nonpretentious

what was the purpose of the mix? was it supposed to be a dance mix, was he trying to find stuff he thought you’d like, or was he like “i’m going to drop some knowledge on you. this is the best of the best and it’ll change your whole perspective on shit.” context is always important for mix tape evaluation.

I wouldn’t be that hard on him. My cousin listens to CSS and she just turned 16.

Regardless of this person’s A/S/L, it’s a shitty mix that I would throw out of a 38th floor window, if I could.

Have mercy on his soul.

even a 16 year old should be embarassed by this. then again, i’m sure we have all made embarassing mixes for friends at one time or another.

stereocache, good point.

the context of mix usually does help.

so, i don’t know about you but i usually take a lot of effort when making mixes. if i’m making them for a particular person, i may have a certain angle that i want to take – whether to infuse his or her life with a variety of new reverb or the best of the best of a select genre.

to take this a step further, i’ve been known to make my own “album art” when giving away mixes. i try to describe what the album means to me or how i see it through colors and pictures.

fine, i may have even gotten a little carried away when a few years back i created a group called “music monsters” (name stolen from another group of total mix tape nerds). FN1. each month one member of the group made a mix and sent it out to the 10-15 other music monster folk. this way, we’d learn about new music, forgotten favorites, etc. (think: what “social networking” does but a snail mail version.) FN2.

But, back to your question…

At the time, my friend and I had been talking about music. We both liked music, liked to know about new music, and wanted to share glimpses of our lives. We promised each other mix tapes of the “enlighten me” sort.

With the understanding that I may go a little overboard and care about my mixes too much, when my friend gave me the mix above it – labeled A4 – he handed it to me along with three other mixes (A1, A2, and A3) within 24 hours of our conversation.

There was hardly any time for him to put any thought into any of the mixes. They were drag & drop pre-mades.

Yuck.

I can pick up magazines that come with music compilations if I want a bunch of new music dropped in my lap. Heck, I can head on over to Urban Outfitters or Starbucks and look at the mixes they’re offering. If I write down 50 songs, there’s a good chance I’ll dig at least 4 of them.

Again, context = more proof that this dude was a tool. I say, good riddance.

Thoughts?

FN1: A few nonpretentious contributors belonged to music monsters, actually…rustedjesus, fortuna, mr.killstudent…so i can vouch for their highly respectable music tastes.

FN2: when I asked nonpretentious contributors to submit mixes to me, my aim was to make a digital version of music monsters.

Don’t discriminate on music choices. This is NONpretentious. Just because someone chooses to listen to, hrm, “Barbie Girl” by Aqua, doesn’t mean they aren’t cool.
I remember when I first met people in college they would always be like “so, what kind of music do you like?” Yes, that matters – maybe we can bond over a concert or share CDs with each other. But really, some people are WAY too pretentious when it comes to their music choices.
Consequently, my iTunes library is now on lock so no one besides me (and a few lucky fellas) can see what I listen to.

THIS IS PRETENTIOUS.

is hotwz really just a bot programmed to tell us that we’re pretentious? i think we should start putting the parentheses around all the nons so our asses are covered completely. right now they are more like a big booty in hot pants w/ a little bit of cheek hanging out.

bot or not, hotwz is really perceptive.

WAX ELOPE-QUENT ABOUT SELF: I IZ RUN PROGRAM

PRETENIOUS NINIERS.

WAX ELOPE-QUENT ABOUT SELF: I IZ RUN PROGRAM

PRETENIOUS NINIERS.