tapes before road trips. When they were much younger, they listened to my old mix tapes from the 80's and 90's and now are exploring whole albums from the one song on the tapes of such bands as Sonic Youth, The Cramps, Iggy Pop and The Clash because the old mix tapes of mine are now their nostalgia music. I'm not sure if that's good or bad...
I still tons of cassettes i am loathe to give them up. I find myself popping in unlabeled mix tapes from 20 years ago and its like Xmas morning albeit with a preponderance Scorpions and Iron Maiden.
The Thurston Moore book is fun, it is an homage/collection of picturse of mix tapes from friends and colleagues and a perfect coffee table type book to thumb through. The following excerpt is from Dean Wareham of Galaxie 500 and Luna.
"It takes times and effort to put a mix tape together. The time spent implies an emotional connection. It might be a desire to go to bed, or to share ideas" The mesage might be I love you. Listen to how I feel about you or, maybe: I love me. I am a tasteful person who listens to tasty things."
Post a Comment