A Mix Take

Hey Everyone,

is everyone getting excited for the new round??!?! Here's a post about mixing. There's lots of opinions out there, (even a book!), but here's one just one take on it.

Remember when everybody was talking about dickheads using mixtapes to make girls love them a few days ago? Of course you do, we both follow the same people. “It’s no good pretending any relationship has a future if your follower collections would disagree violently” - Nick Hornby. It’s not totally absurd to express your feelings via music but if you’re not even fucking then it’s at least creepy. Protip: No Nick Cave. Too dark, too desperate.

The first mixtape I ever done for a girl happened last year with this girl who I sort of had a thing with. It was one of those things, not really A Thing but enough for it to earn me some light ribbing in the halls and enough that when it ended it fucked up my job prospects. Feelings were pretty unambiguous at this point so it was more of a bonding experience, we’d trade mixtapes each week and find out a little bit more about each other’s taste. I don’t know what I sent her, probably something horrible just to spite her for liking Florence + the Machine, though I wasn’t into Zach Hill at the time so it must’ve been a lot of Kanye and maybe Wavves/Best Coast. Missed opportunities, eternal regrets. I wretchedly put very little effort into the ‘mixtape’ itself past the painstaking choice of music and I remember just giving her a USB drive a couple of times, but she was really on her game. The first one was especially notable for having the same photo of Morrissey I once took into a hairdresser and including “Death To Los Campesinos!”, the first time I’d ever heard them. Then there was the Rakes’ “The World Was A Mess But His Hair Was Perfect”, also inscribed on the CD itself, which I’m sure is the most romantic thing anybody has ever done for me. Actually it’s a real shame I wasn’t more into her and ended up being pretty shitty by dating a humanitarian literally in front of her, because I don’t really get romantic things done to me ever. Poor me, right? No, I’m certain I’ve not earned them. 

What does this say about the concept of mixtapes? They’re good, I reckon, as long as both parties are mature and consenting and don’t mind being a little bit offended. You’ve gotta be open-minded to deal with a mixtape, which is why I didn’t cut off all contact because there’s also Jason Mraz in this tracklist, but they’re curious mementos. Something you can hold, physical evidence that says “I want to make you better and I want you to make me better, and I’d like to stick around if you’ll have me.” That’s a pretty intense thing to say, though.