Quest for Creativity: Day 12 & 13, Lesson 12 & 13: Booze and good friends equal creativity. Add music to the mix and I’m sold.
Winton, this one is for you. And EJ, you too. You music Nazis. In a good way, of course…
It’s late. And I’m loads of red wine and several victorious pool games away from trying to corner that elusive thing called sleep. On a Tuesday evening, no less. But here I am. Trying to be creative…
Tonight my subject of choice is mix tapes. Specifically, music mixes created for you (or me) by people who at any given point in time believed you’d appreciate them, for whatever reason that may be.
I perpetrate mix tapes. Or, at least, mix CDs. I’ve been known to inflict them on friends and acquaintances who’re not always too sure what to do with this aural tribute of love/devotion/like/approval. And maybe they didn’t exactly suit the intended recipient, but they were made with love and honesty, inasmuch as the moment allowed.
So, mix tapes. I’ve been the recipient of some awesome ones. Most notably from a person I’ve met properly, like, once in my life, but who seems to buttonhole my musical tastes and my personality to a T. His mixed CDs have captured my heart and imagination for a few years now, sporadically arriving by mail to brighten up my day and bring some musical joy and discovery for a while. I’ve always learnt something from the CDs he’s sent, and I look forward to every single disk that arrives…
That’s not where my mixtapes/ CDs began, although it’s a high. I have a few mixed CDs from Varsity, made with various degrees of obsession and including tracks that I can still listen to today without cringing… Nothing cheesy. But they contain loads of nostalgia as they leave you wondering, “how did that person know me so well?” A big difference from the mix tapes (actual tapes, this time), I made as a child, taping random tracks from the radio and discovering my likes and dislikes. Bryan Adams rubbed shoulders with Danny Williams’s 1964 hit “white on white, lace on satin, bluebells and ribbons in her bouquet…” When trying to get snippets of a song without the DJs butting in was your biggest concern…
And later, in matric, when a friend smuggled (long story) a tape of Smashing Pumpkins’ Ava Adore to my room while I was recovering from glandular fever. Not exactly a mixtape, but a watershed moment, anyway.
And much later… When a good friend condensed all his mixtapes into a single song to say goodbye: Cold Roses by Ryan Adams. Apt.
The true genius of a good mixtape lies in the person making it’s ability to tap into the essence of the intended recipient. You need to cut through your own likes and dislikes and try to truly channel whatever it is that makes the person you have in mind tick. I’m lucky that I have someone who can do just that for me. As for myself, it’s still a work in progress: I tend to get sidetracked by what I love, and not necessarily what would make the recipient go “wow”…
Anyway… A good mix tape takes creativity, thought and care. It’s a wonderful gift if you get it right… Even when the recipient is a musical philistine.
So for today, my project: a pseudo-mixtape. A happy playlist, that I’m kind of feeling right now. And hopefully, somebody somewhere feels it too… Enjoy!
- Miike Snow – Animal
- Friendly Fires – Jump In The Pool
- Goldfrapp – Rocket
- Temper Trap – Sweet Disposition
- Empire Of The Sun – We Are The People
- Johnny Neon – Lovesick City
- Wrestlerish – Oliver Tambourine
- Modest Mouse – Dashboard
- Athlete – Superhuman Touch
- Bruce Springsteen – Radio Nowhere
