My mp3 collection totals around 12,000 songs. I acknowledge the ridiculousness of having that many songs and no time to listen to them but it’s nice to put them on shuffle and hear songs I haven’t heard since I was 18. And some songs come around in the shuffle that I love, and, occasionally, some songs that I hate (but juuuust can’t delete). Normally in a shuffle I’ll listen to one or two songs and then another will come along and I’ll skip over it. Today, however, all 5 were songs that I would listen to in a row.
It’s a shame how the rise in popularity of the ipod has caused music for many to become impersonal, leaving the fun of things like mix tapes (and, if you’re of my generation, CDs) in the technological dust. I remember being a sophomore in high school and this senior, Travis who was quirky and smart in that nerd-in-a-movie way in which none of the girls really noticed him, but regretted it years later after he became a successful writer/artist/musician/earthworm wrangler, recorded a mix tape (that I was to supply) for me. Side note: The cassette, “borrowed” from my younger brother, was originally the story of Paul Bunyan as read by Jonathan Winters. I had to choose between that or one of my dad’s Hall and Oates cassettes. I think I went with Paul Bunyan because it seemed there would be less chance of getting made fun of for a book on tape than toting around a tape of some mustachioed male 80s duo in my backpack. Upon returning it, Travis had written things like “Babe the Blue Ox hearts Pavement,” which I thought was oh so rad.
I cherished that tape and played it a million times partially because I thought Travis was totally cute and knowledgeable about all things cool, but also because it was the first time anyone had given me a mix tape (unless you count the Vanilla Ice and NKOTB tapes my friends and I bootlegged for each other when I was 8) and I loved all of the music it exposed me to. I then spent the rest of my time in high school, on into college, perfecting my very own mix tape formula. Now, it seems, possibly due to busyness and/or laziness, I settle for the occasional iMix or just setting my tunes on shuffle. Modern technology may have the ability to put thousands and thousands of songs in one place, but it never gives me that rush of joy like when I popped that first mix tape into the player.
Langhorne Slim – Loretta Lee Jones (Mp3)
Mark Kozelek – Metropol 47 (Mp3)
Tsunami Bomb – My Machete (Mp3)
Jesca Hoop – Seed Of Wonder (Mp3)
The Boomtown Rats – Shes So Modern (Mp3)
