Sunday, August 16, 2009

Mixed Tape

I feel so privileged to have been born in an era with Mixed Tapes. With the more modern conveniences of CD burners and i-pod play lists the making of perfect music mixes has become incredibly simple and easy. It is no longer requires the hours of dedication and perfect timing that was so necessary in the long gone days of the mixed tape.

In the early days of adolescence, as my musical tastes began to sharpen and my Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan tapes got ever more stretched I began to make mixed tapes. I remember pulling our huge beanbag over to a rather archaic HiFi and sitting for hours trying to figure out how to get from Jewel to Nirvana on one side of the tape. There was also the frustration of attempting to make the compilation just the right length – no giant expanse of crackling noise, or cut off songs. Having to wait for each of the songs to play out meant that the creation of the perfect tape could take most of an afternoon, and meant that when finished it was well loved and played until you knew all the words and each syllable of the song went on for a couple of seconds. And so the creation of a mixed tape was a labour of love, especially when it was for another…

So here I am creating a Mixed Tape of sorts – a labour of love. I am going to make it an ongoing feature so watch thus space…

Track 1

Florence and the Machine – I’m Not Calling You a Liar

Florence and the Machine are the most interesting band I have come across in ages. Their blending of instruments along with Florence’s strong but somewhat desperate voice can only be described as haunting. The fanciful, yet somewhat gothic nature of their lyrics is so appealing. Its somewhat like reading a fantasy novel or something. When I pop my headphones in my ears on the tube in the mornings, I feel as though I float through the Underground and to work. I find myself bopping up the escalator, and am honestly at the point where I can’t bare the thought of a morning without them.

4 comments:

  1. While listening to Jewel and Nirvana seperately, we were on paths leading us to one another and preparing us for what will go down in history as a magical friendship... and though we're on different paths now, I am happy that we are listening to the gift of Florence and the Machine together... it is preparing us for further adventures! Your writing is beautiful! As are you!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Evie as always you flatter me too much...But yes music has been so formative for us both, that it cannot be ignored what part it might have played in magically putting us in the same place at the same time...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Got me thinking (and cringing) of the mixed tapes i used to make for girls at school. The tape for wooing them - usually songs with subtle messages that didn't seem too desperate but still made my feelings clear, then the tape during the relationship - the soppy shit, it didn't even matter what band it was, a lot of it was shit, most of it was pop...and then there were the post breakup monstrosities - emo before it was even a genre...man. Sometimes i sat all day listening to the radio with my finger on the record button waiting for any song that might fit the mood of the mixed tape in production at the time. I hope all those tapes have disappeared off the planet along with the memories of them for the girls who received them. I just wanna go back and kick myself in the balls.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The all time subliminal wooing song - Everything you want by Vertical Horizon, please not lyrics:
    He's everything you want
    He's everything you need
    He's everything inside of you
    That you wish you could be
    He says all the right things
    At exactly the right time
    But he means nothing to you
    And you don't know why
    AKA - Pick Me! Pick Me!

    ReplyDelete