Jim Groom has brought up some important issues concerning the world of music consumption due to the ever increasing blanketed domination that Steve Jobs rules upon. Everyone’s a part of it, Pixar (whose films are the only high quality animated features coming out of America lately) to my favorite fake expert John Hodgman (taking self deprecation to new levels in the mac ads).
 I’ve always been Macintosh hesitant. Since grade school when the computers had their grip on every classroom, making us munch numbers and die from cholera on the way to Oregon for fun and giggles. For a while PC’s really took hold of the market, but any being with a couple of light sensitive flaps on their face know that mac is where it’s at.
 Especially since the iPod came out.
I don’t have one. I wouldn’t mind one. The idea of having all your media at your side is so tempting. A beautiful and authentic example of how far culture has come. but I get along fine without right now. Jim asked on my last post what the significance of tapes is now that iTunes playlists can easily organize songs for you. The accessibility and the ease of such a program are the very reasons that I think mixtapes are still important.
To make an iTunes playlist or mix CD, one does not need to actually listen to the songs placed on there. Point and click. But for a tape, it is essential to listen, the very construct requires you to become intimate with your selected songs. Hollow each tune out, settle down in them and get comfy. Get to know John Lennon or Elvis Costello before you put their songs on there, it’ll give you a real connection. That time that goes into making a tape (usually a good 4 hours for me) is your own personal bonding time with music.
Face it, you and music haven’t seen much of each other lately. Maybe for an hour at the gym, or for ten minutes in your car on the way to work, but remember when you two used to have some real romance going on? Thurston Moore does.
Despite not being a fan of Sonic Youth at all, I was intrigued when I heard this NPR interview with the indie-god-frontman a couple of years ago. Moore wrote a book examining the structure and art of mixtapes, and reflected on some of his and other peoples stories and lists. In this book you can find some romance. But you know, maybe the kids ten years younger than me have a sort of romance, walking down the street, hand in hand, listening to each other’s ipods.
.sigh.
Jim also brought up cassette labeling and original (or semi-original) album art. First off, if someone takes the time to make you a mixtape with album art, consider yourself honored. Not everyone takes that sort of time to make a cover, much less actually make art for the tape itself (The ultimate sign of commitment). I started using Brad Neely’s comics for my covers. Some of you may know Neely for his Harry Potter adaptation Wizard People or his George Washington video. Either way, the absurdist streak that runs through his work is great and I find it to be even better when I cut out the captions, turning them into something much more malleable.
 Listing though is funny, I constantly change this up, sometimes leaving out vital information (artist names or song titles). Some consider this cruel, but others see it as the exercising of a muscle, which when challenged, makes your mind and ear stronger, able to identify familiar artists. I listened to a tape that a very good friend gave to me for my birthday last year. Because it has no song listing/road map I rarely put it on, and yet when I do, I’m always delighted by her mix. So like I said before, it can go either way for me.
I was thinking today about one more rule. Spoken Word tracks are welcome, usually best at the beginning of a tape before your startup kicker. It might be good to get a standup comedy one liner or a Lawrence Ferlinghetti poem before it really takes off. Don’t overdo it though.
Any technological advancement should make life easier, but that doesn’t mean it what came before it should be seen as excruciating. It’s just a different experience, one that I will continue doing, even if I shell out the money for that iPod one day.