I still haven’t shaken my bad habit of including snarky tracks in my mixtapes. For example, a killer Poison hit might provide a smirking counterpoint to a bone crushing Coalesce track, or the theme to the A-Team could lighten the mood after some Slint mathiness.
I was just thinking of updating my Muxtape page (finally) and how great it would be to include You’re the Best Around from the OG Karate Kid (by the way, check out this karate monkey — this song is such a versatile soundtrack!).
Unfortunately, when I tried to login to my Muxtape page, this is what I found.
Muxtape’s strengths were its simplicity — both in its aesthetics and its ease of use. However, what I enjoyed most was strolling through the diverse array of music its community hosted. Muxtape acted as a sort of cassette mixtape 2.0:
A physical cassette tape in your hands has such an insistent aesthetic; just holding one makes you want to find a tape player to fulfill its destiny. My goal with Muxtape’s design was to translate some of that tactility into the digital world, to build a context around the music that gave it a little extra spark of life and made the holder anxious to listen.
After lengthy talks with the RIAA and major record labels Muxtape — in its original incarnation — no longer exists. Apparently, they’re reorganizing with a focus on bands, but it kind of seems like this ship has sailed.
Sigh.
So long, Muxtape — we hardly got to know each other.
In reply to the title question, neither. Better to finish well. But maybe the title was rhetorical.
DJ — Yes, I wholeheartedly agree with what you’re saying. It’s unfortunate that in life and ministry, those often seem to be our only choices. Here’s to more Third Way thinking!