DEPTH PERCEPTION

Having grown up in the 80′s, every album I bought was a cassette tape. So, I think as soon as I got into music, I started putting together mix tapes. It started with recording my favorite songs off the radio. Then, when I started listening to good music, I couldn’t help but put together tapes with my favorite songs – recorded from one tape deck to the other – carefully arranged to maximize the impact of each song.

When I got to college, I was exposed to an incredibly diverse amount of music – mainly because I couldn’t help but seek it out. I was always on the hunt for that one song, that one gem, that would satisfy all my emotional needs. Fortunately, one of my best friends in college, Mo, had a boyfriend who was in an indie-rock band. I think I had my first man-crush on him simply because he had the best taste in music – well, I think Morrissey was first but that’s beside the point.

Anyway, he would always make mix tapes of the latest songs for her, and then I would make copies for myself, and then rearrange them. Hearing a tape with everything from Jesus & Mary Chain, Red House Painters, the Beautiful South, The Sea and Cake and Kitchens of Distinction. I would listen to these over and over again, to the point where if I ever heard that song somewhere out, I would be surprised when I didn’t hear the song from the mix tapes I listened to being played next.

Well, once I had accumulated my own wealth of knowledge of properly obscure songs I would put them together in methodical arrangements to impress some girl or other. Of course, by this time, I was a card-carrying indie rock snob – Q: Why don’t indie rockers have girlfriends? Because they’re always lying about their 12-inches. Of course, I don’t think those tapes ever helped out my game.

But then I found techno and DJ’ing, and suddenly there was music that was made to be mixed. Nico, the founder of No U-Turn records, a seminal drum’n'bass label, apparently said that his music was purposely without context and that it was up to the DJ to create the atmosphere for his tracks to take on meaning. Of course, if you hear his music, you can’t deny that they have a very definite tone and meaning.

But, in essence, it is true that the dance record takes on a different meaning every time you play it. There are records that can only be played on very specific occasions, and the DJ’s skill is in knowing when that moment is. The record before and the record you mix out of define and, done properly, enhance the nature of the music on that track.

But cassette tapes disappeared back in the 90′s as cd’s took over. I still have a box with a few of them from my college days, but most of them were played until the boom box I kept in the back seat of my car ate them. I used to buy vinyl to DJ with but I’m strictly on cd’s now. But for some reason, the term “mix tape,” still exists in the lexicon. I’ve been told that up-and-coming hip-hop groups still hand out cd’s, but call them “mix tapes.” So even as the technology changes, some of the anachronistic language will stay with us long after people have forgotten what a cassette tape is.

So, I’m still making mix tapes. Sometimes just a play list on i-Tunes, but preferably a dance mix. But it will always be a mix tape to me. The arrangement allows me to create an imaginary world that can take the listener somewhere beyond where they are at. When it’s done just right, the mix can transport you along that road trip, or ease you out of the day’s stress you’re still holding on to. I’ve been married for almost five years now, so I don’t have to impress her with my music knowledge (she was never impressed, and that’s probably why I liked her so much), but I still can’t wait to play her that new track that plays endlessly in my head, carrying me through the day.

This entry was posted on March 20, 2008 at 8:17 am and is filed under Blogroll, Music with tags Blogroll, cd's, indie rock, mix, mix tape, Music, records. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.