To quote the iconic High Fidelity written by Nick Hornby, “The making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do and takes ages longer than it might seem. You gotta kick off with a killer, to grab attention. Then you got to take it up a notch, but you don’t wanna blow your wad, so then you got to cool it off a notch. There are a lot of rules.” In the book (turned film) Rob, the main character explains to us the amount of work, patience and LOVE that MUST go into a mixtape to make it great. In the documentary Analog Love, created by Robert V Galluzzo, the same premise is discussed and SO much more. As a teenager of the 90’s, I was a massive fan of the making and exchanging of mixtapes with friends and even more importantly the boyfriends that would come and go. What some would see as a simple mix of songs, I threw on a blank tape, those kindred spirits I chose to give these tapes to knew that it was 100% an act of pure love. A tape that would be 90 minutes long would take hours upon hours of dedication and deep thought. What I LOVE about Analog Love the most is how it captures that very magic while giving you those feelings of nostalgia. The feelings of making that special someone a tape, that friend a tape and at times even yourself one too.
The documentary features Henry Rollins, Money Mark (Beastie Boys), the late great Kim Shattuck (The Muffs), Jennifer Finch (L7), Chantel Claret, Jude “Rude Jude” Angelini, Zernell Gillie (Grimy!) Jonah Mataranga (Onelinedrawing) Monalisa Murray, Christian James Hand (The Session) and the list goes on and on.
I found myself getting all the feels as they discuss the magic that is the mixtape and how it is a piece of your soul that you are passing along to someone else and the story lines you can create through the music. You can say what you want to say through the songs you love. I remember when I would make tapes for people I would over analyze every single song, imagine what they would think when they would hear it and hope that they too loved it as much as I did creating it. I still do this, of course, when I create mixes today. However, these days the art of analog mixes seem to be lost. BUT I do see a little resurgence in the music scene which is so refreshing. But, will the creating of the actual mixtape ever come back to us? In the world of Spotify and Apple Music I am not sure. Of course you can still accomplish the same ideas with a streamable playlist, but if you were to tell me that specialness that goes into creating that playlist matches that of the mixtape, I would have to disagree. I am guessing if you are reading this you wouldn’t say that anyhow. **wink wink**
Kim Shattuck 
Henry Rollins 
Jennifer Finch 
Hazel 
Monalisa Murray 
Money Mark
I wish I could go back in time and keep every single tape that I was ever given to me or that I made myself. I wasn’t great at cherishing them as much as I should of as a teenager. Watching Henry Rollins show us his collection in this film was just amazing and insanely inspiring.
After finishing this documentary I felt overwhelmed with the best of feelings. If you had been lucky enough to live in this era of music history I know you will also feel the feels. My mind went racing back in time to the days of buying the blank tapes with the dream of creating my little masterpiece, creating the all important cover art for the tape, handing the tape off and waiting to see what that person thought. There was just nothing better.
I one zillion percent believe everyone should watch Analog Love. Those of you who enjoyed mixtapes will be caught up in nostalgia and those of you who aren’t aware of such an art form will be inspired. I guarantee it. I can feel the love that went into makes this film and it will continue to be a must watch for many years.
Get your copy right away at Analog Love! If you are reading this before November 22nd you can enter a chance to win a copy! Head to my page to enter to win! Be sure to also follow Analog Love on Instagram.
