MIXXEDCONNECTIONS
Missed connections personal ads from around the country read and mixed with (mostly sad) music.
If you are looking to mess with your serotonin levels, have some background tunes, and tune in to attempts of longing, you've come to the right place.
Over the last few years I have actively listening to music intentionally. I would put on some headphones, lay or sit somewhere comfortable, close my eyes and dive into different playlists and radios to collect sounds and songs I thought were really moving for one reason or another. These collections turned into random playlists.
In times of polarization and isolation, I find music to be something universal all humans can relate to and connect with. Simultaneously, since around 2019 I have been collecting random creaigslist Missed Connections ads. I was living in Germany at the time and I think it was a way to cope with homesickness and looking for belonging in a foreign country. Since moving back to the USA, I have continued this collecting practice. I have had this idea for a radio show for about two years now, but I am honestly not conventionally able to schedule or work in a radio station, I don’t have the skills, I don’t have the regular routine, nor do I have the energy to do so, quite honestly.
Still, this urge to combine the missed connections with my playlists has pulled at my studio practice to the point that I began recording it myself as an experiment. Below you can see an expisode as an example and you are welcome to click on the Mix Cloud link to hear more episodes.
I think there is something pulsing at the underbelly of contemporary society when I look through these ads: the hopelessness of the ad most people convey in their posts, the longing for connection which inspired one to post on craigslist, the dying use of these sorts of ads, and the ever growing diagnosis of depression and “lonliness epidemics”. These vignetes of sound and text are just a mere reflection on these times and a creative way to explore those emotions and navigate these attempts to connect.
I use a very cheap recorder or my laptop microphone, the DIY quality is simply true to the equipment I (don’t) have and the fact that I am mostly recording these while I am wide awake due to insomnia. All songs on each playlist are listed in the description when you visit my MixCloud page.
Mix Cloud allows for 10 episodes to be uploaded at a time, so they will be structured like seasons.
These will be uploaded and changed on a monthly basis, so stay tuned.
Season 1 is currently up.
Thanks for listening.