mixtape merchandise

The word "mixtape" and its visual presence (the cassette tape) is a retro figure for quite a lot of merchandise, including tshirts, jewellery, bags and accesories.

When designing the website thought will be taken into how others have represented this retro style within their merchandise.

top 10 mixtape tips from Rob Sheffield (love is a mixtape)

1. Start with a Buddy Holly song. Every mix tape that starts with a Buddy Holly song gets a smile going 10 seconds after you press play.

2. Pick a song with the name of the person you’re making the tape for – depending on the name. All Marthas love The Beatles’ “Martha My Dear,” but all Beths hate Kiss’s “Beth” – and what Roxanne really wants to hear “Roxanne” again?

3. It’s useful to ponder what kind of mood you’re trying to create. If it’s an angry break-up tape, you must include the Buzzcocks’ “Ever Fallen in Love”. If it’s a sad break-up tape, you must include Frank Sinatra’s “The Night We Called It a Day”. If it’s a make-out tape, try Al Green’s “One of These Good Old Days”. If it’s a road-trip tape, you’re going to throw in The Clash’s “Janie Jones”, the music gods’ gift to automotive technology.

4.Twenty-minute avant-jazz freakouts? Some other time.

5. Try to put the Aretha Franklin song at the end of Side One – no matter who the next singer is, they’re going to sound sickly and timid trying to follow the Queen of Soul.

6. Mix it up stylistically. If you were in the mood to hear the same kind of music for 45 minutes at a time, you’d just put on an actual album.

7. Think of a different silly title for each side of the tape, such as Hall Side and Oates Side, or Pork Side and Beans Side.

8. Cut out scrapbook pictures of old movie stars and use them as a cover for the tape case. (I’m partial to Ava Gardner in The Hucksters.)

9. When in doubt, James Brown. You’re never not glad to hear him, especially after a few too many Elliott Smith and Jeff Buckley ballads.

10. If you’re a male, and you happen to be making this tape for a female in whom you have some sentimental or carnal interest, think twice about including Bob Dylan’s “Just Like a Woman” or AC/DC’s “Let Me Put My Love Into You”. Trust me on this one.

book reviews: art of cassette culture

Mixtape: the art of cassette culture

Synopsis:

What Moore and his contributors have done with Mix Tape is document a small snippet of lost history, and they’ve done so in superb fashion. The age of eighth-inch magnetic tape may be long gone, but the mark it left on music fans and the bands that truly mattered between the late ’70s and late ’80s is indelible. Here’s to you, dual-deck boom-box guy!

Review:

The book is a collection of stories from different contributers regarding their experiences with mixtapes, some stories are quite interesting as the sentiment is not as romantic as the ones featured in 'cassette from my ex' they cover a few mixtape stories sent from friends, rather than lovers. However, like 'cassette from my ex' this book is more interesting for its artwork.

Scanned images can be seen here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/weheartmixtapes/

film review: high fidelity

Synopsis:

High Fidelity follows the 'mid-life' crisis of Rob, a thirty-something record-store owner who must face the undeniable facts - he's growing up. In a hilarious homage to the music scene, Rob and the wacky, offbeat clerks that inhabit his store expound on the intricacies of life and song all the while trying to succeed in their adult relationships. Are they listening to pop music because they are miserable? Or are they miserable because they listen to pop music? This romantic comedy provides a whimsical glimpse into the male view of the affairs of the heart

Review:

After buying the DVD and book, I decided to watch the DVD as I wasnt sure how relevant the story would be to my project. It was a good film, however did lack the emotional depth of 'love is a mixtape'.

book reviews: love is a mix tape

Synopsis:

In this stunning memoir, Rob Sheffield, a veteran rock and pop culture critic and staff writer for "Rolling Stone" magazine, tells the story of his musical coming of age, and how rock music, the first love of his life, led him to his second, a girl named Renee.

Rob and Renee's life together - they wed after graduate school, both became music journalists, and they were married only five years when Renee died suddenly on Mother's Day, 1997 - is shared through the window of the mix tapes they obsessively compiled. There are mixes to court each other, mixes for road trips, mixes for doing the dishes, mixes for sleeping - and, eventually, mixes to mourn Rob's greatest loss. The tunes were among the great musical output of the early 1990s - Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Pavement, Yo La Tengo, REM, Weezer - as well as classics by The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Aretha Franklin and more.

Mixing the skilful, tragic punch of Dave Eggers and the romantic honesty of Nick Homby, "Love Is a Mix Tape" is a story of lost love and the kick-you-in-the-gut energy of great pop music. It's a deeply moving love story, and a testament to music's unique ability to guide us through the most important moments of our lives.

Review:

From reading this book you get a sense of how strong the emotional attachment to music is for some people. I am a big music lover, but for Sheffield music represented memories of his late wife and kept her presence alive. Based in the early nineties cassette culture was at its peak and sharing homemade mixtapes with a loved one was the trend. Not fantastically helpful to the project, but gave me an insight into how meaningful sharing music with a loved one was within the early nineties.

book reviews: cassette from my ex

Book adaptation of the blog: http://www.cassettefrommyex.com

The book has some very interesting stories in which people share stories regarding mixtapes they have recieved from past partners, the reason this tape was made and the reasonings behind the songs. I havent read the book in its entirety as it is quite a long book.

"I had forgotten about the tape. It was a meaningful gift from I boy I use to love, but I had not forgotten about it’s heart, it’s beauty, and it ‘s ability to make me feel unrepentantly giddy.It is completely homemade, the case is constructed out of cardboard, the song list incorporated into a letter, lovingly typed on yellowing paper and glued, strip by strip, sentence by sentence, onto the outside of the case. It’s filled in with indie rock typical of the era, the Replacements, the Pogues, and Bonnie “Prince” Billy. It’s true eclecticism, heartfelt earnestness, and oddball nature is a mirror of the maker."

The artwork and photography of the book is a great resource for design ideas. I have added a few scanned images to my flickr photostream http://www.flickr.com/photos/weheartmixtapes/

what is a mixtape?

+ compilation of songs recorded in a specific order usually with an emotional message

+ songs are picked specifically to convey messages and/or feelings of the compiler

+ careful consideration is taken into the sequence of the songs

+ traditionally made on a cassette tape

+ mixtapes became common in the 1980s with the advent of the cassette tape and walkman

+ packagine and the aesthetics of the cassette are carefully considered too, often with a handrawn design

+ letters and personal messages (recorded onto tape sometimes) are included within the mixtape

+ mixtapes have ben fondly compared to a love letter or diary

+ they express a personal message

Brainstorm

Using a mind map I began to brainstorm ideas for my mixtape project. The below image shows a scan of my ideas on design, content and other related ideas.

My Final Major Project

My vision

For my final major project I want to create a website which gives the user ability to compile mixtape playlists for the digital age.

Mixtapes have a retro/vintage feel to them laced with emotions and feelings towards recipient. The feeling a mixtape brings is one of warm sentiments and a mix of nostalgia.

At present I am unfamilar with the online music industry, so alot of research is needed before I can produce a strong abstract/description of my final major project.