The House of Books Has No Windows

Just got back from the Edinburgh, more driving than other stuff, but I'll go back next week or something. Feeling pretty inspired after seeing the show in the Fruitmarket, got some new ideas brewing, a different way of thinking maybe.

On the way there and back we were looking through tapes in the car because the current location of my itrip, and, more disturbingly, my ipod. Anyway Kieran wound up a few that had come unrolled and we tried them out (after finding and listening to the actually quite good Now 44, but abandoning New Hits 99, as the utterly awful tracks outweighed those which might have had some novelty or nostalgic value) and popped one in which my friend Emma Collins had made me when we were in first year. I've been thinking about mix tapes a lot recently when I was doing the bike. Kinda wanted to collect some mix tapes for the opening, then decided on the tape adapter and iPods, then the battery ran out so we used an amp. Anyway, mix tapes: Finding old mix tapes is a weird experience, quite like finding old diaries I suppose. I found some old diaries at home and they were horrible, I should burn those, theres nothing interesting or nostalgic in there, just embarrassing and horrible things I've done well to forget and get over.

However, again back to mix tapes. I found this tape Emma had made me and I could remember when she made it, what I made for her, and what we had talked about before we had made them. I had already found a couple of tapes last time I was at home, and had thought of them when I listened to them I could remember when they were made, and it was a kind of chart of my music tastes throw time, how they change and grow and return over time.

To the main point anyway, I've decided to start making mixtapes again. Properly. In my bedroom with all my cds around me, everything properly recorded from cd like I used to, but anything I've downloaded with itunes, but I'll still have to listen to every track to record it. I'm going to do one a week and see what happens. But there you go.