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A love/tape relationship
Cassette from My Ex, a new book and website from Found magazine's co-creator, revisits the days when the mix was the message.
Found magazine co-creator Jason Bitner’s latest project, Cassette from My Ex, looks back at the painfully self-conscious years when young love mandated crafting the perfect audio valentine—on tape. Like the website CassetteFromMyEx.com, Bitner’s accompanying new book (St. Martin’s Press, $22.99) enlists writers and musicians—including Chicagoans Julie Shapiro of the Third Coast International Audio Festival and Damon Locks of the Eternals—to share old mix-tapes and the intimate relationship stories behind them. Ahead of Bitner’s book-launch party at the Hideout Monday 9, we tapped the 35-year-old local mix-tape master for advice on concocting a playlist for these four phases of a romantic relationship.
Status change: Let’s be more than friends “In matters of the heart, I’m a fan of putting yourself out there. But for those who are a little more risk-averse, a tape with only Smog’s ‘Let’s Move to the Country’ could be a good starting point. Lyrics like ‘Let’s move to the country, just you and me’ give the hint without making an overt gesture. If things don’t go the way you’d hoped, you could play it cool and talk about how much you love organic vegetables and the smell of freshly cut hay. Alternately, get drunk and make out.”
True love: I heart you with all my soul “Go with the Velvet Underground’s ‘I’m Sticking with You.’ While it may have been a little more subversive when it came out, it’s now purely romantic and sweet. It sounds a lot like a children’s song—so much that it’s easy to miss references to Vietnam and the space race: ‘Some people go into the stratosphere / Soldiers fighting with the Cong.’ But who wouldn’t love to hear their partner say, ‘I’ll do anything for you’?”
Rejection: I’m just not that into you anymore “Giving the slip will require something straightforward, like Teddy Pendergrass’s ‘I Don’t Love You Anymore.’ Teddy has done all the work for you, getting straight to the heart of the matter—‘I don’t love you anymore / It’s just that simple’—before finishing the job: ‘We can’t work it out…. We can only be friends.’ Without being vindictive or angry, he states the obvious: We have no future.”
Vengeance: You broke my heart, now listen and burn “The Doors’ ‘The End.’ It’s popped up on multiple breakup tapes (which are rare birds), so it’s surely played a part in many dissolutions. ‘The End’ is long and drawn out, almost punishing—perhaps mirroring the relationship that needed ending? The music grows intense, the lyrics stony, and the whole thing goes totally over the top: ‘Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill / This is the end / Beautiful friend / This is the end.’ Hey, it definitely delivers the message.”
Press play at the Hideout (1354 W Wabansia Ave, 773-227-4433; $5) Monday 9 at 8pm for the Cassette from My Ex book-release party.
