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The Disappearing Art of the Mix Tape (2008) BBC Radio (MP3 192kbps) dearleuk

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The Disappearing Art of the Mix Tape

Let's face it: kids with MP3s will never grasp the art of crafting a mix tape.

It's something personal, the musical expression of a generation. Nothing says "I love you" like spending hours in front of a tape deck wearing out the pause button. David Quantick celebrates the dying art with contributions from, among others, novelist lain Banks and poet Simon Armitage. Producers Ian Bent and Rachel Ross


Wordsmith and music maestro David Quantick on how to make a compilation tape that will impress rather than scare your friends

Mix tapes-or, as I used to call them, compilation tapes-are those collections of music that people used to make on cassettes. Avoiding the limited musical options imposed by The Man on albums like "Now That's What I'm Telling You to Buy", mix-tape makers do, however, like to impose their own tastes on other people.

This can be for a variety of reasons-romance, musical obsessiveness, insanity, or just plain showing off - but one thing is for certain: the mix tape beaten down for years by CDs, mini-discs and now MP3s - is still one of the greatest forms of homemade artistic expression. That's why I've made a radio programme about them.

Here are a few examples of some archetypal mix tapes. Rewind, press play and turn it up!

THE "IMPRESS THE NEW GIRLFRIEND" TAPE

Best avoided, to be honest, as no matter what you do, you'll end up looking like a stalker. Calling it "THESE SONGS ARE ABOUT YOU" and filling it with the likes of Marvin Gaye's Sexual Healing or any cover version of I Just Want to Make Love to You will only alarm any potential new partner. This tape is almost always accompanied by the maker insisting he plays it to you now, while staring weirdly into your eyes and mouthing the lyrics to I Want Your Sex by George Michael.

THE "I AM VERY CLEVER" TAPE

This is a well-intentioned mix that doesn't quite come off. The problem is that these tapes work brilliantly on paper but are actually horrid to listen to. So try and avoid any tape where, say, the first word of each song is the last word of the previous song, or all the songs feature one-armed drummers (making you go from Moult v by the New Barbarians to Rocks Off by Def Leppard). Because while the track-listing, written out in your tiny and alarmingly neat writing, looks brilliant, the sounds on the tape will be an awful cacophony.

THE "I WELCOME OBSCURITY" TAPE

The best mix tapes are just that - a mix. They combine a variety of music to create a panorama of sound. So find room in your heart for all kinds of music, even music from the charts that The Man likes. There's nothing better for the listener, after ten intensive, exhausting minutes of Krautrock by Faust or some Robert Wyatt B-sides, to hear a bit of pop. Open your ears to the Sugababes! And for goodness sake, erase those Prag Vec John Peel Session out-takes!

THE "OLD MATES" TAPE

The best kind. Many mix tapers seek only to impress, or stun. or anything where musical knowledge is considered more important than musical entertainment. So you educate, entertain and inform, but not necessarily in that order. Make room for your favourite Lambchop single, but remember that your pal loves Motown, the Smiths and Billy Bragg, so how about putting on Bragg's version of Walk Away Renee, with Johnny Marr on guitar?



Type : mpeg 1 layer III
Bitrate : 192
Mode : stereo
Frequency : 48000 Hz
Length : 00:27:37
Encoder : Lame 3.97
Source : Freeview

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