Since long before I've been making Package Collages, I've been mastering the art of another kind of collage: music mixes. Maybe this is because songs that are important to us in a particular era of our lives -- especially when bookended between other such songs -- are one of the most poignant ways to get in touch with that Timelapsed & Still feeling that I've always craved, that bittersweet sense that even the present and the future are outlined in a penumbra of nostalgia.
First, of course, there were mix tapes, with the benefit that listeners were locked into your chosen line-up of songs, as well as the chance to partition different moods onto different sides. Then, in the early 2000's, as tape decks became less prevalent, I begrudgingly switched to making mix cds, knowing I would be fighting against my own everyday inclination to listen to music on random. I got used to the format, though, and have excelled at squeezing as much into 80 minutes as possible. With these (as opposed to the ones I've made for parties and weddings), my philosophy has been to only use music that was new to me (though maybe in actuality decades old), with no repetition throughout the total mix oeuvre.
If you want to recreate any of these, please note the places where the word [edit] turns up on a song list; sometimes, I've trimmed a little here or there to make it all fit and to make transitions smoother. At this point, I really couldn't tell you the time codes I trimmed at. It used to be I'd only make a couple mixes a year, for myself and to send to a few friends, but with computers things almost got too easy and, as you can see, some years, I've produced a lot. When I get time I'll add more here, eventually reaching back to the cassette tape days...
