15 January 2010

Mixed Tapes + Mixed Media

Some of us communicate with Tweets or blog posts. Others through phone calls or coffee meetings. For me, music has always been the catalyst for emotion, enlightenment and understanding, so there's no greater gift than a mixed tape. I used to think it was the collection of old memories associated with the songs that made the mix so powerful. My buddy Alvaro used to make mixes chock full of Phish songs and obscure Latin music that made me laugh. They reminded me of dancing in the streets during El Primero de Agosto in Nicaragua and his river home in the hills of Birmingham. Those were humid porch nights, playing drums and listening to the bugs hit the screen, attracted to the lights.

Mixed tapes are stories - audible memory books of silicon and shine.

Over the years, I've discovered that playlists are actually messages themselves. Talented mixologists- have the uncanny ability to speak through the music they put together. It's beat and lyrics, the memory of the past tied with your present state of mind. Looking back, a couple mix tapes stand out as the best among many because these mixers have something to say and it's translated with lucidity through the music.

"Bread & Circuses" is an election mix created by a fantastic underground DJ and above-ground high school Civics teacher: Matthew Owen Reininger aka DJ CNTRL. This piece is a raw critique of our failed government and the consumer culture that enslaves and blinds us from justice. CNTRL was one of the most artistic and innovative DJs on the Miami scene, but his music was a complete work of art that didn't fit into the scene of Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Peter Bjorn & John fans. I sincerely hope he's still making him music. It's bold and tangible and I am looking for a link.

UPDATE: 1/20 -- CNTRL has just sent me a link where you can download Bread & Circuses for free.  It's a MediaFire link, so it's likely to expire.  In the meantime, Go crazy, kids!

My next shout out is to the guy who gave me Frightened Rabbit, The Raveonettes and Andrew Bird through his weekly Academik podcast. Andrew Kippen is an inspirational human- a quick witted, snappy dresser who's the master of all types of facial hair. As my office mate and dear friend, Kipp taught me about Lala, Hype Machine and wireless networking. Of all of his podcasts, two have made my time in San Francisco. The September Electro Mix got me running in the panhandle every morning when I first moved and The The Mix got me addicted to The Kills. Now that Kip's working for boxee.tv, podcasts come out less frequently, but you can check out the whole list here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/Academik.

My newest mixer may have the most experienced palate of anyone I've ever met- DJs, Musicians and music analysts beware of Matt Graves aka mgrooves. Matt has over three thousand CDs and a weekly routine of scanning the stacks at Ameoba to see what's new. Matt has an uncanny ability to playlist on the go, as if he's conversing with you through his iPod. He rarely repeats songs- with a massive archive that's to be expected. Unlike novice playlisters, Matt's got epic mix skills from his years of being the voice of what was imeem. Matt's playlists went offline when MySpace pulled the plug on imeem (and put up ringtone ads on people's websites where the playlist used to be), so I can't share mgrooves with you here. I will say that listening to Matt's most recent playlist- a seamless 75 song, 5 hour long giant- is like looking at a 15 foot tall collage of pictures that, when you step back, form a greater piece than the sum of its gorgeous parts.

I'd like to end this with a shout of to my friend Ryan Humm, a videographer I met when I lived in Japan. He composed this mix of visuals from his experience in Hong Kong, IndoChina and Japan and layered on top of M83's We Own the Sky, it is breath-taking.

m83 - we own the sky from YouHadMeAtASL on Vimeo.
There is so much talent seeded in the people around us. I hope this post encourages you to find the Matthews, Andrews, Matts & Ryans around you and thank them for sharing the gifts that matter the most.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Emily, lovely stuff this. Although to most English people, the phrase "river home in the hills of Birmingham" sounds horrible!

emily said...

innit, dunc. innit.

Alex said...

All I have to say is playlist.com
So addictive.

Oh and as a former imeem girl, I'm actually digging myspace again.