The art of the mixtape
I’ve been listening to a lot of mixtapes in the past year, ever since leaving home last December. It probably has to do with not having access to the internet 24/7 like I did before, but even now that I can be online whenever I want, I find that not too much has changed in my listening preferences. It makes me wonder how I got my audio fix in the past. I mean, I know how—I would just download a ton of albums and filter through them each day, but I don’t have the desire or patience to do that anymore. I basically used to listen to music with my finger on the next button with a liberal use of repeat. In hindsight, doing it this way, I managed to play out even the best of songs quickly, and I don’t think I was getting the full album experience intended by the artist. Even now, I find that there are few albums worth listening from the front to back, but a good mixtape can find a place even for filler tracks.
My recent post about Chopin helped me realize what I’ve begun to suspect is a large part of why I like mixtapes—that you’re forced to listen to them. Think about that next time you’re driving with a passenger-side DJ. That one guy who can’t listen to a complete song, you know? I think it’s a more active way of listening to music, trying to find that perfect beat or melody, right when you need to hear it. Like I mentioned above, I used to listen to music that way too, but it gets tiring. These days, I prefer the passive route—letting the music affect my mood rather than trying to find the right music for however I happen to feel.
Also to clarify, I’m not talking about rap mixtapes or compilation albums. They serve a different purpose, and the mixtapes I’m referring to are the same ones you probably made in middle school, but never gave, to that one girl in math—or maybe that was just me. There seem to be so many rules now, even though the medium has evolved much since the cassette tape (I’m too young for 8 tracks.) Whatever the rules are though, I’ll always remember staying up late to catch that one song on the radio and hit rec just when the DJ stopped talking and let the song play. I wish I still had those tapes, as I can’t imagine a better way of trying to figure out who I was then. One of the greatest moments of realization in my music listening history happened when I recorded DMX over my dad’s church choir tape. I was blown away when “Stop Being Greedy” abruptly cut into a really crude rendition of “Ave Maria.” It’s that element of surprise I really like in a good mix tape. I think you can really discover a lot about your tastes when you hear something in a different context than what you’re used to associating it with.
The mixtape culture runs deep on the internet, and there are more music blogs than I care to actually visit in my lifetime. Luckily, sites like Last.fm and The Hype Machine do a pretty good job of pooling some of the more popular blogs and integrating a social networking aspect to the whole thing. Unsurprisingly, blogs dedicated to more obscure or niche genres are less well-known, but this tends to help them stay afloat longer than the ones that get too popular for their own good. Partly for this reason, I’d rather not post links here, but I’d be happy to share if you ask. And, if you know of something I don’t, let me know.
03rd of Nov ‘09
Tue 04:49
music
8track mix
Just a few songs that keep popping up. I like this site, 8tracks, and I hope it sticks around.