I (Still) Love Mixtapes!
Now that EVERYONE from every different music genre in the game has released a mixtape, on any given day you can find a blog hyping a new mix from the obvious hip hop to electro to mashups from either established artists who are trying out new material on the new world or the up and comer's who are anxious to get their music out to the world. Mixtapes are genius. Maybe it's nostalgia for the 80s, but, I love the idea of them and how they provide a corporate-free environment for artists to take chances and there's still the outside chance that - like back in the day - an MC or dj can get discovered. I also just love the culture of the mixtape and how the music was spread word-of-mouth. If you had so-and-so's mixtape, you were in the know! They weren't playing it on the radio (yet), it was just playing on kids boomboxes and getting talked about all over the neighborhood. It's such a contrast to today's mass consumptive A.D.D. digital culture, but, even though it's an entirely different ballgame, a whole new generation and genres of musicians are utilizing the mixtape. I'm glad bigger artists still use them as a vehicle to get new music out to the world that their label might not release and I also love that the newbies are still getting discovered through the (online) distro of these things. I know this is not breaking news, but, god bless mixtape culture and how it's adapted to the new terms and conditions of the music world.
A recent mashup mixtape I've been digging is from White Panda, a dj duo from LA and Chicago, respectively. You can download it here:
http://www.thewhitepanda.com/the-white-panda-mixtape-versus/
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