Mixtape

Over the years, we have consumed music in varying media. The emergence of the cassette changed the entire way we listened to music. Not only was the medium more portable, but finally, there was a way to share music without loaning out your collection. Although time-consuming, creating a compilation of songs from various artists/albums, became a form of communication. And thus, the "mixtape" was born.

When I was young, I used to put hours or days into determining which songs I would include in my compilations. Then, even more time into getting the recordings right. The best was trying to catch a new song that you didn't have when it was playing live on the radio. I always missed the first few seconds of the track, but thank goodness for long intros, right? By the time passing off or exchanging music with your friends occurred, you knew as you listened that there was the intention behind every song, which made it all the more special.

The mixtape has transitioned to mix-CDs and now in the digital streaming age "the playlist." With every advancing medium, the effort to create these compilations has eased. Now that we have access to libraries of basically every song ever recorded, I feel like the modern mixtape, aka playlist, has lost the zeal of its predecessors. So, I am coupling this photography collection of music/media with very intentional mixtape playlists to revive the nostalgia I'm feeling.