(no subject)
as usual, i was supposed to being doing school work, but instead i did something else. i cleaned out the boxes under the desk in my room, so i could set up my computer. these were boxes packed, like, two and a half years ago when my family and i moved into the house we're living in now.
i found a ton of books, as i had expected and, the awesome find of the whole thing: a "rainy day mix" tape this girl alice made me when i had just turned 17. she went to simon's rock with me and lived down the hall. i cannot begin to tell you how this mix tape changed my world. the summer before i met alice and other people i became friends with at src, my uncle introduced me to belle and sebastian, jeff buckley, beth orton, and the like, but i didn't know how to connect the dots. alice's mix tape had so many things in one place, and it suddenly came together for me. look:
side A
modest mouse- "gravity rides everything"
from bubblegum to sky- "hello hello hi"
songs:ohia- "tigress"
the 6ths- "in the city in the rain"
superdrag- "i'm expanding my mind"
the dandy warhols- "mohammed"
the jayhawks- "what led me to this town"
side B
cibo matto- "moonchild"
looper- "dave the moonman"
catatonia- "strange glue"
aden- "left off here"
elliott smith- "single file"
essex green- "mrs. bean"
no.2- "pop in C"
modest mouse- "lives"
come on! that's a great tape! i'm surprised my brain didn't explode when i heard it.
there's something about a mix tape. it's a lost art now, different from a mix cd. more time goes into making a mix tape than into a mix cd. it's not a drag and drop, point and click deal. while mix cds are personal, special, and great, there was something more personal about mix tapes. i mean, the person who made you one had to pick out the songs AND then sit there and record every one of them onto the tape and do A LOT of rewinding and fast forwarding and sitting and waiting, among other things. then there's the issue of sides. cds don't have sides and tapes do, which makes a tape a little cooler. also, programs like itunes let you conveniently print out a nice, neat cd cover, but a lot of my favorite mix tapes have thoughtful handmade jackets. alice's has a graphic she designed on the computer-- a little bug on a fall leaf; the rest of the jacket she did by hand. years later her tiny, exquisite handwriting means more to me than ever.
on a different note, someone once described modest mouse to me as a "gateway drug" into good music. like, if you only listen to top 40 and then hear modest mouse, chances are you will at least understand there are more things out there than what's on the radio and want to give them try. that statement might be a tough sell, but what do you know? alice's mix is bookended with modest mouse.
i found a ton of books, as i had expected and, the awesome find of the whole thing: a "rainy day mix" tape this girl alice made me when i had just turned 17. she went to simon's rock with me and lived down the hall. i cannot begin to tell you how this mix tape changed my world. the summer before i met alice and other people i became friends with at src, my uncle introduced me to belle and sebastian, jeff buckley, beth orton, and the like, but i didn't know how to connect the dots. alice's mix tape had so many things in one place, and it suddenly came together for me. look:
side A
modest mouse- "gravity rides everything"
from bubblegum to sky- "hello hello hi"
songs:ohia- "tigress"
the 6ths- "in the city in the rain"
superdrag- "i'm expanding my mind"
the dandy warhols- "mohammed"
the jayhawks- "what led me to this town"
side B
cibo matto- "moonchild"
looper- "dave the moonman"
catatonia- "strange glue"
aden- "left off here"
elliott smith- "single file"
essex green- "mrs. bean"
no.2- "pop in C"
modest mouse- "lives"
come on! that's a great tape! i'm surprised my brain didn't explode when i heard it.
there's something about a mix tape. it's a lost art now, different from a mix cd. more time goes into making a mix tape than into a mix cd. it's not a drag and drop, point and click deal. while mix cds are personal, special, and great, there was something more personal about mix tapes. i mean, the person who made you one had to pick out the songs AND then sit there and record every one of them onto the tape and do A LOT of rewinding and fast forwarding and sitting and waiting, among other things. then there's the issue of sides. cds don't have sides and tapes do, which makes a tape a little cooler. also, programs like itunes let you conveniently print out a nice, neat cd cover, but a lot of my favorite mix tapes have thoughtful handmade jackets. alice's has a graphic she designed on the computer-- a little bug on a fall leaf; the rest of the jacket she did by hand. years later her tiny, exquisite handwriting means more to me than ever.
on a different note, someone once described modest mouse to me as a "gateway drug" into good music. like, if you only listen to top 40 and then hear modest mouse, chances are you will at least understand there are more things out there than what's on the radio and want to give them try. that statement might be a tough sell, but what do you know? alice's mix is bookended with modest mouse.