I miss mix tapes

So I have been recently moving my belongings to a non-wet location and I have come across all of my absolutely fabulous mix tapes from my teen years. They are varied. They are marvelous.

I really liked (and miss) the physical process of making mix tapes...pressing play on one deck and record on the other, it felt more like a craft than just dragging, dropping, and burning. I'd pull songs off the radio sometimes so there was like "KSJO...BALL-BUSTING ROCK 'N' RO-" at the end before I managed to hit "stop." It was great. Plus, I liked the artistic license contained in Side 1/Side 2. You could do two totally different things musically and yet have them under the banner of one mix tape.

Am I a geek? I think so.


FOUR MIX-TAPE LINKS:

"Singing In My Sleep," Semisonic (mp3)
A pop song about a mix tape, and listening to it over and over, even while you sleep. My revelation when I figured out what this song was about was wonderful. I thought to myself, "That is the best item ever to include on a mix for someone."

"Mix Tape = Love," The Tah Dahs (mp3)
Another cutesy song about the process of mixing for those you love (slash lust over) containing the hilarious line, "This song doesn't fit but I want to use it - I'll show you I am well-rounded."

Art Of The Mix (website)
For other dorks in search of TPM (the perfect mix), this is a giant catalogue where you can post what you've done and why, and see what other songsters are stitching together. Not cassette tape-specific, it is all-inclusive to CDs and iPod playlists and probably even 8-tracks (what?).

Mix Tape: The Art of Cassette Culture (book)
(MLA format is italicize book titles? underline? dangit.)
And finally, Thurston Moore from Sonic Youth has edited a new book about cassettes which looks to be right up my alley. It is on my Froogle wishlist for this year.