Monday, December 10, 2007

you'll laugh


I did something incredible yesterday. No, you don't have to pace yourselves, it wasn't exciting but it felt really weird.
Here's what I did: I opened my CD case and got out a TAPE. One of those little plastic things with a thin film inside, remember? It has two wholes in the middle and you put it inside your stereo (if there's a place for it, of course). And guess what? It plays music!

It wasn't so long ago that I still recorded music that I borrowed in cassetes, tapes. I listened to a couple of these yesterday. I mixed a lot of bands there. When I didn't have much space, I'd only record the songs I thought were best from an album. Why does none of this make sense now? lol

So yesterday I listened to Nada Surf and Embrace and Monster Piece. Some of the songs were good, but completely lost in time for me - meaning I hadn't listened to them for years. I kept looking at the stereo when a new song came along trying to see what it was called (can you imagine?!); only later did I realize that I had to pick up the box of the tape and read what I had written with my pen. The sound was also very odd, after years of intense play and then non-play.

But it was interesting. Yes!

18 comments:

Violet said...

seems like tou took a travel in time :) to a distant past hehe

Niall young said...

Well don't you have a way making one feel old?..I have a large box of those little plastic cases with the two holes in....I have even more of those black vinyl discs with a hole in the middle!!!Hundreds of them! ( have you ever seen 'High Fidelity'?..(read the book..it's a million times better!)..those black vinyl discs have a soul!

Preeti Shenoy said...

I have lots of cassettes AND
a cassette player in perfect working condtion--and I still use them! :-)

Roam2Rome said...

music somehow does take us back in time bringing up memories and emotions. Now, when will the CD be outdated? Ah, wait, it almost is! mp3 is all I have now ;)

Anonymous said...

Ouvir k7s antigas é um verdadeiro carrossel :) são uma preciosidade porque pusemos lá dentro a nossa (pré) adolescência :)*

Scholiast said...

I'm with you :) We've got drawers full of tapes in the living room. Admittedly, we don't play them a lot, but they're there... And the LP's all stacked on top, right next to the stereo! Yes, I do even play them sometimes, but mostly my iPod has all the fun ;)

dharmabum said...

no i'm not laughing. i'm feeling outdated.

and you'll laugh if i tell u this - i still listen to them tapes. i do not have discs or a disc player, but only a tiny lil thing that plays tapes. it didn't feel as funny till i recently went to this popular book & music store in madras - asked for the tape section, only for them to tell me they didn't have a tape section at all :)

now, i'm thinking if i should go and look for a record player and try and source a few records...talk about regression :D

Devil Mood said...

Violet: I did; fortunately it wasn't very traumatic!

Niall: But I feel old too! I have vynils too, but the record player is not being used. I read the book and saw the film and I agree, it's much better. It's fun even though it's not from my generation hehe

PS: I think my cassetes are expiring, I worry for them, they make funny noises. But they're still a cute object :)

R2R: I know! And honestly, I was still recording tapes in 2000 or so...it wasn't that long ago. Time flies and new inventions fly even higher lol

Cat: Neste caso, n eram tao antigas como isso, senão podia ser perigoso...

Scholiast: It's nice to have retro things ;) The vynil sound is very lovely, but I worry about my tapes getting old and stop playing...

Dharmabum: I think records are timeless; tapes die eventually, it's a bit sad. But keep hold of them because they're precious to you, with your music in them :) Yes, it's been a long time since I saw a tape section in a store...

dharmabum said...

i do know kerouac, my blog name is inspired by his book :)

Devil Mood said...

Oh my, I had no idea that book was his. How silly. I didn't read any of his books in english, so I don't know the original names apart from Big Sur :P

kimananda said...

Wow, those things. That I used to play until they'd suddently shred at odd times. That was back in the days when I had my lp's, which I would regularly scratch (I had no skill to lower a needle gracefully). Yep, those were the days. Based on how I treated them, it's no wonder I have none of them left now.

Anonymous said...

what fun!

i was just thinking about a tape I used to have. I wanted to torder it for a friend...it probably isn't around anymore.

Admin said...

get out!!!! tapes! what the hell are those!!! ;)

Anonymous said...

arrrrgh I hate tapes so much, because every single one I've ever had has f***ed upon me and it makes me CRAZY!
I laugh incredulously when people say they still have tapes? How does that happen? My tapes? Eaten by the stereo IMMEDIATELY.
I was just ranting about this today--the person I spoke to said 'No tapes are great; you can drop it in the street and have it run over, come back to get it and it still plays.'

Not for me! Grrrr

Devil Mood said...

Kim: lol the poor things! I hated when the film started to come out from the tapes and you had to put a pen and roll it. lol

Holychaos: I guess you have to try and remember what songs you had there and get them online. It'd be hard to find it now.

Vesper: LOL!

Chrispito: I got really angry when my tapes started wobbling too. It's so frustrating when the singers seem to have had a drop too many haha

madelyn said...

when I was in INdia I bought lots of
these tapes because our driver
had a tape player and since we
drove all through Rajasthan ~
I needed my music for those
eight hour drives and they
sounded great to me!

SleekPelt said...

I was going through a box of stuff from a previous life and ran into some cassettes recently. I still have some good stuff, but I have no means to play them! I agree that records are timeless, though, and I'm getting a record player soon. I can't wait to feel the needle touch down on Billy Joel's Cold Spring Harbor.

Devil Mood said...

Maddie: I'm glad because car trips without music are hell! Music tends to soothe everything :)

Sleekpelt: I bought a stereo with a tape deck, so the tapes weren't completely lost in time.
Ah, I love the sound of the needle touching the record :)