Swap Shop MKII

This edition’s superbly executed idea of the month (new feature) and also in my opinion; strong contender for the coveted position of Mr. March (also new… not at all coveted) has to go to Lewis John Grimes of Doncaster for organising the quite splendid ‘Secret Mixtape Swap’ on bookface last month. You will find no hidden meaning outside of the title by the way… what you think it is, is what it is.
The idea is simple and the execution no more difficult than pointing a drunkard to an unsupervised Ale cask, however the genius lies simply in the response of the groups’ members and the excitement that awaits in the few days beyond submitting your mixtape.
I found out about this gem whilst stalking people I know across the social network (standard practice for those well-versed in render queues) and was instantly scurrying my way across the registration form to join. The premise being that you compile a mix (the technological paradigm shift from Cassette Tape to Compact Disc only being a small sacrifice to the authenticity of the groups’ title) running shy of 80 minutes, provide a full tracklisting, enclose a padded envelope with your return address and a stamp for postage costs, then send your wares out into the world and await somebody else’s in return. All anonymous and all without profit to the organisers. Just simply doing it for the love of music. Swap shop for the mp3 generation. Love it.
In a few days I will pull my mix together and post a link on here to my Soundcloud account and you can have a good old listen and maybe even leave some kind of comment if you feel so inclined. When I get my secret mixtape in return, I’ll post that too… hopefully that way you’ll get an idea of the sort of variation that I assume this little project is trying to encourage.
Long live these twee file sharers and those with the inclination to keep such thoughtful activities afloat.