The Mixtapes Project: Preface

Twelve songs. One story.

PREFACE

The Mixtapes Project started from my desire to engage with music more intentionally. I wanted to go back to the good old mixtapes of my youth. The care and attention to detail that went into choosing and sequencing the songs back then were next level.

Mixtapes came with limitations that we are blissfully unaware of today: 1. we couldn’t skip a track with the touch of a button, 2. we couldn’t easily delete a song, 3. no shuffle. Now, it’s easy to dump a bunch of songs into a Spotify playlist and call it a day.

A playlist wasn’t a work in progress like it is today, always evolving. It was a finished product. I missed the feeling of living with a playlist instead of endlessly editing one. I wanted to do this again. All of it. Down to the carefully crafted back cover.

I also wanted to rethink my relationship with music. I had stopped listening to music with the same attention I once gave it. Back then, music was a lot less accessible than it is today. It felt more like art than content. We truly cherished it. We cherished the music, the cassettes or CDs, the booklets inside the case. It was a beautiful ritual. Today, it’s often something we consume.

I wanted the playlists to explore different emotions, genres, and eras, often within the same playlist. I wanted each one to have a storyline, an emotional arc, and its own identity. I spent time thinking about the opening track, the transitions, the ending, and the feeling each playlist would create. Most of all, I wanted to turn them into little pieces of art again.

Twelve songs. One story.

Each volume designed to be heard from beginning to end, in sequence.

If we were in the 90s, I would physically give you a cassette tape. It was how we shared music before Spotify and YouTube. Our mixtapes became a part of us over the years. These playlists are my gift to you. I hope you enjoy them.

- Mari Berlin ♥