Mixtapes

The idea of giving someone you like a CD or playlist or tape of music that you think is really wonderful is not something new. It's been around since whenever mix tapes were first invented.(Which started in the late 60's but became popular and more personal in the 80's. Thanks Wikipedia!) Giving and receiving them are some of my favorite things to do. Maybe it's because as I compile the best songs that go with the mood I want or I know this one person will really love, it makes me so happy. I love going through and listening to each song to make sure that there is a flow. It's a lot like writing an essay, there needs to be a fluid motion throughout the mix, with a transition between the songs which can bring it all together. Mixtapes can define a certain time in your life, or make you think of a certain season, like how Fleet Foxes' White Winter Hymnal makes me think of the bus rides during the winter of 2012-2013, or how Cast Your Fate to the Wind by the Vince Guaraldi trio makes me think of my sixteenth birthday. Music is a simply wonderful thing, as are mixtapes yet recently they seem to decline. My friends whom I've exposed this wonderful creation to have only ever heard of them but never actually made or got one. I encourage you to listen to your favorite songs in a playlist and see how they can flow together. It's trying to solve a puzzle with the pieces all jumbled up, you just need to sort them out. Just like in Stephen Chobosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower with Charlie's mixtape. I have it actually on my iPod and love the calming flow that it has as it starts and ends with Awake by The Smiths (which is an awesome song if you've never heard it, you are missing out.)

Mixtapes should not be a thing of the past, and if you ever wanted to give one to someone or get one (which is totally fine, I mean it's a mixtape, they are so cool!) Get together with a group of friends and decide you'll make one for every other week and pick each others names at random. You'll get a ton of awesome (hopefully) music on your iPod and get to be creative in a new way.

I'll post a link to my playlist for Autumn of 2012 that I made on youtube. You can use youtube or grooveshark or itunes or whatever to make a playlist of awesome music. Just keep making them, because they are so thoughtful and wonderful and awesome.