“Mixtapes were more than a way to share music in the 1980s and 1990s: They were, in fact, a type of extraverbal language — a vivid, inexpensive form of folk communication.” – Rolf Potts
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf talks about the film Cassette, and reads an informal essay about how mixtapes are a kind of lost language (00:45); then Rolf, Liesl, and Michael talk about how person-to-person connection was essential to sharing music in the 1990s, and the legacy of cassettes (8:00); the era when cassettes were a new technology, and the craft and care that went into creating mixtapes (22:00); how finding new music is different in the era of online algorithms, versus what music curation was like before cassettes (33:00); and how music and music-nostalgia is generationally specific, according to what technology was used when a given generation was young (45:30).
Zack Taylor is an actor and cinematographer, known for Cassette: A Documentary Mixtape (2016).
Notable Links:
The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber.
Note: We don’t host a “comments” section, but we’re happy to hear your questions and insights via email, at [email protected].
“If there is any revelation to be gleaned from spending several days on a single train, it will come from the bizarre details that...
“These travel podcasts are great because you just drive around talking, and people feel like they’re sitting in the back seat.” – Ari Shaffir...
“One way of making famous landmarks more comprehensible is to look for surprises, good and bad, that go beyond what you are expected to...