on mixtapes

As I sit here, listening to “Summer in Siam” by the Pogues, I remember how I first heard that song. My friend and former boss, Rich, made a mixtape for me.

I miss mixtapes. They had charm. A certain je ne sais what that other recordable media lacks.

“I’ll burn you a CD.”

“I’ll copy it for you.”

“I’ll throw some mp3s on your flash drive.”

Fuck that.

“I’ll make you a mixtape.”

Books like “High Fidelity” devote entire chapters to the art of the mixtape and while I’m no Rob Fleming/Gordon, I certainly appreciate a good mixtape.

something with songs I’ve never heard, by different bands, that all sound like they go together.

Something with a homemade title scrawled on the TDK label.

Something with the artist/title written as tiny as possible on the insert.

Something that I’ll listen to so many times that long after I’ve familiarized myself with the works of the artists,  whenever I hear a song that was from that mixtape, I will always expect the next song on the mix to play even though I’m not listening to that mix.

What happened to that?

What happened to that and shame on the RIAA.

Support muxtape, please.