Last year Marc Masters was in town to discuss his new book High Bias: The Distorted History of the Cassette Tape at Shelf Life Books. It was a wonderful event with lots of interesting stories which triggered memories of how we used cassettes growing up. Flash forward a couple weeks, and as everyone shared their end of year Spotify wrapped, I started thinking again about how we share and listen to music. I'm not here to shame anyone, full disclosure I use Spotify myself. However, no matter which streaming platform you choose, ultimately an algorithm becomes your DJ.
I love a good curated Spotify playlist, but there is something extra special about recording a mixtape. I made lots of mixtapes back in the day. Some were radio tapes, made by pausing and unpausing the record button, trying to capture just the best songs off the radio. Others were made by dubbing records or CDs, and planning out each side to maximize the tape's time limit. And of course tapes were often decorated with handmade art and handwritten track lists. It was a lot of fun and I'm guessing most of you reading this remember making tapes too.
How do I make mixtapes?
I make what I'm calling a mixtape essentially the same way! I record songs from my vinyl collection into the computer, usually in the sequence order of the mixtape. I add little snippets of weird records, comedy bits, or other found sounds between songs. And while there is no longer a physical cassette to decorate, I still make the digital artwork in a very similar way. I collect visual materials and collage them together using photoshop. The process feels very similar to cutting up magazines and taping them together on a j-card. For me, making a mixtape is still a handmade process that takes a lot of time and care.
Are you ready for adventurous listening?
I hope these mixtapes take you out of your normal listening habits and help you explore something different. Let me know if it works.
Dream of Destiny is an eclectic Lynchian mix of dreamy songs by My Bloody Valentine, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Pete Drake and His Talking Steel Guitar, Bob Mould, electronic music pioneer Mort Garson, Mama Cass and a dozen or so other artists.
Well, what do you think of that Charlie?