I worked in music, but was never a musician, so writing songs was never an option. I don't know how to craft the words into poetry like so many of the people i listen to.
Art has always been a frustrating thing for me to understand, so I learned how to admire it and appreciate it. More than anything, how to use other peoples words to create a feeling that I can share with others.
I've been doing this since i was kid. The mixtape.
Even though I don't work at a record company anymore, I still have the great pleasure to work with artists. It's consulting, managing, advising.
The real challenge this time around is that the entire world of discovery has changed. So many places to hear music, so many ways to distribute it. These are all great things, but the problem becomes that it's an overcrowded space. Not enough hours in the day to listen to everything. So many distractions to keep people focused enough to appreciate music as an experience. The Album has become a hard thing to drive people towards. Its a singles world.
The mix tape concept can still exist on soundcloud or spotify, but there is something to be said about the art of giving something you put together as a gift. The physical presentation. The manual labor behind the curating and the song selections for the mood you are trying to convey. Creating art for it, the actual physical act of handing it to someone and having them take it somewhere to listen to it.
The physical product. The chances someone will take that tactile experience and take the next step to put it on, let it run uninterrupted, just seems more personal.
With digital mixes, you can't hand it to someone. You send a link and it ends up in a cue that may or may not make it it into the playlist. This while youtube, email, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Instant Message and TMZ alerts are all pausing the experience. The mixtape (CD), you can load in your car and get lost in the songs while battling traffic or just cruising home late at night.
I recently thought about this while working with a newer act called St. Ranger. His album is special. It's an album in the true sense. The problem, like mentioned before, is that nobody has the patience these days to listen to a full album. Too many distractions. So, the idea was to hook them with a song or two to subliminally make the next investment of time to explore further. I figured the best thing we could do, was create a mixtape based on the theme of one of his songs, "Happy". Get it to the audience and encourage them as a call to action, to get involved. Make their friend a mixtape, with the theme of one of the songs from his album. So far, it's generated some movement and actions to increase the experience. Take it old school.
When I started making mixtape in school, they were always for girls. You wanted to connect with them in a way that expressed what you felt. What you wanted them to know about you. What you felt about them. I would turn people onto bands through a song sandwiched between something they knew. That song would become their favorite, then the next song would, but it was a form of communicating with someone in a subliminal and romantic way. A soundtrack to the courting, the relationship and musically document what they would share and feel.
I think my favorite documentation of this in a movie was in Say Anything. The main character, Lloyd Dobbler made it his form of expression. Being someone who would get nervous and uotknow what to say, he would make a tape to express his feelings. He would use a song to express his love (in the most iconic use of a boombox ever in film or television). I could always relate to Lloyd. I wasn't as bad as he was in expressing thoughts, but music just did it better. Plus, we had the same taste in music.
Getting back to my attempts to work out my creative thoughts, I continued to keep coming up at a loss. But, I would remember fondly on the mixtape and what it meant and what it was. I would think of the joys it would take to go through the steps of the courting a girl, the falling in love and even the break up. There was always a theme and a mood to these tapes.
There was an excitement period where you would put your 1st tape together to just "court" the girl. Get her to see how "cool" you were. Charm her with your diverse taste in music and start the hinting about your feelings.
The next one would be the "loving" tape. The one where you would get romantic and show your love for her. Show her in someones words to express how these songs make you feel about you and her. You would find the slow song... the one that would become "your song".
Lastly, would be the "break up" Mixtape. The one where you would attempt everything to get her back. You'd plead and beg for her to give it another shot. The songs would be about love, loss and hope. This was usually the tape that never got listened to because you blew it and she was done.
I always thought this would be a great movie. Something everyone can relate to. But, I'm not a writer. I just make mix tapes.
Click the links and listen to these 3 stages. If you like them, download them. Burn them, share them.
If anything, go back to that time in our life, when you showed and shared your emotions through song.
Music is a gift.
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