Chronicles « TDK Life On Record

CHRONICLES

It wasn’t easy, it could take way too long and it really wasn’t cool to see all your hard work resting on the long-term health of some magnetically coated plastic tape. But that was the beauty of it; it was a labor of love. The mixtape was an art and everyone knows good art never comes easy.

Each one contained a story, a struggle and captured a moment in time. Each song stood for something; it was there for a reason. The mixtape had mythical powers, it could: impress a girl, make you look cool, make you look weird, keep you up at night, and it could even keep you from going to the bathroom while you waited for that one song you needed to come on the radio. Not to mention, naming the thing – the perfect name, written with the perfect pen in your imperfect handwriting…

We asked some of today’s most influential artists to recount their experiences with making mixtapes and renowned photographer and director Jonathan Mannion captured it all on film. The result is the TDK Life on Record Chronicles film series that pays tribute to the days of cassette tapes and the anatomy of the mixtape. We kick off this exclusive film series with The Strokes, New York’s own Nas and indie rock stalwarts The Walkmen. The Chronicles film series provides a rare look into the lives of these artists that reveals their love of music through songs and stories from their pasts.

Chronicles

The Strokes

The Strokes – Julian Casablancas, Nick Valensi, Albert Hammond, Jr., Nikolai Fraiture and Fabrizio Moretti – in the midst of the current madness of readying their upcoming album, each band member freed up some time to talk with us at City Stage in lower Manhattan. Over the course of a couple days, each member of the band touched on their love of music and experiences creating homemade mixtapes.

NAS

Nas carved some time out of his busy schedule to catch up with us and drop knowledge about his experiences and memories of making and collecting mixtapes. We caught up with Nas at Silvercup Studios, appropriately located in his hometown of Queens, NY. Nas goes deep reminiscing about cassettes, mixtapes and musical influences (Tribe Called Quest, MC Shan, Kurtis Blow & Queen, just to name a few) while reflecting on his early life in the Queensbridge housing projects.

The Walkmen

We met up with indie rock stalwarts The Walkmen at a friend’s studio in a converted barn (chickens and all) in Philadelphia to talk about cassettes, mixtapes and music. Citing influences like The Rolling Stones, The Specials, The Sex Pistols and The Pogues, it’s no wonder that The Walkmen stand out for the uniqueness of their sound and innovative approach to atmosphere and instrumentation.